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The Sydney Harbour Bridge is a steel through arch bridge in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, spanning Sydney Harbour from the central business district (CBD) to the North Shore. The view of the bridge, the harbour, and the nearby Sydney Opera House is widely regarded as an iconic image of Sydney, and of Australia itself.
Learn about the world's largest steel arch bridge and its construction, and explore its harbourfront restaurants, cycleway and lookouts. You can also enjoy the bridge from the water, the air or the top with ferries, cruises, seaplanes and climbs.
Apr 5, 2024 · Sydney Harbour Bridge, steel- arch bridge across Sydney Harbour ( Port Jackson ), Australia. The bridge, opened in 1932, serves as the primary transportation link between Sydney and its suburbs on the northern side of the harbour. It spans about 500 metres (1,650 feet), making it one of the longest steel-arch bridges in the world.
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
Experience the thrill of climbing the iconic Sydney Harbour Bridge with BridgeClimb. Choose from different climbs, ticket prices, opening days and special offers.
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Why millions of tourists climb Sydney Harbour Bridge every year—plus six more places to scale great heights.
A group of tourists ascends the Sydney Harbour Bridge, a few of the millions who do the Australian bridge climb each year.
I’m standing on a steel walkway 440 feet above Sydney Harbor when a voice crackles over my headset. My guide tells me to look right and take in one of the world’s most stunning skylines.
The view: the familiar clamshell roof of the Sydney Opera House, ferries crisscrossing the sparkling water. Below me, cars and trains rumble across the Sydney Harbour Bridge, the world’s tallest steel-arch span. But up here, as twilight descends, with my head nearly in the clouds, it feels like I’m floating over a toy city.
I now see why scaling the Sydney Harbour Bridge ranks as one of Australia’s most popular experiences, attracting more than four million climbers (including, recently, Michelle and Barack Obama) since the first customer stepped onto its steel beams 25 years ago this week on October 1, 1998. The climb has helped make the bridge an instantly recognizable landmark, and the experience a lure for anyone visiting the continent. It also helped change tourism around the world.
Climbers pay more than $200 (U.S.) for the privilege of standing above a commuter roadway in nearly any weather and absorbing the incredible view from the Coat Hanger, the nickname locals gave the bridge even before it opened in 1932.
As thrilling as it is, the Sydney bridge climb is surprisingly easy, attracting customers ages eight to 100. The summit has been the site of countless marriage proposals and more than 30 weddings. Every five minutes during peak periods, a guide leads small groups onto the bridge superstructure. Climbers ascend ladders and follow catwalks built for maintenance workers. They must wear harnesses and remain clipped to safety cables during the entire journey.
Perhaps even more daring than the climb was the journey to create it. In 1989 Paul Cave, the president of a tile manufacturing company, had a rare chance to climb the bridge during an international business conference hosted in Sydney. He saw the excitement in his colleagues’ eyes and instantly realized the tourism potential.
“Their reaction … was just quite amazing,” he told the University of New South Wales in a 2012 video on business leadership. “I thought I‘ve just got to share this with the world.”
(See some of the world’s most architecturally impressive bridges.)
Left: Tourists dressed in identical blue jumpsuits—the better to blend in with the Sydney Harbour Bridge—wave at a passing ferry.
Photograph By Loren Elliott/Reuters/Redux
The experience appealed to a new generation of thrill-seeking tourists. “People wanted more than just the usual, than just seeing the sites. They wanted to do things which at least on the surface look a little scary,” says David Beirman, an adjunct fellow at the University of Technology Sydney, where he teaches tourism and destination marketing. “The bridge climb ticked a lot of boxes.”
The climb also helped pave the way for a surge of new urban adventures, such as traversing glass-floored observation decks and scaling skyscrapers. “In a way the climb was really extreme tourism. It was a little bit ahead of its time,” Newling says.
When the bridge climb contract came up for renewal in 2018, officials ultimately awarded the concession to a company other than Cave’s. New offerings now include an Aboriginal-themed climb with an Indigenous storyteller who points out ancient landmarks and shares Sydney’s precolonial history.
In the decades since the first climb, the commuter crossing had been transformed “from a postcard to a global bucket list experience,” Cave said in a statement after his company lost the contract. “It has been a privilege for us to make a hero of the bridge.”
Learn how a commuter bridge became a popular tourist attraction and how to experience it yourself. Find out the history, challenges, and benefits of scaling the Sydney Harbour Bridge and other bridges around the world.
Mar 19, 2007 · Learn about the history, construction and significance of the Sydney Harbour Bridge, the world's greatest arch bridge and a symbol of Australia's progress and vision. See images, facts and events related to this iconic landmark.
Learn about the history and features of the Sydney Harbour Bridge, one of Australia’s most famous landmarks. Find out how to walk, climb or ferry across the bridge and enjoy stunning views of Sydney.
