How To Spend A Day In The Blue Mountains

Tips on how to spend a day in the Blue Mountains while traveling near Sydney, Australia.

Prior to visiting the Blue Mountains last weekend, I dedicated a few hours to researching the area.

This gorgeous mountain range lies just west of Sydney and is full of rich green forests, towering sandstone cliffs, and scenic waterfalls.

travel in the blue mountains, new South Wales, Sydney Australia

With so much natural beauty sprawled over the landscape, I found it overwhelming to try and plan what to do in just one day.

I read so many articles on travel blogs, looked at countless maps, and researched numerous camping sites. All of this sent my brain into information overload.

When the time came to begin our adventure, we ended up just picking a few random attractions from my messy notes and taking it one step at a time.

We had a great time hiking through the wilderness, sleeping overnight in a cozy little tent, photographing some amazing sights, and driving through the pure, vast landscape.

So for anyone frantically trying to plan some activities for the Blue Mountains, unsure of where to start and hoping to explore on a budget, here is how my boyfriend and I spent a day in this beautiful, rugged, peaceful area.

How To Spend A Day In The Blue Mountains

I’ll give a little information about how to get to the Blue Mountains from Sydney.

Then I’ll list the best activities that we did during our day in the Blue Mountains.

How To Get To The Blue Mountains

We did this trip in our own car. Driving gives you flexibility, so I recommend that method of transport.

If you’re staying in Sydney and don’t feel like hiring a car, you can book a day tour that organizes all the transportation for you.

This is a great day trip to do from Sydney, as you can see some of that classic Australian wilderness. Book your tour here!

You can also take the train from Sydney if you don’t have a car!

Camp Overnight At Blackheath Glen Reserve

Driving to the Blue Mountains from where we live took about two hours. So we chose to camp overnight to avoid an early morning drive.

Blackheath Glen Reserve is a free, centrally located campground with grassy areas for tents and fire pits.

We packed all our own food and water to save money.

So for dinner, we sat on our sleeping bags and ate rice and veggies out of containers by the flashlight of our cell phones.

The best part of this little camping expedition was looking upwards to see hundreds of sparkling stars illuminating the immense blackness of the night sky.

Take In The View At Govett’s Leap Lookout

After waking up early and having breakfast we drove about 15 minutes to Govett’s Leap Lookout, located right on the edge of Blackheath town.

From the lookout, we could see miles of sloping greenery creating deep valleys surrounded by powerful cliff walls.

The scene resembles something out of a dinosaur movie, as the dense landscape appears to be untouched by man.

Hike To Pulpit Rock

After studying the signs that outlined different trails, we chose the 3 hour round trip, moderate trail to Pulpit Rock from Govett’s Leap.

The hike took us down steep stone steps, past little waterfalls, and under jagged rock formations.

We had the trail to ourselves most of the time.

Stop In Blackheath Town

Around 11am after our hike, we drove back through the charming town of Blackheath to get a coffee.

The town is tiny. But it had some colorful street art, an interesting antique shop, and a few cafes and restaurants.

For those who don’t want to camp in a tent, there is plenty of nice accommodation here as well.

Drive To Jenolan Caves

We had received some good recommendations for Jenolan Caves. So we decided to stop there next.

After about an hour of driving through wide-open countryside, past remote towns, and along winding cliffside roads, we reached this hub of limestone caves.

The next hour or so consisted of the River Walking Track, which brought us past the famous turquoise Blue Lake.

After finishing the River Walk, we jetted up a quick 15-minute incline to get one last view of the limestone cliffs and Blue Lake.

We didn’t actually enter the famous caves with lots of stalagmites and stalactites.

We were short on time and money, but if you do want to go inside the caves you can find more info here!

Stop By The Three Sisters Lookout

We made it back to Blackheath around 4 pm. Though we almost didn’t make it because the car almost ran out of gas before we found a petrol station.

After breathing a sigh of relief while filling up the car, we decided to stop at the Three Sisters Lookout before the winter darkness took over at 5:30pm.

Located in the town of Katoomba, which is only 11km south of Blackheath, the Three Sisters is the most famous viewpoint in the Blue Mountains.

We parked in the Blue Mountains Chocolate Company parking lot to avoid paying a parking fee. Then we walked about ten minutes to the lookout.

Though the vicious wind chilled our bones, the view of the magnificent cliffs made the cold seem trivial.