Sydney Harbour comprises over 240 kilometers (149 miles) of extravagant meandering shoreline between the Heads (the entrance to the harbor) and the Parramatta River. Getting out on the water in Sydney, whether by kayak, sailboat, or ferry, is a requisite part of visiting the city. There, visitors will familiar the heart and soul of what a lot proclaim to be the world’s most beautiful natural harbor. The water glitters, seabirds swoop, and innumerable coves, waterfront parks, and hidden beaches beckon.
And it’s all backed by the glamorous city skyline, a reminder that this is one of the most cosmopolitan cities on the planet. It’s easy to understand what Australian author Miles Franklin meant when she wrote, “A month would not be long enough to imbibe such prettiness.”
For millennia, the Aboriginal Gadigal peoples fished and lived along its productive headlands and deep channels. Although in 1788, a fleet of ships laden with convicts and marines and their families arrived from England—and this was the start of Australia’s first city. It’s said even the convicts cheered when they beheld the exquisiteness of their new home.
The city began at the Rocks, today a neighborhood with tiny cobblestone lanes and historic stone houses that buzz with new life as pubs, restaurants, and inns. Around the corner, Darlington Harbour recalls the city’s industrial past, its invigorated buildings along the wharves now bustling with cafés and shops.
But Sydney Harbour’s iconic reputation wasn’t secured until two architectural marvels came along to complement it. The first is Sydney Harbour Bridge. Affectionately dubbed the “coat hanger,” this steel-arched bridge has connected the northern and southern shores of Sydney Harbour since 1932.
Thus, measuring 1,650 feet across (503 meters), it originally reigned as the world’s longest single-span steel arch bridge. Anyone daring enough to climb to the tip-top of the arch will look out on the city’s most stunning views, all the way to the Blue Mountains and the Pacific Ocean.
“One of the finest, most beautiful, vast, and safe bays the sun ever shone upon. “ – JOSEPH CONRAD
The second icon is the even more renowned Sydney Opera House, rising in pearly splendor just northeast of the Circular Quay. A masterful feat of architecture, the building’s profile resembles billowing sails, an illusion achieved with multiple interlocking shells set on a pedestal.
The harbor is a striking attraction at any time of day, but a nighttime ferry ride from Darling Harbour to Circular Quay is truly paranormal. Therefore, beneath a star-pricked, licorice-black sky, the ferry passes underneath the lit-up Harbour Bridge, with the shining Opera House beyond. It’s like no other scene in the world.
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