Young Henrys, NewtownCredit: Destination NSW
Patrons enjoying the beer at Young Henrys bar and brewery in Newtown.
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Sydney’s fearlessly independent streak thrives in the Inner West. Here, local characters wear their art on their sleeves, street art is just as likely to be a handwritten poem as a multi-storey mural, and unique individuality and community are celebrated equally. And whether you’re visiting for lunch or spending a few days exploring, you’ll find inspiration at every turn.
“The Inner West is Sydney’s creative heart,” says Hayden Quinn, foodie and host of Taste of Australia with Hayden Quinn: Sydney Edition. “It’s where the local music scene roars to life in small bars and iconic clubs, and the inspiration for inventive cooking is grown in lush community gardens. And whether you’re kicking back with a beer in a craft brewery, tucking into artisan small-batch sausages or trawling markets for the ingredients of your own culinary masterpiece, the Inner West gets your creative juices flowing.”
Every weekend, the colourful community comes together at local markets to shop and share ideas. At Glebe Markets, local bands keep the indie energy flowing while you treasure-hunt for handcrafted leather goods, jewellery and vintage fashion; meanwhile, stalls at the Rozelle Markets celebrate sustainable living with recycled, upcycled fashion displayed alongside farm-fresh local produce.
The area’s creative approach to sustainability and fresh fare continues at the Marrickville Organic Food Markets or Taste Organic, where you can pick up gourmet food and certified organic produce to take home, and tuck into street-eats sizzled on site. Fill your reusable shopping tote with hand-picked organic fruit, vegetables and herbs all grown in Sydney, along with organic free-range eggs, craft ciders, raw kombucha, and handmade breads, biscuits and pastries, with vegan and gluten-free options aplenty. When it’s time to break for lunch, find a shady place to roll out your picnic rug and eat your fill of fresh paella and Turkish gozleme while live local musicians create your perfect Sunday playlist.
Inspired by the markets’ creativity? Pop in for a class at Clay Sydney, where creatives like Flex Mami get hands-on and you can take part in a Wine & Clay Night, take a two-hour planter-making class or sign up for a longer course. If you’d prefer to take that creative urge to the kitchen, local eateries and culinary schools offer hands-on workshops to help bring your gastronomic goals to life. Perfect your pickling and cheese-making skills at Cornersmith; learn the art of smoking meat and seafood at the BBQ Cooking School; take a vegetarian masterclass at Harvest, or bake your own artisanal bread at Bourke Street Bakery.
Inner West Sydney | Taste of Australia with Hayden Quinn: Sydney Edition Credit: Destination NSW
Flex Mami and Hayden Quinn in studio at Clay Sydney, Marrickville
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Inner West Sydney | Taste of Australia with Hayden Quinn: Sydney Edition Credit: Destination NSW
Flex Mami and Hayden Quinn in studio at Clay Sydney, Marrickville
Cooking can be thirsty work, and there’s no better place to wet your whistle than at one of the Inner West’s famous craft breweries. Start at the Sausage Factory in Dulwich Hill, renowned for their certified free range of sausages (hand-twisted in small batches on site with inventive ingredients like camel pastourma, Scamorza cheese, kangaroo, Dorrigo pepper and aniseed myrtle); and their Sausage Queen Brewing Hybrid White Ale, brewed daily on site and poured from the tap. Sign up for their Boozy Sausage Class and sip local craft beers while you make your own snags in a two-hour, hands-on session.
Inner West Sydney | Taste of Australia with Hayden Quinn: Sydney Edition Credit: Destination NSW
The Sausage Factory, Dulwich Hill
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Inner West Sydney | Taste of Australia with Hayden Quinn: Sydney Edition Credit: Destination NSW
The Sausage Factory, Dulwich Hill
Then, hit the Inner West Ale Trail and explore the 11 independent craft breweries that have made the Inner West the Craft Beer Capital of Australia, including Batch Brewing Co, Willie the Boatman,
Wayward Brewing Co, Young Henrys, Wildflower, The Grifter, Sauce Brewing Co and more. Or make a day of it with friends – and let someone else handle the logistics – on an Inner West brewery tour with Dave’s Brewery Tours or Urban Legends Tour Co, where you can the makers on behind-the-scenes tours and can add fun activities like go karting, axe-throwing and lawn bowls to your itinerary.
The Inner West’s creative atmosphere is showcased in its soundtrack, with its live music spanning everything from indie pop, to pub rock, to eclectic hip hop performed in pubs, clubs, bars and iconic theatres. Sydney’s oldest and longest running live venue, the Enmore Theatre, has been the centre of Inner West entertainment since 1912, with the likes of the Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, Coldplay, local legends and world-renowned comedians hitting its stage to play to just 2,500 people.
Prefer tunes and brews somewhere a little more intimate? Walk just two minutes south down Enmore Road to Cottonmouth Records, where you can add to your record collection while sampling more than 80 types of whiskey and local craft beers, or grab a pre-gig feed at The Warren View Hotel. In neighbouring Newtown, enjoy a tipple at The Midnight Special and listen to live punk, country, indie and blues music in a cosy, Americana-influenced setting; or, head to The Vanguard for a late-night feast and a live show spanning everything from dark pop to funk to rock to burlesque. And for a show that celebrates all the Inner West’s inimitable sparkle and colour, take in a drag performance at The Imperial Erskineville – a national treasure that received a makeover fit for a queen in 2018.
The Imperial Erskineville Credit: Destination NSW
Drag artists getting ready for Drag n' Dine at The Imperial Erskineville in Sydney's inner west.
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The Imperial Erskineville Credit: Destination NSW
Drag artists getting ready for Drag n' Dine at The Imperial Erskineville in Sydney's inner west.
Wherever you decide to eat, drink and get merry around the Inner West, you’ll discover a passionate, creative spirit that keeps drawing you back – and invites you to stay a little longer every time.
Make a weekend out of it and book a night at the Urban Newtown for boutique rooms in the heart of King Street’s action; at the nearby Rydges Camperdown, or the luxe The Old Clare Hotel in lively Chippendale.
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The Fall Guy Credit: Universal & UPI Media
The Fall Guy in Sydney with a spectacular Glebe Island Silo Stunt
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Action-comedy film The Fall Guy explodes onto Australian screens on 24 April, and along with Hollywood superstars Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt, Sydney also plays a starring role. But the city isn’t just a backdrop to many of the action-packed scenes in the film, it also offers real-life action experiences to get your heart pumping. Here’s our guide to high-octane experiences in Sydney.
On-the-water adrenaline
Just like Ryan Gosling blasting around Sydney Harbour in a high-speed boat chase, you too can feel the wind in your hair, the sea spray on your face and your heart in your mouth on an Oz Jet Boating experience. These bright red, shark-faced jetboats fish-tail, spin and slide under the Sydney Harbour Bridge, past Dawes Point Park (where we meet Jean Claude the kelpie in the film) and the iconic Sydney Opera House, leaving you breathless and somewhat damp. Turn it down a notch with a two-, three- or five-day course from EastSail, with classes on the calm shores of Rushcutters Bay, or go five-star by hiring your very own superyacht from the fleet at Sydney Harbour Luxe Charters – Ghost II was featured in the film.
Get locked in an escape room
A bolted door, a countdown clock and a series of fiendish puzzles – outsmart the bad guys and challenge your friends in one of Sydney’s best escape rooms. Award-winning The Cipher Room, with locations in Newtown and St Peters, offers immersive, expertly designed rooms. Choose from a film noir-style hotel, a mysterious abandoned toy shop or a dystopian French bunker. Entermission Sydney has virtual-reality rooms, with themes like Alice in Wonderland, a pirate ship or space station. While not strictly an escape room, the one-of-a-kind Hijinx Hotel is a fun escape-like challenge set inside a quirky 15-room hotel.
Hickson Road Reserve, Dawes Point Credit: Destination NSW
Friends walking along Sydney Harbour in the morning.
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Hickson Road Reserve, Dawes Point Credit: Destination NSW
Friends walking along Sydney Harbour in the morning.
Oz Jet Boating, Sydney Harbour Credit: Destination NSW
Experience the incredible speed of the red shark boats as they blast across Sydney harbour at high speed with Oz Jet Boating.
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Oz Jet Boating, Sydney Harbour Credit: Destination NSW
Experience the incredible speed of the red shark boats as they blast across Sydney harbour at high speed with Oz Jet Boating.
Find your need for speed
It’s not an action movie without a car chase, and while you can’t speed through the CBD streets like Ryan Gosling and Jean Claude, you can still challenge your friends to race via go kart at Hyper Karting Moore Park. At the 410-metre indoor track, the electric cars offer plenty of exhilarating straights and corners, with a high-speed function to help you overtake your mates. True petrol heads should make a pitstop at Luddenham Raceway in southwest Sydney, where the go karts are fuelled and the 600m outdoor pro circuit offers 12 high-speed corners and even nighttime drives. Want to do the real thing? Trackschool has half-day passenger or driving experiences in a Porsche 911 Carrera also at the raceway.
Have an adventure up high
A high-stakes, sky-high chopper scene is an action flick essential; recreate the experience (minus the stress) on a flight with Sydney HeliTours. The 20- or 30-minute tours take in jaw-dropping views of harbour icons like the Sydney Opera House, Taronga Zoo, Bondi Beach and the Sydney Harbour Bridge. Or live out your Hollywood star dreams onboard the luxury Sydney Seaplanes. If free-falling from the sky like Ryan Gosling does jumping from a multi-story building is the heart race you crave, get the thrills without the spills at iFly Downunder: fully accessible, all-ages indoor skydiving that will make you feel like a superhero. Or take a day trip to the Blue Mountains for a ride on Scenic World’s 270m-high glass-cased Beyond Skyway for that soaring feeling while safely enclosed in a cable car.
Luddenham Raceway, Luddenham Credit: Destination NSW
Track Day at Luddenham Raceway Motorsport Park, Luddenham.
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Luddenham Raceway, Luddenham Credit: Destination NSW
Track Day at Luddenham Raceway Motorsport Park, Luddenham.
Sydney Seaplanes, Rose Bay Credit: Destination NSW
Couple ready to enjoy a Sydney Seaplanes flight from Rose Bay, Sydney.
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Sydney Seaplanes, Rose Bay Credit: Destination NSW
Couple ready to enjoy a Sydney Seaplanes flight from Rose Bay, Sydney.
Scale walls and cliffs
Action heroes need to be agile and spider-like; flex your skills scaling rock walls at one of Sydney’s top indoor rock-climbing centres. Climb Fit in St Leonards has beginner and high-tech climbs using augmented reality, while Ledge is a smaller centre in Camperdown perfect for beginners, and BlocHaus in Marrickville focuses solely on bouldering. If you prefer to climb surrounded by waterfalls and forests, make the extra leap to the Blue Mountains, and challenge yourself on an abseil or rock-climb under the expert guidance of the Blue Mountains Adventure Company.
Spots to refuel
After all that adventuring, you’re going to need a spot to refuel and cheers to a big day. Make it a meal with a view at Aster Bar on top of the InterContinental Sydney – with uninterrupted views of the harbour. The rooftop bar featured in the film is the Ivy – which is a local favourite for big nights out. Partake in Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt’s love for spicy margaritas at Centro 86, a new underground tequila bar in the CBD, or taste award-winning cocktails at Dean and Nancy on 22. Finish up with a feast at one of the restaurants located around Jones Bay Wharf (you’ll spot this area in the film as Ryan Gosling hides on his boat from the bad guys) or snack in the late-night dining havens in Chinatown: try Japanese izakaya Nakano Darling, xiao long bao from Nanjing Dumpling or Mamak’s legendary roti.
Rest your head
Even heroes need their beauty sleep. Rest up like an A-lister at the Kimpton Margot, a recently opened CBD hotel with Art Deco touches, and featured in the movie (ask Kevin for the fruit plate). Compact yet comfortable, the Little National Hotel is located in the heart of the city near Wynyard (also a major filming locale for The Fall Guy). And for a boutique hotel suitable for everyone from film stars to stunt crew, stay in the Ace Hotel in Surry Hills, with unique in-room features like guitars, record players and locally made custom robes.
Sydney Adventure Tours, Katoomba Credit: Destination NSW
Sydney Adventure Tours offers private tours to the Blue Mountains. With an experienced tour guide, take a bushwalk through nature and experience the rainforests.
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Sydney Adventure Tours, Katoomba Credit: Destination NSW
Sydney Adventure Tours offers private tours to the Blue Mountains. With an experienced tour guide, take a bushwalk through nature and experience the rainforests.
Little National Hotel, Sydney Credit: Little National Hotel
The rooftop lounge at the Little National, in Wynyard in Sydney.
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Little National Hotel, Sydney Credit: Little National Hotel
The rooftop lounge at the Little National, in Wynyard in Sydney.