Sydney is a must see stop off point for any East Coast Roadie. The city is iconic, very beautiful and well, world famous but this comes with a price – Sydney is pretttyyy spenny (believe me) – you’ve gotta make that money last.
We’ll be sharing with you…
- The ultimate hacks to visit Sydney as a BackPacker
- Where to get EPIC freebies
- How to avoid those ‘city’ food and drink prices
- how we can save you money with our discounts..
- AND, OF COURSE a brilliant way to book your campervan hire sydney for less!
So, here are some tips and tricks for exploring the city on a budget….
Click images to see more.
Sydney on a budget
Free walking tours
The best way to see all of Sydney’s ICONIC sites, rolled in to one is to hop on a FREE walking tour…amazing!!
These tours are also a great way to meet fellow travellers.
Hostel freebies
When booking your accommodation, keep an eye out for hostels that offer meals. They’re usually a fraction of the price you’d pay eating out and are a great way to mingle and meet people. Some hostels may also provide free brekkie!
There is also always the ‘free shelf’ in the kitchen – sounds super cheap – but you can actually find some decent stuff in there (we said this would be budget friendly ;)).
Getting around
In Sydney, you’ll need to purchase an Opal Card to use on public transport…
All day on SUNDAYS you can travel on the metro, train, bus, ferry and light rail services for $8.40 a day – so Sunday is a good day for exploring the ins and outs of the city.
Free events
Sydney pretty much always has something going on – it’s a big ol’ city that has to cater for everyone.
If you search ‘Sydney free events’ I am sure you’ll find a list of things to go and try out…
Check out: Markets, music events, museum events and if you’re there over NYE you cannot miss out on the fireworks!
Places to explore
Sure, the centre has got it all going on – and it’s great fun – but Sydney has so much more to offer.
Why not get off the beaten track and head a little further a field:
- Surrey Hills – cool vibes and great cafes.
- Newtown – hipster, cool, artsy vibes.
- Northern Beaches – check out Manly and Curl Curl.
Backpacker bars and nights out
If you’re keen to take on the true backpacker lifestyle, I’m sure you’ll find yourself on some sort of bar crawl/night out…There are quite a few backpacker bars in Sydney, so grab a tinny and let the night begin yeewww…
- Scubar – bar come club
- Sidebar – party party!
- Scary Canary – Great food and drinks
- Darling Harbour – Head to Pontoon and home club. There are also LOADS of happy hours and food deals going on at the many restaurants and bars around the harbour
- Opera bar – Not a backpacker bar BUT abit of a treat and a memory!
Beach Day
THE best activity to do for free – lounging on a beach with a book in your hand – it really doesn’t get better than that!!
I’m a proper water baby and absolutely LOVE the beach, so here is a lil list of my faves:
- Shelly Beach, Manly – paradise (my fave)
- Bronte Beach – surf
- Tamarama
- Watsons Bay
- Curl Curl – Northern Beaches
- And of course, you gotta check out Bondi Beach (check out the walk to Coogee!)
Freebies!
The one you’ve been waiting for…FREEBIES – gotta love em (lol).
So here goes, my little list of freebies to check out in Sydney:
- Harbour Bridge and Opera House – free to look at
- Royal Botanic Gardens
- Mrs Macquarie’s Point – epic viewpoint over the harbour
- China Town – cool at night
- Beaches – lying on a beach is the best thing to do for free!
- Hyde Park – grab a picnic and chill
- Art Galleries and Museums – there are tonnes
- Bondi to Coogee coastal walk
- Luna Park – free entry (pay per ride)
- Manly to Spit walk
- North Head look out – insane views of the city
About the Author: Sammy
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From our RatPackers
Ben was amazing and went above and beyond to find us amazing deals and exactly what we were looking for. He did it all in record time too! We were very close to our travel date and Ben was doing so much for us so quickly! Definitely recommend
Mikey was fantastic from start to finish. He was so efficient and easy to talk to. 10/10 for him, would highly recommend the service. So happy I chose to go with RatPack Travel.
Friendly helpful and accommodating. Thanks Ryan. You made it all very easy.
Great service from Ben, came back with answers within minutes and walked us through the process, great experience, thanks Ben
George was fantastic, I came in very vague and he gave me the time and examples to lock in what we were looking for. He found great deals and was easy to talk to - he was able to give tips about the process without putting any pressure. Would recommend using Ratpack.
Ben made it so fast and easy for us to reserve our camper van for our trip in the fall! Excellent service!’n
I had a call with Ryan who was super nice, knowledgable and made me feel really at ease with making my decision. He asked me all about what I want to do and achieve on my trip, although I didn’t really want to pack too much in… nor gave much detail on what I want to do, he gave options and ideas for me to look into. He used his own experience as an example which was really helpful to hear and made me feel like I’m right at home with RatPack, I knew then I was making the right choice by talking to him. He answered any questions I had, even if they seemed like silly questions to ask. The booking process is really easy and straight forward, they do all the hard parts for you. Once Ryan talked me through my options, I made my selection and all I had to do was enter my card details for the deposit and I was done! Thanks to Ryan’s detailed and calm approach I knew I was booking with the right company/team. I can’t wait for the next step!!
George has been amazing. He put together the costings for our trip, and then I changed the dates completely and he redid everything and said it wasn’t a problem. I felt that he worked hard to get me the best deal, advised me which pickup town was the best deal, when was the best time to travel, and how I could save money by adding a day to our trip (yes, it was cheaper to go for 21 days than go for 20!). George sent through mountains of advice on travel destinations, camping sites etc. I would definitely recommend RatPack Travel and George.
The Ratpack team and specifically Ryan f were great for booking our dream New Zealand campervan trip. Ryan worked hard over several days trying to find the best possible deals for us and the communication was great with updates regularly. He was able to get us 2 vans that out did any other quotes that we received and we are really looking forward to our trip with Ratpack being by our side. Thanks a lot Ryan F!
Lovely people, more than helpful.
I am so stoked with the service I received from Ryan at RatPack Travel. He was so proactive and on the ball to help me with all my questions and variations. He gave me several options and gave me other things to look at to make sure I had all that I needed. Ryan did all the legwork in following up the availability of the type of van I wanted. If you are wanting to go on a Campervan holiday no matter how long or short, I would recommend RatPack Travel! They will be you support in every step of the process, in the lead up and while on the road. Thanks Ryan! You're a legend! They are a one stop shop when it comes to sourcing campervans and motorhomes from different providers! I nearly forgot to say - he got me a great deal on a newer model. ;)
Thijs and Gemma were just so lovely to communicate with and explained everything so well. Booked us our campervan seamlessly, and with a great deal too 😊 10/10 service from them both!! Couldn’t recommend more! 😊
Ben was super helpful, easy to deal with and always got back to all my questions nice and quickly, with all the campervan options out there we really didn’t know what one to go with but Ben did all the searching for us and made the whole process really simple.
Amazing and outstanding customer service, Ryan exceeded all expectations, he and his team found the perfect deal for us, if you are looking for renting a campervan in NZ or Oz, don’t look for more! Go straight to them and you’ll see you are in the best hands! 🙌
Greg was superb! We told him what we wanted in a camper van. Even with less than two weeks notice, he didn’t disappoint. We loved our camper van and it was perfect for the two of us!
