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. Here are all the videos to give you an idea of what is around
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 Sydney City and 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.
Bourke St Redfern and the Stations
On the map I have shown to get to the well protected green bike path on Bourke St. Getting from Centennial to Redfern station is important for Eastern Suburb cyclists. It involves the use of one of the two bridges over South Dowling st and then Telopia. Check the map below. I use Redfern station a lot to move around the city by train. Redfern only has a lift on two platforms, for the rest you have to carry the bike. Its easy to get a the bike on Sydney trains except peak times. It doesn’t cost anything to put a bike on a train. Go for it… See the commuter trail to Redfern Station >>
Wilson St – Redfern Station
What a marvellous shared path this is. It starts at Redfern Station and heads most of the way to Newtown where the western side of the road goes up the one way road.
Some Links to Eastern Suburbs articles
Racing the tram from Randwick to Circular Quay
Riding from Redfern to the Opera House or A city loop
Waverley to Watsons Bay and the lanes of Paddington
Randwick to Marrickville faster than a bus ?
Ride around Erskineville and Redfern Station
Botany to Central and beat the bus ?
Skip down to Darling Harbour, and Glebe – Great places to explore
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 >>
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.
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 >>
Darling Harbour to Wolli Creek
Darling Harbour is a treat for the visitors, Glebe is close by, there is Sydney Park which is a great place for the kids and the complicated trails to Wolli Creek on the Cooks River Cycleway Read on, this area has many paths including The Goods Line, Erskineville and Woolloomooloo.
Darling Harbour is not a fast ride but it sure is scenic
If you can get out early, this is a fabulous ride. Once the tourists and workers start heading off for lunch, the crowds are huge. Its dead flat, the trail is generally loaded with people, there is a bit of road riding near the bridge. In the pandemic, it was been earily quiet.
See photos of Darling Harbour here A most appealing 10km each way ride that takes you from the Anzac Bridge in Pyrmont to the Sydney Harbour Bridge via Darling Harbour. The photos explain the obvious, its a worthwhile ride for locals and tourists. What you have to think about is How am I going to get there? When is a good time to go? Lets start with the getting there. If you were to come by train with your bike, you could get off at Wynyard, Circular Quay and Milsons Point. Town Hall could also be an option but its a bit trickier. From Wynyard Station head to Barangaroo. From Milsons Point, head up to cross the bridge on the western side and from Circular Quay, carefully make your way around to the base of the bridge and you are away. If you come by car, best parking would be Glebe and there is metered parking around Pyrmont. Now what is the best time to come? You really need to be there when everyone is not interested, so arrive early on the weekend or when its cold or raining. Otherwise you will have a good time but you will have to dodge a lot of people. You probably won’t do this so your best riding is closer to the Anzac bridge through to the Harbour Bridge and slowly through to the Opera House. Naturally travel on trains and but coming in by cars to the adjacent suburbs is much better when its early. Forget train travel in peak time with your bike, you will need a fold-up bike. See the map here >> From the Anzac Bridge right around to the end of Darling Harbour, you can ride freely on the super wide paths. Don’t plan on going fast, lots of people. Once you pass the Casino at Barangaroo, the trail opens up a bit and the lack of shops makes the riding easier though it still can be busy. Its good fun riding around Barangaroo and when you travel onwards to the Harbour Bridge you need to ride in a cycle lane on a road. This is pretty good on the weekend as the road is very wide. During the week it will be worse. An alternative is to ride around some of the wharfs near the bridge, a bit bumpy but fun. This ride is suited to all bike styles.
Glebe Area is adjacent to Darling Harbour. This is a great area but the cycling can be more balancing as it gets very popular on the weekends. Around Jubilee Park is an area called The Tram Sheds and a little creek trail called Johnstons Creek with a great viaduct. This is a great place to take mini kids cycling as there are good play parks as well as some easy tracks for the them to ride. See the trail here >> and read more in the following article https://cyclesydney.wiki/2019/01/10/glebe-and-balmain/
Kent St Cycleway
The most direct way from Central Station to the Sydney Harbour Bridge is using the Kent St Cyclway. It starts at the northern end of the station on Eddie Avenue. You head up Castlereagh St from Belmore Park using the protected shared path. At Liverpool street head west across to Kent St. Then follow the shared path all the way to the bridge. Can be slow at times if the lights do not work in your favour. Photos here and map view here
Sydney Park
If you live near Erskineville or are on a trainline to St Peters Station, Sydney Park is a place for a bit of casual bike riding. Ten years ago, we regularly used to head to Sydney park because they have a great traffic light bike park for the kids. Our kids also used to enjoy a big hill where they could roll down and there is lots of grass to kick a ball. Nowadays the whole park is a mecca for walkers, kids cyclists, skateboarders and dog lovers. Its also a very pleasant place to ride a bike if you enjoy the experience of going slowly past the 101 Dalmatians. It can also be great place to practice short hill climbs. The paths up the hill tend to be a lot emptier and if you want real exercise, 20 times up the five different tracks will sort you out more than a tread mill.
See photos and See the map, tracks criss-cross the park >> Given that two times around the park is only 6 km’s of riding, you should head down Huntley St to get to the markets and cafes of “The Mills Of Alexandria”. Take a bike lock if you go there as you cannot drag the bike into the cafe areas or markets. Once you are on Bourke Rd, head south down the special bike bath and you will be at Mascot Station and then the bike trail to Brighton le Sands. Anyone on the Cooks river can ride down that trail to Mascot then Bourke Rd and end up in Sydney Park, have a snack and then catch a train home from St Peters station. St. Peters Station has quite a few steps to get to all platforms and no lifts. Starting at the Northern Carpark and heading in a clockwise direction
Here is a challenge, ride all the tracks and do it in less than 10 kmExternal Links: Sydney Park is home to Sydney Cycleways and their program of bike maintenance and bike skill workshops. They have a page on the Sydney Park tracks here. There is now a giant skateboard park and a small kids cycling track.
https://cyclesydney.wiki/2020/01/24/cahill-expressway/
https://cyclesydney.wiki/2019/04/07/beat-the-bus-no-5/
https://cyclesydney.wiki/2021/04/18/the-goods-line/
Read about the Sydney Airport and Cooks River here
All the Eastern Suburbs videos here. Find your inspiration