Just over two hours from Sydney, the world changes completely. The Blue Mountains are a vast sandstone plateau split by valleys hundreds of metres deep, covered in an ocean of eucalyptus trees that release oils into the air and tint the landscape an unmistakable misty blue. Hence the name. It's one of Australia's best-loved natural escapes and a World Heritage Site for its unique biodiversity.
The heart of it all is Echo Point, in Katoomba, facing the Three Sisters: three rock spires silhouetted against the Jamison Valley that hold an ancient legend of the Gundungurra people. From there, trails head down into the valley, Scenic World has cable cars and a scenic railway, and a network of lookouts and waterfalls can keep you busy for days. It's big nature that's also easy to reach, perfect for a serious hike or a relaxed stroll with postcard views.
This guide covers the Blue Mountains with a practical eye: how to get there by train from Sydney, how to get around on the Explorer Bus, what to see without missing the highlights, what Scenic World and the attractions cost (in Australian dollars, checked in July 2026) and where to eat and stay. Beyond the facts, we tell their story: that of the Gundungurra and Darug peoples, who have lived on this Country since time immemorial, and that of the famous 1813 European crossing that opened up Australia's interior.
The Blue Mountains are the ancestral Country of the Gundungurra (in the uplands) and Darug (in the lower areas) peoples, who have lived here for millennia and for whom formations like the Three Sisters are part of a living Dreaming story. For 25 years, these cliffs and valleys were an impassable barrier for the Sydney colonists, until in 1813 the Blaxland, Wentworth and Lawson expedition managed to cross them by following the ridges, opening the way to the interior. The full story is on the history page.
Read the full history ↓The birthplace of modern Australia: the First Fleet landed at Sydney Cove in 1788, on the lands of the Eora people. The country's most populous state and home to Sydney and its Opera House, it was the trunk from which all the other colonies branched off and the setting for the first gold rush.
Read the history of New South Wales →Some places make no sense on your own; with someone explaining them, they change completely. We look ours up on Civitatis: guided in Spanish and booked online with no fuss. They have 18 activities in Sidney. And there are free tours here: you book without paying and tip the guide whatever you think at the end, so trying one costs you nothing. Three are below so you get the idea: tap any of them and they all open.
They depart from Sidney, 84 km away. If you book from this link we earn a commission and you pay no more.
No exact prices: a scale from $ (budget) to $$$$$ (luxury), with 2-3 options per category.
Origins, formation and what the sources say.
The Blue Mountains don't begin in 1813, when three European settlers crossed them for the first time, nor with the word 'discovery' that is sometimes used. They begin much earlier, tens of thousands of years ago, with the Aboriginal peoples who have lived on this Country since time immemorial. Up on the heights, around Katoomba and the Jamison Valley, live the Gundungurra, today represented by the Gundungurra Tribal Council Aboriginal Corporation, based in Katoomba. In the lower part of the mountains, towards Sydney, the Country belongs to the Darug. Other peoples also moved along its edges: the Dharawal, Wiradjuri, Wanaruah and Darkinjung.
For these peoples, the mountains were never a barrier or a place to pass through: they were home, pantry, spiritual map and sacred land. The Gundungurra knew two main routes across the range. When the Europeans arrived, they saw a terrifying maze of sandstone cliffs, deep gorges and impenetrable bush, but for Aboriginal people these were paths known for generations. They lived by hunting, fishing in the creeks and gathering food, and left their mark in rock engravings, stone shelters and ceremonial sites scattered across the plateau.
The whole landscape is woven with Dreaming stories. The Gundungurra creation story tells how two ancestral creatures, Mirigan and Garangatch, half fish and half reptile, fought an epic battle that split the earth and carved out the Jamison Valley. For its Traditional Owners, nothing in these mountains is 'just' rock or 'just' a waterfall: everything has a name, a story and a law.
The three rock spires that are now the signature image of the Blue Mountains have a story for the Gundungurra people that goes far beyond geology. In the best-known version, the Three Sisters were three young women named Meehni, Wimlah and Gunnedoo who lived in the Jamison Valley. All three fell in love with three brothers from a neighbouring tribe, but the law forbade marriage between their peoples.
The brothers were determined to take them by force, and a battle broke out. To protect the young women during the fighting, a tribal elder, a wise man with special powers, turned them to stone. He meant to bring them back to human form once the danger had passed. But the elder was killed in the fighting before he could reverse the spell, and the three sisters were left turned to stone forever, looking out over the valley where they once lived.
It's important to note that there are different versions of this story, and some researchers point out that the most popular version was also shaped by 20th-century tourism. It's best told with respect, without presenting it as 'the' one Aboriginal truth. What is beyond doubt is the deep bond between the Gundungurra and this place. In January 2014, the Three Sisters were officially declared an 'Aboriginal Place', a legal recognition of their cultural importance to First Peoples. It was the 98th site to receive that status in New South Wales.
For the first 25 years of the Sydney colony, the Blue Mountains were a wall. The settlers wanted new grazing land for their livestock, and again and again they ran into the maze of sandstone cliffs and dead-end gorges. Several expeditions tried to cross by following the rivers and valleys, and all of them failed: the canyons ended in sheer, impossible walls.
On 11 May 1813, three settlers set out from Emu Plains with a different idea: Gregory Blaxland, William Lawson and the young William Charles Wentworth, along with four convict servants, a guide and some dogs. Instead of trying to push along the valley floors, they decided to follow the ridges, the lines of peaks that separate the river basins. This was largely the same approach Aboriginal people used on their traditional routes. It worked: in about three weeks they reached the western edge of the mountains and saw the open plains they had been looking for.
The 1813 crossing is one of the 'defining moments' in Australian history, because it opened the vast interior of the continent to colonial expansion: grazing, farming and, decades later, the gold rush. A road soon followed (Cox's Road, built in 1814-1815 with convict labour), and the mountains stopped being a barrier and became a gateway. But that same advance, celebrated in colonial history, marked the beginning of the dispossession of their Country for the Gundungurra, the Darug and the other peoples.
Once opened up, the Blue Mountains changed fast. The railway arrived in 1868, built to link Sydney with the lands to the west, and with it the real settlement of the plateau began. Towns such as Katoomba, Leura, Wentworth Falls and Blackheath sprang up along the line. At first, much of the economy revolved around mining: beneath the cliffs of Katoomba lay seams of coal and shale, which were worked for decades. Today's Scenic Railway, now a tourist attraction, began life as a mining railway for hauling coal up from the valley.
But the mining boom didn't last. By the late 19th century, the profitable seams were running out and the economic crises of the 1890s hit hard, so mining went into decline. That's when the mountains found their true calling: tourism. The beauty of the landscape and the short distance from Sydney did the rest. By the early 20th century, Katoomba and the neighbouring towns were full of large 'guesthouses' and hotels, such as the Carrington in Katoomba and the lavish Hydro Majestic in Medlow Bath. Wealthy Sydney families came here to escape the summer heat and the bustle of the city.
Lookouts were built, along with staircases carved into the rock (such as the Giant Stairway) and cliff-edge tracks like the National Pass. Even the Jenolan Caves were developed as a tourist destination. This was the beginning of the model that lasts to this day: the Blue Mountains as Sydney's great natural escape, just two hours from the city.
Over the 20th century, awareness of the natural value of the Blue Mountains kept growing. Huge areas were protected as national parks, among them Blue Mountains National Park, Wollemi and Kanangra-Boyd. Today they form a patchwork of almost a million hectares of eucalypt forest, gorges and plateaus. In 2000, UNESCO recognised this value by listing the Greater Blue Mountains Area as a World Heritage Site. The listing was above all for its extraordinary diversity of eucalypts (more than ninety species) and for living relics such as the Wollemi pine. This tree was thought to have died out in the age of the dinosaurs until it was found in 1994 in a hidden canyon in the area.
The distinctive blue that gives the mountains their name is in fact explained by those same forests: the eucalypts release tiny droplets of oil that scatter sunlight and give the distant air its bluish tint. Science and landscape go hand in hand.
Today the Blue Mountains welcome millions of visitors a year, from day-trippers out of Sydney to travellers who stay on to walk the tracks. At the same time, the Traditional Owners are gaining fuller recognition. The Three Sisters were declared an Aboriginal Place in 2014, Gundungurra and Darug descendants lead guided tours, and stories and sacred places are being reclaimed. Slowly, all of this is putting back at the centre the peoples who lived on this Country long before the word 'blue' existed to describe it.
