Hsu

Hello I know this has been posted countless times on the forum but I hope you will be able to help me out.

1)What are the suggestions for a one-day self-drive trip to the Blue Mountains?

2)Hire a car from Sydney or take a train and rent a car from a nearer town?

3)Also, what are the driving conditions? Is it an easy drive up to the Three Sisters?

4)I'm quite clueless on this but what will be the main attractions to head for on the Blue Mountains?

Thanks very much everyone!

ALF

If you are going to hire a car, you might as well do it in Sydney and drive on up to Katoomba. It is a very easy and quick drive (1.5 hours) on the Great Western Highway (M4).

Alternatively, you can take a longer, more scenic Bell's Line route from Richmond, through Mt. Tomah, Bell, and Mt. Victoria. I'd suggest driving this as a loop, taking Bell's Line going in, and the Great Western on the way out.

You could easily spend most of your day in Katoomba alone. One good walk is to leave from Echo Point Overlook, and descend the 'Giants Staircase' to the Three Sisters. Continue down the Staircase to the bottom, then walk across the Jamison Valley to Katoomba Falls, and then the base of the Scenic Railway. Take the extremely steep (they claim it is the steepest railway in the world, at 52 degrees) railway back up to the top, so you don't have to ascend the steep trail yourself. Another option is the 'Sceniscender', a cable car that parallels the Scenic Railway route. Also, nearby is the Skyway cablecar, which crosses over the deep Jamison Valley. Lastly, there is a rainforest boardwalk that winds its way through the forest.

If you like gardens, you should visit the Evergreen Gardens, in nearby Leura. Also, there are great views from the lookouts in Gordon Falls Reserve.

Lastly, consider finishing off your day at Oberon and an underground exploration of the Jenolan Caves.

Probably all of the above would make for an extremely long day, but you would certainly see the Blue Mountains!

DawnF

My recommendation is to take ALF's first suggestion of hiring the car
in
Sydney and take the direct route to Katoomba. The "loop" he referred to
was
not overly exciting and that is one of the reasons NOT to go with a
tour
group is that they take the time doing this loop rather than provide
more
time in Katoomba doing exactly what it is that he described in the "You
can
easily spend your day in Katoomba along" paragraph.

I too agree that you should spend the whole day in Katoomba as too much
more would give you and extra LONG day. If you were considering
spending
the night then maybe add those last sites to your itinerary.

To answer #3 -- you don't drive "up to" Three Sisters. You basically
arrive
at this tourist spot that serves as your launch pad down to the area of
beautiful scenery, lookouts, walkways along the rainforest. You take
the
tram down and the sky rail back or some combination of the two but
while
"at the bottom" there are a couple different explorations ( that he
described) for you to do.

#4 -- You'd be going to the Blue Mts to experience most famously the
view
of the Three Sisters and the Mts themselves. The steep train/tram ride
down
which is quite exhilirating, the beautiful sky tram across the area and
the
rainforest and exploration around the town of Katoomba. . this is the
major
appeal along with the other small town of Leura which is just a quaint
town
worth a stop if you have time after experiencing Katoomba.

Hope this helps!
Dawn

DawnF

My recommendation is to take ALF's first suggestion of hiring the car
in Sydney and take the direct route to Katoomba. The "loop" he referred to
was not overly exciting and that is one of the reasons NOT to go with a
tour group is that they take the time doing this loop rather than provide
more time in Katoomba doing exactly what it is that he described in the "You can easily spend your day in Katoomba along" paragraph.

I too agree that you should spend the whole day in Katoomba as too much
more would give you and extra LONG day. If you were considering spending
the night then maybe add those last sites to your itinerary.

To answer #3 -- you don't drive "up to" Three Sisters. You basically arrive
at this tourist spot that serves as your launch pad down to the area of
beautiful scenery, lookouts, walkways along the rainforest. You take
the tram down and the sky rail back or some combination of the two but
while "at the bottom" there are a couple different explorations ( that he
described) for you to do.

#4 -- You'd be going to the Blue Mts to experience most famously the
view of the Three Sisters and the Mts themselves. The steep train/tram ride
down which is quite exhilirating, the beautiful sky tram across the area and
the rainforest and exploration around the town of Katoomba. . this is the
major appeal along with the other small town of Leura which is just a quaint
town worth a stop if you have time after experiencing Katoomba.

Hope this helps!
Dawn

johhj_au

Consider the train

explorerlink ticket see www.cityrail.info
out and about in sydney section

If you do rent a car...

do get out of town early
do not go up there on a sunday