Getting to Bondi from Sydney Airport

Three ways in, and the one everybody gets wrong. What each actually costs in time and money.

A taxi or rideshare is 30 minutes without traffic and 50 with it. Expect $55–75 depending on the hour. It is the right answer if you land after 9pm, if there are more than two of you, or if you are carrying boards.

The train is the one people get wrong. There is no station at Bondi Beach — the line ends at Bondi Junction, and the last leg is a bus or a ten-minute taxi. From the airport it is the T8 to Central, change for the T4 to Bondi Junction, then the 333 or the 380. About an hour all up, and roughly $22 including the airport station access fee. Fine with hand luggage, miserable with a suitcase and a surfboard.

The 400 bus runs from the airport to Bondi Junction without going through the city, which sounds clever and takes 70 minutes on a good day. We would not.

Coming from the city instead: the 333 from Circular Quay is a prepaid express and takes about 40 minutes. It is the pleasant way to arrive.