Bondi Beach

Ah, Bondi Beach. The land of surfing, flat whites, avocado toast, and bare feet. We spent the first few days of our trip to Australia here at Bondi (pronounced Bond-eye) at the QT Hotel. From the moment we arrived, we loved everything about the way of life here. The boutique hotel QT was a great place to stay. The decor was a laid back vibe with modern pastel colors that mimicked the famous Bondi Icebergs.

Every morning we would wake up early and go eat breakfast at Vida Surf Shop Cafe or Berri Patch to get delicious acai bowls, matcha lattes, and avocado toast. From there we would explore the area. Bondi has the most beautiful shops and clothing boutiques (one of my favorites pictured here called Playa) You will not find many chain stores. It also has some beautiful art deco buildings as well. Not as many as say Miami Beach, but a few very nice ones that you can spot if you walk a lot around the area.

After exploring the area we walked down to the famous Bondi Beach every day. We also completed the Bondi to Coogee coastal walk a few times. Many local Uber drivers told us they think that Bondi is very touristy and that there were many better beaches. I have to really disagree. We both did not find it too touristy at all. We loved it so much that we could even imagine getting a small condo there.

A few restaurants to check out:

Drake Eatery- Amazing fresh farm to table food, highly recommend the gnocchi but I think the menu changes a lot.

Bondi IceBergs- A must do, and we saw Steve Aoki there when we were at dinner. We also went there during the day time for some drinks. It is a real hot spot, lots of bougie people watching.

Vida Surf Shop Cafe- Fantastic Acai Bowls, and also loved the ham and cheese toastie.

Bondi Hardware- We just had some snacks but the fish taco was great and it is also a very beautiful place.

A Tavola Bondi- Delicious Italian food with fresh pasta.

Bill’s Bondi- Another institution in Bondi, we didn’t east here but had some drinks.

The Shop Wine Bar- We also just got wine here but the food looked great and was a very cute local cafe.

Can Cava Pintxos- A tapas restaurant. Highly recommend the cauliflower and the octopus.

More observations:

Walking barefoot everywhere is a thing here… even to restaurants and the main sidewalks. You get used to it but still it is not something I would want to do.

I finally found out why the Bondi Icebergs are called Icebergs. It was started in 1929 as a Winter Swimming club so that local life savers could keep in shape during the winter. To this day it is still the only operating pool in the Winter time as well as year round.

Many many cute dogs all around Bondi. Most of them walk off leashes, I wonder how they don’t all get lost but they seem very well trained.