North Shore

Summary: Well-equipped, safe and convenient – and with the added benefit of water views – Gladesville is a suburb that sits just outside “inner” Sydney yet is still close enough to provide all the benefits of easy city access when required. Home to an extensive array of amenities and a reasonably diverse housing profile that skews upper-end, Gladesville is also highly leafy with countless parks, reserves and little hidden walks amongst peaceful streets which bely its otherwise central physical location.

This is a suburb that can be both quiet when you need it, yet has enough action for those seeking it, to be quite versatile overall with only a couple of factors – such as high property prices, lack of rail connectivity and some slight aircraft noise – that work together to hold it back. Outside of these, Gladesville checks a ton of boxes, and rates as a highly desirable overall as a place to live.
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Summary: Compact, safe and clean, Waitara on Sydney’s north shore is a small suburb which strikes a balance between the two suburbs which fringe it on either side. It walks a middle ground between the upper-tier housing of Wahroonga and the more bustling and dense atmosphere of Hornsby to provide a little bit of both, however recent development has made it far more apartment-heavy than in the past.

As a result, this is a suburb with a high population relative to its physical size, with numerous mid-rise apartments which have been constructed to provide families with a more affordable way to take advantage of its mixture of rail and highway connectivity to the city, and public parks and educational facilities which dot the suburb throughout. It’s thus a suburb with two very separate characters between the green pockets of “old Waitara” freestanding homes and “new Waitara” and its high-density apartments, with one lifestyle far less affordable than the other.
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Summary: Tranquil, substantially green and overall upmarket, Denistone is a quiet pocket of classy North Shore goodness sandwiched between two drastically different suburbs on either side. It’s physically a relatively compact suburb which runs up a hillside, providing some often impressive views from atop its streetscape which is mainly dotted with large-scale freestanding homes.

Denistone has the benefit of a central location and good transport connectivity without any of the bustle or crime which usually comes along with these, and while that also brings a bit of a “retirement village’ vibe along with it, its level of peace and decent traffic situation helps balance this out. It’s great for those with pets and who appreciate greenery, but is a near-total wasteland in terms of amenities with little to offer outside of medical services. It’s also pricey, due to both the age and size of its many impressive homes. Read Review

Summary: Perhaps THE premier hub for Asian dining in all of Sydney, Eastwood consists of an ultra-dense central district packed to the brim with restaurants and services, coexisting alongside high-end, premier residential back streets for quite the suburban contrast. It’s a place that has experienced marked demographic change over the past few decades, and now provides an interesting mix of legacy stores and homes along with pockets of brand-new development added in.

It’s well-connected in terms of public transport by both road and rail, and has an extremely good array of suburban greenery which – along with its upper-tier education options – make it highly desirable for families as well. Some parts of its central area could use a slight facelift and it faces some significant issues in terms of both traffic & parking, while prices for its often-massive freestanding homes in particular may prove prohibitively expensive for most. Read Review

Summary: Aspirational, peaceful and highly green, Roseville is a high-end North Shore suburb that’s a land of sprawling and manicured gardens largely dotted with impressive Euro-influenced older brick homes. It’s located in a desirable position which provides peace and quiet without sacrificing distance or connectivity from Sydney city, and has a massive shopping counterpart right next door. It’s no surprise, then, that it brings equally massive pricetags, and is not what anyone would ever call “lively” despite some handy amenities. Read Review

Summary: Featuring some truly stunning housing blocks along with some of the most impressive suburban greenery you’ll come across in Sydney, Turramurra is all about wealthy seclusion without sacrificing too much connectivity. This is a suburb of manicured hedge fences, tennis courts and immaculately-kept public park spaces that exudes wealth but still has a reasonably communal aspect. It’s got enough of a smattering of amenities to get by, and is ideal for wealthy families in particular, but there’s not too much going on and both price and distance from the CBD may be a factor for some. Read Review

Summary: Sydney’s north shore base for a lot of tech and other big-business, Macquarie Park mixes modern urban planning with a reasonably central location. It’s the focal point for many daily commuters – both workers and students alike – and has seen near-constant redevelopment over the past few years. Everything here feels very modern and well-kept, and its recent shopping and public transport additions are a plus, yet its traffic issues and lack of character make it feel a little sterile. It can be good value for apartment-dwellers, however. Read Review

Summary: Large enough to almost be considered a self-contained town at this point, Hornsby is one of the most complete suburbs in Sydney when it comes to amenities. It’s lacking absolutely nothing in terms of services and shopping – both big and small-scale – and brings with it solid public transport connectivity too. A huge array of parks, playgrounds, schools and childcare add to this to make it perhaps the most family-friendly suburb in Sydney at good value to boot. Its only real negatives are distance, and a lack of nightlife. Read Review

Summary: A key transportation hub on the North Shore, Epping is both well located and connected for accessing other key urban centres nearby. The suburb features many larger, heritage-listed homes sprawling out from a small, concentrated shopping district around its station with back streets that are highly leafy and dotted with numerous parks. It’s eminently pet and family friendly, however the combination of traffic issues and price are both factors to consider when living here. Read Review

Summary: An incredibly well-equipped suburb in terms of amenities, shopping and services, Ryde on the North Shore is a true “hub” that’s central to almost everything – except the Sydney CBD. While as-the-crow-flies the city isn’t too far away, some traffic issues and the lack of a dedicated train station hurt the suburb somewhat; however its extensive variety in both homes and services as well as proximity to popular non-CBD work hotspots make Ryde far more self-sufficient (and enticing) than many other busy suburbs in Sydney. Read Review