Sydney on Screen: Two Days in the City That Played the Future

Drop your bags at your hotel in or near Circular Quay — the waterfront puts everything within walking distance and sets the tone immediately.

The Victorian sandstone exterior of Sydney Town Hall is one of the city's great civic set-pieces. Its grand staircase, vaulted ceilings, and ornate ironwork make it unmistakably Sydney — the kind of architecture that production designers have always coveted and could never replicate on a studio lot.

A long, formal strip of fig-lined avenues running south from the city grid, Hyde Park feels unexpectedly European until you look up and find kookaburras in the canopy. The Archibald Fountain at the northern end and the solemn Anzac Memorial at the southern end anchor a walk that earns its unhurried pace.

At the southern tip of Hyde Park, this Art Deco memorial is quieter and more moving than its scale suggests. The Pool of Reflection and Bertram Mackennal's starfield ceiling reward a proper visit rather than a glance from the path.

Head into Haymarket for lunch at Spice I Am, a Thai restaurant that has earned a devoted following for cooking that doesn't soften its edges for the neighbourhood. Order boldly — the heat is the point.

A short walk from Haymarket, the Powerhouse sits in a repurposed 19th-century power station and ranges across design, technology, science, and space. The collection is genuinely vast — give yourself enough time to get properly lost in it rather than skimming the surface.

Walk north to The Rocks and settle in at the Australian Heritage Hotel, a late-19th-century pub that has resisted every temptation to modernise. The pressed-metal ceilings and tiled bar are exactly as they should be. The rotating taps lean Australian — try whatever the bartender recommends.

Stay in The Rocks for dinner at Rosetta, an Italian restaurant where the pasta is made in-house and the room feels like a proper occasion without demanding one. A strong wine list makes it easy to linger.

Start the second day in the CBD at the 4A Centre for Contemporary Asian Art, a not-for-profit gallery that consistently shows work you won't find elsewhere in the city. The programming draws from across the Asia-Pacific and tends to ask uncomfortable, interesting questions.

Walk south to Central — not just to catch a train but to look at the station itself. The Edwardian clock tower, the arched sandstone facades, and the cavernous concourse have a grandeur that feels incongruous and completely right at the same time. This is a working piece of the city, not a monument.

Double back into the CBD for Korean at Madang — a reliable, no-ceremony lunch spot where the bibimbap and BBQ do the talking. Popular with the lunchtime crowd for good reason.

The Australian Museum is one of the oldest natural history museums in the world and it shows — in the best way. The Indigenous Australian galleries are essential viewing, and the mineral and gem collection is unexpectedly spectacular. The recently renovated building itself is worth a slow look.

Make your way to The Rocks and give yourself an hour with no agenda — the narrow laneways, convict-era stonework, and sudden harbour views are best encountered without a plan. Let the grid dissolve.

The Mercantile is The Rocks' Irish pub in the truest sense — established in 1914, with live folk music most evenings and a pint that justifies the walk. Pull up a stool near the front window and watch the harbour light change.

Finish the trip at Squire's Landing on the Circular Quay waterfront — a brewpub with serious kitchen credentials and a view of the harbour that earns its own caption. Order something from the grill, take a James Squire ale, and let the ferries do the work of making the evening feel exactly right.