How To Spend One Day In The Blue Mountains On A Day Trip From Sydney

What To See On A Day Trip From Sydney

The Blue Mountains is a truly unique location and very easily accessible from Sydney, making it a popular day trip. It is a beautiful area that provides visitors with an incredible experience in nature and is the perfect place to enjoy the outdoors.

Having heard so much about this location, we made sure to dedicate some time to venture out of Sydney to visit. We loved our time in this region and want to encourage people to see this lovely area. This blog details our experience and what we were able to see during a majestic Blue Mountains day trip.

What Is Special About The Blue Mountains

How To Get To The Blue Mountains

Depending on how you want to structure your day, you can take public transport including a train from Sydney and then a local bus around the area, rent a car and drive from Sydney or take a tour. Renting a car gives you the most flexibility since the local bus doesn’t reach all of the lookout points.

We chose to take a small group tour since we wanted to have an expert tell us about the region. We were happy with this decision as our guide was from the area and very passionate about the location where he lives. This translated into a detailed and enthusiastic presentation about all the beautiful places we visited.

✅ We highly recommend this 5 star tour that we took. It explored the Blue Mountains area and included a trip to see Australian animals plus a cruise on the Sydney Harbour.

What To Expect In The Blue Mountains

It is important to understand that this is an immense area – it covers more than one million hectares, so, understandably, not all of the park is accessible to visitors.

However, the National Parks Department has done a great job creating lookouts, bridges and trails to provide access to many sections. This was very similar to what we found with viewpoints when we visited Sao Miguel, Azores.

We began our day with an early morning pick-up from Sydney. It was nice to see all the small towns along the way as we travelled out of the city. An early departure also provided less crowded viewpoints upon our arrival one and a half hours later. During the day we explored the area through a variety of stops.

Reids Plateau

To really appreciate the size of this forest, it is important to visit some of the lookouts. This allows you to see the unbelievable number of trees and plant life in the valley from overhead.

Reids Plateau was our first stop of the day. It is a 500m loop through the bush with three lookouts – Solitary Lookout, Orphan Rock Lookout and the best viewpoint from our point of view (no pun intended) Katoomba Falls Lookout. This area also has picnic tables and some areas with seating. 

The Katoomba Falls Lookout overlooks the waterfall and gives you a magnificent panoramic vista out over the valley. Our guide explained that the oil evaporating from the eucalyptus creates a blue haze in the sky and that’s what gives the area its name.

While gazing out at the valley, it was amazing to learn that within the park perimeters, you can find:

• 1500 plant species including 100 species of eucalyptus
• 52 native mammal species
• 265 bird species
• 1000 species of butterflies
• a habitat for 80 rare and threatened species

From here, you can also see Scenic World up in the hills and the cable car wires spanning across the valley. This was the first glimpse of what we would explore further during the day.

We found Australia really does an incredible job creating walking paths for exploring such as the Bondi to Coogee walk and this location is no different. This whole area has many trails, including the Prince Henry Cliff Walk, which has several extensions. You could spend several hours here exploring, and this would perhaps be one of the benefits of driving there on your own. 

We had more limited time but we were still able to take a nice walk to see Leura Cascades. This was a trek through the bush, over wooden bridges and up and down steps but the water feature at the end of the walk is worth it!

If you are looking for a more involved hike, then check out the Grand Canyon Walking Trail – this is a longer walk of approximately 6kms and takes 3-4 hours to complete. This is one of the most popular hiking trails in the area that meanders through the rainforest where you can enjoy views of the sandstone cliffs, creeks and waterfalls.

Don’t Have Time To Read This Now? Pin It For Later:

Visiting Scenic World

We weren’t sure what to think about a park with rides being installed within this gorgeous natural setting. But we quickly saw that this park’s attractions were built with park conservation very much at the forefront.

The Scenic Walkway – Rainforest Walk

An extensive boardwalk system has been installed, giving visitors the ability to see the wonderful trees, flora, and fauna under the canopy of the rainforest.

We walked with our guide who shared facts about some of the more unusual plants, including bioluminescent fungi that live amongst the foliage. And he showed us the incredible tree species that have been standing for 100s of years.

We were impressed to see how the park managers have worked around the limbs of trees and in some cases provided support for them to continue to grow in their natural directions. It is a very special place to see.

The Scenic Railway

Located within the park was a large quarry, and it had a coal mine that started in 1878. During the 60 years that it was a working site, there were more than 40 mines with 100 kms of tunnels. It was eventually closed in the 1930s.

Much of the past of this mine can be explored through displays and exhibits along the boardwalk, and our guide also told us stories and folklore from this time in history. 

Since it was such a steep valley, a railway was built to move the coal so that it could be transported to Katoomba. Built in 1882, the railway passed through a natural tunnel, but it also necessitated blasting through shale and sandstone that is more than 250 million years old (older than the dinosaur Jurassic era).

Explorers at the bottom of the valley used to ask for a ride up to the top and this created the idea of transporting passengers. The first tourist ride dates back to 1933 and now it is a popular ride available for everyone to enjoy.

We have been on other funiculars like the one in Lyon, France, but this one is a little different. The railway is considered to be the world’s steepest funicular railway at 52 degrees. But they also have the “cliffhanger” which is a lever that you can adjust to make the chair tilt to 64 degrees.

Of course, we added the extra tilt and it was fun trying to hold on so you don’t slide off your seat going down!

Scenic Cableway

A secondary way to reach the bottom of the valley is via cable car. This system was built for the Paralympics that took place in Sydney in 2000.  Unlike the Railway, this is a fully accessible way to access the valley.

The Cableway is noted as the steepest aerial ride in the Southern Hemisphere and provides beautiful views of the surrounding valley from the glassed-in car. It is a smooth ride that covers 5m per second.

Unfortunately, the day we were there, it was undergoing routine maintenance but we did observe the station and the route that it takes up to the top.

Scenic Skyway

The Skyway opened in 1958 and held the title of the first cable car in Australia. Now it is considered to be the largest aerial cable car in the Southern Hemisphere.

The large spacious car provides 360 degree views of the Jamison Valley. When it glides along at 270m above the valley, you really get to see a beautiful view of the surrounding area including the sides of the sheer cliffs. Riding on this cable car you are now out over the top of what you have observed from the lookout in the morning.

For those who are a little braver, you can look down through a glass bottom window on the floor. It gives you a different perspective as you glide over the trees below.

It was amazing to think that in the bushfires of 2019/2020 more than 70% of the valley trees were burned. Thankfully the regeneration has been significant and this area is just as lush as before.

Echo Point

This is likely the most popular lookout area in the Blue Mountains. It is a wonderful series of walkways and balconies at varying heights, that provide the best view of the Three Sisters rock formation. 

The Three Sisters are a set of majestic rocky columns made of sandstone that are 14 million years old and they rise nearly one km above sea level. The Aboriginal folklore says that the three stone towers are actually three sisters who were kidnapped by neighbouring tribesmen who wanted to marry them.

After a bloody battle occurred, an elder cast a spell and turned them to stone. A sad story for them but these iconic stones are truly beautiful to see.

We enjoyed walking to all the different viewpoints to get a glimpse of the valley from different vantage points.

You can even see the Queen Elizabeth Lookout. It is from here that Her Majesty viewed the valley in 1954. There is a plaque installed here to commemorate the location.

If you want to explore further, you can check out the Giant Stairway which has close to 1000 steps down into the valley or you can pick up the Prince Henry Cliff Walk from here and walk back towards the Reids Plateau.

FAQs

Are The Blue Mountains Worth Visiting?

In our opinion, the Blue Mountains are definitely worth visiting. This natural region with its diverse plant and wildlife is truly spectacular to see. And it isn’t often that you can have such easy access to a pristine native area without a lot of effort in time or distance.

What Is The Most Visited Town In The Blue Mountains

The town of Katoomba is the most visited town where the attractions noted above are located. There is also a main commercial area with hotels, restaurants and cafes.

What Is The Most Beautiful Part of the Blue Mountains

The entire Blue Mountains National Park is gorgeous. But if you needed to narrow it down to one place to view it from, then we would suggest visiting the Katoomba Falls Lookout where you will have a great vantage point of Katoomba Falls, the Jamison Valley and the Three Sisters. 

Final Word…Spending One Day In The Blue Mountains

As you can see from the pictures in this post, this area is an absolutely stunning place to visit. For a beautiful day in nature where you can enjoy fresh air, gorgeous scenery and walks in the forest, be sure to add this stop to your itinerary and plan a trip to the Blue Mountains.