Manly beach in Sydney seems to be one those beaches that were custom-made for people to enjoy themselves. The area which makes the Manly Beach of Sydney is actually a sort of a mini peninsula, surrounded on all but one side by the sea’s water.

Getting to Manly beach should not be hard – you have the choice of getting here, from Sydney city center by water or by land. If you choose to get to Manly by water – which is many people’s choice, then you will need to take the Manly Ferry, which takes off regularly from the Circular Quay near the Sydney opera house. Through this means of getting to Manly beach, you get the opportunity to watch many interesting sights, especially on the famous Sydney Harbor. If you decide to get to Manly by land on the other hand, you will need to take the bus service from the city center to the beaches. The beauty of the bus service, unlike the ferry service, is that the bus service runs round the clock whereas the ferry service closes at midnight.

Once you are in Manly, you have a wide choice of activities to choose from – all depending on your interests. If you love water, for instance, you can go surfing here – aware that the surf here can get very high and is bound to give even the best surfers a run for their money.

Then again you can go swimming – and even if you are not such a good swimmer, there are still some safe area to go swimming (between the flags) in the awareness that there is always a lifeguard should things come to a head. You could also be lucky to catch one of the festivals that are held here at Manly beach, noting that there is always one or another festival going at almost every time of the year. If you come to Manly beach mid-year, you could catch the food and wine festival which is held at the beginning of June, and if you are in October, then you will catch the Manly jazz festival – here during the Labor Day weekend. And if you happen to be in Manly during the summer, then you are in for the Manly Summer Holiday, which is always held between the months of December and March.

You could also go shopping in Manly, and if you happen to be in Manly on a weekend, you can buy some good souvenirs at the Manly Outdoors Arts and Crafts Market – right on the beaches.

Manly restaurants – most of which offer you the option dining outdoors while enjoying the sea breeze are a force to recorn with – and there are people who come to Manly beaches for this experience only. These restaurants don’t just offer local cuisine – but almost every major world palate is represented at one or another of the Manly’s almost one hundred restaurants. If you are constrained by funds, you still have a choice of other lower priced eateries you can take your meal from in midst of your tour of Manly beaches.

Sydney the Rocks is not about the rocks of the city – though there are plenty of those too. Sydney the rocks is in fact a district of the city – and one of the oldest at that. History has it that the Rocks district of Sydney was the landing place for most of the people who started the then Australian colony – way back in the late 18th century – and the district has since grown to be one of Australia’s leading attractions.

For lovers of history, the Rocks district of Sydney with its cobbled streets – gives you a feeling of what it must have felt living in previous centuries. This feeling is further accentuated by the district’s olden architecture, with most of the district’s buildings maintaining their original (18 the century) look and feel. The rocks district is also home to the Sydney Opera house – one of the city’s foremost attractions, and on which more than three thousand performances are held annually.

Among the foremost attractions found in the Rocks district of Sydney is the Museum of contemporary arts adjacent to which is a fine gift shop from which you might buy gifts for folks back home, especially if the Rocks district happens to be the last stop on your Sydney tour. The Museum of Contemporary arts is also host to a fine restaurant where you might take a detour to savor its delicacies as you continue with your tour of Sydney.

Another remarkable museum in the rocks district of Sydney is the Susannah Place Museum at Circular Quay West in what may be considered the downtown part of Sydney’s the Rocks District. The rocks district of Sydney is also home to the city’s world famous Harbor Bridge – at 5 Cumberland Street – which is host to yet another remarkable museum. Then there is the Sydney Observatory at Watson Road, which is in fact a Museum of Astronomy, one of the very few museums in the world wholly dedicated to this subject.

If you are planning on staying in the Rocks district on your Sydney tour, you will be spoilt for choice as the area is home to some of Sydney’s best hotels – including the Shangri-la, Sebel Pier One and the Harbor Rocks Hotel, to name but a few of the same. If you are considering staying in the Rocks area of Sydney for longer, you might consider other forms of accommodation – maybe an apartment, and check for availability.

Getting around the Rocks district of Sydney should not be hard – as the area is fully served by the city’s superb transport infrastructure, which includes an efficient rail transport system. The rocks district is also the place to sample Sydney’s cuisine as it is the area to find some of the city’s best restaurants – whatever your tastes in terms of cuisine are. Remarkably, most of the area’s greatest attractions are also served by a restaurant, so that you don’t have to detour greatly in search of food in your tour of the Rocks district of Sydney.

Sydney has a rich and diversified cultural life – and indeed a considerable portion of the more than 20 million tourists the city receives are in fact cultural tourists, out to sample the city’s rich cultural life.

Perhaps the main reason underlying the richness of Sydney’s culture is its multi-ethnic and cosmopolitan nature – seeing that almost every major world culture is represented in some way and in some part of Sydney. In fact, almost every suburb in Sydney offers you the opportunity to enjoy a different culture – starting with Oriental culture (Chinese) at Chinatown area of Sydney near the CBD to the Jewish culture, well represented at Bondi beaches to Serbian culture at Liverpool and St Ives – which has a strong representation of South African culture, to mention but a few of the prominent cultures here.

As with most cosmopolitan cities, the richness of the culture of Sydney is best celebrated through its art-scene. As it were, Sydney is home to the world famous Sydney Opera house, in which more than 3000 performances take place annually. Sydney is also the cradle of numerous famous music groups, most notably in the rock genre – which have gained fame in the years past – including the Rose Tattoo, the clouds and the ever eccentric Celibate riffles, to name but a few. As a celebration of its rich culture, Sydney has provided inspiration for a number of popular songs – including the ever fresh classics ‘Sydney town’ and ‘Reckless’

Sydney’s theater scene is thriving too – thanks to the city’s Sydney Theater Company – which manages a considerable number of artists and performances here. Some the major performance theaters in Sydney include the Theater Royal – dating back to the early 19th century, Capital Theater – which dates back to the early 20th century and the Lyric theater – these being some of the city’s theaters.

And to celebrate its past, Sydney hosts a number of remarkable museums – including the Museum of Sydney (which has been described as a storehouse of history), the nation’s Australian National Maritime Museum and the Sydney Observatory – a museum fully dedicated to the subject of astronomy. There are other specialized museums in Sydney, most revolving around the themes of art, science and technology. There is even a museum in Sydney to celebrate the present through technology – the Powerhouse Museum – a place full of gadgetry in what is described as a ‘hands on’ museum set up.

Literature is described as the mirror through which a culture sees itself – and here too Sydney makes a good showing – with a huge active literary community.

Then there are the visual arts – Sydney being (and having been) home to some of the world’s most famous creative minds. So rich is Sydney’s visuals arts scene that its products pour out to the streets through street art and graffiti – and a good place to catch a glimpse of this is at the Newtown area of the city.

The ultimate celebration of Sydney’s culture is to be found in its festivals – most notably the Sydney festival held in January, and which is just one of the city’s numerous festivals, other notable ones being the Tropfest and the Sydney film festival, held annually, not to mention the numerous music festivals.