A Sydney day from Potts Point to a Bondi sundowner

A tiny Italian café Sydney locals line up for. Order a piccolo flat white and the house ricotta toast. Footpath tables in summer, a warm room in winter. Cash and card both work.

Walk from the Potts Point end along the shore path to Mrs Macquarie's Chair — the rock-cut bench gives you the Opera House and Harbour Bridge in one frame. Fig trees, fruit bats in the Moreton Bay figs at dusk.

Take a lap of the Opera House outer steps, then back to Circular Quay for the Watson's Bay ferry. The 30-minute ride east hugs the north shore and opens the harbour as you go.

A century-old fish-and-chips restaurant on the sand. Order the grilled snapper or the seafood chowder; find a beach-facing table. Walk to South Head lighthouse afterwards — a forty-minute round trip past the Gap cliffs.

Six kilometres of clifftop path along the eastern beaches. Rock pools, graveyards on headlands, small coves. The full walk is two hours; turn around at Bronte if your legs are tired and the water there is still good for a swim.

The restaurant over the Bondi Icebergs ocean pool. Italian fine dining; white walls, water views, the saltwater pool swimmer-occupied below until late. Book weeks ahead, or take the walk-in bar seats for a cheaper way in.