Guide to Sydney Eastern Suburbs New South Wales Australia

The Eastern Suburbs cover the peninsula between Sydney Harbour and Botany Bay, from the edge of the city centre to the Pacific Ocean. In the space of a few kilometres they take in the liveliest inner-city neighbourhoods of Sydney, its most expensive harbourside addresses and its most famous beaches, and no visit to the city is complete without spending time here.

Known For

• Bondi and the eastern beaches
• Harbourside villages and designer shopping
• Inner-city dining, bars and nightlife

The region is easiest to understand as three strips. Closest to the city are the dense, terrace-lined inner suburbs. Along the harbour to the north runs a chain of wealthy villages ending at South Head. Down the ocean side, a string of surf beaches and clifftop parks stretches south to Botany Bay.

Exploring the Eastern Suburbs

The Inner East

Darlinghurst and Surry Hills are the heart of the city’s cafe, bar and restaurant scene, and Oxford Street is the historic centre of gay and lesbian Sydney. Kings Cross and neighbouring Potts Point mix art deco apartments with some of the best dining in town, and Woolloomooloo has its historic Finger Wharf and Harry’s Cafe de Wheels. Paddington is the place for Victorian terraces, fashion boutiques, galleries and Saturday markets, and Moore Park holds the main stadiums and the green expanse of Centennial Park.

The Harbour Side

New South Head Road follows the harbour through Double Bay, with its boutiques and pavement cafes, and on past Rose Bay and Vaucluse to Watsons Bay, an old fishing village on the tip of South Head with seafood restaurants, a beer garden on the beach and dramatic ocean cliffs at The Gap. The ferry from Circular Quay to Watsons Bay is one of the best short trips on the harbour.

The Beaches

Bondi Beach is the most famous kilometre of sand in Australia, backed by a busy strip of cafes, bars and hotels. From its southern end, a clifftop path runs for six kilometres past Tamarama, Bronte Beach and Clovelly to Coogee, passing ocean pools, parks and a spectacular cliff-edge cemetery. Further south, Maroubra is a long surf beach with a strong local culture, Malabar has a quiet bay and a headland national park, and La Perouse looks over Botany Bay from a peninsula of forts, beaches and French history.

Where To Stay

Where you stay in the east depends on what you want from it. The inner suburbs put you within walking distance of the city and its best restaurants and bars, the harbourside villages are quieter and more polished, and the beaches are for those who want to wake up beside the surf. Nothing is far apart, and buses, trains and ferries link all three.

In the inner east, Potts Point and Kings Cross have the widest choice, from boutique hotels such as Spicers Potts Point and Hotel Indigo Sydney Potts Point to backpacker hostels along Victoria Street. Ovolo Woolloomooloo occupies the landward end of the historic Finger Wharf, Darlinghurst has the small Kirketon Hotel, and Paddington has Mrs Banks Hotel in a former bank and Oxford House at the city end of Oxford Street.

Along the harbour, the Vibe Hotel Rushcutters Bay overlooks the park and marina, The Hughenden in Woollahra is a boutique hotel in a Victorian mansion, and the Watsons Bay Boutique Hotel sits right on the sand at the end of the ferry line. Double Bay has long had the InterContinental, though the building has been approved for redevelopment, so check that it is trading.

At the beaches, Bondi has the most rooms, including QT Bondi and Hotel Bondi near the sand, serviced apartments and several large hostels. Coogee is a little quieter and often cheaper, with the Crowne Plaza Sydney Coogee Beach and the Coogee Bay Hotel both facing the water. Bondi Junction, up the hill, has apartment hotels with sweeping views that are usually better value than the beachfront.

Further south there is very little accommodation around Maroubra, Malabar and La Perouse beyond a few pubs and holiday rentals, but the many airport hotels at Mascot are only ten to fifteen minutes away. Summer weekends, New Year and the weeks of Sculpture by the Sea in spring book out early at the beaches.

Eat & Drink

The east has more good places to eat and drink than any other part of Sydney, and each neighbourhood has its own style.

Darlinghurst and Surry Hills are the heart of the cafe and small bar scene. Bar Coluzzi and Tropicana Caffe on Victoria Street have been serving espresso for decades, bills on Liverpool Street is the cafe that made ricotta hotcakes famous, and Shady Pines Saloon and Love, Tilly Devine are two of the best-loved small bars. In Potts Point, Macleay Street has The Apollo for modern Greek, Cho Cho San for Japanese and Fratelli Paradiso for Italian at any hour. Down the hill at Woolloomooloo, Otto and China Doll have tables along the Finger Wharf, and Harry’s Cafe de Wheels sells its famous pies from a cart by the navy gates.

Paddington is known for its pubs, among them The Paddington, the Royal at Five Ways and the Lord Dudley in neighbouring Woollahra, and for Saint Peter, the celebrated seafood restaurant in the Grand National Hotel. Woollahra has two long-running favourites in Bistro Moncur and Chiswick. In Double Bay, Margaret and Matteo lead a lively dining scene, with the Golden Sheaf for a drink in the courtyard, and Catalina at Rose Bay has harbour views and seaplanes at the door.

At Watsons Bay, fish and chips from Doyles and a beer in the garden of the beachfront hotel are a Sydney ritual. Bondi is the place for breakfast and for a long lunch with a view. Icebergs Dining Room and Bar looks down on the ocean pool from the southern headland, the cafes of North Bondi and Hall Street are busy from sunrise, and the beachfront pubs fill up in the late afternoon. Bronte has a row of cafes facing the park, and Coogee has the big, multi-level Coogee Pavilion and the beer garden of the Coogee Bay Hotel.

For something cheaper and more unusual, try the restaurants at The Spot in Randwick, the Indonesian and Chinese eateries along Anzac Parade in Kingsford, or a paper parcel of seafood eaten on the grass at La Perouse.

History

The peninsula is the country of the Gadigal, Birrabirragal and Bidjigal people. A track to the signal station on South Head was one of the first roads in the colony, and grand harbourside estates followed in the early 1800s. Trams opened up the beaches from the 1880s, turning Bondi and Coogee into seaside resorts and then into suburbs.

Getting Around

The Eastern Suburbs railway runs from the city to Kings Cross, Edgecliff and Bondi Junction, with frequent buses on to the beaches. Light rail serves Moore Park, Randwick and Kingsford, and ferries run to Double Bay, Rose Bay and Watsons Bay. Buses along Oxford Street and New South Head Road cover the rest.