Darling Harbour and SEA LIFE Sydney

Darling Harbour is Sydney's purpose-built leisure precinct, a horseshoe of promenades, lawns, restaurants and attractions around Cockle Bay on the western edge of the city centre. It was redeveloped from old railway yards and wharves for the bicentenary in 1988, and it has been reworked many times since, most recently with the International Convention Centre and the new neighbourhood of Darling Square. It does not have the heritage of The Rocks or the drama of the Opera House, but it is a very easy place to spend a day, especially with children or in bad weather. The headline attraction is SEA LIFE Sydney Aquarium on the eastern shore, one of the largest aquariums in Australia, with a Great Barrier Reef exhibit run on a day-and-night cycle, an ocean tunnel walk among sharks and rays, a dugong habitat, a Sydney Harbour zone with seahorses, a Southern Ocean shipwreck, a touch rock pool and a sub-Antarctic penguin area explored by boat. It shares a building with WILD LIFE Sydney Zoo and Madame Tussauds, and combination tickets with the Sydney Tower Eye save money. Around the bay, the Australian National Maritime Museum has ships moored outside, including a destroyer and a submarine; the Chinese Garden of Friendship, a walled garden of pavilions and pools, offers calm for a modest fee; and Tumbalong Park and the Darling Quarter playground, with water jets and streams, are free and hugely popular with families. The precinct runs events through the year and fireworks on selected Saturday nights. Restaurants line Cockle Bay Wharf and King Street Wharf, and Barangaroo, with its headland park and restaurants, is a short walk north.

SEA LIFE Sydney is the reason most visitors come, and it is worth doing well. Book online for a timed entry, arrive close to opening at 10am on weekdays, or 9:30am at weekends, to beat the school groups and tour buses, and allow about two hours. Last entry is an hour before closing. The route is one-way, starting with local habitats — the harbour, the rock pools and the southern coastline — before descending to the Shark Walk tunnel, the dugongs and the Great Barrier Reef display, the highlight, with its huge window onto coral and reef fish. The penguin zone, with king and gentoo penguins seen from a small boat ride, is a favourite with children. If you plan to visit the Tower Eye or the other attractions in the same group, combination tickets are better value than single entries.

Beyond the aquarium, Darling Harbour is about strolling. Walk the promenade from Cockle Bay around to Pyrmont, cross the old Pyrmont Bridge, a swing bridge from 1902 that is now pedestrian-only, and visit the Maritime Museum's ships and galleries; its permanent galleries are free, with fees for the vessels and special exhibitions. The Chinese Garden of Friendship, created with Sydney's sister city Guangzhou for the bicentenary, is the quiet corner, a place for tea and koi ponds. Children can spend hours at the water play area in Darling Quarter, which is free, and the library at Darling Square is a cool, free retreat on a hot afternoon.

Getting there: Darling Harbour is a ten-minute walk from Town Hall station, and ferries from Circular Quay call at Barangaroo and Pyrmont Bay. The light rail stops nearby on the Inner West line. Be selective about restaurants on the main waterfront, which are aimed at tourists; the streets of Darling Square, Haymarket and Chinatown just to the south are much better for food. For nights out, Barangaroo is the more stylish neighbour.