This hike in Sydney wins our vote for the most beautiful city walk in the world

I'm not great with maps but I feel confident that I can find my way around the four-day Sydney Harbour Circle Walk, if only I keep the water to my left.

Sadly, this turns out not to be true.

But that's hardly the fault of the Harbour Circle Walk, which must be the most heartbreakingly beautiful trail around any major city in the world: the journey makes me want to cry - and not just because I keep getting lost.

Each day on the itinerary involves a hike of about five hours, which begins and ends at a ferry wharf.

Day One starts at Circular Quay and takes me directly onto Sydney Harbour Bridge, with its sublime panorama of foam-waked ferries, the space city of Opera House, and the sparkling waters of the Earth's most glamorous harbour. On the North Shore side of the bridge, I somehow manage to take a wrong turn and get lost on the way to one of the most prominent features of the entire harbour, Luna Park.

I finally realise why the clown is smiling: he's laughing at me.

But objectively, there are no wrong turns. How can you say you've made a mistake when you end up at Milson Park by the Sydney Flying Squadron clubhouse?

At Waverton, I stop for lunch at the Coal Loader, a former coal transfer station, which is now a harbourside Centre for Sustainability. I order a lamb empanada at Silvia's cafe. It tastes like a cross between a sausage roll and a cake - that is, bloody delicious. The empanada is my second favourite thing in the complex, after the curiously compelling wreckage of the pier.

Around Greenwich, I find myself on bush tracks from which I sometimes cannot see the harbour, which does nothing for my (non)sense of direction. It's easy to forget I'm in the city, let alone Sydney.

The day ends at Greenwich Point Wharf, which is closed for renovation.

I have to take an Uber home, rather than the ferry. The Uber driver can't see the point in scenic hiking. He suggests I could have covered a similar distance in just three hours if I hadn't taken the long way around the harbour.

I begin Day Two near Greenwich Baths, a sea bath with a cute pocket of beach. There is an engrossing bushwalk along Gore Creek to the Bob Campbell Oval which, once again, is closed for renovation. This means I have to turn around after 400 metres, and repeat the engrossing bushwalk in the opposite direction.

The walk is a bit harder than I expected (it would be impossible for anybody with mobility issues). It's challenging but not exhausting. My body loves it when I reach the top of a hill - and rewards me with an endorphin rush that would have been a lot more helpful on the way up.

On the track down to Tambourine Bay in Lane Cove, I stumble upon the biggest surprise of the walk: an expansive and ethereal wetland of giant lilies. Who knew?

Day Three begins with me stranded without a coffee in the no-kiosk-land of Huntleys Point Wharf.

I cross the Gladesville Bridge (which is a more relaxing and engaging stroll than I had imagined), then the Iron Cove Bridge (another surprising pleasure), and eventually find my way to Balmain, where there are a great many coffee shops. The walk takes me to the waterside Sydney Secondary College Balmain, then invites me to climb a flight of wooden steps - which is closed.

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So I double back and take another flight of steps, only to become disoriented in a large community housing development. But how can I have made a mistake when I meet a pelican as tall as my waist, striding among seagulls in front of the redbrick unit blocks?

Day Four opens at Balmain East Wharf, with its awe-inspiring views back to Sydney Harbour Bridge. The adjacent Fenwick restaurant isn't open until lunchtime, but a kiosk by the side of the building offers coffee and croissants.

In Balmain, among a maze of perfect sandstone cottages, I encounter one of only two other walkers on the trail. Alarmingly, he is carrying both a map and an electric drill. However, he turns out not to be a serial killer but a hopelessly lost tradie.

After a gentle climb from the White Bay Cruise Terminal, I reach Sydney's newest - and perhaps most unlikely - arts and cultural centre, the former White Bay Power Station. I then cross the Anzac Bridge to Pyrmont, in less time than it has sometimes taken me to travel that same route by bus.

What: The Harbour Circle Walk covers 59 kilometres in four days. Each 'day' includes five hours of walking except for Day Two, which takes five-and-a-half hours. Day Four ends where Day One begins - at Circular Quay.

How much: The walk is perfectly free. You won't have to pay any admission fees anywhere.

How hard: If you're reasonably fit, you should be tired but not exhausted at the end of each day. You might want to bring hiking poles.

The map: There's a bit of an 'under-reconstruction' feel about the Harbour Circle Walk at the moment, but that shouldn't deter anybody from setting out. A map is available at sydneycoastalcouncils.com.au - but bear in mind that you might have to work around some of the obstacles flagged in this story.

Pictures: Destination NSW; Shutterstock