Married With Children: Sydney

I highly recommend staying at the Wildlife Retreat at the Taronga Zoo. It has spectacular views of the city, free zoo admission, and you will wake up every morning with a view of a koala, munching on eucalyptus right in front of your balcony. Truly a once-in-a-lifetime stay.

If you stay there, there is also a harbor cruise that will pick you up from the zoo’s dock. No matter what you do in Sydney, you absolutely must do a tour of the harbor. It’s the best way to experience the opera house, the bridge, and all of the classic Sydney sights.

After your cruise, head to UrbnSurf with the family. It is located in Olympic Park and it is an indoor surfing facility. That’s right! You and the kids can surf in Australia and not have to worry about sharks, rip currents, and jellyfish! They offer private and group lessons.

If you’re an adventurer, take on the Sydney Bridge Climb! Personally, I am afraid of heights, but I did book this for two clients and they loved it. Plus, their photos were spectacular!

Finish your evening with dinner at Infinity Tower. It has gorgeous views of the whole city and a very elevated menu. If possible, arrange a sitter for the kids. This experience is really for adults.

For my family, we decided to spend our second day at the Taronga Zoo. Because we were hotel guests, we had free admission. The boys really loved seeing so many animals and especially loved being able to feed the giraffes! Taronga Zoo goes to extraordinary lengths to take care of their animals and provide an eco-friendly experience. I was very impressed with everything that we saw.

I have clients with teenage sons, and I booked a private tour for them to see the rocks, and the main attractions in Sydney. Teenagers are not always easy to please, so booking private tends to work better at appeasing them, and anything educational is a win for mom and dad!

For dinner, I highly recommend FireDoor. It has been featured on various TV shows, but it doesn’t feel touristy. They cook everything over an open flame, and it’s really exceptional. They even gave us a private tour of the kitchen! It’s always great to dine at a restaurant that takes pride in itself and wants to share that with their customers.

Start the day at Sea Life Aquarium. For little ones, there is a penguin boat ride that takes them around the penguin facility.

If you or your clients are risk-takers, you can also do a shark dive at the aquarium. They do require reservations, but it comes with photos that would impress anyone! That tank is really chock full of massive sharks

After the aquarium, head to the world-famous Bondi Beach. If you have small kids, there are man-made tidal pools that are perfect to keep them safe, but also let them experience the beach. For older kids, there are always surf lessons, boogie boarding, or just working on your tan! There are tons of places to rent tents, towels, paddle boards, etc, on the actual beach.

The beach always makes me hungry, so we walked from the beach to North Bondi Fish, which has a gorgeous menu, cocktails, bites for the kids, and they don’t mind you looking like you just spent the day at the beach!