caliburn

I'll be on a 5-day validation trip to Sydney soon, staying in a CBD hotel and accompanied by wife and 2yo son. What is the best way to get around? Options I considered so far are -

1) SydneyPass - unlimited bus, train and ferry for 5 days for $145 per adult. AirportLink included.

2) Car rental - around $100/day with full cover, hotel parking $35/day, additional parking hassles and charges everywhere. Goodies - no waiting, lots of flexibility.

3) Take it as it comes - use single ride tickets on public transport, taxi etc. As we are planning on getting around quite a bit, this could prove to be expensive, I guess?

What did you do?

JAJ

Where in Sydney do you plan to go? If you are going to be spending a lot of time in the outer suburbs, you probably need a car. If you are staying around the city and inner suburbs, public transport (plus taxis as needed) may be ok.

Siren & Brian

When we were there last month we got a ticket for $62 each which did us great for 7 days. Dont know what its called just told the lady at the domestic airport what we wanted and she gave us that ticket for all the trains ferries etc,

Kooky.

Option 1 sounds expensive at $145 per adult - did you get that from www.131500.com.au?

I can get a 7 day pass for all transport for the inner harbour and suburbs (Red Zone) for $38. It won't cover you for going far out of town but you might want to think about getting one of those, or the next one up, and then paying on a per trip basis for any trips you take outside the main areas.

Car hire - as JAJ says you might need one if you want to get off the beaten track but hire it by the day or two, not for the whole time. When we first came to Sydney we hired one for the whole time and it spent a lot of it stuck in a very expensive car park. You can pick one up in Kings Cross. (Just don't pick anything else up in Kings Cross )

With just 5 days and jet lag you probably won't get nearly as far as you think you will.

bcworld

Also, if there are 3 of you and you're going to the southern end of the CBD (i.e. where the Meriton apts are)....I wouldn't bother with Airportlink....a cab will cost about the same as 3 tickets.

OnlySydney

Hi Caliburn,

I just stumbled across your thread. I wrote a small informative blog-type thing about Sydney transport a week or so ago for the website I work on. It's here if you want it. It's mainly for city travel though, with links to each type, so might not be much use to you if you are heading beyond the CBD or suburbs.

Hope it's useful and you have an awesome time!

caliburn

Thanks guys for the very useful info. I think I will go for a green TravelPass for $46 a week which gives me unlimited bus, ferry and train rides in most of Sydney. Given my focus, its probably not worth spending the extra bucks on a SydneyPass for Sydney/Bondi Explorer tourist buses. For airport transfers, as bcworld has rightly suggested, I should use a taxi for door to door convenience with luggage, stroller and multiple passengers.

michael_w

I wouldn't drive in Sydney. If the road rage/gridlock doesn't get to you, the electronic tolls will, and probably put you off Sydney for life. Get one of the green/red/blue weeklies to cover whatever areas you want to travel to.

ramlmmjem

Go for the green card and pay any extra to get to where you need if you go outwith the area (e.g. to Paramatta or Palm Beach). You only pay the bit outside the area.

We stayed in Sydney for 9 weeks and that was all we needed for buses, ferries and trains. (oh, and the trains out of Sydney up the coast and to the Blue mountains are very cheap and frequent.

Enjoy!

Alistair

cfcfree

green is definetely the way to go as you'll want to go to manly which isnt on red. pretty sure green covers as far as parramatta and palm beach.

not an issue as you are only doing 5 days but those weekly tix are best purchased 3pm onwards so you get 8 instead of 7 days. not many cityrail staff volunteer this info.

airport link a rip off waste of money, unless you are taxing into cbd at rush hour.