When a friend visits Sydney from out of town, chances are you don’t rush to tell them about how good it is to get a picture in front of the ferries at Circular Quay, or splash in the waves at Bondi Beach. Sydney’s icons are famous enough – and it’s our hidden gems, the places that Sydneysiders carve out time for outside of our own 9-5, that are really worth recommending. With that in mind, we got top picks from some of Sydney’s favourite people.
First up: the man behind Sydney’s fastest mullet. Electrician turned ultramarathon runner Nedd Brockmann, who’s lived in Randwick for the past four years, has shared his top spots to run, recover and refuel in the Harbour City. FYI, over at Sydney.com you can now book a place on a Brockmann-approved running tour around the CBD, then schedule a recovery session at Surry Hills bathhouse Capybara before booking in for dinner at one of the athlete’s favourite restaurants in the city, Luke Mangan’s Luc San in Potts Point.
Olympian Jess Fox's top Sydney itinerary is also active. Jess’s perfect day starts with kayaking at dawn on Sydney Harbour, flying across the Jamieson Valley with Scenic World’s Beyond Skyway experience, then heading to Theo’s Rooftop in her local area, Penrith, for sunset drinks. Conveniently, her itinerary is also, available to book via the Sydney.com site.
Turns out Aria-winning artist Budjerah is an adventurous guy, because he recommends a sunrise balloon ride over Camden, followed by a surfing session at URBNSURF, rounded out with the incredible BridgeClimb Burrawa Aboriginal Climb experience.
Content kings The Inspired Unemployed are high-energy guys – they recommend having a "mystery picnic" in the Royal Botanic Gardens, jet boating on Sydney Harbour with Oz Jet Boating and doing paddle board yoga with Manly-based yoga studio Flow mOcean.
Podcaster, writer and comedy queen Lucinda Price (Froomes) is all about balance – with recommendations spanning from a snorkelling session at Shelly Beach to winding up at the Ace Hotel for dinner and drinks (with a backstage tour of Sydney Opera House thrown in the mix for a bit of culture).
Finally, one of our city’s most beloved chefs: the mighty Dan Hong (Mr Wong, MuMu, Queen Chow) has put together a flavour-led itinerary that will take Sydneysiders on a food tour of Chinatown and to an immersive oyster-tasting experience on the Hawkesbury.
Minister for Tourism Steve Kamper says he agrees Sydney needs to do a better job of highlighting its many hidden gems, quoting Time Out’s recent global round-up, which saw Sydney rank as the fifth-best city in the world for culture: “Sydney was just ranked as one of Time Out’s top five global cities for culture, but when you ask Australians about Sydney they’ll say ‘I’ve already seen the Harbour Bridge’. What is clear in the research is that our icons alone are not enough to get people to visit and revisit Sydney. We need to do a better job at showcasing all our city has to offer, we need to be more than our icons.”
At Time Out Sydney, we make it our mission to shine a light on Sydney’s best bits on a daily basis, so we’re big fans of this approach.
If you want to dig a little deeper into these Sydney personalities' recos, head over to the Sydney.com site.
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