Living in London vs Living in Sydney.

When I first moved back to Australia, I was mostly scared about how much I would miss my rather full social life in London. After moving back to England from Australia when I was 17, I went to University in London and then went straight from graduating from University to working for a digital agency in London.

I lived an insane life, working full-time Monday-Friday and then going out in the evenings with friends around four to five nights a week. I was a regular in bars, nightclubs, at brunch, and at the glittering black-tie events within London’s ‘Clubland’ scene – the private members club social scene I had been a member of since the age of 18. I loved my life, but I was burning out and desperate to return to Australia.

I chose to live in Sydney rather than move back to Perth where I had gone to school because I hoped Sydney would be a prettier and more laid back London, but a city where I could still enjoy a vibrant and exciting social life (tricky in quiet little Perth), just without the smog and grey dullness, and with far more sunny days and sandy beaches than London.

What I found wasn’t quite what I was expecting, and so a year and a half after moving to Sydney, I made the decision to move back to London. I still love Sydney dearly, it just wasn’t for me. So I thought it would be useful to do a London vs Sydney comparison guide, similar to my Perth vs Sydney guide.

So let’s answer a few key questions before getting into the ‘London vs Sydney’ comparisons!

Is London better than Sydney?

They’re very different cities, and it depends on what lifestyle you’re looking for! London is vibrant and diverse and busy, it has a soul that Sydney just doesn’t quite have. Sydney however, is more laidback, has beautiful beaches, and is one of the prettiest cities in the world.

Is London more expensive than Sydney?

Yes, I think it is! My rent for a two-bedroom apartment in London with no outside space, is more expensive than my two-bedroom house in Sydney with a small garden. I also think food is much more expensive in London, and both public transport and taxis are more expensive in London too.

Is London bigger than Sydney?

London is bigger than Sydney in population size, however Sydney’s urban area size is 1,687 km², while London’s is 1,572 km². London feels much bigger compared to Sydney though, as Sydney’s CBD is fairly compact while London’s centre is much larger. The centre of London takes well over an hour to walk from one end to the other (say, Harrods to Tower of London, whereas to walk from Central Station at the bottom of Sydney’s CBD to the top (where the Opera House is) only takes about 40minutes.

How many hours ahead of London is Sydney?

It depends on daylight savings, during winter in the UK Sydney is 11 hours ahead of London, but during the summer in the UK Sydney is only 9 hours ahead of London.

Housing in London vs Sydney

Winner: Sydney

London’s houses/apartments tend to be more expensive than Sydney and you get much less for your money. For example, in London you can expect to pay £700+ per week for a two bedroom terraced house in the nice part of town, whereas when I was living in Sydney in 2018, we paid $800 (around £400) for a two bedroom terraced house in the fancy part of town. In London you can expect to pay £350-£400 per week for a two bedroom apartment in a less nice part of town, whereas in Sydney you would expect to pay $400 per week (around £200) for a two bedroom apartment in a less nice part of town.

Jobs in London vs Sydney

Winner: Tie between London and Sydney

There are naturally more jobs and job options in London due to it being a major city in Europe. It’s a big financial and creative hub, and very easy to travel to other areas to work as well. However for many careers Australia actually pays much higher wages than London – for example as waiting staff in London you can expect to be paid around £8 an hour, whereas in Sydney you could be paid up to $25-$30 an hour. Those who work in healthcare, mining, and the media industries might also be paid more in Sydney than you would in London.

Restaurants in London vs Sydney

Winner: London

London’s foodie scene is insane. If you want any food from anywhere in the world, you’ll find it in London. From Syrian to Eritrean, to Filipino or Peruvian. The amount of food choices on offer in London far surpasses Sydney, and it’s one of the things I missed most when I lived in Sydney. Sydney’s restaurants are all quite samey, it’s mostly just Australian, Italian, Greek or Chinese. And all of the Australian restaurants tend to serve the same sort of dishes (burrata, carpaccio, chicken, steak, oysters, etc etc).

I also love that there’s a huge variety of restaurants in London to suit all budgets, whereas in Sydney it’s either cheap pub food (which is ridiculously cheap and amazing to be fair) or expensive restaurant food. In London you have restaurants that cover all budgets and everything inbetween rather than just cheap or expensive – there’s a much better middle ground that Sydney doesn’t cover very well.

Bars & Nightlife in London vs Sydney

Winner: London

Sydney has some pretty incredible small bars, but typical nightclubs with bottle-service and pumping music are almost non-existent and the lock-out laws mean all of the bars and clubs in the CBD, Darlinghurst, and Surry Hills close quite early, at 2am, and you have to be inside any bar or club before midnight.

It’s only really the LGBTQ+ clubs around Oxford Street that stay open until 4-5am, and that’s because they have a special license due to the live music/performances in the form of drag acts (that are ah-mazing fyi, and I highly recommend checking them out).

London’s nightlife is second to none, there are thousands of bars to choose from and hundreds of nightclubs to suit everyone’s music taste and budget. You can go out every night of the week if you want to, whereas Sydney’s bars only stay open late on Fridays and Saturdays.

Nightclubs were one of the things I missed most about London and really struggled with in Sydney, as I was still in that mid-twenties phase of wanting to go out drinking and dancing every weekend! If it’s nightlife you love, London wins hands down.

Things To Do In London vs Sydney

Winner: London

It’s hard to compare things to do in London vs Sydney because it depends what you enjoy doing. But if you enjoy going to art galleries, museums, the theatre, concerts and gigs, then London absolutely wins. If you love going to the beach, sailing, surfing, and generally being outdoors and living a very active lifestyle, then Sydney would definitely be better for you.

Sydney only has a few very small museums and art galleries, and not a lot of things to do in the winter or when the weather is bad (and trust me, it rains a lot in Sydney), whereas London has plenty to do in all weathers, and has dozens of world class tourist attractions as well as an obscene amount of galleries and museums.

There’s always something exciting going on, there’s always a new concert or show on, whereas Sydney really struggles with that sort of thing. There’s generally only one or two touring shows on at a time, and the amount of gigs and concerts is lacking compared to London.

Layout and Style of London vs Sydney

Winner: Sydney

London is a proper city. It’s claustrophobic, smoggy, polluted, and cramped. But it has beautiful old buildings and is aching with history. Sydney on the other hand is beautiful – it feels cleaner, the city is smaller and more spaced out, it’s easier to get around and more modern, and it has plenty of historic colonial buildings to keep any architecture and history buffs happy. The only downside is Sydney is quite hilly, whereas London is lovely and flat (until you get to the Hampstead and Primrose Hill areas).

Overall Lifestyle in London vs Sydney

Winner: Sydney

We all know how much I adore London, it has a soul and vibrancy to it that Sydney just doesn’t have. The list of things to do in London is endless, the restaurant options limitless, and the nightlife can easily rival that of New York or Dubai. But. For overall lifestyle I think the winner has to be Sydney. It’s a special kind of city that is so laid back but still feels like a city, there are things to do and see but also beautiful beaches and an active lifestyle.

For me Sydney helped me rest, it helped me focus on me and my wellbeing, and allowed me to have a good social life while also getting to bed at a decent time during the weekdays. Sydney would be my perfect city if I were older and had a family, but for where I am in my life right now, London was just a better fit for me and was more exciting with more going on.

Places to Travel from London vs Sydney

Winner: London

Travelling to other places on the East Coast of Australia is very easy from Sydney, with flights generally being within 2 hours and costing only about $200 (£100) return. However when I moved to Sydney I assumed I’d be able to easily and cheaply get to the South Pacific islands and New Zealand, but actually I found it really difficult as there are only a few flights a week, and they tend to be around $800+ (£400) return.

With Sydney you’re so limited to where you can go for a quick weekend away, whereas from London you can go anywhere in Europe easily and cheaply. I’ve even done day trips and one-night trips before! You just can’t do that from Sydney, and as it’s so far from everywhere it’s super expensive. Even getting to Asia from Sydney takes 8+ hours.