Botany Bay, Sydney: neighborhood guide

Botany Bay is not one neighbourhood but a ring of suburbs around the airport and the bay's northern and western shores: Mascot, Alexandria, Green Square, Rockdale, Brighton-le-Sands and Botany itself. Historically light industrial, it is now a mix of warehouses, new apartment towers and old shopping strips. Green Square has been rebuilt around its train station with high-density housing and a library, though parts still feel empty between the buildings.

The bay is the reason to come. Captain Cook landed here in 1770 and praised it; the First Fleet arrived 18 years later, found sandy soil and no fresh water, and moved on to Sydney Harbour. Container terminals, the airport and industry took much of the foreshore, but the water is still used for swimming and windsurfing, and a memorial to the First Fleet stands on the shore.

Brighton-le-Sands is the centre of Sydney's Greek community, with cafés, yum cha and ice cream by the water running late. Rockdale and Mascot keep traditional suburban shopping strips that much of Sydney has lost to malls.

Stay if your trip is built around the airport, if you want a calm bay beach without surf, or if you want a cheaper room with a train line into the city. The trade-off is time: you will ride into the CBD for the Opera House, The Rocks and the ferries, and come back to a quiet street.

Do not stay if this is your first visit and you want to walk out of your hotel into Sydney's sights. Base yourself in the city or Darling Harbour and treat Botany Bay as an afternoon. Also skip it if you want bars and late-night food within walking distance.

A practical middle path: one or two nights near Mascot at the start or end of a trip, when an early flight or a late arrival makes the airport the priority.

Eat along Botany Road in Mascot for cheap, fast food near the airport, and along the Brighton-le-Sands foreshore for Greek tavernas, seafood and ice cream. The beach strip is the one place in the area with a genuine evening crowd.

Alexandria and Green Square have cafés and takeaway for the apartment towers, but the choice is thin and closes early. Rockdale's shopping strip is the other reliable option for suburban restaurants and specialty shops.

Trains do the heavy lifting. The T8 Airport and South line links the airport, Mascot, Green Square and Central, and is the fastest way in and out of the city. The T4 Eastern Suburbs and Illawarra line serves the western side of the Bayside area and connects to the CBD, the eastern suburbs and the Illawarra. The T3 Bankstown line has been closed for conversion to metro; check current replacement buses before you rely on it.

Buses fill the gaps. The 320 runs from Central through Green Square and Mascot, and the 303 from the city reaches the Brighton-le-Sands and Botany Bay foreshore. For the beach by train, ride to Rockdale and change to the 478 or 479 to Brighton-le-Sands; both run frequently.

By car, the Eastern Distributor is the link from the city to the airport and the south. Parking at the beach is difficult on sunny weekends and holidays, and timed parking in the industrial outlet streets is hard to find on weekdays. A car is useful for plane-spotting and the far ends of the bay, but not needed for the beach or the airport.

Swim or windsurf at Brighton-le-Sands, where the bay is calm and the afternoon wind brings out the sails. Walk or cycle the shared path along the foreshore from Kyeemagh to Dolls Point, passing the First Fleet memorial.

Watch planes from the car park behind the old control tower beside the main north-south runway, a few metres from the security fence; the car park closes after dark, and access is from General Holmes Drive with only an infrequent bus. At dawn you may see racehorses being led into the water to swim.

Shop the outlet centres around Alexandria and Green Square, which draw weekend shopping buses. Mascot's Botany Road strip is worth a wander if you are staying nearby.