Over the recent long weekend, we headed down to Sydney for a nice little staycation and to check out the annual Vivid Festival which had been on my Sydney bucket list for a while! We booked an amazing Vivid package at Rydges Sydney Central and loved the uniqueness of this modern, elegant hotel and its convenient location in Surry Hills. We had an amazing weekend checking out all that Vivid had to offer and really enjoyed our stay at Rydges, a hotel we would certainly return to again when visiting the city.
[spacer height=”10px”]We are Priority Guest Rewards members (a luxury hotel rewards program which includes hotels such as QT, Rydges, Art Series, Atura, Eventhouse and more) and through that we were offered a fantastic deal for Vivid Festival. Our stay included two nights accommodation, parking at the hotel, breakfast daily and also a $10 Opal card each for $380 which is an amazing price for a hotel in the city. We really appreciated that parking was included as the cost of parking in the city can very quickly add up and the opal card was great because it saved us having to get Opal cards of our own and ensured our transport around the city was super easy!
We were impressed from the moment we stepped into the elegant lobby and were greeted by the lovely sight of the underfloor Koi pond! This is a lovely, relaxing feature of the hotel and is one that adults and children alike would really enjoy.
We booked a Deluxe Room at the hotel which was a spacious, stylish and extremely comfortable room. We slept perfectly in the king sized Rydges Dream Bed and enjoyed the added comfort of a double sofa in the room as well. The room was very spacious and had lovely natural light from the large windows as well as black out blinds to ensure a perfect nights sleep. All of the necessary features and amenities were provided including reverse cycle air-conditioning, iron & ironing board, flat screen LCD TV, free Wi-Fi, desk and mini-bar.
All of the hotel’s 271 rooms have been recently renovated and we really liked the industrial Surry Hills inspired design and decor of the rooms.
The bathroom was stylish and spotlessly clean with indulgent, organic toiletries from Sanctum Australia.
We really enjoyed the leisure and wellness facilities at the hotel which included a lovely 15 metre indoor heated swimming pool, heated spa and sauna as well as fitness centre. We didn’t get a chance to hit the gym during our stay but made excellent use of the pool and sauna throughout our stay. The whole area was well maintained, lovely and clean and there was always plenty of chairs and fresh towels for use. The only thing we felt that was missing was perhaps a water filter as there was nowhere to get a drink or fill up our water bottles after having a sauna.
The hotel has an onsite bar and restaurant where we enjoyed a welcome drink upon arrival. As big fans of breakfast (and particularly buffet breakfasts) we really enjoyed the RISE buffet breakfast at the hotel each morning. The buffet was packed with fresh breakfast items with plenty of options including fresh fruits, cereals, breads, pastries, hot breakfast items, freshly squeezed juices and plenty more. As always, Dan went straight to the hot breakfast whilst I enjoyed the fresh fruit, yoghurt, juices, cereal and a few pastries as a treat!
Our only complaints (as small as they are) is that we found the staff on reception throughout our stay to not be overly friendly and housekeeping didn’t do up our room until after 2pm and it wasn’t to the standard that we’ve come to expect of hotels we stay in. Other than these two small items, we really enjoyed our stay at the hotel!
The hotel is ideally located in Surry Hills, only a block from Central Station! The location was perfect as we were only a short walk to Darling Harbour, China Town, the Royal Botanic Gardens, as well as the bustling shopping streets and malls of the city! We tend to walk most places when we travel as we find it is the best way to experience a location and discover exciting places we didn’t even know existed! The proximity to Central Station was also fantastic as we would catch the train down to Circular Quay each night and home meaning we didn’t have to wander around the city at night and it was nice quick trip home to bed!
Our main reason for visiting Sydney was for Vivid which is an annual event of light, music and ideas and features an outdoor showcase of incredible lighting sculptures and shows, a cutting-edge contemporary music program and the amazing illumination of the sails of the Sydney Opera House! The festival was truly mesmerising and we loved exploring the light installations around Circular Quay, through the Botanical Gardens and at Darling Harbour!
You can read more about Vivid and see more photos from the festival here: A Vivid Sydney Photo Diary
We had a great weekend in Sydney! The rain held off for the most part, Vivid was incredible and we really enjoyed our stay at Rydges Sydney Central. Our package deal for the weekend was $380 for the two nights and we would happily pay that again to stay at the hotel again. The hotel is a lovely, four star hotel and we particularly enjoyed the wellness areas and the style and comfort of our room.
Rydges Sydney Central
28 Albion St
Surry Hills NSW 2010
(02) 9289 0000
https://www.rydges.com/accommodation/sydney-nsw/sydney-central/
