Sydney Alone cover

Australia and New Zealand · Available now

Sydney
Alone

A solo travel guide for women 50 and over
By Jennifer Brandt

Sydney's harbor is dozens of views, depending on which finger of land you stand on. Learn the ferries from Circular Quay to Manly or Balmain, and the Opera House keeps reappearing from new angles.

$6.99 ebook

Buy the ebook, $6.99Read a sample

Ebook · Updated Q4 2026

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Where you might stay

  • BudgetSong Hotel Sydneyprivate bathrooms and hot breakfast included
  • Mid-rangeAce Hotel Sydneycafés, restaurants and bars on site
  • A treatInterContinental Sydneyhistoric building near ferries and Opera House

Two places to eat alone

  • Fortune of WarSitting at the pub bar is normal for a solo diner.
  • Gaku Robata GrillA counter facing the cooking makes dinner alone comfortable.

SAMPLE

Why Sydney

Most cities have a landmark. Sydney has a body of water, and everything else arranges itself around it. Port Jackson cuts so deeply and unevenly into the coastline that the harbor is never a single view but dozens of them, each one different depending on which finger of land you happen to be standing on. The Opera House and the Harbour Bridge get the postcards, and they earn them, but the organizing fact of Sydney is that the water is often the most interesting way to get somewhere, and for the harbor neighborhoods it is also the most direct.

That changes how the days work. A city built around a harbor does not lend itself to a single center you return to each evening. It lends itself to a series of edges (Circular Quay, Manly, Watsons Bay, Balmain, Cremorne Point) connected by boats that run to a timetable you can set a day around. Learn the ferry network in your first hour and the rest of the city opens up in a way a street map will not show you.

A free excerpt from Sydney Alone.

PRACTICAL SAMPLE

Eating and Drinking Alone

Counter seating is common at cafés and casual restaurants: Gaku Robata Grill’s ten-seat counter in Darlinghurst and the dumpling counters on Dixon Street in Haymarket are two examples. Pub ordering is set out in The Pleasures of the Table.

For a sit-down dinner, book a table for one directly rather than apologizing for the number, and ask about bar seating. At a counter such as the one at Gaku Robata Grill in Darlinghurst, a bar seat often gets better sightlines and a shorter wait. Glance at the room before you sit down: thirty seconds of looking saves the discomfort of a table built for a couple. Lunch is generally the easier meal to eat well alone, since the market halls and casual spots in the food chapter suit it.

A free excerpt from Sydney Alone.

Inside this book

  • Sydney Awaits
  • A City Shaped by History
  • Planning Your Escape
  • The Solo Woman’s Sydney
  • Where to Stay
  • Neighborhood by Neighborhood
View the chapter contents
  • Sydney Awaits
  • A City Shaped by History
  • Planning Your Escape
  • The Solo Woman’s Sydney
  • Where to Stay
  • Neighborhood by Neighborhood
  • Arrival Day and Four Days in Sydney
  • Art, Culture & Creativity
  • The Pleasures of the Table
  • Evening & After Dark
  • Retail Therapy
  • Beyond the City: Day Trips
  • Talking With Sydney
  • Practical Matters

BUY THE GUIDE

Sydney Alone

Sydney's harbor is dozens of views, depending on which finger of land you stand on. Learn the ferries from Circular Quay to Manly or Balmain, and the Opera House keeps reappearing from new angles.

$6.99 ebook

Buy the ebook, $6.99

Ebook · Updated Q4 2026

Instant download · Secure checkout by Payhip

THE GUIDE + YOUR OWN PLANS

Ready to settle your plans?

Includes “Neighborhoods and Food” as a mapped day, with The Rocks and Potts Point weighed as bases.

See inside the Sydney kit →
A page from the free sample of the Sydney kitRead the free 3-page sample (PDF) →
Do I need the kit as well?

No. The guide stands on its own. The kit is a separate, optional pack of decisions, day plans and a booking list. Read the free 3-page sample to see whether it suits the way you plan.

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