Sometimes, you don't know what you want until you've found it.

The West Hotel, part of the Curio Collection by Hilton, is boutique hotel that at first glance might appear to be in the middle of nowhere, and then you realise it's in the middle of everywhere.

With less than 200 rooms, it's economical in size and stature. Not much space is spent on common areas, but the ground floor bar and restaurant, Solander, is surprisingly vibrant and cool for a hotel venue.

The rooms are small and smart, with generous views (in our case, to nearby Darling Harbour). We even caught a fireworks show, for no reason apparent to us, but nonetheless enjoyable.

Although it's within 15 minutes' walk of a swag of restaurants and bars, the convenience and atmosphere of spending a night in is worth considering for a short visit.

If you've been out walking and playing visitor all day, the cozy confines of a dark bar with talkative staff and fun cocktails, and a good food menu, might just be all that you need. I don't mean to undersell the bar - the cocktails lean toward botanicals; the choice in gin, rum, and whiskies is considerable, and the bar food is tempting (kangaroo tail rillettes, truffle and parmesan chips, sesame crusted smoked salmon).

Good coffee is never the reason for selecting a hotel, but they do serve Single O here.

Back to the basics. The hotel is less than 10 minutes' walk from Wynyard train station, if you are travelling to the city by train. There's also a handy parking garage directly across the street from the hotel - but it's at city rates.

Once you are firmly ensconced at West, you quickly realise how close you are to so much of the city. Darling Harbour is less than five minutes away, with a footbridge taking you directly to the eastern side that houses tourist attractions like the Sydney Aquarium and Wild Life; or The Promenade chock a block with restaurants, hire boats and ferry wharves.

Or, you can walk for five minutes and find yourself in the heart of the city's shopping district: Queen Victoria Building, Pitt Street Mall, Strand Arcade, Westfield Sydney, David Jones and the plethora of fashionable shops amongst them.

Or, you can reach by Barangaroo by walking in less than 10 minutes and enjoy assortment of trendy restaurants and fashion shops.

Really, it's not that far to Circular Quay either.

(Jim Kellar was a guest of West Hotel)