Just a quicky. We are in Melbourne in July and wanted to pop across to Sydney for a short break. Do you think 2 days is enough to see the main things or is 3 days better?

CHEERS

3

but you could do it in 1 if ya had to

Are you driving or flying? If driving then it will take you a day in each direction anyway so you would see little of Sydney. If you are flying then you can do a whistle stop tour in a couple of days but you arent going to see "everything" even in a week. The open top bus tour is a pretty good starting point if you havent seen anything before. I'd go for the 3 days if you have the capacity to do so. Make a list of things you do want to see and do though - can I suggest the Bridge Climb? It's definitely unique.

Even that maybe be too long for some?

Thanks for the replies (even you The Bloke!). We are flying there with 2 kids (8 and 4), so unfortunately I think the bridge climb is probably not a goer - boo. Since posting I had a look at the Tourist Information website which was quite helpful and there does look a fair bit to do, so I'm pretty sure we'll do the 3 days. We are booked to return to Singapore on 26 July (and then on to B/ham a few days later), so it makes sense to fly across to Sydney and then back to Melbourne on the 26th as the flight isn't until 6pm. It's a bugger doing 2 flights in one day (I think it's about 1.1/2 hours flight from Sydney?), but hey hopefully it'll be worth it.

Buy a one way ticket, because once you've been in Sydney for a couple of days you'll not want to go back

<Sits back and waits for the bites.....>

The flight's about an hour or so - as soon as you get in the air, it's no time before you're descending again - I barely have time to drink one g'n't

Three days will be much better - you can afford to relax a little over three days, whereas in two days you'd have to whizz around it all very quickly.

One word of caution - if I were you I'd try to keep public transport to a minimum, especially at peak times. Public transport in Sydney really isn't much fun. I once got a bus the full length of George Street (I think it was George Street) - it took about 45 mins Plus the trains are pretty grotty.

However, the train from the airport to the city and Circular Quay is very quick. It's expensive though - I think it's something like 15 dollars one-way for an adult, not sure about kids prices. So for the four of you it might be cheaper to get a taxi, as it's not very far

If one of your days in Sydney is a Sunday there's a special deal where you can get a ticket that covers most public transport (train/ferry/bus) for $2.50 pp (you won't have to pay for the 4 year old) then hop on and off all day. Much cheaper than any of the "tourist" ticket options. Sydney has got to be one of the most beautiful cities on earth (not that I'm biased of course ) so definitely do 3 days if you can. Stay as central as you can afford - my kids at that age loved being around Chinatown which has lots of accommodation options and is a stone's throw from Darling Harbour (lots of good family stuff).

Be careful too when booking your flights from Melbourne.
Melbourne has 2 airports so if you're planning on returning from Sydney the same day as you fly back to the UK make sure you allow plenty of time between the flights, as we found the roads very busy.
We allowed 5 hours in LA once and still managed to miss our flight to OZ .

Have fun in Sydney.

and don't bother with the over priced crappy Aquarium Do try and be there on Sunday and buy the $2.50 all day public transport tickets and just ride the ferries We took the ferry to Darling Harbour and back to Circular Quay, then ambled through the Botanic Gardens to the Art Gallery, arrived just in time for a kids' session so they were amused while we had a look about and then took a train from St James back to Circular Quay. Not bad for $2.50 each plus the cost of an ice cream and a couple of sarnies to tide the kids over until we got home (had massive breakfast at the hotel as part of the package and then late supper back at home).

Flip, I hadn't even thought of that; wise advice indeed. Our flight is 6pm so we'll be coming back at about midday, just to be on the safe side.

Thanks BB. We always visit Aquariums (don't know why as I hate the bloody places - yuck) so it's helpful to know it's probably worth a miss (yipee). Unfortunatly we are flying back on a Saturday, so can't take advantage of the Sunday special - wouldhave been good.

I've spent ages looking for apartments and think I've found a good one in Kent St (knowing our luck it'll be a red light district). There are loads in central Sydney, which is fab for us as we like seperate rooms and aren't too keen on the formality of hotels.

Can't wait to go now!