Sydney Hotels

The four best Sydney hotels are the InterContinental Hotel Sydney (best harbour views), the Crowne Plaza Coogee Beach (best ocean views), the Observatory Hotel (best style and customer service) and the Establishment Hotel (best trendy hotel). You can read more about each below.

InterContinental Hotel Sydney

If you'd like a superb view of the Sydney Opera House and the Sydney Harbour Bridge from your hotel room, the InterContinental Hotel Sydney makes a perfect choice.

Live classical music is played in the lobby and even the swimming pool on the 31st floor has stunning harbour views!

A 24 hour business center, as well as high-speed internet access and telephone from inside the rooms mean you can keep in touch with your business.

Each of the 509 rooms has cable TV and is furnished in a modern decor. Rooms have views of the harbour itself (breathtaking!) or Circular Quay (where you can watch the harbour ferries dock) or the Royal Botanic Gardens (which has amazing flowers and other plants).

As a downtown Sydney hotel, the InterContinental has easy access to corporate Sydney (the headquarters for most multi-nationals in Australia) as well as Sydney's best shopping and the harbour itself. There's also public transport (train, bus and ferry) right on your doorstep. The thing I like about the InterContinental Sydney is that even though it is so central, it is much quieter than other downtown Sydney hotels.

Rooms are over $200 AUD a night, but in this case you certainly get what you pay for. If you're only in Sydney for a little while, why not make the most of it and book a room with a harbour view. Address: Corner Bridge and Phillip Streets, Sydney 2000, Australia.

Crowne Plaza Coogee Beach

The Crowne Plaza Coogee Beach has a great setting overlooking the Pacific Ocean at Coogee Beach. The water at Coogee is often flat and calm, there are people strolling along the promenade, and the skies are often pink or an amazing orange for sunset. And of course, you've got the tremendous Barzura restaurant / cafe at the southern end of the beach with its amazing tables overlooking the water. I just love it.

The Crowne Plaza itself is a four and a half star hotel right on the beach. There are ocean views from many of its 207 rooms and the hotel swimming pool. The rooms have a hotel-ish kind of decor, but they are passable.

Although I recommend this hotel for those on holiday, the hotel does have a well-equipped business center as well as high-speed internet access from inside the rooms. For those on holiday, there is a fitness center as well as the above-mentioned swimming pool. Close to the hotel (5 Km / 3 miles) there are two golf courses as well as the famous Randwick Racecourse. There are also the fantastic dining and cafe options on Coogee Bay Road a stone's throw from the hotel.

I recommend the Crowne Plaza Coogee Beach if you're staying in Sydney on holidays and want to live in a seaside village-like setting. Address: 242 Arden St, Coogee.

Observatory Hotel Sydney

The Observatory Hotel is one of Sydney's truly stand-out hotels. This is because it has a great location in Sydney's Rocks (historic downtown) precinct, the staff provide excellent customer service and because the rooms are absolutely beautiful.

Each time I enter this hotel, it reminds me of a grand colonial home that has been brought into the twenty-first century. For example, the rooms have grand four-poster beds side-by-side with high-speed internet access points.

I also love the Observatory Hotel's swimming pool. True to the name of the hotel, you can lie on your back and take in a fibre-optic simulation of the galaxy that features on the ceiling. Just imagine being greeted by that when you arrive after a long flight to Sydney! Address: 89-113 Kent Street, Sydney.

Establishment Hotel Sydney

Conde Nast magazine recently voted the Establishment Hotel as one of the hottest new hotels in the world. If you like your hotels on the trendy side, and you're the sort of person who enjoys a hotel with an attached nightclub (the ultra-trendy Tank Bar), then the Establishment Hotel is a great choice.

Each of the 33 rooms in the Establishment Hotel uses one of two decors - bold or subtle. You can ask for either when you check in. The Establishment Hotel gets the small details right - the soap is by Bvlgari, for example.

However, if you're the sort of person who likes to go to bed early, you may find a bit of noise from the Tank Bar coming into your room, particularly on Friday and Saturday nights. By contrast, if you're the sort of person who is more likely to be found inside Tank Bar, rather than in bed, the Establishment offers the shortest stumble home you might ever find. Address: 5 Bridge Lane, Sydney.