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Paddington
Paddington, or Paddo for short, is well known and envied as a bustling, cosmopolitan part of Sydney's eastern suburbs. Trendy Oxford Street runs right through the centre of town, and the place is famous for its boutique fashion stores, cafes and restaurants.
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Bellevue Hill
Bellevue Hill is well known for being one of Sydney's wealthiest suburbs. Just one example of this is the historic Queen Anne home, Caerleon, which sold for $22 million in January 2008. The median income here is nearly double that of the Australian average.
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Bondi
Okay, so you know it's close to the beach, but you might not know all there is to know about Bondi. For a start there's great food here, with a terrific choice of BYO restaurants on Bondi Road. Then there's the shopping, right on the same street. There are fewer tourists here than you might think, and the area has a village feel with a wide range of suburban shops including Russian delicatessens and patisseries.
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Bondi Beach
You can't talk about Sydney without talking about Bondi Beach, which draws Sydneysiders and tourists in by the thousands every year. The lifestyle here is part chic, part laid back, and very Australian, despite the large contingent of backpackers and ex-pats who call the place home.
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Bondi Junction
Bondi Junction was named when tramlines were extended to Bondi Beach, the junction of the Bondi and Bronte tramlines at the corner of present day Oxford Street and Bronte Road. And since the 1930's, Bondi Junction has grown into a major entertainment and commercial destination.
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Botany
If you're looking for a backyard close to the city, a visit to Botany is well worth your time. As the suburb gets a makeover, more and more families are attracted to the stand-alone homes with plenty of room to stretch out, ranging from workers cottages to California bungalows. There are also plenty of new, modern apartments in the area.
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Bronte
Looking for the best? Well, thats Bronte. At least according to the Sydney Morning Herald's Good Suburbs Guide, which declared it the best of Sydneys 641 suburbs.
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Centennial Park
Centennial Park is a small residential suburb on the western fringe of the parkland of the same name. It was dedicated by Sir Henry Parkes in January 1888 to celebrate the first 100 years of European settlement in Australia, and described by him as emphatically the people's park. Patrick White, Australias only Nobel Prize winning author, used to live here.
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Chifley
The first house built in the Chifley area was Bunnerong House in 1825. The Crown owned most land in the area until the Depression of the 1930s, when the land was leased out gradually and families set up homes here over time.
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Clovelly
It's called Clovelly, but you can call it Cloey, which is what the people who live here have named their home. Less well known than its bigger neighbouring suburbs of Bronte and Coogee, Cloey is much sought after for its quiet streets and laid back atmosphere.
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Coogee
Coogee became notorious in 1935 because of the Shark Arm Case at the Coogee Aquarium Baths in 1935, when a captured tiger shark was found to have swallowed a human arm. The arm belonged to missing person, James Smith, who was identified by a distinctive tattoo.
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Darling Point
Darling Point is one of Sydneys highest income areas. A number of Sydneys most distinctive and distinguished mansions look out over the water here. These include Carthona, a magnificent harbour side sandstone mansion with panoramic water views across Double Bay, to Point Piper, and north toward Manly, and Craigend. Constructed in the Moorish and Art Deco styles of 1935, with a pair of doors from an ancient Zanzibar mosque and a traditional Japanese garden.
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Darlinghurst
Once the home of working class families, Darlinghurst is now one of Sydneys most sought-after addresses, the choice of professionals, students and creative types. The eastern suburbs vibe of Darlinghurst is best reflected by Oxford Street, which connects to the city to the beach. Known as the heart of Sydney's gay community, Darlinghursts Oxford Street also hosts the annual Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras.
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Double Bay
Double Bay takes its name from the bay situated on Sydney Harbour. Best known for its boutique hotels, retail storefronts, restaurants and cafes, Double Bay is regarded as the most fashionable and expensive shopping district in Sydney.
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Dover Heights
Dover Heights is believed to be named for its cliffs, which resemble the White Cliffs of Dover, in Kent, England. The first mention of Dover Heights as a name for the area appeared in municipal records in 1886.
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Edgecliff
A long and thin suburb following New South Head Road, Edgecliff is home to only 2,000 residents. The median weekly individual income is more than double the Australian average, and its seen as a quiet and convenient place to live with a combination of tree-lined streets, Victorian terraces, harbour views and good public transport.
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Elizabeth Bay
Tree-lined streets, outstanding harbour views and Art Deco-style architecture are just some of the attractions that bring so many well-to-do professionals to Elizabeth Bay. From small studios to grand homes, Elizabeth Bay has some of the most attractive residences in Sydney. Billyard Avenue is considered one of the best addresses in Australia.
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Kensington
Home to the University of New South Wales since the 1950s, Kensington is extremely popular with students from all over the globe. Apart from the campus, the suburb is a great place to get outdoors and enjoy the sunshine, with parkland covering a quarter of the area.
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Kingsford
Once known as South Kensington, Kingsford changed its name to honour the famous Australian aviator Sir Charles Kingsford Smith. But it stayed largely undeveloped until the 1920's, and the 1940's when many Greeks from the island of Kastellorizo moved to the area lots of them opening businesses and giving a real Hellenic flavour to the suburb.
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La Perouse
Water sports, fishing and kayaking are what La Perouse is all about. With less than 400 people to call it home, the people who live here feel like they have the place all to themselves, and make the most of it.
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Little Bay
The Coast Cemetery, south of Little Bay, is a reminder of Sydney's early history. When an outbreak of smallpox affected the city from 1881 to 1882, the area was turned into a quarantine and cemetery, and over the next forty-odd years over two thousand people were buried here. In fact the sense of history is palpable, with the Interdenominational War Memorial Chapel, which overlooks Little Bay with its array of memorial plaques dedicated to former staff of the hospital.
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Malabar
Situated around Long Bay, Malabar is home to many older residents, nearly a third of whom are over 55. They enjoy the residential feel and large open spaces, including Randwick Golf Course, ANZAC Rifle Range and Malabar Rock Pool.
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Maroubra
Maroubra developed in earnest after the tramline was extended all the way to Maroubra beach in 1921. Since then, Sydney-siders have been attracted to its beachside lifestyle, surf culture, and utterly relaxed atmosphere.
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Mascot
Mascot sits on the northwest side of Botany Bay and is home to Sydney Airport, Sydney's principal airport. Once bordered to the north and west by industrial areas, these have given way to warehouse-style apartments and new residential developments. The result is a suburb thats becoming increasingly popular with families.
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Matraville
Sydney's Arthur Stace otherwise known as Mr Eternity for his chalk drawings all around the city was lain to rest in Botany Cemetery, which sits within Matraville's borders part of the Eastern Suburbs Memorial Park. There's a definite sense of history here, which originated in 1917, when 2.5 acres of Matraville were allocated for soldiers returning from World War One.
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Pagewood
Originally envisioned as a garden suburb, Pagewood was developed to provide housing due to a shortage of land after World War One. The availability of separate stand alone houses has made the area popular with families looking for plenty of space, and though its not as close to the beach as Maroubra or Coogee, the water is never far away.
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Point Piper
Home to some of the most exclusive and alluring properties in Australia, Point Piper is known for its exquisite views of Sydney Harbour. Nestled next to Rose Bay and Double Bay, a short drive through its eleven cosy streets will leave you in no doubt as to why this is Sydneys most prestigious suburb.
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Potts Point
Small but full of people (and life), Potts Point sits on a ridge east of Woolloomooloo, west of Elizabeth Bay and north of Darlinghurst. The place is home mostly to young professionals aged between 20 and 39.
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Queens Park
Once a part of the Sydney Common, today Queens Park is, like the name suggests, a large urban park, with numerous playing fields and plenty of open space to enjoy. The park is surrounded by housing on three sides, many of which date back to the Victorian era and later Federation era, with a mix of freestanding homes and terraces, as well as modern apartments.
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Randwick
Think racing and you're probably thinking of Randwick in Sydney's southeast. Randwick is home to Randwick Racecourse, the premier venue for Australias Autumn Carnival. But theres much more to Randwick, as anyone who lives there will tell you.
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Redfern
Redfern has been going upmarket over the last few years. But as high-rise apartment blocks and gentrification change the look of the place, there's still a strong sense of community spirit which has existed since the birth of the suburb, when surgeon William Redfern took a land grant in 1817 from Governor Lachlan Macquarie.
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Rose Bay
Rose Bay is an exclusive suburb in Sydney's fashionable east. Large period and architect-designed homes on large properties in tree lined streets make Rose Bay one of the prettiest and most sought after places in Sydney. Added to the mix are some affordable apartments as well.
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Rosebery
A garden suburb, Rosebery is distinctive for its lack of tall houses north of Gardeners Road, the main thoroughfare. A covenant was put in place to limit homes to one storey, which informed the architecture of the place, a mix of California and Federation bungalows. Many properties feature larger sized blocks and are located on wider streets than surrounding suburbs, giving the area a more traditional suburban feeling, but with all the conveniences of living close to the city.
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Rushcutters Bay
At only 0.2 km square, tiny Rushcutters Bay is one of Sydneys smallest suburbs. The area was first known as 'Rush Cutting Bay' because the swampy land was covered in tall rushes, used by early settlers for thatching houses.
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South Coogee
Popular with families attracted to its affordable property prices and convenient location, South Coogee is home to a mix of cultures, including migrants from the UK, Greece, Ukraine and Russia. Theres a mix of housing styles, with more prestigious real estate (not surprisingly) by the waters edge.
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Surry Hills
Originally an idyllic farming area, Surry Hills became a favourite with families new to Australia after World War II. Property was cheap at the time, but in the 1980's the area was renovated and redeveloped into the fashionable inner city suburb we see today.
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Tamarama
Tamarama is affectionately nicknamed Glamarama by the locals its the beach where the very beautiful or seriously trendy come to sunbathe and swim or simply to be seen. With its small but perfectly formed ocean beach, its only about one click south of more famous Bondi Beach, but its got a character all its own.
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Vaucluse
Known for being leafy, hilly, and very, very affluent, with expensive houses and incredible views, Vaucluse is synonymous with wealth and success. Tahiti, a Hawaiian-style residence in tropical gardens above Hermit Bay, set an Australian residential record when it sold for more than $29 million in 2007.
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Waterloo
As more and more stylish, contemporary apartments go up within its borders, Waterloo is changing dramatically. Open green spaces, the Green Square development, and an active business and technology focus are replacing the public housing that dominated the area in the middle of the twentieth century.
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Watsons Bay
Watsons Bay sits on the end of the South Head peninsula and takes its name from the sheltered bay and anchorage on its western side. Much of the suburb is taken up by parkland, national park, and reserves, with coast-top walks available. Vaucluse Yacht Club Baths fall within the suburbs boundaries.
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Waverley
Seven kilometres east of the Sydney as the crow flies, Waverley is physically the highest point of Sydney's eastern suburbs. Lying next the retail Mecca of Bondi Junction, its a charming residential area, full of architectural character.
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Woollahra
Woollahra is famous for its quiet, tree-lined residential streets and village-style shopping centre. But its also well known for stylish Queen Street, with its shopping, antiques, jewellery, art galleries and restaurants. It's also got an artistic streak, and Woollahra Council fosters artistic development with the annual Woollahra Small Sculpture Prize.
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Woolloomooloo
Home to the actor Russell Crowe, radio presenter John Laws and singer Delta Goodrem, Woolloomooloo is one the most visually impressive suburbs in Sydney. Its Finger Wharf building is listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as the largest wooden structure in the world - 400m long and standing on 3,600 piles.
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Zetland
Zetland is a very young and multicultural suburb, with a melting pot of residents born here and overseas from China, England, Hong Kong, Indonesia and New Zealand. Once known mostly as an industrial centre, its now becoming known as a residential suburb with many new apartments and gentrification well under way.
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