It’s the hotel that is spoiled with a very specific luxury: one of the most iconic views in the world. And boy do they know it.
It’s the Park Hyatt Sydney. The one across from the Opera House. The one that rarely costs below $1000.
I stayed at the Park Hyatt Sydney in an attempt to answer the question: is it worth the extreme price? Is it up there with other Park Hyatts in that price range like the Park Hyatt New York and the Park Hyatt Paris Vendome? Let’s find out.
Getting to the Park Hyatt Sydney
As a reminder, I live in Sydney, so I just walked over to the Park Hyatt Sydney after work. It was a lovely Monday afternoon, crisply cool with wispy clouds swirling through the sky as winter embraced Sydney. Instead of my normal walking path to Wharf 2 at Circular Quay for the ferry over to Manly, I walked up the west side of Circular Quay in the historic Rocks area of Sydney and there it was, the hotel I see almost every day but today it was my hotel.
The Park Hyatt Sydney is nestled on a peninsula abutting the iconic Sydney Harbour Bridge and the building follows the lay of the land, curving out into Circular Quay.
It’s one of the most photographed buildings in the world, although many might not know that it’s a hotel. It affords a perfect view across Circular Quay of a place called Bennelong Point, known the world over for its iconic resident: the Sydney Opera House.
Ok ok, let’s get to the hotel stay.
Why I waited until now to stay here
For one simple reason: Vivid. Sydney throws a massive festival of light and colour throughout the city called Vivid for roughly a month beginning in late May each year. It’s a time for Aussies and tourists to get together for amazing art installations, food vendors, light shows, all in an effort to forget about how cold and rainy it can get in Sydney during Australia’s winter.
The Park Hyatt Sydney doesn’t ever really get cheap. Whether you are using points or cash, it’s always expensive. The thing is, though, it doesn’t really ever get MORE expensive, except for New Year’s Eve. In other words, staying there during Vivid wouldn’t cost me any more than staying there on a random other night, so I went for it for you, my beloved readers who are still with me despite me not really blogging that much lately (I’ve been too busy living my life here in Australia to write about it!).
How I booked it and why I had to be very precise
Ok so here was the thing: I am probably going to stay here once during my time in Sydney. Maybe not, I dunno, but one night at the Park Hyatt costs far more than a number of visits to my beloved wombats a few hours south of Sydney so it’s just not that big of a priority. If I was going to do it once, I wanted to make sure it was exactly right and that I got the view I wanted. Not of the city. Not of Sydney Harbour. Nope, I wanted the Opera House view.
The Park Hyatt makes it pretty easy to know what your view will be, as they have different room types to charge you more accommodate travel photographers like me.
So, how do you get an Opera House view? You pay more. Which caused an issue for how I wanted to book my night. If I used 45k Hyatt points, it would’ve gotten me a standard room and wiped out half of my Hyatt point balance. I could do 22k points and a few hundred (Aussie) dollars for the same room, which seemed appealing but still in a standard room. As if the Park Hyatt price wizards were reading my mind, there was an option for a cash + points award for an Opera View room! All it would take was 22k points…and A$780. That’s…a lot of cash for the right to spend 22k points and wipe out a decent portion of my Hyatt balance.
So what did I do?
I paid cash. A lot of it. But I tried to do it smartly. American Express Fine Hotels & Resorts covers the Park Hyatt Sydney, so I knew I’d get a free breakfast and $100 USD in other food/beverage credit. I would also get a room upgrade. Now, getting a standard room and hoping for the upgrade to the Opera View room would not be guaranteed, so I decided to forego the upgrade and just ended up booking an Opera View room.
I was greeted promptly and warmly when I walked in, the lobby adorned with beautiful sandstone accents.
I knew pretty much the exact room I wanted to be in based on the hotel layout and when it came to negotiating my upgrade I told her what I was looking for and she could keep her upgrade. She put me in the exact room I wanted, room 334.
The Room
I was escorted to my room and given a tour but a well-intentioned check-in agent but honestly I just sat there looking out the mini-balcony at the view. It was perfect.
I see the Sydney Opera House on average twice a day. But somehow it looked even better from this spot.
In an effort to be a proper travel blogger, I went around and took some pictures of the rest of the room, which was nicely appointed and very spacious.
The restroom area was exposed to the room and featured my favourite amenities in the world: Le Labo Bergamote 44.
But man, that view. I just couldn’t take myself away from it.
Elsewhere around the hotel
The hotel packed a ton of luxury into its space under the bridge. As I walked around with a camera I attracted a LOT of attention from hotel staff who were understandably worried about the privacy of their guests, so I had to pick and choose my photos, and therefore didn’t get as many as I normally would (like at the Park Hyatt Beaver Creek).
The lobby area was adorned in vivid colours as the evening approached, hues of pink and blue to match Vivid Sydney’s colours for the year.
The Vivid lights turn on at 6pm each night, so I had a drink at the lobby bar to pass some time before sunset. The bar felt a bit more like a nightclub due to the lights, but I think during a non-Vivid time it would feel more like a typical bar. The bartender was knowledgeable and friendly, I told him what flavour profiles I liked and asked what he suggested and he pointed me to a fig and rosemary-infused martini, which surprised me but he was right, it was absolutely delicious!
I made my way back up to the room to get ready for the magic of Vivid to begin.
Watching Vivid Sydney from my room at the Park Hyatt Sydney
As the minutes ticked down until the lights came on, I started a motionlapse with my DJI Pocket 3 and timed it perfectly!
The colours were, well, vivid! The projections on the Opera House was called Echo, by 2023 Archibald Prize winner Julia Gutman, a digitized display of patchwork art meant to evoke a sense of self-consciousness and our ability to see ourselves.
In an effort to truly see the powerful view from the room, I took some steps back and captured the money shot of the room.
It really was that amazing, the Park Hyatt Sydney brought Vivid to my room!
I set up my camera on a tripod while a photographer friend came over for room service dinner so we could both take pictures from the amazing spot.
The view of Sydney’s CBD was beautiful too!
I went a bit wild with the tilt shift lens but had an absolutely wonderful time documenting the light and colour.
The next morning, I had a wonderful view of sunrise, as the room faced almost directly east.
Sitting in my chair at the Park Hyatt watching the sun rise over the Opera House is a memory I will keep with me forever. It was just a flawless morning, and that was before one of the best breakfasts I’ve ever had!
Breakfast at the Park Hyatt Sydney
I spent so much time enjoying the view that I ended up with a bit of an abbreviated brekkie, as I needed to get into the office and get the workday going. But hey, breakfast was included so I had to do it!
I made my way down to the beautiful restaurant with the million-dollar view of the Opera House.
The Park Hyatt Sydney breakfast has a buffet component and a menu component. My barometer for a hotel restaurant is their pain au chocolat, so I grabbed one and another pastry and ordered an eggs benny off the menu, taking in the amazing view as my stay came to an end.
The pain au chocolat was one of the best pastries I’ve ever had, up there with the Park Hyatt Vendome in Paris. You could taste every layer of buttery bread, and the eggs benny was flawless.
Really, of all things, it was the flawless eggs benny that summed it up for me. The Park Hyatt Sydney was without flaw.
Answering the big question: was it worth it?
Honestly? Yes. That said, I feel like reviewing the Park Hyatt Sydney objectively is almost impossible because the highlight is always going to be the location and the perfect view. Fortunately, the quality of service and hospitality lives up to that amazing view. The soft side of the Park Hyatt Sydney will always take a silver medal to the amazing view, but if both are great then it ends up being a flawless hotel stay.
What do you think? Have you stayed at the Park Hyatt Sydney? Would you pay this much for this view?
I stayed in room 334 on a 1-7 award. They used to provide free walking tours for guests where a staff member would accompany you on an hour walk and buy you a pint.
I thought the breakfast was outstanding, and I was amazed that every staff member that I came across greeted me by my name.
I haven’t stay there, but I enjoyed living it through your writing and pictures.