Fairlight is located 13 kilometres north-east of the Sydney central business district and lies between Balgowlah and Manly on both sides of Sydney Road. The suburb reaches north past Balgowlah Road and the western boundary is Hill Street.

Fairlight takes its name from Fairlight House built by Henry Gilbert Smith (1802-1886) on land he bought in 1853 from John Parker who had received a land grant in 1837. The house was named after Fairlight, East Sussex, a historic village in Hastings, on the south coast of England.



Fairlight was originally only the area near the beach where Fairlight House once stood, and the suburb at the top of the hill was called Red Hill, due to the pre World War II red gravel surface of Sydney Road.



Fairlight Beach is located on the Manly Scenic Walkway on Sydney Harbour, which can be followed for some kilometres to Spit Bridge. The Beach experiences light harbour swells and southerly winds. Though swells up to 2 metres were recorded following Hurricane Larry, it is not a surfing beach, as the shore is rocky and the break unpredictable. The beach has sand largely made up of shell grit (largely missing from the beaches on either side), and a small rock pool.



Immediately offshore is the partial wreck of K12, a Dutch submarine. The 611-ton submarine was built in 1924 in Rotterdam, and commissioned for service in the the Dutch East Indies. It was blown ashore by storms in August 1950, and grounded on Fairlight Beach. The hull was broken up in situ and removed, but the engines and sections of the bow remain and are accessible by scuba divers.



Fairlight Beach is popular for swimming and snorkelling and as a vantage point to view harbour yacht races. Fairlight is home to the Manly Golf Club and Golf Course. Shops and cafes are located in a shopping strip in Sydney Road.



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