Manly Beach and the Circular Quay Ferry: The Corso, Shelly Beach and North Head

Standing on a narrow sandy isthmus at the southern tip of Sydney's Northern Beaches peninsula, Manly is known for the nineteenth-century slogan "Seven miles from Sydney and a thousand miles from care". Named by Governor Arthur Phillip in January 1788 for the confidence and bearing of the Indigenous Kay-ye-my clan people he encountered on the harbour shore, Manly is framed by two completely different bodies of water: calm Manly Cove on the inner harbour side and a two-kilometre arc of Pacific Ocean surf beach lined with towering Norfolk Island pines on the eastern side.

Riding the F1 public ferry vs the Manly Fast Ferry

The half-hour crossing from Wharf 3 at Circular Quay to Manly Wharf on the public F1 Manly Ferry is one of the great commuter boat rides in the world. After pulling out between the Sydney Opera House and Sydney Harbour Bridge, the green-and-cream ferry sails past Fort Denison, Kirribilli House, Bradleys Head, and Middle Head before crossing the open ocean swell between the towering sandstone cliffs of North Head and South Head (the one-mile-wide entrance to Port Jackson). Both the public F1 ferry and the faster twenty-minute catamarans departing from Wharf 2 accept contactless Opal tap-on payments (explained in our getting around Sydney guide), meaning the public F1 crossing counts toward your daily and weekend Opal fare caps.

From Manly Wharf down The Corso to Manly Beach and Shelly Beach

Stepping off at Manly Wharf puts you beside the calm harbour beach of Manly Cove and its netted harbour swimming enclosure. Follow the pedestrianised boulevard of The Corso for five minutes past surf shops, bakeries selling Australian meat pies and lamingtons, and specialty coffee bars to emerge onto the oceanfront promenade of South Steyne at Manly Beach. Turn right (south) along the flat brick seawall past the triangular Fairy Bower ocean rock pool (built by local residents in 1929 and marked by the sculpted Oceanides sea nymphs along its outer concrete ledge) to reach Shelly Beach.

Snorkelling Cabbage Tree Bay and hiking to North Head Sanctuary

• Cabbage Tree Bay Aquatic Reserve: Because west-facing Shelly Beach curves around the headland away from the prevailing south-easterly ocean swell, its clear, shallow waters form a 20-hectare protected no-take marine reserve where snorkellers regularly swim alongside harmless dusky whaler sharks, eastern blue gropers (the state fish emblem of New South Wales), giant cuttlefish, weedy seadragons, and wobbegongs right off the sand.
• Queenscliff Wormhole and Freshwater Beach: Walking north along the oceanfront from South Steyne to North Steyne and Queenscliff leads to a 40-metre pedestrian tunnel hacked through the northern headland in 1908 by local fishermen, connecting Manly to Freshwater Beach (where Hawaiian surfer Duke Kahanamoku carved a solid pine board and demonstrated surfboard riding in Australia in December 1914).
• North Head Sanctuary and Quarantine Station (Q Station): From Shelly Beach car park, a bushland walking trail (or bus 161 from Manly Wharf) climbs onto the 90-metre sandstone cliffs of North Head for sweeping views back down the entire length of Sydney Harbour to the CBD skyline, passing the historic 1830s Quarantine Station buildings overlooking Spring Cove and World War II coastal artillery tunnels along the clifftop loop.

When to time your return ferry across the harbour

Try to time your walk back to Manly Wharf for late afternoon so you board the city-bound F1 ferry around sunset: as the vessel rounds Bradleys Head into the inner harbour, the western sky lights up behind the steel arch of the Harbour Bridge and the tiled shells of the Opera House.