Sydney has a winning outdoor lifestyle, great restaurants, shopping and beaches.
There's always plenty to keep you entertained in Sydney - festivals, street parties, major sporting events and carnivals...
At night, dining in harbourside locations, world-class entertainment, a vibrant live music scene and fabulous nightclubs will keep you enthralled.
At the heart of the city is Sydney Harbour, the meandering blue waterway that’s surrounded by walking trails, parklands and inner-harbour beaches. The architectural icons, Sydney Opera House and Sydney Harbour Bridge, are both easily explored – on a backstage tour, show or a BridgeClimb.
Explore regional NSW
Around NSW there are plenty of places to visit and things to experience - from dining and beach life to nature walks, shopping and drives. You can learn to surf, try hot-air ballooning, follow horse trails through native forests, go skiing in the Snowy Mountains, taste fine wine at the cellar door and local produce at local cafes and restaurants. You'll also discover there are plenty of places to enjoy the State’s stunning natural attractions, its wildlife, country villages and outback towns.
- Road Trips
- Food & Wine
- Natural Attractions
- Beaches & Surfing
- Adventure
- Family Holidays in NSW
- Events
Drives and road trips
Getting from A to B in NSW.
The best scenic drives take you on a road trip of sheer pleasure. NSW, with road trips such as the Greater Blue Mountains Drive, the Grand Pacific Drive, or the Rainforest Way, is full to the brim with inspirational drives to set your heart racing.
Along the way, you’ll discover beautiful views, spot rare wildlife, see national parks, relax on beautiful beaches and saunter through quiet country outback towns. Added to these NSW attractions are essential lifestyle ingredients such as wine tastings, regional gourmet dining in top-rated restaurants and great places to take short breaks or long lazy weekends away.
Food & Wine
There are plenty of ways to enjoy gourmet food and a wine tasting adventure in NSW.
Award-winning top-rated restaurants are liberally sprinkled across NSW from Leura to Orange, Byron to Bega with committed chefs attracted by the abundant, quality, seasonal produce. You can stock up on delicious gourmet goodies at the farm gate, artisan bakeries, family-owned wineries and the regular farmers’ markets that are now a tourist feature of most major NSW towns.
Stay for a short break or long weekend to enjoy a regional cooking class or wine tasting course. Impress your friends with rare vintages, organic hand-made cheeses and fresh seafood from some of the cleanest waters in the world or a box of succulent organic figs, juicy peaches or crisp apples.
Natural attractions
NSW has breath-taking natural attractions.
The UNESCO World Heritage register lists four sites in NSW that include the Greater Blue Mountains Area, Lord Howe Island, Willandra Lakes centred on Mungo National Park and Gondwana Rainforests of Australia.
You’ll also discover a world of natural treasures on island locations such as Solitary Islands Marine Park and Montague Island.
There are plenty of ways to explore these beautiful environments. Take a nature tour, go abseiling or kayaking, cycling, hiking or bushwalking. Camp overnight in a hidden valley, watch a sparkling waterfall at sunset or sit back and enjoy the sight of mesmeric natural formations.
Beaches and surfing
If there was a world championship for the best beaches, NSW would be disqualified on grounds of unfair advantage.
If you prefer your beaches served with espresso bars as well as sand bars – not to mention spas, surf lessons, and maybe a dolphin or two - the pristine NSW coastline has arguably the best beaches in the world.
It also has more accessible surf beaches than anywhere else in Australia making it the perfect place to learn to surf. Don’t forget to make sure you know where and how to surf safely when you're on holiday in NSW.
Over the years NSW has produced most of Australia’s surfing world champions and continues to lead the way with learn-to-surf schools, surf safaris and surfing events.
Adventure
If the instinct for adventure travel runs in your blood, NSW is your natural habitat.
It’s got the lot - diversity of terrains and weather that will give you plenty of choice of adventure activities as well as easy access to them. Whether your idea of outdoor fun involves skiing in the Snowy Mountains, boating, hiking and bushwalking in the Blue Mountains or Barrington Tops or driving on a scenic outback tour, NSW can make it happen.
There are plenty of NSW tour operators to get you deep into the bush and outback, as well as knowledgeable locals who can take you to a new skill level as a scuba diver, a rock climber or a white-water kayaker.
Family holidays in NSW
Discover a new world of attractions, entertainment and adventure in NSW on a family holiday.
From snowfields to subtropics, beaches to rainforests, waterfalls and big, lazy rivers, NSW has your family trip covered. There’s nothing that the kids like more than trying something new, and NSW has a wide array of exciting experiences whether they’d love to go skiing in the Snowy Mountains, surfing on the South Coast or sailing through the forest on a flying fox on the Central Coast.
There are plenty of accommodation choices for families. You can have a country farm stay, a ski lodge, or a houseboat holiday, or you could camp in a tent or relax and let someone else take all the strain at a luxury beachside resort.
More: http://www.visitnsw.com/Holidays_and_Family_Vacations_p4250.aspx
Events
Old Bar Beach Festival
2 - 3 October 2010
Old Bar
The streets of Old Bar come alive each year with two fun-filled days celebrating their laid-back beach lifestyle and heritage at the Old Bar Beach Festival, now in its fifth year. Indeed the KombiFest element of the festival captures its true spirit. Remember lazy summer holidays, chances are at least one was taken in a VW Kombi van as you hit the road in search of sun, sand and surf.
Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000
7 – 10 October 2010
Mt Panorama, Bathurst
Be a part of history and experience one of the greatest events in Australian motorsport. Why settle for watching Australia's most iconic sporting event on TV when you can make the trip to the Mountain and see it live!
Bitter and Twisted International Boutique Beer Festival
6 - 7 November 2010
East Maitland
How will you escape into Maitland Gaol over the first full weekend in November? Some people are going to serious twisted measures to attend the best damn beer festival! Bitter and Twisted International Boutique Beer Festival will be held inside the walls of the ex-maximum security prison. Weekend detention will include over 50 craft beers, a nationally recognised entertainment line-up and the best prison food you'll find!
Cellarbrations NSW PGA Championships
Wollongong Golf Club
18 – 21 November 2010
Wollongong
Played over 72-holes stroke play with 18 holes on each of the four days at Wollongong Golf Club, the competition features 144 players during the first two rounds, with the lowest 50 professional scores after 36 holes eliminated.
NSW Open Golf Championship
25 – 28 November 2010
The Vintage - Hunter Valley
The Hunter Valley, home to the NSW Open Golf Championships, with some of Australia’s best golfers competing for the title. Held at the Greg Norman-designed Vintage golf club, the NSW Open offers a fantastic tournament in the NSW wine country.
Newton's Nation
26 – 28 November 2010
Mount Panorama, Bathurst
The inaugural event will welcome thousands of revelers on to the mountain and play host to three days and two nights of world class gravity and action sports, featuring competitors from across the globe–all to the tune of some of the best bands and DJ’s in the country.
National Cherry Festival
3 - 5 December 2010
Young
Young - also known as the Cherry Capital of Australia – is the place to be during the cherry season. Highlights of the National Cherry Festival include a street parade, the Cherry Queen Ball and Crowning, Celtic Tattoo, Cherry Festival Carnival, Bush Poets, markets and stalls and much more. There are also many fringe events being held in the build up to the main festival.
Jack Newton Celebrity Classic
13 – 15 December 2010
Cypress Lakes Resort - Hunter Valley
Former Australian champion Jack Newton brings his annual Celebrity Classic back to the Hunter. It’s a golf tournament like no other - one where you can play 18 holes with sporting legends, famous actors and singers, or Olympic greats.
Countrylink Parkes Elvis Festival
5 - 9 January 2011
Parkes
Parkes will turn into a bright light city as the Parkes Elvis Festival becomes Viva Las Vegas! Over five days more than 120 dazzling different events at Cooke Park will have you swivelling those hips!
Tamworth Country Music Festival and The Country Music Awards of Australia
15 – 24 January 2011
Tamworth
It’s the biggest country music festival in Australia and possibly the biggest party in the whole country! Celebrated from 15 to 24 January, the festival culminates in the Awards night on 23 January.
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