We are lucky enough to call Sydney our home and have spent a lot of time exploring different areas of the city. It is such a beautiful city that has so much to offer, and luckily heaps of it is free! So if you’re only visiting for a short time or maybe you’ve recently moved here, we’ve got some great tips for you. Don’t forget to check out our Complete Guide to the Public Transport in Sydney to make getting around super easy! Using the public transport is a great and affordable way to get to so many of the free things to do in Sydney.

The Royal Botanic Gardens is Australia’s oldest botanic garden, established in 1816. The 30 hectares of garden is one of the world’s most scenic gardens as it sits along Sydney Harbour. The views across the water to the Sydney Opera House and Sydney Harbour Bridge are simply stunning! The garden is home to 15 different gardens with over 27,000 plants including a tropical garden and a rainforest. It’s open from 7am to sunset, has free entry and has a number of eateries and shops inside.

The best way to enter the gardens to make the most of your time is near the Calyx, a beautiful venue that hosts seasonal horticultural displays. From there, walk down to Mrs Macquarie’s Chair, a stone bench carved by convicts in 1811. You can then walk along the water to the main gate right next to the Opera House. There’s lots of beautiful things to see in the garden, and the pond under the Carrick Chambers Bridge has eels you can see if you’re lucky. It is such a wonderful place to spend a couple of hours and have a picnic on a nice day!

Unsurprisingly, Sydney has some incredible beaches and some amazing coastal walks. Something that may come as a surprise, depending on where you are from, is that all beaches in Australia are free to access. Parking nearby is usually quite expensive, but with public transport, a trip to the beach can be so affordable! Having a day at the beach is easily one of the most popular free things to do in Sydney. There are way too many to mention, but these are some of our favourites:

These beaches are both on the amazing Bondi to Coogee walk, and are both great beaches. They’re both also accessible by buses from the city, and have public toilets and food available, as well as picnic spots nearby.

This beach is located on the 10km Spit to Manly walk, and while any of the beaches on that walk are great, Clontarf is our favourite. Its accessible by bus and is near Contarf Reserve that has toilets, food and picnic space.

This is a harbour beach as opposed to an ocean beach, so the water is quite calm and flat. It has an enclosed swimming area and an island accessible by a bridge, so lots of nice areas to hang out. It’s accessible by bus and has lots of food places along the main road opposite the beach.

These harbour beaches are great and also have an absolutely beautiful walk between them. Starting at Rose Bay Beach, which can be reached by ferry from the city, most of the walk is along the Hermitage Foreshore Reserve. It takes about 45 minutes each way but with beaches, public toilets and food options at both ends, it’s definitely worth it.

Rose Bay also is unique amongst beaches in Sydney in that it has a view of the city!

This is a suburb located an hours drive north of Sydney CBD, or 2 hours each way by bus. Station Beach and North Palm Beach are the ones to visit and both are near public toilets and food options. North Palm Beach is also the filming location for Home and Away, so it’s a must-visit for fans! In between the beaches is the Barrenjoey Lighthouse, which can be reached by a short 30 minute walk up and down each way. The view back to the beaches from the lighthouse is stunning! It is absolutely worth the walk.

Like many other big cities, Sydney has some wonderful innercity parks to enjoy! The biggest one is Centennial Park to the South East of the city. The easiest way to get there is by light rail to Royal Randwick station, but there are buses too. There’s also lots of free parking in the park and it’s a 12 minute walk from Bondi Junction Station.

The park is quite large at 2 square kilometres so there’s lots of space to walk or bike around. It has a couple of large ponds, sports grounds and picnic spots with public toilets and barbecue areas. There’s also lots of wildlife including birds, foxes, rabbits and Sydney’s largest grey-headed flying fox colony. You’ll be sure to see them sleeping in the trees if you visit during the day.

Our personal favourite park is Sydney Park, located south of the city at the end of King Street in Newtown. It is across the road from St Peters station and there’s also buses to the park so it’s easy to get to. Sydney Park is 0.4 square kilometres so is a lot smaller than Centennial Park. However it has some lovely areas including a wetlands, a picnic spot with barbecue areas and a community garden. There is also a hill with a great view of the city on one side and the airport on the other. It truly is a beautiful park and worth exploring if you’ve got time!

Barangaroo is an area just along the harbour from Darling Harbour, which is worth visiting too. From Pyrmont bridge in Darling Harbour, walk north along the water down an area called the Promenade. You’ll pass the Crown Sydney, a new building in Sydney, and eventually make it to Barangaroo Reserve. The reserve is a man made park with cycling and walking tracks and is a lovely place to pause on your waterfront walk.

Continuing around the harbour you will walk past the Wharves and under the Harbour Bridge which is very cool. After that you’ll walk past The Rocks which is one of our favourite parts of Sydney. It is one of the oldest suburbs of Sydney, built in 1788 by convicts. There are lots of great shops and restaurants here among some beautiful sandstone buildings. It really is different from anywhere else in Sydney. Just beyond The Rocks is Circular Quay which is the main ferry port and where you can visit the Opera House. A must visit area for anyone visiting Sydney.

The Grounds are an Instagrammers dream! It is a food and event space that has become famous because of it’s themes. They decorate the laneways based on seasons and moments of cultural significance. We’ve personally visited during their Easter theme, Arabian theme, Frozen movie theme and spring theme. As well as the decorations there is also an animal pen with sheep and chickens, a restaurant, a takeaway place and two food carts.

Getting there is pretty easy as it is within walking distance from Green Square and St Peters stations. There are also lots of buses that go nearby and it is walkable from Sydney Park too. On their website, they claim you can only enter if you are a customer of one of their eateries or are attending an event. However we’ve visited more than five times and have never been stopped from walking straight in. As there are takeaway options inside, there is no way of knowing if you are intending to purchase. Plus, their eateries are delicious and the doughnut cart in particular is our favourite if you do want to eat there.

While this garden is very much not a secret, it is definitely one of our favourite free things to do in Sydney. It is not signposted but can be found in Lavender Bay on Google Maps. It’s located about half way between Milsons Point and North Sydney Stations so is easy to get to. The nicest way to get there is to get off the train at Milsons Point and walk along the harbour past Luna Park. Eventually a big staircase on the right will appear through a stone archway. The garden can be found about halfway up the staircase to the right.

It was built over many years from 1992 by Wendy Whiteley, who began clearing up the rubbish filled valley in front of her house when her husband died. She eventually turned this valley into the wonderful garden and it’s continued to thrive ever since. It is hidden among the trees and bushes and has lots of twists and turns and beautiful plants. At the bottom of the garden are some tables and chairs and at the top is a wonderful view of the Harbour Bridge. Clark Park is also at the top which is the perfect place for a picnic before or after exploring the garden.

As you can imagine, Sydney has some amazing markets and we’ve been to so many of them! Below we’ve put together a small list of our favourites for you if you also like a good market peruse:

These are held, unsurprisingly, in The Rocks every weekend from 10am until 5pm. This is our favourite market, mostly because of it’s beautiful location and great array of stalls. You can find arts and crafts, drinks and lots of delicious food and they also have a Christmas Market in December.

These are held right next to the Harbour Bridge at Milsons Point station with over 220 stalls. They’re held approximately every second weekend from 8:30am to 3pm. Make sure to check their website to see exact dates. At the markets there is a mix of new and artisan arts and crafts, food, and a large space for vintage items.

These are held in the Carriageworks building, an eight minute walk from Redfern Station. It is held every Saturday from 8am until 1pm. You can find fresh fruit and vegetables, baked goods, honey, cheese, meat and flowers.

These are held at the Paddington Uniting Church near Centennial Park. It is on every Saturday from 10am to 4pm and the easiest way to get there is by bus. Here you can find over 150 stalls with arts and crafts, fashion, accessories and food. Once a month they also hold a specialised pop up alongside the market selling things like vintage items, vinyl records and plants.

These are another favourite of ours. Held in the grounds of the colourful Glebe Public School, it is open every Saturday from 10am to 4pm. It’s one of the smaller markets but you’ll find fashion, local produce, hand made jewellery, live music, and lots of food.

We hope this post has given you some great ideas for just some of the great, free things to do in Sydney. There’s something for everyone, whether you’re more of a nature fan or love to wander around markets. Of course there is also so much we haven’t mentioned, because Sydney has so much to offer! If you do something you think deserves to be on this list, let us know. We hope you enjoy exploring our home!

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