Apartments are ideally placed for visiting foodies, barflies and fashionistas. One of Sydney's best restaurants, Marque, is downstairs, and there are a dozen other superb restaurants within a kilometer or so. Long a city of ceramic-tiled pubs, Sydney now has a flourishing small bar scene, but in Surry Hills you get the best of both worlds, its hilly streets dotted with some of Sydney's most local watering holes, while laneways hide dimly-lit wine bars. Crown Street is also the spot to head for vintage clothes, as well as offbeat fashion and handcrafted jewellery, and fascinating shops selling everything from Mexican curios to recycled stationery. And there's even more to explore in the adjacent precincts: Waterloo and Redfern to the south and Darlinghurst and Paddington to the north. If it sounds like you're not going to spend much time in your apartment if you stay here, you're probably right, but that would be a shame, as the area is also home to some of Sydney's best gourmet shops, including Bourke Street Bakery (for artisanal bread naturally), Formaggi Ocello (for cheese of course), Pasta Emilia (handmade pasta), Single Origin Roasters (sustainable coffee), and, right across the road, Hudson Meats (one of Sydney's best butchers). If they don't tempt you to stay in and cook up a feast in the fantastic kitchen -- this is one of the few apartments we've stayed in Australia that actually comes with a proper stove with oven -- nothing will. Need further enticement? Hudson Meats offers in-room