Greater Blue Mountain Drive | An Iconic Road Trip

The Greater Blue Mountains Drive is an unforgettable touring journey that links the vast and spectacular Greater Blue Mountains World Heritage area to Sydney and the surrounding regions. The drive covers over 1200 km of major connecting roads, and it's undeniably one of Australia's greatest tourism experiences.

Regardless of whether you want to travel by caravan, motorhome, campervan or camper trailer, the Greater Blue Mountains Drive has something for everyone. From fascinating histories, spectacular views, meandering walking tracks, quiet country drives, and adventure activities on land and water, creating once-in-a-lifetime memories is only a drive away!

One of the best things about this road trip is that it can be enjoyed in different ways, from day trips and short breaks to longer touring odysseys. It can also be planned in many ways, in every direction and in any order you like.

A 'stepping-stone' approach works well for many people. Choose a region (we’ve detailed them below), base yourself in an area with a suitable campsite or caravan park, and then explore in different directions.

Depending on how much of the drive you’d like to do, it’s best to start closest to where you can join the main highways of the Greater Blue Mountains Drive. (In this guide, we’ve based details on a departure point of Sydney, but this map can give you more of an idea of how to tackle it).

Branching off the core loop are also 18 unique Discovery Trails. These backroads are the heart and soul of the journey, taking you into the depths of the area’s valleys, mountains, national parks, and key

attractions. Just keep exploring until you run out of time (because you certainly won’t run out of things to see and do). Happy touring!

Source: https://www.nationalparks.nsw.gov.au/things-to-do/driving-routes/greater-blue-mountains-drive/map

Greater Blue Mountains Drive - The regions

The Greater Blue Mountains Drive crosses a number of distinct tourism regions. Each of these regions has its own position, character, and range of attractions in relation to the Greater Blue Mountain drive World Heritage Area.

Blue Mountains Drive - Penrith Valley

Penrith Valley today includes a diverse landscape of lakes, rivers, and mountains. The terrain of the lower Blue Mountains might be more subdued than the tops, but it has its own must-have sites, including splashing creeks, light-filled woodlands, and outcrops of orange sandstone. Visitors can visit an Aboriginal cultural centre, cycle along the river, swim in Bents Basin’s deep water hole, canoe Fairlight Gorge, or walk the tracks in the Glenbrook section of the Blue Mountains National Park.

Distance from Sydney to Penrith Valley: around 49 km west via M4

Blue Mountains Drive - Blue Mountains, Lithgow & Oberon

The central Blue Mountains area has enthralled generations of visitors with its waterfalls, ferny glens, limestone caves, winding tracks, and edge-of-the-world lookouts. Highlights include the Jenolan Caves, one of the world's oldest and most complex cave systems. Visitors can explore the surface on walking tracks or take an underground adventure tour to marvel at these 340 million-year-old masterpieces. On your Blue Mountains scenic drive, stop in at idyllic Katoomba, the ‘capital’ of the upper Blue Mountains. On the south side of town, Cliff Drive connects numerous cliff-edge lookouts and picnic areas that continue through Leura and Wentworth Falls, a double-tiered waterfall where the creek plunges off the southern escarpment. Echo Point Lookout, the Giant Stairway, and the Three Sisters are not to be missed, as is Hassan's Wall Lookout in Lithgow. This is the highest scenic lookout in the Blue Mountains, around 1100 metres above sea level. Or visit Scenic World. It boasts the world’s steepest passenger train and the Scenic Skyway, which glides 270 metres above the valley floor between clifftops. Simply breathtaking!

Distance from Sydney to Katoomba: around 103 km west via M4

Blue Mountains Drive - Goulburn & surrounds

Often said to be 'Australia's first inland city', Goulburn is filled with fertile pastoral lands in the Southern Highlands. It is centrally located for a number of natural attractions, including scenic waterfall views in Morton National Park, the extensive series of beautiful limestone caves, Wombeyan Caves, and Bungonia Gorge. This outdoor adventure playground offers canyoning, caving, rock climbing, abseiling, and impressive views.

Distance from Sydney to Goulburn: around 197 km south-west via M31

Blue Mountains Drive - Macarthur & Southern Highlands

Situated on the Nepean and Georges Rivers' headwaters, you get up close to the edge of world heritage wilderness. Explore the heritage-listed Warragamba Dam, take a quiet canoe paddle on the Thirlmere Lakes, or visit the Wollondilly and Burragorang Lookouts. The first offers spectacular views over the Wollondilly River valley and the ridges of the Blue Mountains National Park. The second is encompassed by cliffed escarpments marking the eastern rim of the World Heritage Area’s Kanangra-Boyd Wilderness — a forested world of gorges, plateaus, and deep blue valleys.

Distance from Sydney to Southern Highlands: around 132 km west via M31

Blue Mountains Drive - Hawkesbury Valley

Hawkesbury Valley is renowned as 'big river country' in the Greater Blue Mountains. It is filled with tranquil riverways, lush national parks, and panoramic lookouts. Highlights include the Hawkesbury River (of course), where you can fish, kayak, or catch a historic paddle-wheeler and learn about the history of the boat, as well as the river and local legends. Visit Navua Reserve with its river swims, and stay until late afternoon to catch a sunset that will create a river of gold. Hike through Yellomundee Regional Park or Bellbird Lookout, which has leisurely walking trails and mesmerising lookout views. Saddle up and explore the area on horseback, tour a pearl farm, or join an oyster farm tour where you can learn about oyster cultivation and gorge yourself silly on these succulent gems.

Distance from Sydney to Hawkesbury Valley: around 58 km north via A2 and M2

Blue Mountains Drive - Upper Hunter & the Hunter Valley

Reaching north-west from Newcastle, the Hunter Valley is surrounded on three sides by mountains. On the southern side, the Wollemi National Park falls in abrupt escarpments to the valley, the north side of the valley is defined by even higher ranges, and Barrington Tops National Park is the southern extremity of another of the Gondwana Rainforests World Heritage Areas that stretches to the Queensland border. Its position in the landscape grants it a fantastic diversity of landforms and ecosystems, and its climate is ideal for producing famously fine wines. Highlights include Baerami Creek with its green, peaceful valley, and Goulburn River National Park with the triangular Mount Danger standing like a sentinel at the park's eastern end.

Distance from Sydney to Hunter Valley: around 243 km north via M1

Blue Mountains Drive - Mudgee & surrounds

The Mudgee district has the best of several worlds, including a magnificent natural setting, a vibrant culinary offering, historic towns to explore, and productive rural lands. These include 50 wineries to meander your way through. As the first place in Australia to grow merlot and chardonnay grapes, they’re sure to be tasty! Other highlights include the walking tracks and rock shelters of Dunns Swamp in Wollemi National Park, Goulburn River National Park with its sandstone gorges and mountain views, and Munghorn Gap Nature Reserve, which is rich in Aboriginal heritage and has over 160 species of birds.

Distance from Sydney to Mudgee: around 265 km north-west via A32

Ready to tackle the Greater Blue Mountain drive? Contact our team for expert advice on the best RV for your adventures.

References:

● NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service (2024), Greater Blue Mountains drive, NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service article, accessed 21 November 2024. 

● Greater Blue Mountains Drive (2024), Greater Blue Mountains drive, Greater Blue Mountains Drive article, accessed 21 November 2024.

Image Source: Blue Mountains, Australia by Rahni Newsome from Getty Images via Canva Pro