The best luxury hotels in Sydney

There are 140 contemporary rooms and suites, a rooftop pool with cabanas, several restaurants, bars and retail spaces. In its previous iterations it hosted US presidents, our own Prime Ministers (Bob Hawke famously ran through the area in budgie smugglers), Princess Diana and, sadly, Michael Hutchence on the last night of his life. Now the InterContinental Sydney Double Bay is at its brilliant best after a huge renovation. 

Time Out tip: Walk along New South Head Road to the Murray Rose Pool, a harbour beach and large swimming enclosure that’s ripe for a dip any time of year.

The jaw-dropping, close-up vista of both the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge is a major selling point, but you get what you pay for (and that's a lot) – the cheaper rooms offer just glimpses of what the more expensive suites have framed through their windows. A recent refurbishment has transformed the top-end suites into über-minimalist apartment-style hangouts. Extras include a rooftop swimming pool, deluxe spa and much-vaunted 24-hour butler service.

Time Out tip: The Park Hyatt’s minimally named bar the Bar makes some of the best cocktails you can find by the water; and definitely the best club sandwich.

You know you're in a swanky hotel when the menus extend to the bedding. You're sure to get a good night's sleep here with 400-thread Egyptian cotton sheets and a hand-picked pillow menu, so you can find a neck height that's just right. Even the name sounds posh – The Darling – and they make sure that's reflected in every inch beyond the bed, too, from the textured wallpaper and bespoke furniture, to eucalyptus-scented pool.

Time Out tip:  Just downstairs from The Darling, in the same complex you’ll find Sokyo Japanese restaurant, where chef Chase Kojima serves up some of the best sushi and sashimi in the city.

The Harbour View Suite – which keeps the heritage-listed building’s original timberwork intact – has waterfront vistas, gleaming white furnishings and luxe toiletries courtesy of Appelles Apothecary & Bar. (Toss the ginger lily-scented Himalayan bath salts and get lost in the giant tub before swanning around your room in white cotton bath robes.)

Time Out tip: Never done the BridgeClimb? Fix that. Locals leave just as gobsmacked as tourists after they enjoy views from its summit. Climbs run every day of the year.

For a taste of inner-city luxury, you can’t beat QT Sydney. It packs 200 individualised rooms, a day spa (spaQ), men’s barber, two bars, a café and restaurant into the heritage-listed Gowings building – and still feels boutique rather than behemoth. They’ve themed the place around the full-service men’s department stores of the ’50s and ’60s, from vintage American barber shop chairs to the Hammam-inspired steam room.

Time Out tip: When you wake up, head downstairs to Parlour Lane Roasters. 

Money might not buy you a lifetime of happiness, but it will certainly achieve it in the short term if you use it to book a weekend escape at Jonah’s at Whale Beach. It's a famous romantic getaway for Sydneysiders who want to soak their troubles away in a spa bath that has sightlines out to the ocean. 

Time Out tip: Arrange a private sail with Taylor Made Escapes, who will take you out on the high seas with a heartily stuffed picnic hamper and a bottle of Bollinger bubbly. Landlubbers might prefer to stay put and cruise the award-winning whopper of a wine list instead.