Wildlife Retreat, Taronga ZooCredit: Destination NSW
Family enjoying a meal at Me-Gal Restaurant at the Wildlife Retreat, Taronga Zoo
Sustainability meets sophistication in Sydney, where you can indulge in a luxe stay while minimising your impact on the environment. Once you’ve settled into your eco-friendly room, seek out some incredible farm-to-table and seasonal dining experiences that will make your low-impact visit even more memorable.
Stay sustainably in the city centre
It’s easy to keep close to the action in the heart of the city while ensuring the hotel you stay in applies environmentally responsible practices. At the five-star Swissôtel Sydney, the Ecotourism-certified hotel’s “seamless sustainability” manifests in everything from energy-efficient infrastructure to the rooftop beehives making the honey you drizzle on your toast in the morning (70 per cent of all produce served up at Swissôtel Sydney is sourced within a 200km radius).
A block back from the majestic Moreton Bay fig trees of Hyde Park, The Porter House Hotel – MGallery blends sustainable practices such as its carbon footprint reduction efforts into its offering as smoothly as the hotel’s modern tower melds with its adjoining 19th-century sandstone building.
In Sydney’s financial district near Circular Quay, Capella Sydney combines ultra-luxury with environmentally sustainable practices and a deep engagement with the city’s cultural life. Alongside preserving historically significant elements of its heritage-listed building and integrating low-impact materials, like the reclaimed-marble bathtubs in the generously sized guest rooms, the hotel offers up authentic experiences and unique encounters via its Capella Culturists program.
And high above the Barangaroo precinct, The Langham, Sydney continues to maintain its EarthCheck Gold certification – a science-backed, people-focused sustainability certification process – through responsible resource management, sustainable sourcing of produce and community engagement while offering impeccable service, opulent suites and a comprehensive wellness program.
The Porter House Hotel, Sydney Credit: Steven Woodburn
The Porter House Hotel, Sydney
The Porter House Hotel, Sydney Credit: Steven Woodburn
The Porter House Hotel, Sydney
Bed down at Taronga Zoo
Thrill to immersive encounters with Australia’s iconic native animals, savour modern Australian dining and soak up superb Sydney Harbour views when you stay at the Wildlife Retreat, a one-of-a-kind eco-retreat nestled in the grounds of Taronga Zoo Sydney.
Whether you stretch out in a luxe Treetop Suite, an Animal View Room or a room overlooking the surrounding bush or the harbour, by staying at the retreat you’ll be supporting the zoo’s mission of securing a shared future for wildlife and people.
As you’d expect from a leader in the fields of conservation, research and environmental education, Taronga’s commitment to sustainability shows through in the lodge’s use of low-impact timber over concrete and steel, best-practice waste and water management, and offering only environmentally sustainable and responsibly sourced seafood, to name but a few initiatives.
So you’re bound to feel great as you enjoy guest privileges such as the included guided tour of the Advanced Ecotourism-certified wildlife sanctuary, two days of zoo access and breakfast with sweeping harbour views in the retreat’s exclusive N’Gurra Lounge.
Taronga Zoo Sydney, Mosman Credit: Destination NSW
The Wildlife Retreat accommodation at Taronga Zoo Sydney, Mosman.
Taronga Zoo Sydney, Mosman Credit: Destination NSW
The Wildlife Retreat accommodation at Taronga Zoo Sydney, Mosman.
Wildlife Retreat, Taronga Zoo Credit: Destination NSW
Couple enjoying the scenic views from their room at Wildlife Retreat, Taronga Zoo.
Wildlife Retreat, Taronga Zoo Credit: Destination NSW
Couple enjoying the scenic views from their room at Wildlife Retreat, Taronga Zoo.
Feast on fresh farm produce
If transparency in a restaurant’s supply chain is just as important to you as the creativity and skill that’s evident in the dishes it serves, you’ve come to the right city. You can dine on fresh, locally sourced ingredients that minimise your food’s carbon footprint while supporting New South Wales’s farmers and producers at farm-to-table eateries across the city.
Secure some of the 18 seats available in each sitting at The Blue Door in Surry Hills and tuck in to the first of seven-plus courses in a tasting menu of the most ethical produce the state has to offer. From only sourcing whole animals from producers chef Dylan Cashman and his team have visited in person to purchasing vegetables exclusively from farmers who engage in regenerative practices, The Blue Door is a hyper-local dining experience.
Seafood lovers will bliss out at Saint Peter in Paddington, where chef Josh Niland famously pursues his “scale to tail” philosophy of using all parts of the sustainably caught fish he sources, as well as championing the use of underutilised fish species to take pressure off more popular varieties. Come for a three-course lunch of line-caught fish, or indulge in the set dinner menu which may feature fish offal and delicacies such as coral trout bone noodles and charcuterie from the chef’s Fish Butchery.
A short walk away from Saint Peter, Fred’s takes pride of place on Paddington’s Oxford Street with its farm-to-table menu of sustainably farmed and fished seasonal produce cooked to perfection in an open-fire hearth and paired with minimal intervention, organic and biodynamic wines.
For those venturing west of the city, Sinclair's in Penrith takes the paddock-to-plate philosophy to impressive lengths. This restaurant sources almost all ingredients from within 50km of its dining room, with chefs personally visiting local farms to connect with growers in the Hawkesbury, Blue Mountains and Nepean countryside.
The Blue Door restaurant in Surry Hills Credit: Destination NSW
Located in Waterloo St, Surry Hills, The Blue Door serves a Tasting Menu dictated by NSW farmers. They create sustainable, interesting, tasty food in a truly Modern Australian way.
The Blue Door restaurant in Surry Hills Credit: Destination NSW
Located in Waterloo St, Surry Hills, The Blue Door serves a Tasting Menu dictated by NSW farmers. They create sustainable, interesting, tasty food in a truly Modern Australian way.
Fred’s in Paddington Credit: Destination NSW
Seasonality, locally-sourced produce and a sense of occasion come together in an intimate open kitchen. The wine list features the full spectrum of classic wines but also lesser known regions and varieties.
Fred’s in Paddington Credit: Destination NSW
Seasonality, locally-sourced produce and a sense of occasion come together in an intimate open kitchen. The wine list features the full spectrum of classic wines but also lesser known regions and varieties.
Savour what’s in season
Tap into Japanese cuisine’s tight focus on seasonality at the contemporary kaiseki restaurant Garaku, one of the refined offerings within the Prefecture 48 dining precinct in the city centre. Secure a spot at the 16-seater chef’s table or a settle in at a table in the neon-lit dining space and feel time slow down as you concentrate on each sublime dish in a seasonal menu meticulously curated by Derek Kim, a former executive head chef at the now defunct Sydney fine-dining icon Tetsuya’s.
Draw on the energy flowing through the buzzy dining space at BTWN, looking out over Darling Harbour at W Sydney, as you peruse a seasonal menu celebrating the state’s producers and providores. Whatever dish you choose spotlights the provenance of the ingredients, from oysters plucked from lakes on the NSW South Coast to cod from the Riverina region in the southwest of the state and honey from the Blue Mountains. Pair your selection with a glass or a bottle from a wine list crowned the state’s best in the 2025 NSW Sommelier Wine List Awards for the way BTWN’s Daniele Campo has highlighted local wineries.
Vegans and vegetarians can also sample some of the great wines and beers NSW has to offer while filling up on tempting animal-free dishes inspired by South-East Asian and Mediterranean cuisines at Yulli’s, a much-loved restaurant that’s been serving up vegan and gluten-free food in Surry Hills since 2008.
Garaku, Prefecture 48 Credit: Destination NSW
Garaku is the fine-dining headliner at Prefecture 48, a sprawling hospitality precinct in Sydney’s CBD that channels the cultural and creative breadth of Japan’s 47 prefectures.
Garaku, Prefecture 48 Credit: Destination NSW
Garaku is the fine-dining headliner at Prefecture 48, a sprawling hospitality precinct in Sydney’s CBD that channels the cultural and creative breadth of Japan’s 47 prefectures.
BTWN at W Sydney Credit: Destination NSW
BTWN is an all-day dining restaurant situated ‘between’ the city’s sweeping expressways with views to Darling Harbour with a menu celebrating locally sourced ingredients from ‘between the borders' in NSW.
BTWN at W Sydney Credit: Destination NSW
BTWN is an all-day dining restaurant situated ‘between’ the city’s sweeping expressways with views to Darling Harbour with a menu celebrating locally sourced ingredients from ‘between the borders' in NSW.
More Inspirational Stories
Tribal Warrior Cultural Cruises, Clark IslandCredit: Destination NSW
Guests learning about the traditional culture, history and stories of Sydney Harbour on an Aboriginal guided tour with Tribal Warrior on Be-lang-le-wool (Clark Island), Sydney.
You don’t need to journey to the Outback to experience Indigenous culture this spring. There are plenty of ways to immerse in a rich Aboriginal heritage stretching back tens of thousands of years in Sydney, from a Dreamtime walking tour and bush tucker tastings to an immersive Sydney Harbour cruise and powerful works of art and dance. Here’s how to connect with the world’s oldest continuous living culture in the heart of Australia’s biggest city.
See another side to Sydney’s identity
Be moved by the generous spirit of Dunghutti-Jerrinjah Elder Margret Campbell as she shares her vast knowledge of Aboriginal culture with you on Dreamtime Southern X’s acclaimed The Rocks Aboriginal Dreaming Tour (Illi Langi).
Learn of the deep connection Sydney’s first inhabitants have with the saltwater harbour and its shoreline as Margret or one of her well-trained guides takes you around the historic harbourside precinct of The Rocks – the birthplace of modern Sydney.
After an ochre-daubing ceremony outside Cadmans Cottage, one of the oldest surviving colonial buildings in the country, your guide will take you to significant Aboriginal sites all across The Rocks. Feel the weight of history as you stand in Hickson Road Reserve, in the shadow of Sydney Harbour Bridge, listening to your guide recount the Gadigal people’s reactions to the British sailors landing in the cove before you.
You’ll also hear Dreamtime creation stories along the way and learn just how attuned Sydney’s first peoples were to the seasonal flowerings of plants lining the harbour shore, not just as a sustainable food source but also as a fundamental part of each individual’s cultural identity.
Dreamtime Southern X, Sydney Credit: Destination NSW
Margret Campbell leading a Dreamtime Southern X tour at Balls Head, Waverton in Sydney.
Dreamtime Southern X, Sydney Credit: Destination NSW
Margret Campbell leading a Dreamtime Southern X tour at Balls Head, Waverton in Sydney.
Dreamtime Southern X, Sydney Credit: Destination NSW
Group enjoying a Dreamtime Southern X tour with Marget Campbell at Balls Head, Waverton in Sydney.
Dreamtime Southern X, Sydney Credit: Destination NSW
Group enjoying a Dreamtime Southern X tour with Marget Campbell at Balls Head, Waverton in Sydney.
Ascend to a new level of understanding
Just as Dreamtime Southern X’s guides tell the story of pre-colonial Sydney by rooting you firmly in the terrain of The Rocks, an Aboriginal storyteller recounts tales of the Gadigal people from a vantage point high up on the steel arches of Sydney Harbour Bridge during BridgeClimb Sydney’s Burrawa Indigenous Experience.
After taking part in a traditional ochre ceremony, you’ll ascend the bridge’s iconic arches and learn of these land’s Traditional Custodians while taking in spectacular views of the harbour. Make indelible memories as you learn of the Gadigal men and women whose names are preserved at nearby locales such as Bennelong Point and Barangaroo. Your First Nations storyteller may even point out the Dawes Point neighbourhood bordering The Rocks and tell of how Cammeraygal woman Patyegarang taught First Fleet botanist William Dawes her language, in what’s considered to be the first recorded cultural exchange in Australia.
BridgeClimb, Sydney Credit: Destination NSW
Family enjoying the Burrawa Indigenous Experience at BridgeClimb, Sydney.
BridgeClimb, Sydney Credit: Destination NSW
Family enjoying the Burrawa Indigenous Experience at BridgeClimb, Sydney.
Immerse in a hands-on tour
A short (if hilly) walk from The Rocks, the six-hectare headland of Barangaroo Reserve is home to around 75,000 native Australian trees and shrubs, many of which hold significance to the Gadigal people. Take an in-depth Aboriginal Cultural Tour of the harbourside reserve during the springtime bloomings to discover how some of these native plants are used as tools, weapons and medicine as well as food.
You’ll also hear stories of notable Aboriginal people with connections to this headland overlooking Sydney Harbour Bridge. Step back in time to the initial wave of European colonisation as you hear of the feats of Cammeraygal woman Barangaroo, wife of Bennelong (a go-between and interpreter for the first governor of the British colony) and a key Aboriginal community leader, for whom the adjacent dining and entertainment precinct was named.
Aboriginal Cultural Tours, Barangaroo Reserve Credit: Destination NSW
Women learning about Aboriginal culture on a tour with Aboriginal Cultural Tours, Barangaroo Reserve.
Aboriginal Cultural Tours, Barangaroo Reserve Credit: Destination NSW
Women learning about Aboriginal culture on a tour with Aboriginal Cultural Tours, Barangaroo Reserve.
Aboriginal Cultural Tours, Barangaroo Reserve Credit: Destination NSW
Women learning about Aboriginal culture on a tour with Aboriginal Cultural Tours, Barangaroo Reserve.
Aboriginal Cultural Tours, Barangaroo Reserve Credit: Destination NSW
Women learning about Aboriginal culture on a tour with Aboriginal Cultural Tours, Barangaroo Reserve.
View the harbour with a new perspective
Gain an understanding of the spiritual significance of Sydney Harbour to its Traditional Custodians on a fascinating Tribal Warrior Cultural Cruise. Board Tribal Warrior’s Mari Nawi (the “big canoe”) at Circular Quay for a two-hour harbour cruise with a difference as you hear Dreamtime stories of the Eora clan’s Gadigal, Guringai, Wangal, Cammeraygal and Wallumedegal peoples and enjoy a performance of traditional dances and music.
Unravel layers of meaning as your guides point out sites and landmarks that hold deep significance for the harbour’s first inhabitants, engage in enlightening discussions and step ashore on Sydney Harbour’s Clark Island to learn about traditional fishing methods and food-gathering practices.
Tribal Warrior Cultural Cruises, Clark Island Credit: Destination NSW
Guests learning about the traditional culture, history and stories of Sydney Harbour on an Aboriginal guided tour with Tribal Warrior on Be-lang-le-wool (Clark Island), Sydney.
Tribal Warrior Cultural Cruises, Clark Island Credit: Destination NSW
Guests learning about the traditional culture, history and stories of Sydney Harbour on an Aboriginal guided tour with Tribal Warrior on Be-lang-le-wool (Clark Island), Sydney.
Tribal Warrior Cultural Cruises, Clark Island Credit: Destination NSW
Guests arriving by boat to Be-lang-le-wool (Clark Island), Sydney for an Aboriginal guided tour with Tribal Warrior.
Tribal Warrior Cultural Cruises, Clark Island Credit: Destination NSW
Guests arriving by boat to Be-lang-le-wool (Clark Island), Sydney for an Aboriginal guided tour with Tribal Warrior.
Treat yourself to intriguing bush foods
Take the Tribal Warrior Cultural Cruise and you’ll arrive back at Circular Quay just in time for lunch at the Sydney Opera House’s Midden by Mark Olive restaurant. Here the powerful flavours of Australian indigenous ingredients weave their distinctive way through an innovative menu by celebrity chef and Bunjalung man Mark Olive.
Savour Sydney rock oysters with a delicate desert raisin and wattleseed vinaigrette and finger lime (a native citrus fruit), then be dazzled by an Indigenous Australian grazing plate featuring smoked kangaroo, emu and crocodile paired with quandong paste and cheeses from regional NSW dairies. Just be sure to save room for a delightfully different dessert, such as Mark Olive’s bush pavlova or the Geraldton-wax pannacotta.
You could also enjoy the lunch experience at Midden after first heading over to the neighbouring Royal Botanic Garden and enjoying one of this leading scientific institution’s Aboriginal Experiences. Join a First Nations guide on a Aboriginal Bush Tucker Tour of the botanic garden’s Cadi Jam Ora – First Encounters Garden from 11am Thursday to Saturday and you’ll be ready for lunch by the end of the one-hour tour.
Or join the Royal Botanic Garden’s early-afternoon Aboriginal Harbour Heritage Tour to learn of the Gadigal people’s lives and traditions before devouring sweet and savoury treats with distinctive bush seasonings at Midden’s Native High Tea Experience.
Coming to Sydney in early spring? Make a beeline for the Blak Markets as they return to The Rocks’ Dawes Point for one day only on Sunday, 14 September 2025. Come early for the Welcome to Country and smoking ceremony, then browse market stalls offering bush tucker and native Australian herbs and spices, as well as authentic artworks, hand-crafted homewares, jewellery and clothes.
Aboriginal Tour, Royal Botanic Garden Sydney Credit: Destination NSW
Guests learning about the rich Aboriginal culture of the Gadigal people on a guided tour in the Royal Botanic Garden Sydney.
Aboriginal Tour, Royal Botanic Garden Sydney Credit: Destination NSW
Guests learning about the rich Aboriginal culture of the Gadigal people on a guided tour in the Royal Botanic Garden Sydney.
Aboriginal Tour, Royal Botanic Garden Sydney Credit: Destination NSW
Guests learning about the rich Aboriginal culture of the Gadigal people on a guided tour in the Royal Botanic Garden Sydney.
Aboriginal Tour, Royal Botanic Garden Sydney Credit: Destination NSW
Guests learning about the rich Aboriginal culture of the Gadigal people on a guided tour in the Royal Botanic Garden Sydney.
Surrender to the power of storytelling
You can also connect with Sydney’s Traditional Custodians as well as other Australian Indigenous communities through artworks, performances and tours at some of the city’s leading arts institutions.
One of the highlights of Sydney’s spring 2025 arts calendar is the Art Gallery of New South Wales’s Yolŋu power: the art of Yirrkala exhibition, which traces the evolution of one of Australia’s most internationally acclaimed arts communities, Yirrkala, in Northern Territory’s northeast Arnhem Land from the 1940s to today.
You can catch this extraordinary exhibition before it closes on 6 October 2025. Families can pick up or download a free children’s trail to help develop creative thinking and visual literacy while exploring the exhibition, before treating themselves to a snack or lunch featuring native ingredients by Indigenous-owned business Indigiearth at the Naala Badu kiosk.
Kids aged seven to 12 years old will also love Bangarra Dance Theatre’s The Bogong’s Song: a call to Country, which runs from 8–18 October 2025 at Bangarra’s Studio Theatre in the Walsh Bay Arts Precinct. Co-written by Thiithaarr Warra (Guugu Yimithirr), Kaanju and Ayapathu woman Chenoa Deemal and Bidjara woman Yolande Brown, who also directs and choreographs the show, The Bogong’s Song invites you to experience a connection to Country through storytelling, shadow puppetry, dance and song.
Keep an eye out for the next major production by this company of professional Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander dancers at the Sydney Opera House, or indulge in an exclusive behind-the-scenes tour of Bangarra’s studio throughout the year.
And at the Australian Museum, grown-ups and children alike can gain a better understanding of Australia’s First Nations peoples on a Waranara Tour on Wednesdays and Saturdays all year round. Learn about the knowledge systems that have sustained countless generations on this 45-minute tour of the Garrigarrang: Sea Country space, uncovering the significance of the many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultural objects in the museum’s collections.
Then let the kids go on a journey through Country as they trace the life cycle of an eel in the immersive Burra learning space, located next to the museum’s family-friendly Billabong Waterhole café.
Yolŋu power: the art of Yirrkala Credit: Destination NSW
The Art Gallery of New South Wales will showcase the extraordinary artists of Yirrkala and the power of their art from the 1940s to the present in our major exhibition, Yolŋu power: the art of Yirrkala.
Yolŋu power: the art of Yirrkala Credit: Destination NSW
The Art Gallery of New South Wales will showcase the extraordinary artists of Yirrkala and the power of their art from the 1940s to the present in our major exhibition, Yolŋu power: the art of Yirrkala.
Bangarra Dance Theatre Bogong’s Song Credit: Destination NSW
The Bogong’s Song blends storytelling, shadow puppetry, dance and song to tell the story of the Bogong moth, inviting young audiences to experience connection to Country, and to listen, reflect, and wonder.
Bangarra Dance Theatre Bogong’s Song Credit: Destination NSW
The Bogong’s Song blends storytelling, shadow puppetry, dance and song to tell the story of the Bogong moth, inviting young audiences to experience connection to Country, and to listen, reflect, and wonder.