Sydney Opera House

The Sydney Opera House is the single image most people carry of Australia, and seeing it in person is better than the postcard: the shells are not white but clad in more than a million cream and white tiles that change colour with the light, the building sits on a point of land almost surrounded by water, and from the forecourt you look straight across Circular Quay to the Harbour Bridge. It was designed by the Danish architect Jorn Utzon, who won an international competition in 1957 with a scheme of startling ambition; the engineering took years to solve, costs and politics spiralled, Utzon left the project in 1966 before it was finished, and the building was opened in 1973. In 2007 it was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage site, one of the youngest buildings ever listed. The best way to understand it is the official guided tour, which runs daily and lasts about an hour: guides walk you through the foyers and into the performance halls when rehearsals allow, tell the story of the design, the engineering and the long feud with the government, and show you the interiors that most visitors never see. The Concert Hall, reopened after a major renewal in 2022, is the highlight when it is open to tours. Language tours run in several languages including French, German, Spanish, Japanese, Mandarin and Korean, and there is a backstage tour with breakfast for enthusiasts. Be ready for stairs: the standard route covers up to about 2.5 kilometres of walking and around 300 steps, with no lift access on the route, so it is not suitable for everyone. The other way to experience the house is the simplest: buy a ticket for a performance — opera, ballet, symphony, theatre, comedy or contemporary music — and sit inside one of the halls as it was meant to be used.

The story behind the sails is part of the visit. Utzon's competition entry was a set of sketches rather than a buildable design, and it took years of work with the engineers Ove Arup and Partners to find a geometry that could be built: the breakthrough was to cut every shell from the surface of the same imaginary sphere, so the ribs could be prefabricated. After Utzon's departure, the interiors were completed by a team of Australian architects, and for decades the building was admired from outside more than within. Late in his life the Opera House reconciled with its architect: Utzon prepared design principles for future changes, and a room overlooking the harbour was remodelled to his design and named the Utzon Room. He never returned to see the finished building, which only deepens its poignancy. Bennelong Point itself carries an older history — it is named after Woollarawarre Bennelong, a Wangal man who was a go-between in the first years of the British colony.

How to visit well: book the tour online in advance, particularly for weekends and school holidays, and pick an early slot if you want quieter foyers. Tours do not always enter every hall — rehearsals and performances take priority — so the route varies from day to day; that is the nature of a working arts centre, not a problem with your booking. Wear comfortable shoes and allow time before or after to walk all the way around the building at water level, which few people do: the northern tip gives the best close-up of the tiles and the view back across to the Bridge. The forecourt and the lower concourse along the water have bars and restaurants that are busy at sunset and lovely after dark, when the sails are lit and the city lights come on across the Quay.

Seeing a show is the other half of the experience. Opera Australia and The Australian Ballet perform in the Joan Sutherland Theatre, the Sydney Symphony Orchestra in the Concert Hall, and the smaller venues host drama, cabaret, children's shows and talks. Tickets range from affordable restricted-view seats to premium prices, so even a modest budget can buy an evening inside. If you only have one night in Sydney, a performance here is the classic choice; if you only have one morning, the tour followed by a walk through the Royal Botanic Garden next door to Mrs Macquarie's Chair, with its view back to the sails and the Bridge, is the perfect pairing.