Australia sits about 10,000 km from India, and yet the moment you step off the plane in Sydney it feels strangely familiar — cricket on every screen, a huge Indian diaspora, butter chicken on high-street menus, and English spoken everywhere. For a first trip, the classic combination is Sydney plus Melbourne: two rival cities barely 90 minutes apart by air that give you harbour glamour and laneway culture in one go. With 8 days you can do both properly; with 10 you can bolt on the Gold Coast's theme parks or the Great Barrier Reef at Cairns. This guide walks you through the whole plan — the subclass 600 visitor visa, why the seasons run opposite to India's, day-by-day sightseeing, domestic flights and a realistic budget in Australian dollars.
Why Sydney + Melbourne is the ideal first-timer combination
Sydney is Australia's postcard — the Opera House, the Harbour Bridge, ferries criss-crossing a blue harbour and golden beaches like Bondi and Manly within city limits. Melbourne is its cultured cousin — Victorian arcades, street art, arguably the best coffee culture in the southern hemisphere and easy access to two of Australia's most famous excursions, the Great Ocean Road and Phillip Island's penguins. Doing both cities means you experience two genuinely different Australias without wasting days on long overland journeys, because the Sydney–Melbourne air corridor is one of the busiest in the world and flights leave roughly every half hour. If you have already ticked off nearby destinations, many travellers pair this trip with our New Zealand travel guide for a longer Down Under holiday, since Auckland and Queenstown are only a three-to-four hour hop from Australia's east coast.
The visitor visa: subclass 600 explained for Indian passport holders
Indians need a Visitor visa (subclass 600, Tourist stream) for Australia, applied for online through the Home Affairs ImmiAccount portal — there is no visa-on-arrival route. The application fee has generally been in the AUD 195–200 range (roughly ₹11,000–12,500), though charges are revised periodically, and you upload documents digitally: passport, photos, bank statements, income-tax returns, employment or business proof, and an itinerary. Processing times swing widely — some files clear in two to three weeks, others take six to eight, so apply at least two months before travel and never buy non-refundable tickets until the grant letter arrives. Many grants are multiple-entry and valid for a year or even three, with stays of up to three months per visit, which makes a future second trip much easier. For the full document checklist and step-by-step filing process, read our detailed Australia visitor visa guide before you start.
Reversed seasons: when should you actually go?
Australia's seasons are the mirror image of India's — December to February is their summer, June to August is their winter. So an Indian summer-vacation trip in May or June lands you in Sydney's mild winter (roughly 8–18°C) and Melbourne's chillier, moodier version of the same, while a December Christmas trip means beach weather, 25–35°C days and peak-season crowds and prices. The sweet spots are the shoulder seasons: September to November (their spring, with blooming jacarandas) and March to May (their autumn, with warm seas and thinner crowds). If your goal is simply to escape an Indian winter, Australia in December–January is one of the great winter sun destinations — just book flights three to four months out, because Diwali-to-New-Year fares climb steeply.
Flights from India: routes, fares and baggage
There are now nonstop options — Air India flies Delhi to Sydney and Melbourne (about 12–13 hours), and Qantas connects Bengaluru with Sydney — while one-stop routings via Singapore, Kuala Lumpur or Bangkok work brilliantly from Mumbai and Ahmedabad. Return economy fares typically run ₹55,000–95,000 depending on season and how early you book; December peaks can push well beyond ₹1 lakh. From Surat or elsewhere in Gujarat, the smoothest pattern is a domestic hop to Mumbai or Delhi and then the long haul, ideally on a single ticket so your bags check through. Airlines on this route usually allow 25–30 kg in economy, but rules differ by carrier and fare class, so skim our international baggage allowance guide before you shop for that extra suitcase of Tim Tams on the way back.
Days 1–4 in Sydney: Opera House, Harbour Bridge and Bondi
Base yourself near Circular Quay, Darling Harbour or Central and let day one be the icons: an Opera House guided tour (roughly AUD 45–50), a stroll through the Royal Botanic Garden to Mrs Macquarie's Chair for the classic bridge-and-opera-house photo, and sunset drinks at The Rocks. Day two, get on the water — the Manly ferry is the best AUD 8–10 you will spend in Australia — then walk across the Harbour Bridge's free pedestrian path, or splurge on the BridgeClimb if heights thrill you (prices vary widely by time slot, roughly AUD 250–400). Day three belongs to the beaches: the Bondi to Coogee coastal walk is 6 km of cliffs, coves and ocean pools, followed by fish and chips (or a masala dosa — Sydney's Indian food scene is superb). Keep day four for the Blue Mountains — a two-hour train ride to Katoomba brings you to the Three Sisters, Echo Point and Scenic World's glass-floored cableway, all doable as a day trip for well under AUD 100 including the train.
Days 5–8 in Melbourne: laneways, Great Ocean Road and penguins
Fly into Melbourne and spend your first day in the centre: Flinders Street Station, Federation Square, the graffiti canyons of Hosier Lane, coffee on Degraves Street and the free City Circle tram that loops the CBD's edge. Day six, take the Great Ocean Road — a 10–12 hour round trip past surf towns like Torquay and Lorne, koalas at Kennett River and the limestone stacks of the Twelve Apostles at golden hour; guided coach tours generally cost AUD 100–150 and save you a very long self-drive. Day seven, head to Phillip Island for the Penguin Parade, where hundreds of little penguins waddle ashore at dusk (entry roughly AUD 30–60 depending on viewing tier), pairing it with the Brighton bathing boxes or a Yarra Valley winery stop on the way. Day eight is for Queen Victoria Market, the Shrine of Remembrance and last-minute shopping before your flight home — or onward to your extension.
The 10-day option: add Gold Coast thrills or Cairns and the Reef
With two extra days, pick one of two very different add-ons. The Gold Coast (a two-hour flight from Melbourne or 80 minutes from Sydney) is Australia's theme-park capital — Movie World, Sea World and Dreamworld — plus the surf and skyline of Surfers Paradise, ideal for families with kids. Cairns, in tropical Queensland, is the gateway to the Great Barrier Reef: a full-day reef cruise with snorkelling generally runs AUD 200–280, and the Kuranda Scenic Railway and Daintree rainforest fill a second day beautifully. Either way you will land back in Sydney, Melbourne or Brisbane for your India-bound flight. And remember that an Australian visa in your passport quietly upgrades your travel power — several other destinations relax their rules for holders, as we explain in countries Indians can visit with an Australia visa.
Distances and domestic flights: Australia is bigger than it looks
The single biggest planning mistake Indians make is underestimating Australian distances — the country is roughly two and a half times the size of India with a fraction of the population. Sydney to Melbourne is about 880 km (a 1.5-hour flight but a 9-hour drive), Melbourne to Cairns is nearly 3,000 km, and Perth is a five-hour flight from the east coast, so resist the urge to cram in a fourth city. Domestic one-way fares on Jetstar, Virgin Australia and Qantas commonly fall in the AUD 60–150 band when booked three to four weeks ahead, though budget carriers charge separately for checked bags. Trains exist but are slow and often pricier than flying; within cities, load an Opal card in Sydney and a Myki in Melbourne and public transport becomes effortless.
Budget in AUD: what an 8–10 day trip really costs
Australia is not a budget destination, but it is manageable with planning. Three-star double rooms in good locations generally run AUD 150–250 a night, casual meals AUD 15–30 a head, and big-ticket experiences (BridgeClimb, reef cruises, day tours) AUD 100–400 each — so a comfortable mid-range trip typically works out to roughly ₹2.5–3.5 lakh per person including international flights, visa and insurance, with couples on a premium trip crossing ₹4 lakh. Travel insurance is strongly recommended given Australian healthcare costs, and a week's policy usually costs only ₹800–2,000 — our travel insurance guide explains what reef-snorkelling and adventure add-ons to look for. Cards are accepted virtually everywhere, including for a AUD 4 coffee, so carry only AUD 200–300 in cash and put the rest on a zero-markup forex card; see our comparison of forex cards versus cash to avoid the 3–5% your bank card silently skims abroad.
Frequently asked questions
Is 8 days enough for both Sydney and Melbourne? Yes — four days in each city covers the icons, one big day trip apiece (Blue Mountains and Great Ocean Road) and still leaves breathing room, though 10 days lets you add the Gold Coast or Cairns without rushing.
My child studies in Australia — can I combine visiting them with this itinerary? Absolutely; parents visiting students typically travel on the same subclass 600 visitor visa, and our student visa guide for UK, Canada and Australia covers how the family side of student life works. Just keep your sightseeing itinerary and your child's enrolment proof in the application file.
Is vegetarian and Jain food easy to find? Very — Sydney's Harris Park and Melbourne's Dandenong are full-blown Little Indias, most city restaurants mark vegetarian options clearly, and supermarkets stock paneer, dal and Indian spice ranges, so even strict vegetarians travel comfortably.
Australia rewards planning — the right season, a well-timed visa file and smartly booked domestic hops can save you weeks of stress and tens of thousands of rupees. Explera Vacations builds complete Australia holidays from Gujarat: subclass 600 visa filing, flights, hotels, Great Ocean Road and reef tours, and 24x7 on-trip support on WhatsApp. Browse our tour packages from Surat or simply message our travel desk with your dates, and we will send a day-by-day Sydney–Melbourne plan with a transparent costing within a day. The penguins are waiting.
