New South Wales , Australia
Microscopic droplets of oil from the leaves of densely growing eucalyptus trees hang in the air here, refracting the sunlight to create the misty blue haze that gave this park its name. Just 90 minutes away from Sydney, Blue Mountains National Park is a glorious playground of forest containing 26 small townships that offer everything from antiques shopping to bushwalking. The highlands surrounding them are not truly mountains but a vast sandstone tableland whose dramatic, eroded scenery is best enjoyed from lookouts such as Govett’s Leap or Echo Point, a good vantage point from which to enjoy the park’s famous sandstone pillars, the Three Sisters. Just to the west are two more of the park’s highlights: the Scenic Skyway, a glassfloored gondola traveling 1,000 feet above the canyon, and the Katoomba Scenic Railway, an open-sided cog-rail incline that descends at 52 degrees but feels nearly twice as steep. The park also affords opportunities for rock climbing, horseback riding, spelunking, and canoeing, though most visitors are here for the dozens of walking paths. Explore them on your own or sign up for the Aboriginal Blue Mountains Walkabout, an intimate experience that combines a 4.4-mile nature walk with storytelling and lessons on Aboriginal culture.
You can get a quick overview of the area on a day trip from Sydney, but it really deserves a longer stay, and for that the country hotel–style Lilianfels Blue Mountains Resort is hard to beat. It’s one of Australia’s best getaway destinations, with a fantastic setting, magnificent panoramas, and Darley’s, a smart, award-winning restaurant where your meal is created from produce sourced from the surrounding countryside. Looking every bit the gracious European manor, the hotel perches 3,300 feet above sea level, almost at the edge of the cliff at Echo Point, with the canyons and ravines of the Jamison Valley below. Guests at the nearby century-old Lurline House stay in one of seven rooms, all with four-poster beds, and awaken to a full English breakfast and bushwalking trails just outside their door.
Where:
75 miles/122 km west of Sydney.
Aboriginal Blue Mountains Walkabout:
Tel 61/408-443-822; www.bluemountains
walkabout.com.
Cost:
from $80. Lilianfels
Tel 61/247-801-200; www.lilianfels.com.au.
Cost:
from $300 (off-peak), from $450 (peak); tasting menu at Darley’s $115.
Lurline House:
Tel 61/247-824-609; www.lurlinehouse.com.au.
Cost:
from $145. Best times: Mar–Apr for fall
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