These are the best places to travel this summer

New South Wales

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Kayakers watch for whales as the sun sets

Getty Images/Moment Open

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Overview

Australia's most populous state is home to its largest city: glitzy, vibrant, intoxicating Sydney, an unforgettable metropolis in a privileged natural setting. Bondi Beach and the harbour are justly famous, but in reality the whole NSW coast is simply magnificent: a mesmerising sequence of beach after quality beach backed by a series of excellent national parks and interesting coastal towns.

Attractions

Must-see attractions

  • Boat mooring at Apple Tree Bay

    Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park

    Sydney

    A spectacular mix of sandstone, Australian bushland and tranquil water vistas, this 14,928-hectare park forms Sydney’s northern boundary. It’s located 20…

  • Bondi Beach, New South Wales, Australia

    Bondi Beach

    Sydney

    Definitively Sydney, Bondi is one of the world’s great beaches. It’s the closest ocean beach to the city centre (8km away), has consistently good (though…

  • 500px Photo ID: 45657584 - hornby lighthouse@watson bay

    Watsons Bay

    Sydney

    Lovely Watsons Bay, east of the city centre and north of Bondi, was once a small fishing village, as evidenced by the heritage cottages that pepper the…

  • Sumatran Tiger

    Taronga Zoo Sydney

    Sydney

    A 12-minute ferry ride from Circular Quay, this forested harbour hillside is full of kangaroos, koalas and similarly hirsute Australians, plus numerous…

  • Woman looks at the water pool in River Cave at the Jenolan Caves at the Blue Mountains of New South Wales, Australia.

    Jenolan Caves

    Blue Mountains

    Far from other Blue Mountains attractions, the limestone Jenolan Caves is one of the most extensive, accessible and complex systems in the world – a vast…

  • Beautiful Area with stone pavement at West Head Lookout Point and Barrenjoey Head background Blur - stock photo


Sydney NSW Australia - June 5th 2020 - Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park on a sunny winter afternoon

    West Head

    Sydney

    This central section of Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park is a spectacular wilderness, with awe-inspiring vistas over Pittwater and Broken Bay, hidden beach…

  • cockatoo island, Sydney Harbour

    Cockatoo Island

    Sydney

    Studded with photogenic industrial relics, convict architecture and art installations, fascinating Cockatoo Island (Wareamah) opened to the public in 2007…

  • Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, Australasia

    Centennial Park

    Sydney

    Scratched out of the sand in 1888 in grand Victorian style, Sydney’s biggest park is a rambling 189-hectare expanse full of horse riders, joggers,…

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