New Sydney hotel is a stellar stay for work or pleasure

The hotel

Citadines Walker, North Sydney

The hotel entrance on Walker Street.

Check-in

In a district of towers, most of them with offices, here’s another, this time residential, with 252 rooms over 19 levels. Citadines, they say, is French for “city dwellers” and in what is a buzzing Sydney business district, this isn’t a bad temporary home for business or holiday visitors. Head through an unassuming lift lobby, and you’ll find reception up on the fifth floor. It’s a few minutes’ walk from either North Sydney train station or the new Victoria Cross station on the Metro line.

The look

Modern and plush, with plenty of timber and a simple, natural colour palette. Bar Lettera is just around the corner from reception, where there’s one guest lounge, but there’s another more discreet one up the stairs on the floor above. Given the location – North Sydney is a business centre for the city – on this floor there are also meeting rooms, work spaces and a gym with shower and toilets.

The room

Rooms with a view.

That look carries through to the room, where the theme is dark and monochrome, which is appealing and encourages a sense of space, but the all-black shelves can camouflage what they contain, so check carefully on departure. I’m in a Studio Executive room, compact at 22 square metres, but it’s a corner room (1807) and a wall of glass wraps its way around that corner, catching the goings-on of the harbour in the distance and the yacht club tucked into its shores. Top marks for a desk that can double as a table, and a window seat beside the desk. The bed is a king, with enough pillows and cushions to start a furniture shop. Light switches are blissfully easy to navigate and the in-room Wi-Fi is good. A not overly large TV offers free-to-air or Chromecast. Good design also gives a sense of space in the bathroom. There’s a walk-in shower and just enough shelving above the vanity. Toiletries are by Ink & Water.

Out + about

View from Wendy Whiteley’s Secret Garden in Lavender Bay.Credit: Louie Douvis

There’s a lot to like about North Sydney, for the retail and restaurant options near the hotel alone. But if you want to stretch your legs a little, head towards the Harbour and Wendy Whiteley’s Secret Garden at Lavender Bay or a little further on, you’ll find two of the finest houses in the country – the Prime Minister’s Kirribilli House and the Governor General’s Admiralty House.

Food + drink

Bar Lettera and the hotel dining area.

On-site you have Bar Lettera with a modest menu but good food for breakfast (eggs, pastries, panini from 7am to 11am) as well as lunch and dinner (pasta, steaks, salad from noon to 9pm). It also serves as the hotel bar and one of its lounges and is an airy place to relax and take in the sights from the fifth floor. The negronis are a bar speciality.

Being office-centric, the restaurant action is strong around here at lunchtime and among the better options are Rafi which scores a hat in the Good Food Guide, as does Poetica. For faster food, head to Mary’s for burgers above the new Metro station.

The verdict

Order a negroni at Bar Lettera… then hop on the Metro.

A smart hotel with great staff – a good choice if you have business in this part of town, but given the quality of public transport nearby, this could be a base for exploring any part of Sydney.

The essentials

Rooms from $196 (with discounts for loyalty members – free to join). 88 Walker Street, North Sydney, NSW, 2060. Phone [phone]. See discoverasr.com

Our rating out of five

★★★★

Highlight

Those harbour views, from up on level 18, along with a glimpse of the Harbour Bridge, even it is framed by office towers.

Lowlight

Where’s the milk? I’m fine with coffee bags in place of a pod machine, but on arrival, there should at least be some long-life milk supplied.

The writer was a guest of Citadines Walker North Sydney.