The best Blue Mountains tour

Which Blue Mountains tour is best?

There is no single winner. The waterfall walk day suits walkers, the Scenic World days suit families and first-timers, and the small groups suit anyone who hates coaches.

Here is each tour on this site matched to the traveller it fits. The paid-stops column matters more than it looks: every hour at a wildlife park or on a ferry is an hour away from the cliffs.

What is the best way to see the Blue Mountains?

On foot, along the cliff edge. A tour is the easiest way to get there from Sydney in a day; the train is the cheapest and the most flexible.

The Blue Mountains are not one view. They are a line of cliffs running from Wentworth Falls through Leura and Katoomba to Blackheath, and the best of it sits on the tracks between the lookouts. A coach shows you Echo Point. A walk shows you why people keep coming back.

Your options, roughly from most to least effort:

• Train and your own feet: Central to Katoomba in about two hours, then the free lookouts and tracks. Best if you like to set your own pace. See the train guide.
• A walking tour: someone else drives, and the day is built around a track. The waterfall walk day and the luxury Wentworth Falls day fit here.
• A Scenic World tour: the rides, Echo Point, Leura and usually a wildlife park and a ferry. Easy on the legs, heavy on the clock.
• Staying the night: sunset, the floodlit Three Sisters and an early start before the coaches. Our where to stay guide covers it.

Which tour spends the most time in the national park?

The waterfall walk day, the late-start kangaroo tour and the luxury Wentworth Falls day. None of them goes to Scenic World.

Three tours skip the rides and put the hours into walking:

• The waterfall walk day: the listing describes a 90-minute walk past several falls at Wentworth Falls, then the Three Sisters with an Aboriginal Dreaming story and another valley lookout. It skips Scenic World, the zoo and the ferry on purpose. It meets at 7:30 a.m. at St Laurence Church on George Street, near Central, with no hotel pickup, and is not suitable for under-14s or over-75s.
• The wild kangaroos and sunset tour: a late start from Circular Quay, a group of ten at most, Govetts Leap, Wentworth Falls, quieter Three Sisters viewpoints and a picnic in the Megalong Valley, where wild kangaroos are possible but not promised. It ends with wine and cheese at a sunset lookout.
• The luxury Wentworth Falls day: a 1.5-hour bushwalk at Wentworth Falls with route options for different fitness levels, but it also spends 75 minutes at Featherdale on the way out.

Our pick for a first visit is the waterfall day. It is built around one long walk.

A late start, ten guests at most, quiet lookouts, a chance of wild kangaroos and a sunset picnic.

★ 4.9 · About 10 hours

Book this → Tour details

Which tour is best for Scenic World?

The Scenic World, wildlife and cruise day if you want it all; the short Scenic World day if you want to be back early.

Four tours on this site bundle the Scenic World rides. They differ in what surrounds them:

• Scenic World, wildlife and cruise: up to 20 guests, early entry to Scenic World with all three rides and a guided rainforest walk, the Three Sisters, Megalong and Jamison Valley lookouts, Featherdale or Sydney Zoo, then a Parramatta River ferry to Circular Quay at 5 p.m. A cheaper option on the same listing drops the lunch.
• The full-day trip with three rides: a big-coach day with Featherdale, free time in Leura to buy your own lunch, the three rides, Echo Point and a ferry to Circular Quay. It is the classic big-coach format.
• Scenic World and a koala photo: coffee in Glenbrook, Echo Point, the Katoomba Cascades, three rides, Cahill's Lookout, Leura, then a koala photo at Sydney Zoo and a harbour ferry.
• The short Scenic World day: seven hours, with the Three Sisters, a Scenic World pass, Cahill's Lookout and Leura. Drop-off is at Central Station or Furama Darling Harbour, not your hotel.

Featherdale is in Doonside and Sydney Zoo in Bungarribee. Both are in western Sydney, not in the mountains. More on the rides in our Scenic World guide.

Is a small-group tour worth it?

Yes, if you want to walk. A van of ten to fifteen people can use smaller car parks and quieter tracks than a full coach.

Group sizes, as each listing states them:

• Wild kangaroos and sunset: ten guests at most, in a 12-seat van.
• Aboriginal experience day: limited to 14.
• Luxury Wentworth Falls day: 15 at most.
• Scenic World, wildlife and cruise: up to 20.
• Waterfall walk day: called small-group, though the listing mentions roughly 20 to 27 adults or teenagers.

The coach days do not give a maximum. If you are happy on a bus and mostly want the views and the rides, the bigger tours are fine and usually cheaper. If the walking is the point, a small group earns its higher price.

Is there a Blue Mountains tour with an Aboriginal guide?

Yes. The Aboriginal experience day is led by a Wiradjuri guide, with an acknowledgement ceremony, bush food and lunch, for up to 14 guests.

The Aboriginal experience day is run by Zanza Tours (listed under the name Blue Mountains Tours). The listing describes an acknowledgement ceremony, a guided walk on Country with stories about the land, plants and animals, bush food tasting, morning tea with a homemade scone, lunch and a wildlife park visit, in a Mercedes-Benz van.

One honest caveat: the itinerary on the listing is a single nine-hour block with no named stops, so the exact lookouts are not set out in advance. Ask the operator if a particular place matters to you.

Some context for the day: NSW National Parks names the Gundungurra and Darug peoples as the traditional custodians of the Three Sisters Aboriginal Place at Echo Point, and says there are different versions of the Aboriginal story of the Sisters.

Can I take a self-guided tour of the Blue Mountains?

Yes. Trains run from Central to Katoomba, the main lookouts charge no entry, and local buses link the station to Echo Point and Scenic World.

A self-guided day is easy in the Katoomba and Leura area:

• Get there: trains from Central reach Katoomba in about two hours, or around 90 minutes on a limited-stop express (Destination NSW). Pay with an Opal card or a contactless bank card.
• Get around: route 686 buses loop from Katoomba to Echo Point and Scenic World (CDC NSW), and the hop-on hop-off Blue Mountains Explorer Bus circles Katoomba and Leura.
• Walk: the Three Sisters walk is 0.8 km return. The Prince Henry Cliff Walk links Katoomba and Leura along the cliffs.
• Pay only for what you want: NSW National Parks charges a vehicle fee only in the Glenbrook area (NPWS visitor info). Scenic World sells its own day pass.

For a longer self-guided trip, NSW National Parks publishes a free two-day Grand Cliff Top Walk from Wentworth Falls to Katoomba, with a night in the mountains in between. A tour still wins on one thing: places like Govetts Leap, Evans Lookout and the Megalong Valley are much harder to reach without a car.

What do the tour listings not tell you?

That lunch is often at your own cost, that the wildlife parks are in Sydney, and that some famous tracks are closed in 2026.

• Lunch: several listings put lunch under “includes” while their own description says lunch is at your own cost in Leura. Each of our tour pages says what the description states.
• The wildlife stop: Featherdale is at Doonside and Sydney Zoo at Bungarribee, both in western Sydney. It is time off the mountain.
• Honeymoon Bridge is closed: the footbridge to the first Sister is shut for rockfall hazard, with no end date (park alerts). Ignore any listing that promises you can touch the first Sister.
• Jenolan Caves is closed until 31 December 2026, so no 2026 day tour can take you there. See our Jenolan post.
• Drop-off points: several days end at Circular Quay by ferry, and the short day ends at Central or Darling Harbour. Check before you plan dinner.

All ten tours on this site cancel free up to 24 hours before, which helps if the forecast turns.

Frequently asked questions