A new approach to blogging. short and to the point. here is where I went and what I thought. Simples.

The Blue Mountains are easily accessible from Sydney as day trip but we did stay over, as part of a road trip. There are many many hikes and views to see but the most famous are the Three Sisters Peaks.

Katoomba

Location: https://goo.gl/maps/kpfpbTgA4M58aj6GA

Approx. 90 minutes from Sydney

Katoomba is a small little town, with mainly old/ages buildings, where most people use as a base when visiting the blue mountains. There are some quaint cafes and restaurants but opening times can be fairly limited on week days (FYI from our experience) so we went to the town next to it (Leura) for breakfast (which also had limited places open.

We ate at Café Leura (In Leura) for breakfast, it was much nicer than my: https://goo.gl/maps/JX78z1PiiV2kddDAA

Yellow deli in Katoomba comes highly recommended too: https://goo.gl/maps/PF12PSLRpqXSBPLUA

Echo Point (https://goo.gl/maps/aF6E2MocXfgBcKBN9) is the location to get a good look at the 3 Sisters. There is public parking nearby too.

There is a walk/trail to the 3 sisters also from Echo Point which we thought might get better views, but its just gets you closer. The best views are at Echo Point (in my opinion).

Also the walk continues passed the 3 Sisters and leads to a lot of steps, and it wasn’t clear to us that we had gone by the 3 sisters trail and were heading to another trail (Which is meant to be great) by mistake.

Before you start the walk to the 3 Sisters from Echo Point, there is a small poster saying to beware of snakes, we weren’t sure how much heed we needed to pay to it but 5 minutes into the walk, someone told us to watch out for the snake they seen, we walked by it a few minutes later (he was just minding his own business) but again just and FYI – you are in Australia after all, there are snakes…

There is a hotel only 5-10 minutes from from Katoomba also that does a great high tea with panoramic views of the blue mountains, but I’d advise to book in advance if you can to try arrange a table by the windows for the views. We really enjoyed the high tea (first time for me!) but we were a bit late so all the good tables were taken and when people left they still wouldn’t let us move as they ‘had to set up for dinner later’. The Hydro Majestic Hotel Blue Mountains: https://goo.gl/maps/MAitEEaadoNAC9BF8

We travelled here on Australia Day so there wasn’t any reasonably priced places to stay in Katoomba at the time, so we stayed in Wentworth Falls, nearby instead.

Wentworth Falls

Location: https://goo.gl/maps/dL7nJxopdnoK93XM7

5-10minutes closer to Syndey than Katoomba

We stayed in Grand View Hotel. It was by far the most reasonably priced place we could find at the public holiday time, but it was fairly basic and only had shared toilets/showers in the hotel.

Wentworth falls is the name of the town but its also the obvious name of the waterfall near by. There is some parking near the start of the waterfall trail but it was full when we were there and we parked using on street parking instead (similar to many others).

The waterfall has some great views at and just after the water fall there are also about 200 steep steps down to the bottom of the waterfall which is well worth the experience. However, when we were there someone had a very nasty fall on the steps so be extra careful and hold on to the railing when going up and down (Don’t let this put you off, the steps are very manageable from older people to kids all using them on the day we were there just be extra careful. There’s no need to rush, its relatively short).

Tips and Prices

Australian visas need to be applied for online and depending on your country you may have to plan well in advance. For Irish citizens generally the process is very quick and free.

Typical beer price in Australia is 10-15 AUD

Cafe Leura breakfast for 2 with coffee 68 AUD

High Tea at Hydro Majestic for 2 142 AUD

2 nights (Without breakfast) Grand View Hotel 208 AUD

Public parkin gat Echo Point (public road) for 1 hour 8 AUD

Local simcard (vodafone) 40 GB data and 500 local minutes for 28 days 30 AUD

Echo Point and Wentworth falls entry was free