Hi,

I have made a booking at the Meriton World tower on Liverpool street. I was considering the York suites, but chose this one as it has better reviews and also a supermarket in the building. Only concern is how easy it would be to get to circular quay. and other sights. Is it easy to get taxis from this location?

Blue Mountains - should we stay one night to do justice to this visit?

If a day trip Is it better to self drive there or join a tour?

Yes, plenty of taxis - or you could take a bus down George street. Or a train from Town Hall.

You could also walk - it's only about 1.9kms via Pitt Street. Probably take you about 25 - 30 minutes ( plus sightseeing, shopping stops of course!)

Blue Mountains. Work out what you would like to see & do - and then decide if you want to stay overnight. It's a lovely spot and you could easily spend a couple of days, especially if you do one of the walks.

I think a car gives you more flexibility once you're there - and also allows you a stop at the various towns. On the other hand, the train is quick & easy to get to Katoomba, Leura etc. I'm not sure what the availability of rental cars in the Blue Mountains is like - but someone else will.

Tour v's independent? Purely personal taste. There's ample information & transport methods for you to do it yourselves - but some people like the package approach.

When are you coming? That will make a difference. We're in winter now & daylight hours quite short - about 7 to 5 or a bit less.

Planning to travel in October . We typically like to do it ourselves, but this one if done as a day trip might be better to leave the logistics to someone who knows his way around. Now I a thinking maybe a private custom tour might be the way to go. That would give us best of both options.

We took the train to Blue Mountains, using our MyMulti pass, which is a good deal if you will be using public transit in Sydney. We stayed in Katoomba for two nights and on the recommendation of our host at the BnB used the Hop on Hop Off bus, which took us to the major sites and through Leura. The drivers were friendly and gave us info at each site so we didn't really need an organized tour. There is an Aboriginal info centre near the 3 Sisters which gives short free demonstrations and sells souvenirs at better prices than we saw in Sydney. We also did a nature hike with a guide as well as some hiking on our own.

One day is certainly sufficient to see the major sites, but as suggested by Bokhara to take full advantage a stay of at least one night is recommended.

We've visited the Blue Mountains on both occasions we were in Sydney. This past December, we went on our own by train to Katoomba / Leura, did some hiking, sightseeing, shopping, etc. - it was very easy. To read more about this visit, you can take a look at my trip report in the Asia forum. In a past visit, we went on a small group tour of maybe 10 people. The tour gave a good overview of the mountains, but did not provide time for hiking, etc. However with the tour, we were able to go to an area to see some kangaroos in the wild, although this depends on chance. As for duration, it's really up to how much you want to see and do; you could easily spend several days here.