Blue Mountains Attractions and Lookouts

Eight places carry almost every photograph taken of this range, and they are not interchangeable. Each one below is what it is, how long it takes, and which of the guided days actually pulls over there rather than driving past. If you would rather have the route chosen for you, the Blue Mountains tours from Sydney are compared side by side.

Echo Point and the Three Sisters

The busiest square hundred metres in the mountains, and the reason most people come. The Three Sisters stand off the north escarpment of the Jamison Valley at Katoomba, weathered sandstone turrets that the National Parks and Wildlife Service describes as rising nearly a kilometre above sea level. They are a declared Aboriginal Place, in the Country of the Dharug, Gundungurra, Wiradjuri, Darkinjung, Wanaruah and Dharawal People, and more than one version of their story is told.

How long: ten minutes at the railing, or twenty-five to forty-five for the Three Sisters walk — 0.8km return, graded easy, past Oreades and Lady Game lookouts. The walk is described as accessible with assistance as far as Oreades. Which tours stop: nearly all of them. It is the one fixed point on the map.

Scenic World and the 52-degree railway

Privately run, on the clifftop at Katoomba, and the single biggest variable in what a day here costs. The Unlimited Discovery Pass covers four rides: the Scenic Railway, which drops into the rainforest at a 52-degree incline and is billed as the steepest passenger railway in the world; the Skyway across the gorge; the Cableway down and back; and the Walkway on the valley floor.

How long: ninety minutes to two hours if you ride everything. What it costs: from $64 an adult at the gate, under-3s free, open 10am to 4pm on weekdays and 9am to 5pm at weekends. Which tours stop: some fold the pass into the fare, and two exclude it by name. Each card says which.

Wentworth Falls and the 100-metre drop

Jamison Creek runs off the plateau and falls 100 metres to the valley floor, and the track down to it is the hardest walking most guided days include. The Wentworth Falls track is 1.4km return, graded moderate, and puts about 200 steps between the level path and Fletchers lookout. It is not suitable for prams.

How long: forty-five minutes to an hour, and the way back is the harder half. Which tours stop: the walking days build their afternoon around it, and travellers who take them describe it as the part they remember.

Govetts Leap and the Grose Valley

Blackheath's lookout, twenty minutes further north than Katoomba and facing an entirely different valley. Where Echo Point looks into the Jamison, Govetts Leap looks down the Grose, which is wilder, emptier and usually quieter. It is the lookout guides name when they want somewhere Echo Point-sized without the Echo Point crowd.

How long: fifteen minutes at the rail, or a half-day if you walk any of the tracks off it. Which tours stop: the small-group and private days reach it; the fixed coach itineraries generally do not.

Leura and the village strip

The village between Wentworth Falls and Katoomba, and the place most itineraries put their free hour. It is a single street of shops, galleries and a bakery that travellers mention by name in their reviews more often than several of the lookouts do. Gordon Falls Lookout sits a short drive from the main street.

How long: forty-five minutes to an hour, which is what the tours allow. Which tours stop: most of the coach days, and it is where the ones that exclude lunch expect you to buy it.

Lincoln's Rock and the sunset lookouts

A flat sandstone shelf above the Jamison Valley, and the point the late-start departures are built around. It faces west across the valley, which is exactly what a sunset needs and what Echo Point, facing south, cannot give you. Sublime Point and Cahill's Lookout do a similar job at a similar hour.

How long: the last forty-five minutes of light, which is how the sunset itineraries schedule it. Which tours stop: the late departures. The early coaches are back in Sydney by then.

Katoomba Falls and the Furber Steps

The other waterfall at Katoomba, reached from the Scenic World side rather than from Echo Point, and much less visited than the Three Sisters a few hundred metres away. Katoomba Cascades sits above it and appears on several itineraries as a twenty-minute stop. The Furber Steps run down beside the falls to the valley floor and are steep.

How long: twenty minutes at the cascades, or an hour and a half if you take the steps down and the railway back up. Which tours stop: the Scenic World days pass the cascades; the private days often make time for both.

Jenolan Caves — closed until 2027

The limestone caves on the far side of the range, inside the same World Heritage property, and the most-searched thing here that you cannot currently do. Jenolan has been closed since April 2024 while the Two Mile section of Jenolan Caves Road is rebuilt after storm damage between 2021 and 2024, and the operator's planned reopening is early 2027. The Six Foot Track is also closed between Jenolan Caves House and Binda Bush Cabins.

No tour listed here goes there, and any Blue Mountains and Jenolan Caves tour still advertised for this year is out of date. If underground is what you came for, that part of the trip has to wait; the Oberon page covers the road and what is open on that side in the meantime.

Which tours stop where