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Layover guideSydney · SYD

Eating near the crew hotels in Sydney

Retail hours are short by Gulf standards, and the card surcharge you have been paying ends on 1 October 2026 for the major networks.

Sakibnb / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0
All of Sydney

Sydney's popular shopping precincts open seven days a week from 9am or 10am to 5.30pm, with stores open until 9pm on Thursdays. City supermarkets are open for up to 24 hours, which is what covers a night-arrival crew.

Depending on which public holiday it is, most major stores, supermarkets and retailers stay open, often on reduced hours, opening later and closing earlier, so call ahead. The NSW public holidays still to come in 2026 are 5 October, 25 December and 26 December.

Card surcharges are currently legal but must not be more than what it costs the business to process that payment type. Where you cannot avoid a surcharge, the business must include the minimum surcharge payable in the displayed price rather than adding it at the terminal.

From 1 October 2026 the Visa, Mastercard, American Express and eftpos card networks introduce no-surcharge rules for businesses that accept payments, so surcharges on those payment types stop.

Weekend and public holiday surcharges in hospitality are a separate thing and are not covered by the Reserve Bank's rules, so they continue and a Sunday brunch bill can legitimately run above the menu price.

  1. Destination NSW: Useful information · checked 2026-09-03
  2. Destination NSW: Public holidays · checked 2026-09-03
  3. ACCC: Card surcharges · checked 2026-09-03

The rest of Sydney

The whole guide
Getting out of the airportTrains run from the arrivals levels of the International and Domestic terminals and reach the city in 13 minutes, but every airport tap adds a station access fee on top of the fare.Ride-hailingUber and other rideshare services operate, and at T1 International UberX runs on a six-digit PIN from a specific rank rather than plate matching.Local laws that catch crew outVaping is policed exactly as smoking is, and undeclared food at the biosecurity line is the thing that ends layovers badly.Staying connectedA prepaid SIM needs your name, date of birth, home address and an ID check before it works, and T1 International has free Wi-Fi.WeatherThe ultraviolet load is the hazard, not the temperature, and it burns through cloud.What to buyAircrew get half a passenger's duty free concession on general goods, and are excluded from the GST refund scheme outright.TippingYour choice, with no service charge added, though a weekend or public holiday surcharge can be if the menu says so.