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Escape to Manly, a Seaside Holiday Town in the City of Sydney. Surfing Lesson at Manly Beach, Sydney, Australia. Copyright © 2022 Terence Carter / Grantourismo. All Rights Reserved.

Escape to Manly, a Seaside Holiday Town in the City of Sydney

Most visitors to Sydney make a beeline for Bondi Beach, including every backpacker who arrives in the city. There’s no denying Bondi boasts a beautiful stretch of sand, but Manly has more charm and a laidback local vibe we find more appealling.

Bondi Beach is gorgeous. I’ve always had a strong connection to the place and that spectacular sandy beach that skirts the bay, and the Bondi to Bronte coastal walk is one of the world’s most stunning strolls. But Manly is like a low-key seaside holiday town, and yet it’s in a metropolis like Sydney. What’s not to love about that?

Bondi was a favourite lunch destination with friends for many years – although the food was never the draw, it was the opportunity to sit in a restaurant and sip white wine while gazing out at those spectacular sea views.

Over the years, though, in its eagerness to appeal to budget travellers there to booze and families who seemed to drop in on weekends to feed their kids fast food, Bondi changed. And sadly it seemed to lose some of its identity.

Escape to Manly, a Seaside Holiday Town in the City of Sydney. Surfing Lesson at Manly Beach, Sydney, Australia. Copyright © 2022 Terence Carter / Grantourismo. All Rights Reserved.

Manly, on the other hand, while it still pulls tourists to its squeaky white sand and pine tree-lined promenade, and also has its fair share of fast food franchises, souvenir shops and mediocre eateries, has an authenticity about it, more of a community spirit, and has a kind of quirkiness reflected in its hippy backstreet cafés and idiosyncratic bars like Hemingway’s.

While it has its hipster spots, like kitschy Manly Wine bar and beachside café-deli The Pantry, as a destination Manly is not quite cool. In fact, its main pedestrian shopping area is what Australians like to call ‘daggy’ and could be in any old suburb. But that doesn’t really matter. In fact, that lack of pretension is partly Manly’s appeal.

But there’s something else that I love about the place even more than that. Manly may only be 30 minutes by ferry from Sydney’s city centre but it has a holiday town atmosphere that makes it feel like it’s three hundred kilometres away.

Manly reminds me of the small seaside communities on the east coast of New South Wales that my family used to take us to for the summer school holidays. They seemed to consist of little more than a main street, a caravan park, and a wharf with a fishing co-op where we’d buy kilos of cooked prawns. They probably don’t even exist anymore.

Escape to Manly, a Seaside Holiday Town in the City of Sydney. Surfing Lesson at Manly Beach, Sydney, Australia. Copyright © 2022 Terence Carter / Grantourismo. All Rights Reserved.

But there’s something about Manly that reminds me of those places. The barefoot locals, grandmotherly types with purple perms pushing shopping trolleys, kids with ice-cream smeared across their cheeks, and surfers with boards under their arms jogging across the burning bitumen road to the scorching sand.

In Manly, sunbathing, swimming, surfing, and perhaps a spot of fishing are the order of the day for locals and holidaymakers, punctuated of course by hamburgers or fish and chips at picnic tables by the beach, or counter meals and cold beers at a corner pub. Visitors will add surfing lessons, a bike ride, and – if travelling with kids – an aquarium visit to their to-do list.

Come late afternoon, it’s time for an amble under the pine-trees along the breezy seaside promenade with the dog-walkers and skate-boarders. Or a lazy stroll around the headland to Fairy Bower and Shelley Beach – a popular path that gets busy with locals pushing babies in buggies, jogging, power-walking, and, later, spreading out blankets to set up sunset picnics with friends.

Escape to Manly, a Seaside Holiday Town in the City of Sydney. Surfing Lesson at Manly Beach, Sydney, Australia. Copyright © 2022 Terence Carter / Grantourismo. All Rights Reserved.

For dinner, Manly’s residents and visitors will line up outside the most popular fish and chip joints, Thai restaurants, or the ever-popular pizza at buzzy Hugo’s on the harbourside at Manly Wharf. We would have added dining on creative Aussie cuisine at the light-filled Manly Pavilion as an option, but sadly it recently closed.

Dinner might be followed by more cold beers and perhaps a game of pool or darts at a local pub like the Hotel Steyne or a fancy cocktail in a tea cup at cosy Hemingway’s, with its bar lined with bookshelves and views of the beach.

Whatever you do, the night shouldn’t be allowed to end before you cross the road one more time to listen to the sound of the waves crashing against the shore so you can let that memory lull you to sleep. Just as it did on those childhood holidays.

Getting to Manly

Take the Manly Ferry (30 minutes) from Circular Quay. It’s a must-do experience in its own right. Timetables and fares on the Transport NSW website. At the time of research, adult single tickets cost $7 and returns double that.

Where to Stay in Manly

We checked into a stylish and very comfortable room for a couple of nights at Q Station, in the quaint, historic Quarantine Station. Set amongst native bushland on the headland above Manly, it would have been peaceful if it hadn’t have been wonderfully noisy with birdlife. The accommodation is in the original old weatherboard and brick buildings that ooze history – make sure you save some time to have a snoop around the buildings and stroll the grounds.

The buildings boast shady verandas overlooking the harbour where you can inhale the eucalyptus-scented air and sip a glass of something in the evening. A delicious breakfast is included but no matter how tempting it is to sit outside in the sunshine, don’t unless you want to lose your bacon to the laughing kookaburras. There’s a complimentary shuttle bus down to Manly Corso and you can easily find a taxi to take you back up if you timed things badly or miss the last bus.

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About Lara Dunston

A travel and food writer who has experienced over 70 countries and written for The Guardian, Australian Gourmet Traveller, Feast, Delicious, National Geographic Traveller, Conde Nast Traveller, Travel+Leisure Southeast Asia, DestinAsian, TIME, CNN, The Independent, The Telegraph, Sunday Times Travel Magazine, AFAR, Wanderlust, International Traveller, Get Lost, Four Seasons Magazine, Fah Thai, Sawasdee, and more, as well as authored more than 40 guidebooks for Lonely Planet, DK, Footprint, Rough Guides, Fodors, Thomas Cook, and AA Guides.

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Comments

  1. Ben Alcock says

    October 15, 2012 at 8:39 am

    Love it…that’s my old neighbourhood.

    And, you’re right, it’s changed a LOT but hardly at all.

    Two of the experiences you listed – the walk to Shelley Beach (especially when the surf is up) and sundowners at The Manly Wharf Hotel – are a couple of Sydney’s very finest.

    Bondi schmondi.

  2. Lesley Peterson says

    October 15, 2012 at 7:04 am

    Love the photos, all that gorgeous blue! I adored that song ‘Bondi Junction’ when I was a kid but Manly looks even more an idyllic getaway.

  3. Lara Dunston says

    October 15, 2012 at 5:31 pm

    Thanks, Lesley. Oh look, Bondi has all that gorgeous blue too, but it’s just become so touristy and less ‘local’ that it’s lost some of its charm. Manly has the potential to become like Bondi but hopefully they won’t allow it to – it’s just lovely. Thanks for dropping by!

  4. Lara Dunston says

    October 15, 2012 at 5:37 pm

    Hi Ben – I’m jealous that you could once call it home!

    I remember when we were young (makes us sound so old!) we lived in Glebe and then Balmain and then Potts Point, always renting, and each time our lease would expire and we’d have to look for a new place, we’d often contemplate a move to the beach for a while. But we never did as it always seemed so far away – far from the city and inner city. How things change…

    This time I felt it was just so close – that 30 minutes on the ferry passed by in no time, and the ride was such a joy. And you have this lovely, laidback holiday-town-like atmosphere where people wander around town barefoot and in their bikinis and boardies, and it’s so close to the heart of the city where everyone is scurrying about in their black clothes and suits and ties and stockings and high heels. Crazy! Loved it!

    Thanks for dropping by! :)

  5. ChopinandMysaucepan says

    October 16, 2012 at 3:13 am

    Dear Lara,

    I used to look forward to the Manly jazz festival each year because it has such a relaxed and laid back feel about it.

    I have a soft spot for Balmoral beach as it is my favourite in Sydney. It is not as crowded as Bondi and I used to go crabbing around the rocky edges.

  6. Lara Dunston says

    October 23, 2012 at 11:37 pm

    We missed the Manly jazz festival this year – we were so disappointed – although it was also raining that weekend.

    Balmoral is lovely too, isn’t it? I had a friend who used to live near there and would always rave about it. Ah, I feel a post on Sydney beaches coming on… :)

  7. Natasha says

    November 14, 2012 at 9:30 pm

    I’m going to Sydney in a couple of weeks and would love to visit Manly. I’ve been to Bondi before and maybe it’s the Perth girl in me but I definitely prefer the laid-back, unpretentious beach vibe. Looking forward to catching the ferry to Manly! ;-)

  8. Lara Dunston says

    November 16, 2012 at 8:20 pm

    If you’re a Perth girl, you’ll absolutely love it. My mum and my sister and her husband live in Perth so I’m a big fan of the place and that low-key vibe that’s increasingly harder to find on the east coast. Enjoy!

  9. Anita Mac says

    November 30, 2012 at 3:37 pm

    Used to live up on the Coast. Loved making weekend trips down to Manly. Fish and cips on the beach, dancing at the pub and then cooling my feet at the beach. Breakfast at Ashes table – brilliant people watching. Man, this is a great trip down memory lane. Hope it never becomes as crazy as Bondi.

  10. Arianwen says

    February 13, 2014 at 6:44 am

    I live in Manly now and it is, without a doubt, my favourite part of Sydney. Last weekend I kayaked to a beach that might as well have been in Thailand and saw a little penguin! I never want to leave!

  11. Lara Dunston says

    February 13, 2014 at 12:31 pm

    Aren’t you lucky? I just love it too. You probably won’t believe it, but for many years it was dismissed by Sydneysiders as being too touristy and Bondi was the go-to beach, when it was hip and cool in the 80s. I really became quite smitten with Manly when we were there and loved seeing cool little bars, cafes and shops opening in the backstreets. I still love Bondi, but it’s always so crowded, whereas even when Manly is busy it feels more low-key. Enjoy your time there!

  12. Danielle says

    March 30, 2017 at 8:36 am

    I was in Sydney many years ago for a short time, and must have somehow found out about Manly Beach. I remember being very excited about going and rode the ferry over there (which was a great experience at the time). I don’t remember it in too much detail, only that it was very quiet and absolutely beautiful! I’m glad I saw this it brings back so many great memories of that trip!

  13. Lara Dunston says

    April 16, 2017 at 10:27 am

    Hi Danielle, Manly is on the itineraries for most visitors to Sydney, and it does have its fair share of tacky souvenir shops and the like that cater for tourists, however, it remains resolutely local and it’s absolutely beautiful, and not hard to get away from the tourists to find local spots. So pleased you got there and enjoyed it and this post brought back some memories. Thanks for dropping by!

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Lara and Terence are an Australian-born, Southeast Asia-based travel and food writers and photographers who have authored scores of guidebooks, produced countless travel and food stories, are currently developing cookbooks and guidebooks, and host culinary tours and writing and photography retreats in Southeast Asia.
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Still looking for Christmas cooking inspo? Check o Still looking for Christmas cooking inspo? Check out our seafood recipe collection, especially if you celebrate Christmas on Christmas Eve with a fish focused meal in the Southern Italian tradition, transformed by Italian-Americans into the Feast of the Seven Fishes, or like Australians, who celebrate Christmas in the sweltering summer, feast on seafood for Christmas Day lunch, we’ve got lots of easy seafood recipes for you.

Our recipes include a classic prawn cocktail, blini with smoked salmon, a ceviche-style appetiser, and devilled eggs with caviar. We’ve also got recipes for fish soup, seafood pies and pastas, salmon tray bake, and crispy salmon with creamy mashed potatoes.

You’ll find the recipes here: https://grantourismotravels.com/seafood-recipes-for-christmas-eve-and-christmas-day-menus/
(Link in bio if you’re seeing this on IG)

Merry Christmas if you’re celebrating!! 

#christmas #christmasfood #seafood #fish #recipes #christmasrecipes #foodstagram #foodblogger #food #foodlover #igfood #picoftheday #igfood #igfoodie #cooking #foodblog #food #foodstagram #instafood #instafoodie #foodie #foodies #foodlover #foodpics #foodporn #foodphotography #foodwriter #foodblogger #grantourismo #grantourismotravels #xmas #merrychristmas #happychristmas
If you’re still looking for food inspo for Chris If you’re still looking for food inspo for Christmas Eve or Christmas Day meals, my smoked salmon ‘carpaccio’ recipe is one of dozens of recipes in this compilation of our best Christmas recipes (link below). 

The Christmas recipe compilation includes collections of our best Christmas breakfast recipes, best Christmas brunch recipes, best Christmas starter recipes, best Christmas cocktails, best Christmas dessert recipes, and homemade edible Christmas gifts and more.

My smoked salmon carpaccio recipe makes an easy elegant appetiser that’s made in minutes. If you’re having guests over, you can make the dish ahead by assembling the salmon, capers and pickled onions, and refrigerate it, then pour on the dressing just before serving. 

Provide toasted baguette slices and bowls of additional capers, pickles and dressing, so guests can customise their carpaccio. And open the bubbly!

You’ll find that recipe and many more Christmas recipes here: https://grantourismotravels.com/best-christmas-recipes/ (link in bio if you’re seeing this on IG)

Merry Christmas!! X

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#xmas #merrychristmas #happychristmas
If you haven’t visited our site in a while, I sh If you haven’t visited our site in a while, I shared a collection of recipes for homemade edible Christmas gifts — for condiments, hot sauces, chilli oils, a whole array of pickles, spice blends, chilli salt, furakake seasoning, and spicy snacks, such as our Cambodian and Vietnamese roasted peanuts. 

I love giving homemade edibles as gifts as much as I love receiving them. Who wouldn’t appreciate jars filled with their favourite chilli oils, hot sauces, piquant pickles, and spicy peanuts that loved-ones have taken the time to make? 

Aside from the gesture and affordability of gifting homemade edibles, you’re minimising waste. You can use recycled jars or if buying new mason jars or clip-top Kilner jars, you know they’ll get repurposed.

No need for wrapping, just attach some Christmas baubles or tinsel to the lid. I used squares of Cambodian kramas (cotton scarves), which can be repurposed as napkins or drink coasters, and tied a ribbon or two around the lids, and attached last year’s Christmas tree decorations to some.

You’ll find the recipes here: https://grantourismotravels.com/homemade-edible-christmas-gifts/ (link in bio if you’re seeing this on IG)

Yes, that’s Pepper... every time there’s a camera around... 

#christmasgiftideas #ediblegifts ##christmasfoodgifts #foodgifts #giftideas #homemadegifts #christmasfood #ediblegiftideas #hotsauce #chillisauce #sriracha #pickles #homemadepickles #recipes #foodstagram #foodblogger #food #foodlover #igfood 
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This crab omelette is a decadent eggs dish that’ This crab omelette is a decadent eggs dish that’s perfect if you’re just back from the fish markets armed with luxurious fresh crab meat. It’s a little sweet, a little spicy, and very, very moreish.

Our crab omelette recipe was one of our 22 most popular egg recipes of 2022 on our website Grantourismo and it’s no surprise. It’s appeared more times than any other egg recipes on our annual round-ups of most popular recipes since Terence launched Weekend Eggs when we launched Grantourismo in 2010.

If you’re an eggs lover, do check out the recipe collection. It includes egg recipes from right around the world, from recipes for classic kopitiam eggs from Singapore and Malaysia and egg curries from India and Myanmar to all kinds of egg recipes from Thailand, Japan, Korea, China, Mexico, USA, Australia, UK, and Ireland.

And do browse our Weekend Eggs archives for further eggspiration (sorry). We have hundreds of egg recipes from the 13 year-old series of recipes for quintessential egg dishes from around the world, which we started on our 2010 year-long global grand tour focused on slow, local and experiential travel. 

We’re hoping 2023 will be the year we can finally publish the Weekend Eggs cookbook we’ve talked about for years based on that series. After we can find a publisher for the Cambodia cookbook of course... :( 

Recipe collection here (and proper link to Grantourismo in our bio):
https://grantourismotravels.com/22-most-popular-egg-recipes-of-2022-from-weekend-eggs/

If you cook the recipe and enjoy it please let us know — we love to hear from you — either in the comments at the end of the recipe or share a pic with us here.

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I’m late to share this, but a few days ago Angko I’m late to share this, but a few days ago Angkor Archaeological Park, home to stupendous Angkor Wat, pictured, celebrated 30 years of its UNESCO World Heritage listing. 

That’s as good an excuse as any to put this magnificent, sprawling archaeological site on your travel list this year.

While riverside Siem Reap, your base for exploring Angkor is bustling once more, there are still nowhere near the visitors of the last busy high season months of December-January 2018-2019 when there were 290,000 visitors. 

Last month there were just 55,000 visitors and December feels a little quieter. A tour guide friend said there were about 150 people at Angkor Wat for sunrise a few days ago.

If you’re looking for tips to visiting Angkor, Siem Reap and Cambodia, just ask us a question in the comments below or check Grantourismo as we’ve got loads of info on our site. Click through to the link in the bio and explore our Cambodia guide or search for ‘Angkor’. 

And please do let us know if you’re coming to Siem Reap. We’d love to see you here x

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Our soy ginger chicken recipe will make you sticky Our soy ginger chicken recipe will make you sticky, flavourful and succulent chicken thighs that are fantastic with steamed rice, Chinese greens or a salad, such as a Southeast Asian slaw. 

The chicken can be marinated for up to 24 hours before cooking, which ensures it’s packed with flavour, then it can be cooked on a barbecue or in a pan.

Terence’s soy ginger chicken recipe is one of our favourite recipes for a quick and easy meal. I love the sound of the sizzling thighs in the pan, and the warming aromas wafting through the apartment. 

It’s amazing how such flavourful juicy chicken thighs come from such a quick and easy recipe.

Recipe here (and proper link to Grantourismo in our bio): https://grantourismotravels.com/soy-ginger-chicken-recipe/

If you cook it and enjoy it please let us know — we love to hear from you — either here or in the comments at the end of the recipe on the site or share a pic with us x 

#recipe #recipes #chicken #soygingerchicken #asianfood #southeastasianfood #igfood #igfoodie #cooking #cookingtime #recipe #recipes #comfortfood #foodblog #food #foodstagram #healthyfood #instafood #healthy #instafoodie #foodie #foodies #foodlover #foodpics #foodporn #foodphotography #foodwriter #foodblogger #recipedeveloper #writingacookbook #grantourismo #grantourismotravels
Who can guess the ingredients and what we’re mak Who can guess the ingredients and what we’re making with my market haul from Psar Samaki in Siem Reap — all for a whopping 10,000 riel (US$2.50)?! 

Birds-eye chillies thrown in for free! They were on my list but the seller I spent most at (5,000 riel!) scooped up a handful and slipped them into my bag. She was my last stop and knew what I was making.

My Khmer is poor, even after all our years in Cambodia, as I don’t learn languages with the ease I did in my 20s, plus I’m mentally exhausted after researching and writing all day. I have a better vocabulary of Old and Middle Khmer than modern Khmer from studying the ancient inscriptions for the Cambodian culinary history component of our cookbook I’m writing.

So when one seller totalled my purchases I thought she said 5,000 riel but she handed back 4,500 riel! The sum total of two huge bunches of herbs and kaffir lime leaves was 500 riel.

Tip: if visiting Siem Reap, use Khmer riel for local shopping. We’ve mainly used riel since the pandemic started— rarely use US$ now as market sellers quote prices in riels, as do local shops and bakeries, and I tip tuk tuk drivers in riels. I find prices quoted in riels are lower.

Psar Samaki is cheaper than Psar Leu, which is cheaper than Psar Chas, as it’s a wholesale market, which means the produce is fresher. I see veggies arriving, piled high in the back of vehicles, with dirt still on them — as I did on this trip. 

The scent of a mountain of incredibly aromatic pineapples offloaded from the back of a dusty ute was so heady they smelt like they’d just been cut. More exotic European style veggies arrive by big trucks in boxes labelled in Vietnamese (from Dalat) and Mandarin (from China), such as beautiful snow-white cauliflower I spotted.

Note: the freshest produce is sold on the dirt road at the back of the market.

#cambodia #siemreap #foodwriter #foodblogger #foodphotography #igfood #foodstagram #instafood #instafoodie #foodie #instadaily #picoftheday #market #siemreapmarket #psarsamaki #marketfresh #vegetables #healthyfood #marketshopping #traveltips #foodtravel #culinarytravel #localtravel #cooking #cookingtime #curry #homemade #currypaste #grantourismotravels
My Vietnamese-ish meatballs and rice noodles recip My Vietnamese-ish meatballs and rice noodles recipe makes tender meatballs doused in a delightfully tangy-sweet sauce, sprinkled with crispy fried shallots, with carrot-daikon, crunchy cucumber and fragrant herbs. 

The dish is inspired by bún chả, a Hanoi specialty, but it’s not bún chả. No matter what Google or food bloggers tell you. Names are important, especially when cooking and writing about cuisines not our own.

This is an authentic bún chả recipe:  https://grantourismotravels.com/vietnamese-bun-cha-recipe/ You’ll need to get the outdoor BBQ/grill going to do proper smoky bún chả meat patties (not meatballs).

My meatball noodle bowl is perhaps more closely related to dishes such as a Central Vietnam cousin bún thịt nướng (pork skewers on rice noodles in a bowl) and a Southern relation bún bò Nam Bộ (beef atop rice noodles, sprinkled with fried shallots (Nam Bộ=Southern Vietnam) though neither include meatballs. 

Xíu mại= meatballs although they’re different in flavour to mine, which taste more like bún chả patties. Xíu mại remind me of Southern Italian meatballs in tomato sauce.

In Vietnam’s Mekong Delta, home to millions of Khmer, there’s bánh tằm xíu mại. Bánh tằm=silk worm noodles. They’re topped with meatballs, cucumber, daikon, carrot, fresh herbs, crispy fried onions. Difference: cold noodles doused in a sauce of coconut cream and fish sauce. 

Remove the meatballs, add chopped fried spring rolls and it’s Cambodia’s banh sung, which is a rice noodle salad similar to Vietnam’s bún chả giò :) 

Recipe here: (link in bio) https://grantourismotravels.com/vietnamese-meatballs-and-rice-noodles-recipe/

For more on these culinary connections you’ll have to wait for our Cambodian cookbook and culinary history. In a hurry to know? Come support the project on Patreon. (link in bio)

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It is pure coincidence that Pepper’s eye colour It is pure coincidence that Pepper’s eye colour matches the furnishings of our rented apartment. So, no, I did not colour-coordinate the interiors to match our cat’s eyes. 

I keep getting DMs from pet clothing brands wanting to “partner” with Pepper and send her free cat clothes and cat accessories. Although she did wear a kerchief for a few years in her more adventurous fashion-forward teenage years, I cannot see this cat in clothes now, can you? 

#pepper #blackcat #blackcats #blackcatsofinstagram #blackcatsrule #blackcatsmatter #cat #cats #catsofinstagram #catstagram #catlover #catlovers #catlove #catoftheday #catphoto #catpic #catpics #cambodiancat #cambodiancatsofinstagram #catlife #catloversclub #catoftheday #catgram #catstagram #cats_of_instagram #catphotography #catsofig #catsoftheworld #catsofinsta #cats🐱 #siemreap #cambodia

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