Swissôtel Sydney - Luxury hotel - How to spend Fathers Day in Sydney

Father’s Day lands on Sunday 6 September this year, and for the sort of dad who would take a good walk and a proper meal over a wrapped box, the Town Hall end of the city has more than enough to fill a day. It is also where we are, on Market Street, a couple of minutes from the Town Hall steps and the sandstone around them. You can build the whole day on foot from here, at whatever pace suits him. Here is how the hours tend to fall.

Start with a wander

The Queen Victoria Building is five minutes up the road, three floors of sandstone, stained glass and a domed roof worth the hour it takes to walk it properly. From there it is a short stroll to the Strand Arcade, one of the last Victorian arcades in the city, where the tailors, barbers and old-fashioned shops make for good browsing whether or not anyone is buying. The record and book shops around the top of George Street are worth a look too. None of it needs a booking. It is the easy, unhurried part of the day, the walking-and-talking part, before anyone has to decide anything.

Catch something on

The theatres cluster around here, which is the city’s quiet advantage on a Sunday. The State Theatre sits directly across from us on Market Street, all gilt and chandeliers from the 1920s, and the Theatre Royal is a block away. There is usually a matinee worth catching on a Sunday afternoon. Check what is on, build the back half of the day around the session time, and you have given the afternoon a shape without much effort.

Then a long meal at Arches on Market

When the walking is done, bring him back to Arches on Market. The three-course cocktail menu runs across the bar’s three sandstone arches, each course matched to a drink, and it moves at the pace of a good conversation rather than a rushed table. It is a grown-up way to mark the day, close and easy, and you are already home if the afternoon runs long. If he would rather a full lunch, Ten Stories on the floor above does a proper sit-down, modern Australian with a Swiss hand and the theatre district out the window. Either way, book ahead. The city is busy on Father’s Day, and the good tables go early.

Make a day of it

The pleasure of doing Father’s Day in the city is that none of it is far apart. The building, the show and the table are all within a few minutes of each other, and of us. Book a table through the hotel to hold your spot, and if the day turns into an evening, there are rooms upstairs.

Life well crafted.