Double Bay: Waterfront, art and historic gardens

Double Bay combines time by the waterfront with walking trails, gardens and a year-round cultural program. At Steyne Park, picnics and sporting opportunities such as hockey and cricket are part of the local scene; Woollahra Gallery at Redleaf adds to the area’s focus on the arts with contemporary exhibitions, artist residencies and public programs. Outdoor activities and culture thus offer different ways to spend your time here. Deciding which of these should shape your itinerary is a useful starting point for considering Double Bay as a destination.

Waterfront and walking trails

Located on the waterfront at Double Bay, Steyne Park is suitable for picnics and offers sporting opportunities such as hockey and cricket. Next to the Double Bay Sailing Club is a boat ramp where public access to the water is available for non-motorised watercraft. Check local conditions before using it. This lets you distinguish between activities in the park and access at the ramp, which is explicitly limited to non-motorised watercraft.

The Double Bay Tree Trail is about 2 kilometres long. It starts at Redleaf Beach and Blackburn Gardens, passes through Double Bay and eventually continues up Ocean Avenue to Edgecliff. One tree and several other trees along the trail are listed on the Significant Tree Register. The register recognises and protects trees with special historical, social or botanical value. Another route is the Harbour Walk from Rushcutters Bay to Rose Bay, which passes by Steyne Park. By comparison, the Tree Trail runs through Double Bay to Edgecliff, while the Harbour Walk passes the park on a route between two other named endpoints.

Arts and cultural precinct

Woollahra Gallery at Redleaf is the heart of the cultural precinct. The precinct also includes the Council Chambers, Blackburn Gardens, Murray Rose Pool, Redleaf Beach and a kiosk. The Gallery presents contemporary art exhibitions, artist residencies and public programs year-round. The Council Chambers were built in 1863. This brings a year-round contemporary arts program and a historic building together as distinct points of reference within the same cultural precinct. Dates and arrangements for individual exhibitions and programs may change. If you want to see a particular offering, check the latest dates before your visit.

Historic garden

Blackburn Gardens is a restored historic garden with a manicured lawn, a Secret Garden, a sundial and a water feature. These features give the garden a distinct focus alongside the Gallery’s exhibition program: here, the garden and its individual design elements take centre stage. If you would like to include both art and designed outdoor spaces in your travel plans, you can consider the Gallery and Blackburn Gardens as different points of interest within the cultural precinct.

Discover more destinations: Curl Curl, Miranda, Parramatta City, Bass Hill, Randwick, Hornsby, St Leonards, Potts Point.

For the broader travel overview: Sydney.