Guide to The Rocks New South Wales Australia

The Rocks is where European Sydney began. Wedged between Circular Quay and the southern end of the Harbour Bridge, it is a small quarter of sandstone warehouses, steep lanes and terrace houses, and it packs more history into a few blocks than anywhere else in Sydney.

Known For

• The oldest streets in Sydney
• Weekend markets and historic pubs
• Harbour Bridge and Opera House views

Most of the area can be walked in an hour, but it rewards a slower visit. George Street is the main spine, lined with shops and pubs, while the lanes behind it, such as Nurses Walk, Suez Canal and Playfair Street, still follow the tracks worn by the first convicts and sailors. At the northern end the land drops to Campbells Cove and Dawes Point, where the bridge passes directly overhead.

It is a busy place, particularly when a cruise ship is berthed at the Overseas Passenger Terminal, but early mornings and weeknights are quiet and the views across Sydney Cove to the Opera House are among the best in the city.

Things To Do in The Rocks

The Rocks Markets

Every Saturday and Sunday the top end of George Street and Playfair Street fill with stalls selling Australian-made crafts, jewellery, prints, clothing and street food. The markets run all day under sail canopies, so they go ahead in most weather.

Walk the Lanes and the Foreshore

Start at Cadmans Cottage, built in 1816 and one of the oldest surviving buildings in the city, then wander up through the lanes to the Argyle Cut, a road tunnel hacked through solid sandstone by convict gangs from 1843. Guided walking tours leave daily and are the easiest way to hear the stories of plague, press gangs and the razor gangs that once worked these streets. The foreshore path continues around Campbells Cove and under the bridge to Walsh Bay.

Museums and Galleries

The Rocks Discovery Museum, in a restored 1850s warehouse, tells the story of the area from the Gadigal people onwards and is free. Susannah Place is a row of four workers terraces from 1844, kept much as their last tenants left them and visited by guided tour. On the Circular Quay side, the Museum of Contemporary Art fills the former Maritime Services Board building.

The Harbour Bridge

BridgeClimb leaves from Cumberland Street and takes small groups over the arch to the summit, 134 metres above the water. A cheaper alternative is the Pylon Lookout, reached from the bridge walkway, and walking across the bridge to Milsons Point costs nothing at all.

Observatory Hill

A short climb west of the Argyle Cut leads to Observatory Hill in neighbouring Millers Point, a grassy rise with huge fig trees, Sydney Observatory and one of the best sunset views of the harbour.

Where To Stay

The Rocks has some of the most sought-after hotel rooms in Australia. The Park Hyatt Sydney sits right on the water at Campbells Cove facing the Opera House, and the Shangri-La and the Four Seasons are tower hotels with harbour views from the upper floors.

For something smaller, the Harbour Rocks Hotel occupies an 1887 wool store and the Rendezvous Hotel is tucked among the lanes. Sydney Harbour YHA, built on stilts above an archaeological dig, has dorms and private rooms and a roof terrace with a view that five-star guests pay many times more for. Several of the old pubs also have rooms upstairs.

Eat & Drink

The pubs are the heart of The Rocks. The Fortune of War on George Street and the Lord Nelson Brewery Hotel on Kent Street both claim to be the oldest in Sydney, and the Lord Nelson still brews its own ales on site. The Glenmore has a rooftop bar looking straight at the Opera House, and the Australian Heritage Hotel is known for its long beer list and its kangaroo and emu pizzas. The Hero of Waterloo, a few minutes away in Millers Point, has live music and a convict-era cellar.

For a sit-down meal, the restored Campbells Stores at Campbells Cove hold a row of waterfront restaurants, and there are more along George Street and in the Overseas Passenger Terminal. Maybe Sammy, on Harrington Street, is regularly named among the best cocktail bars in the country, and La Renaissance on Argyle Street is a long-standing French patisserie with a courtyard.

History

The Rocks is Gadigal country, known as Tallawoladah. When the First Fleet landed at Sydney Cove in January 1788, the convicts were set to building huts on the rocky western shore, which gave the place its name. Through the 1800s it grew into a crowded waterfront district of sailors lodgings, warehouses and pubs with a rough reputation.

An outbreak of bubonic plague in 1900 led the government to take over the whole area and demolish hundreds of buildings, and more were lost to the Harbour Bridge approaches in the 1920s. Plans in the 1970s to replace what remained with office towers were stopped by residents and the building unions, whose green bans saved the district that visitors walk through today.

Getting to The Rocks

The Rocks is a five-minute walk from Circular Quay, which has a train station, the light rail terminus and the main ferry wharves. Trains from the airport reach Circular Quay in about 20 minutes. Parking is limited and expensive, so it is best to arrive on foot or by public transport.