Five-star Darling Harbour, Sydney
W Sydney
Opened in 2023 as the largest W in the world: 588 rooms over Darling Harbour, with a thirty-metre infinity pool on the roof and a jellyfish laid in mosaic on its floor.
Opens the hotel's own website. We have no arrangement with the hotel.
- Rooms
- 588, including 162 suites
- Opened
- October 2023
- Rooftop pool
- 30 metres, heated, levels 29 and 30
- From the airport
- About 25 minutes from Kingsford Smith, our estimate
The hotel
A larrikin on the harbour.
W Sydney stands on Wheat Road, on the site of the old IMAX cinema at Darling Harbour, between the expressways that tie the city to Chinatown and the inner west. It was meant to open in 2020 and finally did in October 2023, as the largest W hotel anywhere. The architects were Hassell, an Australian firm, and the hotel counts 588 rooms, 162 of them suites.
The London studio Bowler James Brindley designed the interiors around the Australian larrikin. A copper-clad entrance recalls the disused railway tunnels under the city. The lobby bar is an electric blue circle, with seats shaped like a bowerbird's nest. In the rooms, walls curve like sails, and waratah motifs decorate the walk-in wardrobes. Stanislava Pinchuk lit the corridors, and Bradley Eastman made the screens in the spa.
- WET Deck A heated infinity pool thirty metres long, over Darling Harbour on the top floors, with a rooftop bar beside it.
- 2am:dessertbar Janice Wong's dessert bar, at one end of the BTWN floor.
- AWAY Spa Five treatment rooms, a sauna and a steam room on level 2, and an indoor pool of fifteen metres on level 22.
Rooms & suites
Sails, waratahs and a view of the water.
White and navy rooms with curved walls, and bathrooms in deep ocean blue. 162 of the 588 are suites.
- Rooms Rooms over the harbour Walls curved like yacht sails, walk-in wardrobes and blue bathrooms.
- Suites 162 suites Suites throughout the tower, including five Penthouse II suites.
- Signature suite Penthouse I The top suite, on level 27.
Dining
Five places to eat and drink.
Restaurants and bars as listed by the hotel. Shown for information.
- BTWN Modern Australian Restaurant and cocktail bar on level three, with murals by Sophi Odling
- 2am:dessertbar Desserts Janice Wong
- Living Room Cocktails The lobby bar
- 29/30 Rooftop Bar Drinks Beside the infinity pool
- WET Deck Poolside food and drinks On the roof
Good to know
Before you go.
- Arrival Check-in from 3 pm, check-out by 11 am. Guests checking in must be 18 or over.
- Pets Welcome, up to two a room, with the hotel's PAWS package or by arrangement.
- Fitness The FIT gym is open around the clock.
Getting there
Flying to Sydney.
Sydney Kingsford Smith is about 14 kilometres away, roughly twenty-five minutes by car by our estimate. Private jets use the business aviation terminals at Kingsford Smith or Bankstown, which is open around the clock and about thirty-five minutes away by our estimate.
- Melbourne 1 h 15
- Queenstown 2 h 55
- Fiji 4 h 30
- Singapore 8 h 40 long-range jet
- Hong Kong 10 h 05 long-range jet
Questions
What guests ask first.
- Does W Sydney have a MICHELIN Key?
- No. W Sydney holds no Key in the 2026 selection.
- Is the rooftop pool at W Sydney heated?
- Yes. The WET Deck pool is a heated infinity pool, thirty metres long. There is also an indoor pool of fifteen metres on level 22.
- Is W Sydney the largest W hotel?
- Yes. With 588 rooms it opened in 2023 as the largest W hotel in the world.
- Can SkyCourtage arrange the flight to Sydney?
- Yes. We arrange Business and First Class seats on scheduled airlines and private jet charter to Sydney, with one final price, our margin included. The hotel is booked with the hotel or through our booking partner.
Also in Sydney
Other hotels worth the trip.
- Capella Sydney A heritage-listed former Department of Education building, with more than 1,400 works of art and the only hotel in the city with two MICHELIN Keys.
- Park Hyatt Sydney Practically under the Harbour Bridge, looking across Sydney Cove to the Opera House, with new rooftop suites on a fourth floor.
- The Langham, Sydney Regency-style rooms in mahogany on a street above The Rocks, and a twenty-metre heated pool.
- Crystalbrook Albion Thirty-five rooms in a listed landmark and a modern wing, the largest suite lit by Gothic windows.
- Four Seasons Hotel Sydney Five hundred and thirty-one rooms on George Street, many of them facing the Opera House and the bridge.
- InterContinental Sydney Coogee Beach On the beach at Coogee, with an infinity pool, a rooftop bar over the sand and Rick Stein's first Sydney restaurant.
- QT Sydney A century-old department store and its theatre, dressed in Art Deco references, with a bar and grill that draws the city in.
- The EVE Hotel Sydney Built where a 1970s shopping centre stood, with a balcony or terrace for every room and a pool on the roof.
- The Porter House Hotel Sydney - MGallery An 1876 tobacco warehouse at the foot of a new tower, with leather details in the rooms recalling its trading past.
- Wildlife Retreat at Taronga Inside Taronga Zoo, where some rooms look onto kangaroos and koalas and others across the harbour to the Opera House.
- InterContinental Sydney Built behind the restored Treasury Building of 1851, with 509 rooms, 28 of them suites.
- The Fullerton Hotel Sydney The old General Post Office at No. 1 Martin Place, with Heritage rooms in the old building and Tower rooms beside it.
- Sofitel Sydney Wentworth Between Circular Quay and Martin Place, a short walk from the Botanic Garden, where tilda cooks Australian produce.
- Pier One Sydney Harbour, Autograph Collection A cargo wharf of 1912 beside the southern pylon of the Harbour Bridge, turned into 189 rooms that keep the pier's heritage beams.
Staying at W Sydney?
Book the room, then the flight.
Rates and availability come from the hotel itself. For the journey to Sydney, a Business or First Class seat or an aircraft of your own: tell us the date and we come back with one final price, our margin included.
Opens the hotel's own website. We have no arrangement with the hotel.