Help with Blue Mountains and Jervis Bay from Sydney
 

We will be spending six nights in Sydney arriving April 5th and are wondering if driving to the Blue Mountains on Sunday and returning the same day, then going down the coast to Jervis Bay on Monday also returning the same day to our base in Sydney would be trying to fit too much in. We plan on getting on the road each day by 6:30-7:00 am to avoid any rush hour traffic (we’re from Chicago and accustom to driving on the right side of the road) so we really don’t want to do any intense city driving. Does anybody know how long it takes to get to Katoomba in the Blue Mountains or Jervis Bay to the south? Both starting from our hotel near Moore Park. Thank you.

Hi Alan

Both destinations are doable in one day. Jervis Bay would be a big day certainly doable. Sunday April 8 is Easter Sunday, the roads in Sydney central should be quiet, however the road leading up into the blue mountains will be busy. Same goes for Easter Monday which is a public holiday, roads out of Sydney central will be quiet, however closer to the coast will be busy. The roads on your return on Monday will be extremely busy as it's the end of the holiday weekend. I would seriously consider staying in Jervis Bay overnight if you can.

Katoomba is about 100km from Sydney with most of the travel being along the M4 (toll), it should take about 1 1/2 - 2hrshrs to get there considering the above.

Jervis Bay however is a lot further at 200km taking 2 1/2hrs or longer considering the easter holiday.

All the best.

The above timings are for perfect conditions - I wouldn't count on them!!

Stiil you could do Blue Mts that way if you really want to. As for Jervis Bay - much better to stay overnight. That gives you time you enjoy it, and to explore a little either on the way there or the way back.

Just a personal opinion of course.

Thank you both very much for your reply, I completely forgot about the Easter weekend. I'll have to plan accordingly.

I reckon it'll take roughly 4 hours to get to Jervis Bay - and the roads may be busy because of the Easter holidays. <all those bunnies, you know!>

Probably 3 hours to Katoomba - but you'd want to stop before then.

Have fun!

Paul, while your post may have been well-meant, as it stands it does breach the Fodors "no advertising" rule.

ALANP, normally 2 hours to Katoomba and 3 hours to Jervis Bay would be about right, but I accept that holiday traffic could add to that. A 6:30 am getaway should have you beating the problem on the way out, but the return journey, especially on the Monday, will be unavoidably slow. Perhaps you could consider limiting yourself to one destination only and staying overnight, which would allow an earlier departure on the return journey? Given that it's the Easter weekend, though, you'd have to book in advance.

Will this be your first experience of driving on the left? While it's prefectly doable (after all, our first experience of driving on your side of the road involved getting out of Boston), driving in and out of Sydney isn't really an ideal training ground. Although overall driving conditions are reasonably similar, Australian highways are not as logically numbered or as helpfully signposted as American roads.