Beach-hopping around Sydney, Australia

It will be an understatement to say that Australia has some of the most stunning beaches of the world. An island country it is, after all, flanked by the Indian ocean and the Pacific ocean. Owing to an abundance of beaches for swimming and surfing, we found, Australians are almost always beach-ready in the summers – easily boarding busses, trains with their swimming, surfing gears…

While there are quite a few beaches off Sydney, we made it to only three of them, considering we were there for only 3 days. The reason we chose them were because they were closest, could be visited spending only half the day, and could be reached via public transport – bus and/or train.

Manly Beach: This is the closest beach off Sydney, and the easiest to go to. You can stroll along the Harbour Bridge side, come up to the Circular Quay and simply hop on to a ferry to go to Manly. Take about half an hour on the ferry. For the first-timer, it is a beautiful sight from the deck as you see the Sydney harbour push away. A short walk from the Manly harbour takes you to the Manly beach – a cove-like beach teeming with beach lovers. The street facing the beach is lined with sea-food restaurants, ice-cream shops, and has a beautiful patch of green where you can sunbathe.

Bondi Beach: We absolutely loved the Bondi beach. This too takes about 30-45 min to reach there – first a 10-min train from Central to Bondi junction, then a 15-min bus ride to the beach. The Bondi beach, too, looks like a big cove with a good bed of grass slope for those who are content sunbathing. We had lunch in the street overlooking the beach, and then, while the father and daughter ran off to the beach, I took a happy nap lying on the grass.

Bondi beach to Bronte beach Walk: Ah! This has been another of our most beautiful walks. A 2.5km stretch along the coastline overlooking the turquoise blue ocean, the walk starts from the Notts Avenue to the south of Bondi beach, goes over rocky hillocks offering stunning views of little coves, rocky bays and ends at the Bronte beach. The entire path is well concretised with few steps here and there. Even though just 2.5 kms, we took a leisurely walk, soaking in the sun and the sights, stopping every now and then for photographs.

Bronte Beach: Bronte beach is a quieter and smaller version of Bondi beach. Good for swimming, surfing tuitions and family time. By the time we reach Bronte beach, it was almost 4pm. We were burnt from the walk of 2 hours in the strong summer sun. And so, wanted to go back to the hotel for a good bath and a good massage of body lotion. We did that, and then got ready to watch a musical at the Sydney Opera House.

Important to remember while on a beach-hopping spree in Sydney – your sunscreen lotion! Be liberal with it!

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Read our complete Australia story at — Ring In The New Year With A Holiday in Australia