Sydney’s Best Harbour and Coastal Walks (Guidebook Review)

Many people who live in Sydney aren’t aware of the wide range of short, half-day and day walks spread across the city along the harbour and coastline.

You could visit lots of websites to find out about these walks or simply buy the Sydney’s Best Harbour and Coastal Walks guidebook by Katrina O’Brien which lists each walk including directions, basic maps and a bit of information about the history of the area each walk passes through.

In fact when I mentioned that I was reviewing this book, my friend Catriona Pollard told me:

That is the book we use for our coastal walks. Its EXCELLENT! We are on a mission to do all of them!

I would suggest starting with the very popular and quite easy Spit Bridge to Manly Walk which includes several different landscapes along the way including rocky harbour steps, a forested section, small beaches where you can swim and finally a concrete sidewalk at the end when you’re approaching Manly Beach

The photos in the following Spit Bridge to Manly Walk Photo Gallery slideshow were taken using different cameras and camera phones across several different times I’ve done this walk.

More serious walkers will love the 2 day 26km Bundeena to Otford walk which is partially covered in Sydney’s Best Harbour and Coastal Walks upto the 40% mark at Marley Beach.

I did that walk in 2007 and while it was tiring I had a lot of fun and unlike many other easier Sydney walking tracks there were few other people on the Bundeena to Otford walk track besides myself and my friends. The full details for that walk are included in Sydney’s Best Bush, Park and City Walks by Veechi Stuart.

NOTE: A copy of this book was sent to me for review by the publishers Woodslane after they found the Spit Bridge to Manly Walk guide on this site.