Head to head: Australia

AUSTRALIA Sydney VERSUS Melbourne

Sydney or Melbourne? A fierce rivalry and no shortage of sights, but which city is best for you?

SYDNEY

Sydney offers a grandiose take on the arts. It has a famous Opera House, a Museum of Contemporary Art ( pictured right) and the Sydney Theatre Company, run for a while by the actor Cate Blanchett. Vivid Festival turns the city into one big lights show once a year, while Belvoir St Theatre in Surry Hills is among the most innovative in the land.

In Sydney it’s all about the sun. With more than 100 beaches, a harbour that stretches on forever and national parks in the north, south and west, it’s a city built for the great outdoors. Learn to surf at Coogee, then follow its wild sandstone cliff walk to Bondi. Finish with a kayak/sup tour of the harbour at Balmoral, all within a taxi ride of the CBD.

Sydney’s dining scene is celebratory and brash, with many of its best, and priciest, restaurants (such as Quay) offering fine harbour views. Suburbs like Cabramatta, Marrickville and Parramatta serve up more authentic food, reflecting the migrants who arrived there, while casual dining – where Sydney once lagged – is booming.

Despite being Australia’s biggest city, the bush is never far away. Blue Mountains NP, to the west, is 2,690 sq km of UNESCO-listed wilderness. Here you’ll find ancient eucalyptus forests, cinematic sandstone escarpments and thundering waterfalls, all 90 minutes away. The Royal NP ( right), to the south, is just as dramatic and closer.

MELBOURNE

Australia’s cultural star has a cutting-edge arts scene. Head to Southbank for the Arts Centre and the National Gallery of Victoria, while the East End stages world-class shows and the inner suburbs has a busy music scene. It’s embraced street art, too, with the laneways in the Central Business District (CBD) now an ever-changing canvas.

With its neat parks and European-style cycle lanes, Melbourne offers a more restrained setting. The Melbourne Bike Share program makes bike hire easy, and there are cycle trails around the bay, in the city and along the Yarra River ( left). Locals are sports-mad, too. Try to catch a game of Aussies Rules or cricket at the famous MCG.

Melbourne isn’t ‘Australia’s culinary capital’ for nothing. It has the country’s best eatery, Attica; a busy casual dining scene where good food at a decent price is a given; and a cafe culture that is the most intense in the world. Head to the laneways ( left) in the CBD or suburbs like Prahran and Brunswick for your single-origin roast of choice.

While Melbourne can’t match Sydney’s natural beauty, it does have one ace up its sleeve: the iconic Great Ocean Road and its Twelve Apostles. Just a few hours to the south-west, it is regarded as one of the best drives in the world, as its stone stacks rise from the wild Southern Ocean, changing in colour as the sun moves across the sky.

At first glance, the old cliche holds true: Sydney has the beauty and Melbourne the brains. When it comes to sun, surf and jaw-dropping coast, Sydney just can’t be beat, while in Melbourne, good food, great coffee and extraordinary art isn’t ever far away. But things are changing. The cities’ fierce rivalry and never-ending battle to outdo each other means that when it comes to experiences, food and culture, things keep getting better. So, whichever you pick, you won’t miss out.