Mrs Macquarie's Chair
Opera House view.
Dietmar Rabich — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Pavel from Sydney, AU — CC BY 2.0 · Maksym Kozlenko — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Maksym Kozlenko — CC BY-SA 4.0
A broad botanical garden on Farm Cove at the heart of Sydney, opened in 1816, making it Australia's oldest scientific institution, and spreading over some thirty hectares of lawns, old trees and ponds between the city centre and the Opera House. It holds collections of Australian and world plants, a rose garden, a tropical glasshouse and a native garden explaining how Aboriginal people used the plants, with colourful birds and sometimes fruit bats among the trees. Its most famous corner is Mrs Macquarie's Chair, a seat carved into the rock at the end of the point, which gives the best view in the city of the Opera House and Harbour Bridge together, especially at sunrise and sunset. Entry is free and the garden opens daily, with cafés and sometimes free guided walks. You can walk through it from the city centre to the Opera House along the foreshore.
Opera House view.
And glasshouse.
A walk to the Opera House.
Farm Cove, between the Opera House and the city centre, Sydney
Art Gallery of New South WalesSydney's largest art museum, on the edge of the Domain parkland near the Royal B6 minutes walk4.8
Sydney Opera HouseAustralia's most famous symbol and one of the great buildings of the twentieth c10 minutes walk4.9
The RocksSydney's oldest neighbourhood, where the first settlers landed in 1788 and found12 minutes walk
Australian MuseumAustralia's oldest natural history museum, with roots going back to 1827, in a c14 minutes walk4.7
Queen Victoria BuildingA grand Victorian building filling a whole block in the heart of Sydney, built b15 minutes walk4.7From Mrs Macquarie's Chair in the Royal Botanic Garden, especially at sunrise and sunset.