Sydney CBD

Huge bar that fills up during the weekend. Lots of girls on Wednesday for their salsa night. Weekends are pumping. It can be difficult to get in but it is possible to sneak in from the Munich Brauhaus next door.

The best location imaginable. Drinks are expensive, music sucks and the crowd is less than friendly. Still you have to come here for a drink under the Opera House with the Harbour Bridge right in front of you.

Great location but little else going for it. It does draw some good lookers on the weekend.

Busy bar with a great rooftop. Not a friendly crowd but a nice place to hang out.

Quiet little hotel bar with an amazing view.

Great old fashioned pub on a cobblestone street in the rocks. Busy on the weekend.

Waterside location and an interesting crowd. Good place to meet girls on the weekend.

Pretty standard pub with a Mexican restaurant attached. Downstairs is Chinese Laundry.

Good club with a great sound system and a nice outdoor section. Friday is the night for heavy bass. The line is long, cover charge and drinks are expensive and the bouncers are sadistic. Expect a young crowd.

Huge nightclub that is busy on the weekend. Friday and Saturday it is fairly generic house music. Sundays is SASH a very busy industry night and one of the best club nights in Sydney. Expect a young crowd especially Friday & Saturday and a cover charge of at least $15.

Busy on Friday and Saturday Night. Not the best place but there is a decent crowd on the weekend. Not affected by the lockout.

The PBH is open 24 hours. This is the place to go if you are in the area and want to keep drinking after lockout. Probably no other reason to come here.

One of the few venues in town open 24 hours. There are a few bars scattered around including a sports bar with a giant screen. Marquee is the main nightclub. It is hard to get in to, expensive and plays pretty bad music but there are a lot of girls here. Rock Lily is the other main bar and is much easier to get in to. It can be fun. Lots of fights at the casino.

Huge nightclub complex with several different bars and lots of little areas to hang out. Lots of stunners here, both travellers and locals. There isn't a strict dress code but it is still a dressy place. Definitely a lot of pretentious people here but that comes with the territory. Big crowd and surprisingly good music on Saturdays. Wednesday through Friday also draws a lot of people. On Sunday ..

Nice bar that has a lot of after-work drinkers especially early on in the night. Tuesday is their latin night which brings in a lot of talent. Drinks are expensive here. Try the bar around the corner Palmer & Co on Abercrombie Ln for a quiet drink.

Wander down Bond St on Friday between 5 and 9 when this bar is full of office girls here for after work drinks. Very social atmosphere.

Wander down past the suit shop to this cosy little bar. Hard to get a seat sometimes but a good place to chill when it is quiet. Try a teapot

Nice bar but very busy. Great place to hang out but not to meet people.

Friendly little bar with good music on Thursdays and Saturdays.

Hotel Bar with a nice outdoor deck. Draws a crowd on Saturdays. Marble Bar downstairs is a bit more fun, busier and has a good band on Friday. Drinks are not cheap.

Hit level “R” in the elevator of this office building and you will get to this nice rooftop bar. Good place for the early evening and late afternoon.

Sports bar upstairs and Asian Bar downstairs. Both are busy on the weekend.

Wild backpacker bar with cheap drinks and party games. Wednesday is wet t-shirt night, Thursday is a student night and weekends are very busy here. Lots of cute backpackers. Music is bad and there can be a long line outside.

Pretty unremarkable venue but there are a lot of hens nights here and a popular Latin Night on Saturdays.

Quiet sports bar above and a dark dance pit underneath. Lots of good acts here but the crowd is hit and miss. Expect to pay $20 cover charge.

Cheap drinks are the order of the day here. Generally a place to go early in the night but sometimes you get a good crowd here.

Sports bar most of the time and a pretty good one. Saturdays they have 'club night' which is tacky but fun and a good place to meet girls. Expect a young crowd here and if you are lucky some live music.

Rowdy Irish bar with cheap drinks. Apparently closing soon. You can head to Maloneys Hotel up the road for more of the same but a bit nicer and more expensive.

Huge bar with great drink specials and a weird crowd. Sometimes the crowd here is great, sometimes nonexistent. It's worth popping your head in and is a good place to start the night off.

Thai bar that is popular with students. Surprisingly good food and an interesting vibe.

Backpacker bar that draws a big crowd. Monday night is very busy. Like most backpacker bars every night is party night.

Small backpacker bar with cheap drinks & some good music. A semi regular pub crawl starts here on Saturdays at about 8.

Unmissable Sydney landmark. This beautiful harbourside building attracts thousands of visitors every day. Guided tours are available for $28. The best way to see the Opera House is to see a show (sydneyoperahouse.com/events/whats-on.html).

The Harbour Bridge is the dominant feature of this breathtaking harbour. You will get a great view of the bridge from the harbour and from the platform of Circular Quay train station. You can walk under the bridge on the southern side along Hickson Rd. To walk over the bridge start at Fort St near Observatory Hill. Along the way is the Pylon Lookout which gives you an amazing view and a few mor ..

Expensive way to see Sydney. Worth it if you can spare the coin. Prices vary based on time of day. Book ahead as it is popular (bridgeclimb.com/climbs)

Beautiful Gardens which can be accessed directly east of the Opera House. Great place for a picnic, walking, running or a mid afternoon nap. Gorgeous harbour views. The gardens close at 5:30. If you take the steps up from the Opera House forecourt you will get to a lawn area that is not fenced. This is a great spot for a quiet drink at night. Nice enough cafe here.

Wandering around the harbour here is how every tourist in Sydney spends a day or two. Lots of Buskers and a few good ice cream shops to keep you happy between the landmark sights.

Interesting modern art gallery in the shadow of the Harbour Bridge. They are open late on Wednesday. There is a party on Friday nights in the winter with an interesting art school type of crowd (mca.com.au/whats-on/artbar).

Tour of haunted buildings in The Rocks.

Great market every weekend. Mainly food and souvenir stalls.

Observation deck 305m up.

Beautiful Cathedral with Stained Glass windows across the road from Hyde Park.

Pretty good market in the middle of Sydney. Cheap souvenirs and clothes. Some food places downstairs. Try Sundays around 5 for cheap fruit and veges.

Great place to get some fish for the barbie or some fish & chips, sushi, shellfish or lobster. Go early to avoid dealing with busloads of tourists. If you get something to eat and want to take it to the deck outside to eat be prepared to fight off seagulls.

There are a few good food courts around and most of them sell food cheap after about 3:00 when the lunch crowd has gone. You should be able to pick something up around $6.

Good pasta place here.

This one can be a little hard to find.

Great laksa. Busy during the lunch rush and there is sometimes a line outside. The crowd disappears after about 2pm.

Open 24 hours for a coffee. Has great pavlova.

Ask for boat noodles which are $4 and are delicious. Pretty good sized serve but if you are hungry you can get 2 bowls. The other food here is great as well.

Lovely Malaysian food in a quiet food court.

Delicious cheap and quick. They have good vegetarian food here too. Shrimp sticks are delicious.

Great coffee during the day and amazing burgers at night. Try the candied bacon burger. They usually have a $10 burger special but it is on and off.

On Friday night there is a night market on Dixon St with some good food. If you see people lining up to get into a shop it is probably a bakery which makes cream puffs and is not worth lining up for.

Old school food court, great Malay stall and mainly Chinese places.

Try the ramen here or the hipster Chinese place. Cheap beers.

Upstairs foodcourt with good pho and ramen stalls.

Delicious Chinese food with hand-pulled noodles.

Lots of tasty Thai food especially Tom Yum soup and their sausages.

One of the flashest hostels in the country with prices to match. The rooftop terrace is amazing with views out onto the harbour. Good place to use your YHA e-nights if you buy them.

Clean hostel in a good location. Above a bar so it is very noisy and it is a real party crowd here. Great place to socialise.

Cold in the winter and not a good place to socialise. It is still great value for money and cleaner than many more expensive hostels.

The cheap dorm is a huge room. Good if you want to party but hard to sleep. Rest of the hostel is a bit grubby but nice enough and the location is great.

The better of the two capsule hotels in Sydney.

Spacious capsules with small lockers. 24 hour access with key card. Great location.

Clean, friendly and reasonably quiet hostel in a good location. Very friendly staff.

Clean hostel with great common areas. Easy to make friends and the staff are very helpful. They have a pool and a nice rooftop terrace.

Big hostel next to Central Station. The Side Bar is downstairs.

Friendly little hostel in a good location. Quiet but central.

Clean friendly hostel with huge kitchen and lounge. Next to the railway line so you may be woken up by the train.

Camp on an island in Sydney Harbour. Ferries from Circular Quay cost about $6.