Sydney is consistently in the more expensive tier of world cities, and accommodation and eating out are where that shows. It is also a city where a very large proportion of the best things cost nothing.
The currency
The Australian dollar (AUD). Australia is close to cashless — cards and contactless work everywhere including buses and market stalls, and you can travel for weeks without withdrawing notes.
Card surcharges of 1 to 2 per cent are common and must be disclosed.
Daily budgets
Per person per day, excluding flights:
- Frugal: hostel or shared apartment, Opal fare cap, supermarket breakfast and lunch, one cheap dinner in Newtown or Chinatown, free galleries, beaches and walks.
- Comfortable: mid-range hotel or apartment, coffee and brunch out, a restaurant dinner, ferries and trains, one or two paid attractions.
- Generous: harbour-view hotel, Surry Hills and CBD restaurants, BridgeClimb, a Blue Mountains tour, taxis.
What is free
This list is long, and it is why Sydney can be done cheaply.
The Art Gallery of NSW, the MCA, the Australian Museum general entry, the Chau Chak Wing, White Rabbit, and the Maritime Museum’s indoor galleries.
The Botanic Garden, Barangaroo, Centennial Park and the harbour national park walks.
The Bondi to Coogee coastal walk. Every beach. The Harbour Bridge pedestrian walkway. Landing on Cockatoo Island. The Opera House forecourt. Vivid’s light walk.
A visitor who paid for nothing but transport and food would still have an excellent four days.
The fare caps
Public transport has a daily cap, a lower Sunday cap, and a weekly cap. Once you hit the cap, travel is free.
This makes the ferries the best value in the city — a Sunday of ferries to Manly, Watsons Bay and Cockatoo Island costs less than one commercial harbour cruise.
The exception is the airport station access fee, which sits outside the caps. See airport to the city.
Where the money goes
Accommodation is the dominant cost and the gap between seasons is large.
Eating out. Brunch and coffee are a real line item, and dinner in Surry Hills or the CBD is priced like London or New York.
BridgeClimb is the single most expensive standard attraction. The Pylon Lookout gives most of the view for a fraction.
Alcohol is expensive — a consequence of high excise. A glass of wine in a bar costs noticeably more than in Europe. BYO restaurants with a small corkage are a genuine saving.
Surcharges
10 per cent on Sundays and 15 per cent on public holidays at most restaurants and cafés, covering penalty wage rates. Disclosed on the menu. Not optional and not a tip.
Tipping
Not expected. Wages are high and prices include everything.
Seasons
December to February is summer and peak — school holidays, New Year, hottest and dearest.
March to May and September to November are the best value against weather. Autumn in particular is excellent.
June to August is winter — 8 to 18°C, the cheapest months, and when Vivid fills the calendar.
Where visitors overspend
Harbour cruises, when a Manly ferry on a capped Opal fare covers most of the same water for a fraction. BridgeClimb, when the Pylon Lookout is a tenth of the price. Airport taxis for one or two people. Bottled water, when Sydney’s tap water is excellent and there are refill fountains everywhere.
Coffee and brunch every morning is the quiet one. Two people eating out for breakfast daily for a week is a meaningful sum in a city where brunch is a formal meal.
Where the savings are
Supermarkets — Coles and Woolworths are everywhere and Sydney’s parks and beaches are made for a picnic.
BYO restaurants, with corkage of a few dollars a head against Australian restaurant wine markups.
Pub counter meals and Chinatown food courts.
The Sunday fare cap, which is the lowest of the week and makes a day of ferries almost free.
Free galleries, which in Sydney means most of them.
A realistic four-day sum
Two people, mid-range apartment in Surry Hills, Opal capped every day, brunch out twice, dinner out three times, one Blue Mountains day by train, and otherwise the free galleries, beaches and walks: Sydney lands near London and above most of continental Europe — but with a far higher proportion of the good things included.
Alcohol and the bottle shop
Australian excise on spirits and beer is among the highest in the world, which is why a drink in a bar costs what it does.
Alcohol is sold in bottle shops — separate licensed stores, often attached to a pub or supermarket — not in ordinary supermarkets. Dan Murphy’s and BWS are the large chains and are considerably cheaper than any bar.
Australian wine at the bottle shop is very good value; the same bottle in a restaurant carries a markup of three or four times.