Getting around a city feels quite different as a visitor than it does as a resident. As visitors, we have it good. The trains, the Metro, the trams and the buses mostly do their job, and the Opal card makes it effortless — tap on, tap off, no fuss. The new Metro stations are a pleasure in their own right, Gadigal especially: generous with space, sensibly signed, lifts and escalators wherever you need them, and easy to read even on a first visit.
Today we worked our way across the network to the new Sydney Fish Market, which is superb, and then to the Museum of Sydney — good, if narrow in its focus.
Step back, though, and the transport story isn’t evenly told. There aren’t enough buses, nor enough cycle paths, and once you’re out in the suburbs it’s car or nothing — which means, inevitably, far too many cars. Whether Sydney has truly entered its public-transport era, I’m not yet sure. Time will tell.
The fish market we visited was brand new — it opened only in early 2026, the result of an ~$800-million move to a striking waterfront building at Blackwattle Bay. Sydney’s market has long been rated one of the great seafood markets of the world, trading a range of species said to be rivalled only by Tokyo’s. Worth arriving hungry.
Further reading: The new Sydney Fish Market