Best Places to Take Photos in Sydney

Sydney is an absolute treasure trove of eye candy for the budding photographer, thanks to its winning mix of golden beaches, rugged cliffs and urban skylines. Insta addicts will be in clover here, where you might find yourself capturing regal roses at the Royal Botanic Garden one minute and snapping greedy gulls scavenging for unguarded picnics over Coogee Beach the next. We’ve put together a beginners’ guide to the best places to take photos in Sydney; the locations that promise pics that will make your socials pop, including…

• Sydney Opera House and Harbour Bridge
• The Rocks neighborhood
• Luna Park
• Mrs Macquarie’s Point
• The Royal Botanic Gardens
• The Bondi-to-Coogee coastal walk

Sydney Harbour

Nabbing a selfie by the soaring sails of the Opera House is practically a rite of passage when visiting Sydney, and nothing beats getting right up close to this absolute icon of the city skyline. But there are many other viewpoints of both the Opera House and Sydney Harbour Bridge that mean your Insta feed need never feel boring or samey, no matter how many snaps you post. Try a sunset sightseeing cruise to catch the harbor’s biggest stars in all their twilit finery. Or head up to Mrs Macquarie’s Point for one of the best Opera House and Harbour Bridge vistas in town – so popular, in fact, that you might have to elbow your way to a prime spot for snapping. This stretch of peninsula is home to Mrs Macquarie’s Chair, a carved sandstone bench that has also spawned its fair share of Sydney selfies down the decades. Fill your boots (and camera roll)!

The Rocks

Sydney’s most historic neighborhood also offers some cool perspectives of Sydney Harbour Bridge because, well, it’s right underneath it! But that’s not all The Rocks has to offer camera-toting tourists. We’re talking picturesque centuries-old pubs like the Lord Nelson and Fortune of War, where storytelling locals sup freshly brewed beers and catch up on the week’s gossip; atmospheric cobbled laneways that evoke age-old tales of murder, muggings and mystique; and some of the most Insta-tastic colonial architecture in town.

A walking tour of The Rocks can help you get under the skin of the place, as well as accessing picture-perfect locations you might not otherwise find by yourself. There’s one included with the Go Sydney pass, alongside harbor cruises, an Opera House tour, and many other activities and attractions. 

Find out how you could save up to 50% on regular entry prices and get your pass here. 

Bondi to Coogee Coastal Walk

You could easily fill your Insta feed with action shots of Bondi Beach surfers alone, but why stop there? The Bondi to Coogee coastal walk is an unchallenging stroll that offers a quite unbelievable embarrassment of photogenic riches along its 3.5-mile stretch. Dramatic bluffs, wind-blown gulls and pounding surf are just the beginning of this awesome trail, where Insta-tastic highlights include:

• Bondi Icebergs: a huge seawater swimming pool that’s hewn into the very cliffs themselves!
• Bronte Bath Stairs: this view – complete with wooden steps, gleaming white picket fence, ocean rock pool, and crescent of golden sand – is absolute manna for addicts of the ‘Gram.
• Coogee Beach: colorful fishing boats, cute seaside cafés and, yep, another tidal swimming pool make for perfect picture-postcard snaps.

Luna Park

Ramp up the old-school vibes on a trip to Luna Park, Sydney’s world-famous amusement park, where vintage carnival games, a characterful carousel, and the (frankly terrifying) giant face that welcomes all visitors ensure plenty of top photo opps. Snap a selfie on the stomach-flipping Big Dipper, scream if you want to go faster on the wooden Wild Mouse roller coaster, and bag candid shots of laughing families as they go bumper-to-bumper in Dodgem City.

Royal Botanic Garden

There’s a whopping 74 acres of regal rose gardens, tropical vegetation, meticulously manicured lawns and magnificent manor houses to explore at Sydney’s Royal Botanic Garden – enough, in fact, to keep micro and macro photography enthusiasts happy all day long. Add vibrancy to your socials with shots of bright-green cacti, sorbet-sweet roses, and kaleidoscopic carpets of multi-colored wildflowers, and get in line for an essential selfie at the famous Farm Cove sea wall with its splendid views of the Sydney skyline including – you guessed it – the Opera House and Harbour Bridge. Quite simply one of the best places to take photos in Sydney.

Manly Wormhole

One of Sydney’s worst-kept ‘secret’ locations it may well be, but the effort required to get here – a man made tunnel reached by clambering over rocks and tidal pools – means few bother to make the journey. For those who do, however, the rewards are great, with the cave’s walls acting as a natural photo frame for the sea and sky beyond. You’ll find the wormhole at the northernmost end of the long stretch of golden sand that comprises Manly and Queenscliff beaches. Look out for the big pink heart graffitied onto the cliff face, which marks the cave's entrance.

Blue Mountains

Did you know that the majestic Blue Mountains are a mere 90-minute drive from central Sydney? Or two hours if you want to travel by train and really take in that increasingly beautiful scenery as you leave the urban sprawl behind? Well, now you do. Happy snappers flock here to nab superlative shots of that signature azure haze that gives these atmospheric hills their name. There’s an excellent hop-on hop-off bus tour (included with the Sydney pass from Go City, natch) which includes some 37 stops, allowing you to pick and choose from all those prime photo opportunities, among them panoramic views of the iconic Three Sisters hills from Echo Point, the storybook village of Leura with its cute chocolate box houses and pretty gardens, and the epic Katoomba Cascades and Falls.

Save on Sydney Tours, Activities and Attractions

Save up to 50% on bucket-list Sydney tours and attractions with a pass from Go City. Check out @GoCity on Instagram for the latest top tips and attraction info.