The Eastern suburbs of Sydney offers many cycling opportunities and attracts a lot of cyclists. Riding around and staying away from cars is difficult, hopefully this page will help you out. The easier way is just to ride early Saturday or Sunday morning before everyone heads out for morning coffee. Jump to read about La Perouse and other southern rides in the east like Malabar, Doncaster Rd and for Darling Harbour, the city, Bondi Junction, Mascot and Pagewood, Sydney Park and Glebe.
Note: All links to Google MyMaps are shown with a >> You will need either a PC or a Google Account to make this work
Centennial Park
Everyone rides the 4km loop (see pics) at Centennial Park. Its great because you don’t have to stop often and you have 4m of bike zone. Best place to start your cycling in Sydney’s East. Lets see the park, how to get there and all the others places people ride to in the Eastern Suburbs.
Eastern Sydney and City Map >> Centennial loop has one important feature, you don’t have to stop, just go around and around. Its time to roll. Note: The Centennial loop can be tricky for kids due to cars, high-speed bikes, and a drop-off verge. Better for beginners is Queens Park with a 2.5km sealed track that is great for kids to learn, as is the mini kids track at Fernley Grounds.
The Centennial Park Outer Trail
The Centennial Park Outer Trail is a less-traveled 14km track that takes about an hour to complete. Starting at the Darley Rd, York St corner, the route hugs the park’s southern edge, crosses Anzac Pde, and loops around Moore Park Golf Course. It then crosses South Dowling St on a shared bridge, goes down the fantastic Bourke St cycleway to Arthur St, and crosses back over South Dowling. The route continues around a park between Anzac Pde and South Dowling, crosses Anzac Pde again via a spiral bridge, and loops around Alliance Stadium. It then follows the normal Centennial loop for a kilometer, goes up a hill to the gates, circles the outside of the park to the next big gates, and re-enters the park. You can also use Moore Park rd as show below in yellow highlighter. The route ends by descending a hill and returning to the Darley/York corner. Check out Queens Park cycleway for a little extra 2nd Place 2022. See on the map >>
See photos of your next ride around Centennial Park and Redfern
Videos of the East
There are a lot of videos in the east as Garry the blogger lives in the East. You can see a collection of videos on The East on YouTube here
Bondi Junction Cycleway
One of the great achievement in 2022 was the completion of the Bondi Junction cycleway 3rd Place. Here are the photos from Syd Einfeld Drive across to Centennial Park. It is very popular.
Some Links to Eastern Suburbs articles
Racing the tram from Randwick to Circular Quay
Alexandria to Darling Harbour Precinct beat-the-bus-no-5/
Waverley to Watsons Bay and the lanes of Paddington
Randwick to Marrickville faster than a bus ?
Botany to Central and beat the bus ?
Rose Bay
Starting just behind the Royal Sydney Golf course, this path travels along the esplanade and then follows New South Head road until just after the wonderful Red Leaf beach. Map link >>
Doncaster Rd
Recently the popular but busy Doncaster Avenue in Kensington got a brand new shared path. It has proved to be quite a success and takes you through Kensington and down into Kingsford almost to the end of the tram line. It came second in the 2023 Infrastructure awards.
Southern Half of the Eastern Suburbs
The southern half of the Eastern Suburbs is popular with cyclists who like to ride to La Perouse. Other places to cycle include Heffron Park and Sir Joseph Banks park for the geese. The rest of area is mostly roads with bicycles painted on them. The scenery on the coast line is spectacular when you can see it, which is quite often.
La Perouse
If you want to ride 10km and see a fort, beaches, wharfs, a cemetery and East Sydney’s latest kids park, head to La Perouse. See the the trail on the Eastern Sydney map >>
See plenty of photos of the great Yarra Bay beach and nearby Prince of Wales Drive With kids and teens, start at the new Chifley Sports Reserve on Bunnerong Rd. There is a 1 km double lane track around two ovals and a great kids playground and even a skate park. If you actually want to going riding. Safely cross Bunnerong road and head down to La Perouse and Bare Island Fort. It is a spectacular place and lots of wedding photos are taken there. Head down past the fish and chip shops and soon you will be in La Perouse Park. Follow the coast around the bays and past the Botany Cemetery. You can take a up-back on Prince of Wales drive for an extra 4km. Return to your car at Chifley Park down Military Rd and you will have had 10km of pretty safe fun. Notes: Its shared path all the way and only a few road crossings. There is one bumpy section of 200m on the coast. Pretty easy really. When you finish, head to Botany and ride another few km at Sir Joseph Banks Park. That is another kid friendly park. And Heffron Park is not far away >>
The Malabar Loop
BikEast from Sydney’s east love the ride to La Perouse and they do it a really good way. My maps pickup some of their trail at Maroubra and down through Malabar, past Randwick Golf Course, around past Little Bay and then down the back streets into La Perouse. After La Perouse, head to Molineaux Point either on a dirt track or around through the back streets. From Molineaux Point head back to Malabar shops and cafes though Chifley or down to Heffron Park and then back to Maroubra. We do the Malabar to Malabar loop at 22km a lot more than extending to Maroubra Beach and Heffron Park at 30km See the the trail on the Eastern Sydney map >>
This is a Sydney Top 10 trail – Just one of those casual rides that keep people flocking to this corner of the East.
Heffron park
Heffron park is the park you go to when you know Centennial is going to be too busy or you just want to ride hard with no hassle. There is a historic race track that fills the centre that has some slow banked curves plus a nice concrete trail for bikes around most of the outside. Its great for kids on these tracks and there is even a mini kids traffic light area at the southern end of the park. Here is a map of Heffron and the Malabar Loop >> If you want to include a meandering ride along Maroubra beach, start at the northern end of Marine Pde and make your way along the footpath down to the beach and then head up Fitzgerald Ave. If there are people on the path, they have right of way. After crossing Anzac Pde, you will soon find yourself at Heffron. Note: Parking at Heffron is always easy at the northern end. Photos of Heffron Park External Links Randwick Council Bicycle Page
Botany
Sir Josephs Banks Park in Botany is a nice little place to ride for 45 minutes. There is a bridge to the foreshore that is definitely worth riding over. Its 7km if you try to do all the paths. See the map of the park and foreshore >> Apart from the traffic noise that you notice in places, this is a great place to bring your kids of any age to ride. You can ride the tar tracks for 20 minutes in the bush and not see anyone. You will definitely see geese, ducks and a couple of rather strange looking elephants and even a gorilla. Bring a basketball as there is a good half court that rarely gets used at the end of Hayden Place.
See more photos of Sir Joseph Banks Park Notes: Start at the play park next to the golf course (east end) or park at Port Botany boat ramp car park to start riding. There is even a mini bike track in the rather good kids play park. See all the Botany Bay trails on Google Map >>
Mascot Pagewood
Commuter Path from Mascot Station into Botany and around to Pagewood.
There is a decent bit of protected track on the edge of Wentworth Avenue that runs under the M1 (South Dowling Street on the edge of Mascot). If you are happy commuting down the painted line cycle paths on the roads and through back streets, you can get to this path. Then you will get into the quieter streets of Botany and Pagewood and even a better path or two. This page is just to show you where to go if you were to commute to these parts of Sydney from the important junction of Mascot train station on Coward St. From there you can head to Brighton and even to Strathfield if your legs will carry you that far. The Botany map stops just over the tricky to find pedestrian and bike bridge. The Pagewood trail I have outlined goes through Mutch park and down the popular commuter bike road Banks Avenue in Pagewood and ends up where the tram line will start in Kingsford. Here is the Mascot to Kingsford trail >> and Photos of the trail
Mascot to Zetland On a Sunday morning, this road through to Zetland is pretty free of cars and is really nice to ride. Mid week it will be just a car road. It ends up being almost a straight line to Redfern Station. The trail uses Dunning Avenue and Portman street and ends up at Green Square station. Photos from Mascot to Zetland and Here is the route from Mascot to Zetland >>
Note: Where Bowden St crosses Bourke Rd, there is now a mostly completed cycle path into Green Square >>.
All the Eastern Suburbs videos here. Find your inspiration