Sick Girl Does Sydney, Australia
Looking out at Watson's Bay on a beautiful fall day in May.
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Visiting Sydney Australia
Sydney, Australia regularly tops the list as one of the most accessible cities in the world. It’s also one of the most beautiful. If it’s your first time visiting Sydney, I highly recommend a 7-day Sydney Itinerary. That will give you plenty of time to recover from jetlag and see all the big sites.
If you’re looking for stunning photo opportunities, check out this guide to The Most Instagrammable Places in Sydney. It will give you a glimpse at some of Sydney’s most beautiful spots.
Long Haul Flights and Chronic Illness
The most difficult part of any trip to Australia is the long-haul flight one must endure to get there. If you have chronic pain as I do, I highly recommend saving up your miles for a first or business-class seat so you have the luxury of fully reclining into a bed and getting some sleep, or at least stretching your aching joints. But I think everyone should be a traveler. Even if you suffer from chronic pain as I do. It’s all about finding the way that works for you.
I took advantage of a United Airlines fare sale and purchased my round-trip business class ticket from Los Angeles for under 100,000 miles. Purchasing tickets with miles outside of a sale will often run you well over that. So, if you're thinking about making the trip to Australia, sign up for an airline loyalty program with your carrier/alliance of choice, save those miles, and sign up for their email blasts so you don't miss out on those great fare sales! If all else fails and you’re facing flying in an economy class middle seat with a debilitating chronic pain condition, you should call your Airline’s Accessibility Help Desk and ask for a seat change so you have access to stand and stretch. Most airlines are very accommodating.
But if you’re low on miles and end up blowing most of your budget on airfare, check out this awesome guide to Sydney on a budget for some great money-saving tips for Australia’s biggest city.
Accessible Sydney For Disabled Travelers
There are a few things you should know before traveling to Australia. While I try my very best to give you guys all the accessibility info I can on a place, sometimes I miss certain aspects. Most of my medical issues have to do with chronic pain, dizziness, and a poor ability to regulate my own body temperature. Once in a while, my pain is bad enough to require a wheelchair, but for the most part, I travel with braces and a cane. As someone who doesn’t spend the bulk of my time using a chair or scooter, I’m going to defer to the site below to give wheelchair users the best possible info on accessibility in Sydney.
The information featured on these sites will help you decide which attractions provide the appropriate level of access for your needs. I will do my best, as always, to describe each attraction I visited personally, but it helps to check these sites for the most up-to-date information, as things may have changed since my last trip.
For assistance traveling throughout Australia, check out these Australian Travel Apps.
Primus Hotel, Sydney, Australia.
Where to Stay in Sydney
We stayed at The Primus Hotel, a beautiful, 5 star, art deco masterpiece in downtown Sydney that formerly housed the city's water building. The hotel offers incredibly spacious, accessible rooms at a great price. A Deluxe King room starts under USD $200/ night. We booked ours in the offseason for about USD$165/ night. Not too shabby. The restaurant in the lobby offered a delicious breakfast, but most of the time we were keen on starting our day with a latte from one of the many surrounding coffee shops.
The hotel is close to some of the city’s most iconic attractions, including the Queen Victoria Building, Hyde Park and St Mary’s Cathedral. It's about a 25-minute walk to the Sydney Opera House and a 15-minute walk to Darling Harbor. The sidewalks are quite good. Much better than what I’m used to in Los Angeles, which is basically mounds of cracked concrete and raised tree roots suggesting where a functional sidewalk used to be. There are multiple nearby public transport options as well as a thriving Chinatown, The Pitt Street shopping precinct, and the trendy café scene of Surry Hills. Keep in mind, we visited in fall when the weather proved very conducive to walking. If you visit in summer that 25-minute walk could suddenly become an oppressive, sweat-filled march to the sea.
Looking for something closer to the harbor? Here are the best Sydney hotels with harbor views.
What To See In Sydney, Australia
The very first thing we did after our much-needed shower was head down to the Sydney Opera House. To see the inside of the Opera House you can purchase tickets for a performance, or choose to purchase tickets for one of their guided tours. You do not need a ticket to enjoy drinks outside The Opera House and admire its beautiful architecture.
Directly next door you'll find the Sydney Botanical Gardens and an impressive array of exceedingly loud and curious-looking birds. The paths through the gardens are well-paved and level, making them easily accessible. I did my entire trip to Sydney wearing a fairly cumbersome boot due to a prior ankle injury caused by zip-lining face-first into a tree in Belize. Even hobbling along in a bit of pain, I found the entire city of Sydney to be pretty easy to navigate. I only hit trouble when I tried to visit the Jenolan Caves, but I'll talk more about it in another post as it's a full-day trip outside the city and requires a bit of planning if you have accessibility needs.
"New Zebra Crossing" The zebra is the unofficial mascot of Ehlers Danlos Syndrome. Since I had only recently been diagnosed, I found this signage amusing.
A quick trip over to Darling Harbor and you'll find another big tourist area. Darling Harbor is home to many restaurants, bars, the Australian National Maritime Museum, Wildlife Zoo, Sea Life Aquarium, a Submarine tour, and more. Here you’ll find some great detailed information on Darling Harbour attractions.
As many of you know, I cannot visit a place without visiting its aquarium, and Sydney was no exception. The Sea Life Aquarium offers a wide variety of species and participates in many rescue and rehabilitation efforts for injured sea life. It also ranks as one of the best aquariums in the world. The Sea Life Aquarium is wheelchair accessible. They also have wheelchairs for rent, though they are on a first come first serve basis and cannot be reserved prior to visiting.
If watching fish isn't your thing, perhaps eating fish is. A short walk from the Sea Life Aquarium, you'll find the Sydney Fish Market. While it may not be quite as impressive as the fish market in Tokyo, it's still a lively place to get some amazing fresh seafood and well worth the trip. If seafood isn't your thing, you'll also find a dim sum restaurant upstairs from the fish market. There is elevator access.
After all this, you should be ready to collapse back at the hotel and enjoy a good night's sleep. You’re going to need it, because we’ve only explored downtown Sydney and barely scratched the surface of what this amazing city has to offer.
