Six Winter Holidays in NSW That’ll Warm Your Bones

Kangaroos linger longer in misty clearings and humpbacks breach off the coast: this is winter in NSW. Hit the road for crisp nights blanketed in lucid stars, delicious farm tours showcasing the state’s finest produce, and cosy cellar doors where sips are scored by the pops and crackles of ornate fireplaces.

We’ve mapped six winter getaways that bottle this seasonal magic, routes where the scenery keeps pace with the road-trip snacks. There’s the food-and-wine devotion of Orange, where cellar doors glow like lanterns against rolling basalt hills; the country-music swagger and surprisingly sophisticated dining scene of Tamworth; and Goulburn’s handsome stone architecture, which looks even better when your breath fogs in the evening air.

Add side quests through dreamy valleys, fireplace-hopping pub crawls, and the satisfaction of beating Sydney’s traffic, and you’ve got winter stitched up tighter than a puffer jacket on a July morning.

Owing to its high elevation along the Great Dividing Range, Orange is a perennial show-stopper for wine lovers and one of Australia’s most notably distinct growing regions. Pitched around five hours out of Sydney, one of the country’s coolest (a double entendre, of course) towns is a bonafide produce basket, where bright, long winery lunches reign supreme and nature walks feel wonderfully adventurous.

Set up homebase at the bucolic Mercure Orange where guest rooms present a cosy bed-and-breakfast aesthetic. The Greenhouse of Orange, the hotel’s signature restaurant, champions the best of the region’s produce and wine in a breezy outdoor space, while Diggers Bistro does much of the same with a focus on pub food favourites. Pick your vibe; you’ll be glad you have such strong dining options right at your doorstep.

Dotted between all those fine colonial buildings is a scatter-shot of heritage walks lifting the importance of Orange’s heady mix of architectural styles. Make time for some contemplative strolls before tucking into the fine dining scene at Borrodell Estate, which sits on the slopes of an inactive volcano - Gaanha Bula-Mount Canobolas - and boasts one of Orange’s best restaurants in Sister’s Rock. Plate up some classic Aussie produce on the balcony and work your way through their award-winning sauvignon blanc and pinot noir.

For a paddock-to-plate detour that does all the legwork for you, bookmark Country Food Trails. The 100-per-cent locally owned outfit in Orange corrals a clutch of seasonal experiences, from picking hazelnuts, cherries, or even saffron on The Farm Trail to joining a Wiradjuri Elder for bush-food storytelling on The Tasting Trail.

Prefer vino to veggies? Their Wine Trail plots a chauffeured course through cool-climate cellar doors, while The Village Trail unpacks Millthorpe’s heritage streets over lazy afternoon bites. Every tour is small-group or private, with growers, winemakers, and providores opening gates you’d never find on Google Maps.

The great “Oasis of the West” is one of Australian history’s most favoured boomtowns, with a wealthy mining history that’s created a vibrant town full of art set against jaw-plunging views of the desert, pitched beautifully for sun-chasers with the region’s mild weather.

Stay in the heart of Broken Hill at ibis Styles Broken Hill. Set along the main strip, the hotel has convenience baked in and sports a stylish on-site restaurant, S-Que, where local tastes are handled by local steaks and citrus-cured salmon.

Shimmy on over to Silverton, most famous as the setting for Mad Max. The well-preserved ghost town is about as outback as it gets around here, sporting a unique character best cobbled by visits to the Mad Max 2 Museum, an outdoor scrap yard-style collection of filmic treasures, and the Silverton Gaol Museum, where the history of this unique area is told across 18 rooms and cells.

Drive south-east to Menindee Lakes, located just outside of western NSW’s oldest European settlement. A dizzying array of colourful birdlife fill the scene with dynamism, drawing from a massive water system that flitters into a swirl of protected lakes that claw at Kinchega National Park. After your hundredth photo, waltz around the Kinchega Homestead Billabong Walk to squeeze through thick scrub, river red gum forests, and gorgeous wetlands.

The Living Desert and Sculptures is Broken Hill’s masterful blend of nature and art, opening you up to a 2,400-hectare reserve where numerous walking trails take you past gullies and under rocky outcrops to arrive at a park of 12 carved sandstone sculptures that switch mood as the sun dances across the sky.

Australia’s answer to Nashville, and it’s just as vibrant and obsessive about live music all year round. That’s why the Australian Country Music Hall of Fame and The Big Golden Guitar should be the first thing on your Tamworth agenda. Earn a newfound appreciation and pride for this genre of storytelling, which finds many ways to tell the history of country Australia. Experience the sounds of Tamworth for yourself with a visit to The Longyard Hotel, a local institution where live music is a regular fixture.

The stylish Mercure Tamworth is connected to the West Tamworth League Club, pocketing you into the country music capital’s pulsing entertainment scene. Set against the spectacular mountains of the North West, the views are especially noteworthy during the day when you’re maxing and relaxing by the pool. For another perspective on Tamworth's picturesque regional landscape, head up to Oxley Scenic Lookout for sweeping views across the district.

For a hearty breakfast head to The Pig & Tinder Box, where Filipino-Australian fusion is expressed with potsticker dumplings and pork belly adobo next to plates like whole grilled snapper and an enormous meat tasting platter. Fortified, it’s time to experience Tamworth on horseback with Kootingal Horse Riding Adventures where you’ll seek the majesty of the Cockburn Ranges.

While Tamworth is located firmly in regional north west NSW, this town’s cosmopolitan transformation is found in many places up and down Peel Street.

Mercure Wagga Wagga offers the best of the town at your fingertips, giving you easy access to all the public art and produce-powered restaurants while offering its own with the relaxed One Morgan Street, where service feels familial and pub favourites are heightened with Riverina’s culinary richness.

After you’ve got your base settled, hear the city speak loudest through its colourful murals and public sculptures, setting you on an art trail that’ll have you ducking down Cadell Place and walking along the Murrumbidgee River. In Motion Fitness in Wagga Wagga kits you out, runs through the safety spiel, then shepherds you on a full-day, 30-kilometre paddle down the Murrumbidgee River - complete with swim breaks and lunch stops - so you rack up bragging rights and river-level vistas without sweating the logistics.

Swing off Tumbarumba Road for a lavender-scented breather at Rustique Lavender Farm, a 30-minute detour from Wagga Wagga where 18 acres of purple rows, heritage roses, and a homestead shop stacked with soaps, ceramics, and lavender-laced jams.

Or embark on an olive oil tasting and tour at the scenic hillside Wollundry Grove, where you’ll learn the ins and outs of olive farming before a revelatory tasting that'll push your standards for olive oil more than a few notches higher. Put those standards to the test at fine dining favourite Magpie’s Nest where Riverina produce and Asian techniques fill an affordable set menu with top-shelf flavours.

Australia’s first inland city was established in 1863 and has built up an impressive, transportive suite of heritage sites, attractions, and architecture flecked with symbols of the country’s post-colonial Victorian heritage.

You’ll find Mercure Goulburn right by the Big Merino, a 50-foot tall concrete ram that is a reminder of Australia’s irrepressible love of supersizing random fruits, animals, and objects. The quiet hotel also features a number of serviced apartments if bigger, self-contained living is your preference for the weekend. A stylish and relaxed onsite restaurant, Edge, is just the right size to cosy on up to some winter warmers like hearty proteins tracking the best of Southern Tablelands produce.

There are guided tours of Goulburn’s attractions, or you can tour at your own pace with the help of a map from the Goulburn Visitor Information Centre. Start at the sandstone and marble Goulburn Boer War Memorial in Belmore Park before fanning out to the nearby glasshouse conservatory and making your way over to the Gothic Revival St Saviour’s Anglican Cathedral, with a historic bell tower that’s the only one of its kind of the Southern Hemisphere.

Victorian architecture shows up best with the Goulburn Court House, designed by James Barnet in 1887. It serves as a symbol of the town’s historic wealth with its gorgeous sandstone facade topped by an imposing copper dome. Barnet’s work can also be seen at the Goulburn Post Office with its classic colonial architecture and perfect symmetry.

The Rocky Hill War Memorial and Museum should cut-out a big part of your day with its meticulously studied WWI indoor and outdoor exhibitions, which includes two German howitzers. Elsewhere, you can step back in time at the Goulburn Rail Heritage Centre where former railway workshops tell the history of nascent transit, including an historic workshop with a blacksmith’s forge and wheel lathe.

Still have daylight hours to spare? Enjoy a scenic amble along the 4km Wollondilly River Walkway from Marsden Weir to the Tarlo Street Bridge.

Daily life is all about the Murray River for Albury, where outdoor adventure is filtered by paddle steamers, fishing, and kayaking by day, and wondrous stargazing at night.

You’ll return to the boutique-minded Mercure Albury each night for its modern comforts and deluxe spa suites. It might get too cold for pool time, but locals and visitors prefer poolside dining any day of the year, with onsite restaurant FABRIC providing winter-ready goods like Angus beef burgers, pork belly bites, and melt-off-the-bone lamb shank.

The riverside Murray Art Museum Albury soaks up the region’s tranquility with a relaxed series of galleries showcasing colourful Australian artists with a collection of over 2,000 works next to the National Photography Prize exhibition, featuring everyone from Tracey Moffatt to Phillip Quirk.

Use this as your starting point for a walk along the river where art lovers should steer themselves towards the beautiful Yindyamarra Sculpture Walk with works placed in situ by the flowing waterway.

Before you call it a day, pay a visit to Albury’s Oddies Creek Adventure Playspace. Shaded by river gums, the fully fenced, 2,000-square-metre wonderland packs a five-metre timber fort with wheelchair-friendly ramps, a 30-metre flying fox, climbing nets, and a bird-nest swing that helps kids burn off the “are-we-there-yet” energy before you start the ride home.