Top 25 Tourist Attractions in Australia

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Australia’s most iconic building is the Sydney Opera House which nestles on the shores of Sydney Harbour at Bennelong Point. This multi-venue performing arts center was designed by Danish architect Jørn Utzon and completed in 1973, before being added as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2007. The Sydney Opera House is home to the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Sydney Theatre Company, The Australian Ballet and Opera Australia, with shows scheduled throughout the year for visitors to experience its interior ...

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Located partway between Alice Springs and Uluru in Watarrka National Park is magnificent Kings Canyon, which boasts the Red Center's deepest gorge. Sandstone walls tower more than 100 meters above Kings Creek that meanders below, with sections of the gorge forming part of a sacred Aboriginal site to the Luritja people. Perennial waterholes lie at the canyon's bottom, while lush ferns and palm forests comprise the Garden of Eden in the upper part of the gorge ...

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Situated in the heart of the Red Centre is the UNESCO World Heritage-listed Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park. It includes one of Australia’s most iconic landmarks, Uluru (formerly known as Ayers Rock), and the dome-shaped rock formations of Kata Tjuta, or the Olgas, which lie around 40 kilometers away. Uluru is a massive sandstone monolith that rises 348 meters in the middle of the surrounding desert ...

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The Museum of Sydney explores the people and events that have shaped the city, built on the ruins of the house of New South Wales' first Governor, Arthur Phillip. Remnants of the original 1788 building, such as drains and privies, can still be glimpsed today through glass openings in the museum’s forecourt. Australia’s first Government House served as the social, ceremonial, and political heart of the New South Wales colony during its initial years and the focal point of the first contact between the indigenous Gadigal people and the colonizing British ...

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Located around 45 minutes drive west of Sydney’s city center is the Featherdale Wildlife Park, set across seven acres of land in the suburb of Doonside. It was established in 1972, primarily as a nursery for Australian native trees and plants while also providing a refuge for native animals. Today the Featherdale Wildlife Park is dedicated to educating the public about conservation and is home to Australia’s largest native animal collection ...

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Home to more than 700 different marine species, the Sea Life Sydney Aquarium is one of Australia’s largest and most impressive aquariums. It’s set across 14 themed zones, including Jurassic Seas, the Shark Walk, Dugong Island, the Southern Ocean and the Discovery Rockpool, as well as the world’s largest display on the Great Barrier Reef ...

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With a magnificent setting at Circular Quay near the ferry wharf, the Customs House Library is set within one of Sydney’s finest historical landmarks. It was constructed from 1844 to 1845 to serve as the Customs Service headquarters before becoming a venue for exhibitions and functions in 1990. Since 2003, it has been home to the City of Sydney Library, set across three levels in the heritage-listed building ...

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Just a short ferry ride from Circular Quay across beautiful Sydney Harbour will take you to the world-famous Taronga Zoo. It boasts magnificent water views across its 69 acres (“Taronga” is an indigenous Aboriginal word meaning “beautiful view”) and is home to more than 4,000 animals from 350 different species. Not only is there native Australian wildlife, but animals from across the globe, with the grounds divided into eight zoogeographic regions ...

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Just to the south of Sydney lies the magnificent coastal cliffs, untouched beaches and native bushland of the Royal National Park. It stretches across 151 square kilometers and was the second national park to be established in the world, after Yellowstone in the United States. Tall limestone cliffs back idyllic and secluded beaches, while hardy, salt-tolerant species dominate the coastal heathland that stretches inland ...

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On the Sydney Harbour Bridge's doorstep and immediately adjacent to Circular Quay lies The Rocks, a historic neighborhood of charismatic sandstone architecture and cobblestone streets. It was established as Australia's first European settlement in 1788 and is today packed with fascinating museums, boutique shops, and iconic pubs, making it worthy of an entire day’s exploration. Admire one of the colony’s original buildings at Cadman’s Cottage that dates to 1816 or tour the Susannah Place Museum's terrace houses that were built in 1844 by Irish immigrants ...

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Australia’s oldest scientific institution, the Royal Botanic Gardens sprawl across 30 acres on the edge of Sydney Harbour. It was opened in 1816 and remains one of the most important botanical institutions in the world, home to an impressive collection of plants from Australia and around the globe. A historic hand-hewn sandstone seawall wraps around Farm Cove all the way to the Sydney Opera House, with the gardens gradually sloping up from here ...

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Sydney’s hub for entertainment is Darling Harbour, which lies a ten-minute walk from the CBD or a short ferry ride from Circular Quay. It’s home to the SEA LIFE Sydney Aquarium and WILD LIFE Sydney Zoo for up-close animal encounters, as well as great cafes and restaurants overlooking the water. Soak up the comings and goings at its historic wharf area, watch live street performers and musicians or get some retail therapy at its numerous shopping destinations ...

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Soaring above the city skyline as Sydney’s tallest structure, the Sydney Tower Eye, also named Sydney Eye Tower, measures 309 meters. It features a 360-degree observation deck that offers unparalleled panoramas across the city, making it one of Sydney’s most popular tourist attractions. Look out across Sydney's iconic beaches through high-powered binoculars, with views stretching all the way to the Blue Mountains in the distance ...

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Located in the heart of Darling Harbour, adjacent to the SEA LIFE Sydney Aquarium and Madame Tussauds, is WILD LIFE Sydney Zoo. This award-winning, native wildlife park is designed like a rainbow serpent from the Aboriginal Dreamtime stories, with open-air exhibits enclosed by a stainless steel mesh roof that resembles the serpent’s ribs ...

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Entertaining Sydneysiders since the early 19th century, the beautiful Capitol Theatre is located in Haymarket. It hosts world class musicals, theatrical plays, ballets and concerts within its magnificent historic setting. The site was used by Sydney’s early settlers as a market for produce and hay (hence the name “Haymarket”), with the building designed by architect George McRae and structural engineer Norman Selfe ...

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The Wharf Theatre in Sydney is a small, but famous, double-theatre located at Pier 4/5 in Sydney. It is the home of the Sydney Theatre Company, which performs both here and at the nearby Roslyn Packer Theatre. The company was formed in 1978 and initially worked out of numerous rented premises throughout the city, with actors such as Geoffrey Rush, Hugo Weaving, and Cate Blanchett having developed their careers here ...

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The Powerhouse Museum is situated in the old Ultimo Power Station building, just a short walk from Darling Harbour. It’s the Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences’ main venue (aside from the historic Sydney Observatory), with outstanding collections that span science, technology, communication, transport, furniture, media, fashion and contemporary culture ...

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Located in the beachside suburb of Manly on Sydney’s northern shores, the Manly Sea Life Sanctuary is a much-loved aquarium, dedicated to the conservation of marine species. It first opened its doors in 1965 as Marineland and has undergone numerous name changes and revamps since, eventually being launched as Manly Sea Life Sanctuary in 2012. The aquarium is divided into three sections - Penguin Cove, Shark Harbour and Underwater Sydney - with everything from octopuses to lion fish, seahorses and baby sharks on display ...

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The Sydney Harbor Bridge is an iconic image, along with the Opera House, of the city of Sydney in Australia. Experience the Sydney Harbour Bridge in the most thrilling way possible with BridgeClimb, an adrenalin sports company that will take you up and over the southern half of the bridge. You can opt to climb at dawn, during the day, at twilight, or at night, with the full experience of taking just over three hours ...

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Set across five levels on the edge of the Domain Parklands, the Art Gallery of New South Wales is one of Australia’s most popular art galleries. It boasts an impressive collection of Australian art, including one of the country’s largest galleries of indigenous art, as well as an extensive Asian gallery and the works of European masters. The Australian art collection includes celebrated works by John Glover and Arthur Streeton, as well as 20th-century icons Sidney Nolan, Russell Drysdale and Arthur Boyd ...

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Australia’s largest national park and one of the county’s most magnificent wilderness areas is Kakadu National Park. This UNESCO World Heritage-listed landscape includes soaring sandstone escarpments, tall monsoon rain forests and wildlife rich river estuaries and mangrove swamps, together with expansive floodplains that transform with the seasons ...

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Boasting an outstanding collection of aircraft that have played a role in the history of Australia is the Darwin Aviation Heritage Centre. It was established in 1976 when a group of aviation enthusiasts wanted to preserve relics following the destruction of Cyclone Tracy, with the current museum opening its doors to the public in 1990. The Australian Aviation Heritage Centre is one of the most important aviation museums in Australia ...

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Located at East Point, the Defence of Darwin Experience provides an immersive look at the role the city played in World War II. Visual and multimedia displays offer first-hand accounts of the Bombing of Darwin, together with artifacts and objects that reflect the city’s tumultuous past. The Defence of Darwin Experience is divided into numerous chronological sections, beginning with a look at Darwin as a “frontier town” ...

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Set within Nitmiluk National Park, around 250 kilometers southeast of Darwin, Katherine Gorge is an undisputed highlight of visiting the Northern Territory. It borders Kakadu National Park and is of particular importance to the Jawoyn people who are the custodians of the land here. In their language, the name Nitmiluk translates as “place of the cicada dreaming” ...

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