The Blue Mountains Best and Worst Kept Secrets

There's an antiquated energy to the Blue Mountains. Sky-scraping gumtrees rising out of the clouds, waterfalls slicing through sandstone cliffs, roads blanketed in that signature blue haze, winding into sleepy towns. It’s no stretch to see why the area draws around four million visitors every year.

An estimated ten times older than the Grand Canyon, the mountains have been cared for by the Darug and Gundungurra Peoples for millennia. With its UNESCO-listed natural wonder you’d be forgiven for thinking that things to do in the Blue Mountains stop at the treeline, but you’d also be missing out.

Here are all the best places to visit in the Blue Mountains, from top trails and classic attractions, to a few quirky detours.

Katoomba is the big little town of Blue Mountains sightseeing. On the edge of town, Scenic World sets the benchmark: the planet’s steepest passenger railway, the mid-air thrills of the Scenic Skyway, the gentle descent of the Blue Mountains Cableway and its panoramic sweep of the Jamison Valley. Sulphur-crested cockatoos swoop and shriek across the rockface, guiding you to the Scenic Walkway valley floor flush with Jurassic-era flora.

Connected to this track by the capital ‘G’ Giant Stairway is Echo Point, home to the iconic outcrop known as the Three Sisters. Arrive early for the sunrise drama, or at dusk when the sisters glow with soft amber light and the night rises up from the canyon.

Elsewhere in Katoomba, a short 1.2 km walk to Minnehaha Falls yields a twinkling emerald lagoon at the base of a midsize waterfall. Starting from the car park at the end of Minni Ha Ha Road in Katoomba, the stroll is pretty laid-back, although a couple of steep staircases might test your quads. Sidetracks lead to secluded swimming holes or up to elevated viewpoints that frame the falls in all their cascading glory.

Back on the main drag, conveniently named Katoomba Street, you’ll find magnificent Art Deco shop fronts, buzzy music venues, and Melbourne-grade coffee slingers. Station Bar and Woodfired Pizza is a local favourite, serving generously topped pizzas with local craft beer. In the former St Andrew’s Church, Bowery is breathing new life into the heritage turreted tower, original stained-glass windows, and exposed beams. Once cherished as The Gingerbread House, the venue has shed its twee past in favour of a vivid bohemian aesthetic and modern menu.

Pro tip: Pick up lunch from Pomegranate cafe and hike out to the Castle Head Track. The first viewing point has a large rock plateau to sit on, and the vista stretches all the way to the horizon.

Address: Pomegranate, 49 Katoomba Street, Katoomba 2780

The Leura Cascades track is a beautiful set of mini-waterfalls with ferns fanning over gentle footbridges, mossy rocks and rainbows radiating out of the mist. After all that hiking and gawking, rest your weary legs at the Blue Mountains Sauna. A rustic, communal Finnish sauna, you settle into the toasty 80°C heat, then jolt your system with an icy dip in the plunge pool. Rinse, recover, do it all again.

The best place to stay in the Blue Mountains, Fairmont Resort Blue Mountains, is also in Leura. Towering eucalypts part as you head up the driveway, revealing a sprawling resort on the edge of the Jamison Valley. Plush lounges for fireside cocktails, a kids' club for the littlies, and those cinematic views. From here you can wander out to Sublime Point for an eyeful, or linger at the resort’s spa, pools or golf course.

Pro tip: On the first Saturday of every month from 9am to 1pm there’s an artisan market on the grounds of the hotel, with up to 70 stalls, live music and lots of gorgeous local food.

Address: Fairmont Resort Blue Mountains, 1 Sublime Point Road, Leura 2780

Under no circumstance should you leave the mountains without experiencing some of the Aboriginal rock art hidden within the ancient canyons. One of the best and most accessible spots is Red Hands Cave, where each handprint predates modern civilisation by thousands of years and offers a communion with the guardians of the mountains. Reaching the site is simple, just follow the clearly marked bush track from Glenbrook, which is at the Penrith end of the Blue Mountains.

While you’re in the area, make a beeline for Glenbrook Gorge. The track itself is about 3 km return of mostly easy walking apart from the odd staircase. The payoff? Swimming in deep green water beneath towering sandstone canyon walls.

Pro tip: If you’re looking for things to do in the Blue Mountains with kids, Glenbrook’s Jellybean Track is an easy win. Calm waters and shaded rock ledges, reached via a mostly downhill 1km trail where your company is colourful locals like lorikeets and lyrebirds.

Address: Jellybean Track, Bruce Road, Glenbrook 2773

Wentworth Falls is a multi-act performance: water flows over the edge in a veil of white, pools, then plunges again into a deep valley. The main walk to Wentworth Falls can be as challenging or straightforward as you like. Some viewing points are accessible after a relatively short stroll, while more advanced trails snake deeper into the valley.

At night Wentworth Falls transforms into a theatre of the cosmos. Blue Mountains Stargazing offer intimate evening tours where telescopes pierce the inky sky, and guides explain the bright star clusters and distant planets.

West of Katoomba is Blackheath, home to Govetts Leap Lookout. Described by Charles Darwin as ‘stupendous’ in 1836, you stare down into the lush Grose Valley, the vast green carpet rolling out below sandstone cliffs. Nearby, Evans Lookout serves up a different slice of the same cake. Combine the lookouts with the Grand Canyon walking track, which weaves through ferns, waterfalls, and narrow rock passages.

If you’ve got a full day (or two) and energy to burn, tackle the Grand Clifftop Walk, a 19 km, multi-sectioned trek. You’ll need about a litre of sunscreen, sturdy boots and a decent level of fitness, but the pay-off is a VIP look at the Blue Mountains’ grand geological wonders.

Pro tip: The Victory Theatre Antique Centre, set up in an Art Deco playhouse from 1919, is one of the biggest antiques collectives in the state. Over 50 dealers sell everything from 19th-century teacups to vinyl records, handcraft pottery to wood-turned souvenirs that put mass-produced trinkets to shame.

Address: Victory Theatre, 19/21 Govetts Leap Road, Blackheath 2785

If you’re the hop-on, hop-off type, the Blue Mountains Explorer Bus covers all the big stops, Blue Mountains Cableway, Echo Point, Katoomba Falls.

The dramatic landscapes and slow-falling mists have also made the region popular for fantasy tourism. Every year Ironfest, in Lithgow just west of Katoomba, is a surreal mash-up of medieval faire, cosplay convention, and folk in top hats tinkering with brass gadgets. Meanwhile, the Winter Magic Festival in Katoomba dazzles with street parades, performance art, and enough costumed crusaders to make a comic con look like your mum’s Halloween book club.

Head over to Bilpin for apple picking and fresh cider, the Megalong Valley for the sweet farmland scenery and a classic Devonshire tea at the Megalong Valley Tea Rooms, or out to Mt Wilson for its famous autumn foliage.

Pro tip: Wine enthusiasts can swirl and sip at Dryridge Estate Cellar Door, where local vintages are served with a side of sweeping valley views.

Address: Dryridge Estate, 226 Aspinall Road, Megalong Valley 2785

The Blue Mountains region is big on dramatic extremes, but it’s the quiet moments that reel you back for more. Come for the attractions, stay for ghostly mist at dawn, a pea mash pie at the pub, and the distinct feeling of travelling back in time.