Product Description

The Rough Guide to Sydney is your indispensable travel guide with clear maps and detailed coverage of AustraliaÂ’s oldest, largest and most vibrant city. As well as step-by-step accounts of Sydney's city centre attractions you'll find full coverage of SydneyÂ’s magnificent beaches, including quintessential surfing destination Bondi Beach; Sydney's beautiful harbour, where magnificent wild landscapes lie within easy reach by ferry; and the surrounding countryside, including the spectacular, mist-shrouded Blue Mountains, and the wine-loversÂ’ paradise of the Hunter Valley. Besides in-the-know reviews of Sydney's hotels, hostels and nightlife, The Rough Guide to Sydney details SydneyÂ’s vibrant dining scene listing Sydney restaurants and cafés in up-and-coming neighbourhoods as well as in the ever-changing city centre. An entire chapter is devoted to Sydney's bars and pubs, while further sections include KidsÂ’ Sydney, Shopping in Sydney, and Gay Sydney, where youÂ’ll find an overview of the cityÂ’s legendary Mardi Gras, just one of a year-round calendar of exciting and unusual festivals. Make the most of your holiday with The Rough Guide to Sydney

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #40722 in Books
• Published on: 2009-10-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 364 pages

Excerpted from The Mini Rough Guide to Sydney by Margo Daly. Copyright © 2001. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
WHEN TO VISIT
Since Sydney has such wonderful beaches, the best time to come is between early October and Easter, the official swimming season, when the beaches are patrolled, and outdoor swimming pools reopen.
The sunny springtime months of September and October are when the wild flowers are in bloom, and the smell of blossoms such as jasmine fill the warming city streets, while the bush is alive with critters not yet reduced to summer torpidity. The sweltering hot summer months are mid-December, January and February; Christmas can often see 40 C in the shade, though it’s been known to be cool and overcast; average summer temperatures are 25 C. Sydney is subtropical, with high and very oppressive humidity in summer building up to sporadic torrential rainstorms (dubbed 'southerly busters' by the locals). This is party time, combining high summer with Christmas and New Year festivities and January’s Sydney Festival, culminating in the Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras street parade in late February/early March.
April, when the Royal Agricultural Show hits town, is anecdotally – and actually – the rainiest month. May is a contrastingly glorious time when you can bet on dry sunny weather and blue skies as Sydney heads for its mild winter months of June, July and August. Don’t expect bare trees and grey skies – native trees are evergreen and the skies are usually a less intense blue. Temperatures are rarely less than 10 C, colder during the night, and decidedly chilly the further you go west, with frost on the plains heading to the Blue Mountains – where there are rare light snowfalls. Bring the usual coats, scarves, gloves and woolly hat if you want to go to the mountains in winter; it gets cool at night in summer too. A jumper and jacket should keep you warm enough in the city, where the cafés continue with their outdoor seating, with braziers to radiate some heat.

Customer Reviews

As essential to being in Sydney as the Australian Dollar!
I went to Australia alone last summer armed only with A Lonely Plant guide to Oz and this book as I was spending most of my time in Sydney. Absolutely invaluable, tips on where to go to get the best deals, saver tickets for public transport, easy to read and understand maps; I booked my accomodation using this book and it was everything it was described to be (and better for actually being there!)

Slightly disappointing
I used the Rough Guide in 2004 in Sydney and I was not very impressed. The maps were dreadful and a lot of the information was out of date. I actually found that the free Sydney guide that you pick up at Kingston Airport far more useful. For other parts of the trip I used Lonely Planet Gudies which have a much better layout and cover to cover their subjet areas a lot better.