Sydney, with a population of almost 4 million, and covering almost 1120 square kilometers (700 square miles), is a remarkably easy city to move around in. An excellent train, bus and ferry service covers all points of the greater metropolitan area. Roadways, although congested in peak hour times, are generally well planned and driving is not too harrowing an experience.

 

Unless visitors to Sydney are specifically seeking out friends in outlying areas, most will have no real need to travel too far away from the central city area and the harbor. Most Sydney tourist attractions are either within the central business district, close to the CBD, or at points around the harbor. The exceptions are Bondi and Manly - surf beach suburbs situated south and north of Sydney Heads.

 

If you've only got a week or a few days in Sydney, your time would be best spent by taking a walk around the wider CBD area, visiting The Rocks or spending time on the harbor. The harbor is Sydney and on a warm day, with a clear blue sky, there is no better place on earth.

Taking a City Circle train, the Monorail or walking is the best way of seeing city attractions, while buses and ferries represent the best way to visit points and attractions around the harbor. The government-run Explorer Buses

and Sydney Pass service represent an ideal and inexpensive way to see most of the main tourist points around the city and out to Bondi. Sydney Ferries, which are also government run, provide an inexpensive way of seeing the most beautiful harbor in the world. (See map of ferry cruises around Sydney Harbor.) For excursions around the harbor, private operators offer a myriad of harbor cruises that promise more than a just a simple ferry ride. If you want to take a bus around the broader Sydney area, try Sydney Buses and Sydney Ferries' excellent Tripfinder, an automated search facility that gives route and timetable details.