SYDNEY

Sydney is an eager host for just about anything that puts it on the world stage -- from the heralded 2000 Summer Olympics to the 2003 Rugby World Cup. This is a city that thrives on the opportunity to show the world what it has grown into: a vibrant, cosmopolitan city renowned for its international cuisine, stellar architecture and spectacular scenery.

Sydney is the cultural and financial heart of the continent and home to nearly one-quarter of Australia's residents. This is a city with a bustling vibe, and its residents always seem to be on the go. It's perhaps more casual than many similarly sized European cities, but Sydney is by no means tame.

Sydneysiders worship their waterfront and put the harbor to good use. They sail, surf, swim and ferry across it -- or simply gaze at the bay from one of the many waterfront cafes.

Sydney is Australia's oldest city, the economic powerhouse of the nation and the country's capital in everything but name. It's blessed with sun-drenched natural attractions, dizzy skyscrapers, delicious and daring restaurants, superb shopping and friendly folk.

Although it's come a long way from its convict beginnings, it still has a rough and ready energy, and offers an invigorating blend of the old and the new, the raw and the refined. While high culture attracts some to the Opera House, gaudy nightlife attracts others to Kings Cross.

It's a city blessed with long stretches of heavenly beaches, a pleasant climate that sees over 300 sunny days a year, an economy that's stronger than it should be, a stable local government, and a population of open-minded, outgoing entrepreneurial types who are itching to show the whole place off.


Area: 2,103 sq km
Population: 4 million                                                              
Country: Australia
Time Zone: GMT/UTC +10 (Eastern Standard Time)
Telephone Area Code:

Orientation

Sydney wasn't a planned city and its layout is further complicated by its hills and the numerous inlets of the harbour, its focal point. The centre of Sydney is on the south shore of the harbour, about 7km (4mi) inland from the harbour heads. Skyscrapers in the Central Business District (CBD) vie for dominance and harbour views, but the city's relentlessness is softened by shady Hyde Park and The Domain parkland to the east, Darling Harbour to the west and the main harbour to the north. The Sydney Harbour Bridge and the harbour tunnel link the city centre with the satellite CBD of North Sydney and the suburbs of the North Shore. Sydney Airport is about 10km (6mi) south of the city centre. Central station, Sydney's main train station, is in the south of the city centre, and the main bus terminal is located outside it.