City Centre

Enjoy marvellous attractions in the city centre, from UNESCO World Heritage to dazzling shows, wonderful galleries, intriguing museums, hip bars and acclaimed restaurants. The shopping is enticing too, with elegant boutiques in grand colonial arcades such as the Queen Victoria Building.

The city centre fans out from Circular Quay, near the Sydney Opera House, through the central business district south to Chinatown and Haymarket, and west to Darling Harbour. On the eastern side are the Royal Botanic Garden, the Art Gallery of NSW, the Australian Museum and Hyde Park.

Across the road from Hyde Park’s northern end is the UNESCO World Heritage-listed Hyde Park Barracks Museum in Queens Square, which is in the historic Macquarie Street precinct. Designed by convict architect Francis Greenway, Hyde Park Barracks housed convicts between 1819 and 1848.

All the attractions on the eastern side are a stroll from each other. In pretty Hyde Park is the art deco Archibald Fountain and the ANZAC Memorial, with its evocative sculpture Sacrifice. By sparkling Sydney Harbour is the Royal Botanic Garden, a tranquil oasis with more than 8,600 plant species.

Check out the exhilarating events calendar for exhibitions at museums and galleries as well as blockbuster musicals and shows in the city centre’s theatres. There are fabulous outdoor concerts and vibrant festivals, including the Sydney Festival in January and Vivid Sydney in May and June.

In Angel Place, near the City Recital Hall and Martin Place, is Forgotten Songs, an extraordinary art installation of bird cages and bird songs suspended above the laneway. On the forecourt of the Museum of Sydney is the Edge of the Trees, a powerful installation with an Aboriginal soundscape.

For a breathtaking panorama, Sydney Tower Eye is perfect. High above the bustling city centre, marvel at Sydney’s iconic attractions and beyond, from the Pacific Ocean in the east to the World Heritage-listed Blue Mountains in the west. You can even step outside onto to a glass platform.