Three Days in Sydney - Access Sydney

Waverley Cemetery on the clifftop above the sea, with the boardwalk running beside it — Photograph by Nick-D, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

The third day is the coast on foot, and it is the day people say afterwards they would repeat. Six kilometres of clifftop from Bondi to Coogee with the ocean on your left the whole way, four beaches, and a swim whenever you want one.

⭐ It is free, it needs no booking, and it is the walk locals actually do.

The plan

Days 1–2 — As above.
Day 3, 08:00 — Train to Bondi Junction and the bus down the hill. ⚠️ There is no train to Bondi Beach; that catches everybody once.
08:45 — Bondi before the crowd. Look down at the Icebergs pool from the walkway, which is free, and swim between the flags if you want to.
10:00 — ⭐ Start the Bondi to Coogee walk south. Tamarama, Bronte, the Waverley Cemetery on the cliff, Clovelly, Coogee. Two hours at a walking pace and much longer if you swim. ⚠️ Hat, water, and not in the middle of a summer day.
13:00 — Lunch at Coogee, then the bus back into the city.
15:00 — ⭐ The Art Gallery of New South Wales — free, both buildings. Start in Yiribana in the newer wing, then the tank below it, then cross to the old building.
17:00 — Hyde Park on the way back: the fig avenue, and inside the Anzac Memorial, which is free and is the thing nobody expects.
19:00 — Dinner in Newtown or Marrickville, twenty minutes out on the train.

The Bondi promenade above the beach, with people walking along it — Photograph by Dietmar Rabich, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

⚠️ The alternative third day is the Blue Mountains — about two hours west from Central, and often inside your daily cap. Take it if you would rather see the country than the coast, but you will lose the walk, and the walk is better than most people expect.

The Art Gallery seen from under the trees of the Domain — Photograph by Francisco Anzola, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 3.0

What this plan is built around

Not a list of sights, but the constraints. ⭐ The fare caps — daily, weekly, and a much lower one on Sundays — mean that once you have hit a cap every further trip that period costs nothing, so a ferry-heavy day is cheaper than it looks and doing all your travelling on one day beats spreading it. ⚠️ The weather decides the order, not the plan: a clear day goes to the harbour and the coast, a wet one to the free galleries and the Barracks, and every plan here can be reordered on the morning without losing anything. ⚠️ The UV inverts the usual rhythm — the middle of a summer day is the worst time to be on an exposed clifftop walk and the best time to be indoors. And ⚠️ Sunday is the cheap day and the busy day at once, so use the cap and start early.

A bronze figure and falling water at the Archibald Fountain — Photograph by Dcoetzee, Wikimedia Commons, Public domain

Other lengths

2 daysTwo Days in Sydney 5 daysFive Days in Sydney A weekA Week in Sydney

Checked on 7 September 2026. Fares, caps and journey times change — confirm before you travel. All sixteen sights, one page each, in Landmarks & Sights.