At a glance
- Departs
- Central Sydney hotel pickups, 7:00 to 7:45am (night trip 7:50 to 8:35pm)
- Length
- About 10 hours; the night trip about 5
- Walking
- 10 to 45 minute bushwalks on most tours; 1 hour 30 minutes to 3 hours on the longer hikes
- Terrain
- Uneven ground, many stairs, steep sections at Wentworth Falls and Govetts Leap
- Group size
- Up to 23 on the bushwalk days, 14 on AEA, 9 at night, private up to 6
- Fitness
- Moderate on every listing
- Often included
- Featherdale Wildlife Park entry on the two biggest tours
- Not suitable for
- Wheelchairs; children under 5 on the two biggest tours
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Most reviewed 10 hours -
10 hours -
5 hours Blue Mountains Hiking Glow worms Cave Wildlife Spotlighting Night Adventure
Free cancellation
From A$185
-
10 hours
Prices and availability update live from Viator. Free cancellation and duration come from each listing.
Private hike
Your Sydney Guide’s Private and Customisable Hike from Sydney spends 3 hours on the Grand Canyon Track, priced per group of up to 6.
Newer listings
Newer listings with too few reviews for the grid: Blue Mountains Cliff Edge Hike and Three Waterfalls, and the Active Hike Tour from Sydney with no rides included. Both promise more walking than the grid tours.
What happens when you book
- Pick a tour above. The button opens it on Viator with the live price and dates.
- Choose the date and the number of walkers, plus your pickup point where the tour offers a choice, then pay on Viator. Viator takes the payment; SydneySide Tours never sees card details. Add any dietary needs at this step if lunch is included.
- Viator emails a confirmation with the voucher, the operator’s name and phone number, and the pickup point. The two biggest operators then message you the day before with your exact pickup time.
- On the day, be outside the pickup hotel 5 to 10 minutes before that time.
Cancellation. All four tours in the grid, and the private hike, can be cancelled free up to 24 hours before the start, for a full refund. The cut-off runs on Sydney time.
Weather. Boutique Tours says its bushwalks run weather permitting, which means the day goes ahead in rain but a walk may be cut. If the operator cancels the whole day, you’re offered another date or a full refund. Tracks in the national park close after storms, rockfalls and fires, and a closure changes the route rather than cancelling the trip. Our help page covers refunds, who to contact about what, and how a booking is confirmed.
What’s included and what’s not
Included on every tour here
- Pickup and drop-off in Sydney
- A guide or instructor for the day
- Transport in an air-conditioned vehicle (the night trip uses a minibus)
Included on some, so check the card
- Featherdale Sydney Wildlife Park entry: Activity Tours and Boutique Tours
- Lunch: Boutique Tours lists lunch in a mountain village plus morning tea at Wentworth Falls. AEA lists a picnic lunch and a glass of sparkling wine. Activity Tours contradicts itself, so assume you pay
- Calmsley Hill City Farm entry with animal encounters: AEA
- National park entry fees and gratuities: the private hike
- Headlamps, water and dinner: the night trip
- Bottled water: AEA and the private hike
Not included
- Scenic World rides. Both big day tours drive past Scenic World without stopping. If the Scenic Railway matters to you, compare our Blue Mountains day tours from Sydney instead
- Lunch on the private hike, which the listing puts at about 20 Australian dollars a head, and Dryridge Estate entry on that same day
- A guide on the walk itself for AEA’s Evans Lookout to Govetts Leap section, which is self-guided
- Walking gear. Nobody supplies boots or poles
The line between a hiking tour and a sightseeing tour is thin here. Cards 1 and 2 each spend 1 hour 15 minutes at Featherdale, which is more time than either gives to its longest walk. If you’d rather spend that time on a trail, the AEA day or the private hike is the better fit.
The day, hour by hour
Most tours sold as Blue Mountains hiking are day tours with several short bushwalks, not one long hike. The most reviewed listing, Activity Tours’ Exclusive Blue Mountains Wildlife and Bushwalk Tour, runs like this. Pickup, return and stop lengths are from its Viator itinerary. The clock times in between are our estimate from those lengths.
| Time | What happens |
|---|---|
| 7:00 to 7:45am | Pickup from one of four central Sydney hotels |
| About 8:30am | Featherdale Sydney Wildlife Park, 1 hour 15 minutes, entry included |
| About 10:00am | Drive up into the mountains and the first lookouts, about 2 hours with short walks |
| Around midday | Leura, 1 hour for lunch |
| Early afternoon | Blue Mountains National Park, 30 minutes, then the Three Sisters, 30 minutes |
| Mid afternoon | Wentworth Falls, 45 minutes, including the guided bushwalk of up to an hour |
| Late afternoon | Echo Point lookout, 15 minutes |
| 6:00 to 6:30pm | Back in Sydney, depending on traffic |
Boutique Tours Australia’s Bushwalks, Waterfalls and Featherdale day uses the same four pickup hotels and almost the same stops, with free time in Katoomba instead of Leura. Both describe their bushwalks as 10 to 45 minutes each, on uneven ground with steps.
That’s the honest shape of a guided bushwalk day: a lot of driving, five or six stops, and by our count from the stop lengths, around two hours on your feet. Reviewers on the Activity Tours listing still found it harder than expected. They mention a lot of stairs, and the Wentworth Falls section drops and climbs steeply.
The drive is the fixed cost. Traveller videos put Sydney to the mountains at 90 minutes to 2 hours each way by car or train (Aquarius Traveller, Jamie Does Life). Jamie Does Life had just over 4 hours on the ground on a train day.
If you want an actual hike, three listings walk further:
- AEA Luxury Tours’ Wildlife Full-Day Sights and Hiking: a self-guided walk from Evans Lookout to Govetts Leap along the Grose Valley cliffs, listed at 1 hour 30 minutes. NSW National Parks rates the Cliff Top walking track grade 3, 6 km and 3 to 3.5 hours return, so one way is about half that. The listing calls it self-guided, so ask where the guide waits. Reviewers mention steep steps near the finish.
- Your Sydney Guide’s Private and Customisable Hike: 3 hours on the Grand Canyon Track, then Evans Lookout, the Three Sisters and Megalong Valley. Start time is yours to set. NSW National Parks lists the Grand Canyon track as a 6.3 km loop of 3 to 4 hours, grade 3, with short steep hills and many steps.
- Wildscape Adventures’ Glow Worms Night Adventure: a 5 hour evening trip. Pickup 7:50 to 8:35pm, a headlamp walk of roughly 30 minutes by one reviewer’s estimate, down stairs and over small bridges to a cave with a waterfall and glow worms, then back to the van.
Pickup points and getting there
Every tour on this page collects you in Sydney, so there’s no meeting point in the mountains to find. The two most reviewed day tours share the same four hotel stops, in this order:
| Time | Pickup point |
|---|---|
| 7:00am | Mercure Central, 818-820 George Street, Little Regent Street entrance |
| 7:20am | Hilton, rear entrance by the Wilson car park, 255-259 Pitt Street |
| 7:35am | Four Seasons, rear entrance, 96-98 Harrington Street |
| 7:45am | Paradox Hotel, 27 O’Connell Street |
The Activity Tours listing says pickup is from select central Sydney hotels and asks you to contact the operator to confirm or change your stop. If you’re staying somewhere else, ask which of the four to use. Mercure Central is a few minutes from Central station; the Four Seasons stop is in The Rocks, near Circular Quay.
Be outside 5 to 10 minutes early. The operator confirms the exact time the day before by text or Viator message. Several reviews on the Activity Tours listing mention confusion over pickup times, so reply to that message and keep it on your phone.
The others pick up from your accommodation. AEA Luxury Tours collects from your hotel or an agreed point at 7:00am. Your Sydney Guide’s private hike will collect from a hotel, an Airbnb, the airport or a cruise terminal, at a time you choose. Wildscape Adventures’ night trip picks up between 7:50 and 8:35pm in a black Toyota minibus, plate 09WILD. Confirm that one by WhatsApp or iMessage, because the office is closed while the tour is running.
If you miss the pickup. The bus has three more stops and can’t wait. Call the operator’s number on your voucher straight away. There’s no meeting point in the mountains to catch up at, and a missed pickup on a day tour is normally treated as a no-show with no refund.
Going on your own instead. Visit NSW puts the train from Central to Katoomba at about 90 minutes on an express and up to 2 hours on a train that stops everywhere. Josh Goes Slow found one express a day on his March 2023 trip, at 8:48am, taking 1 hour 45 minutes. Check the current timetable on Transport NSW.
What to bring
The mountains sit at about 1,000 metres, and Jamie Does Life found it cold and windy there on a day that was mild in the city. Dress for a different climate from the one you leave.
- Closed shoes with grip. The Activity Tours listing asks for closed-toe walking shoes. On the glow worm walk the cave is damp, and reviewers say the rock is slippery.
- A warm layer and a rain shell, even in summer. Cloud can roll in over the Three Sisters; on Jamie Does Life’s December visit it hid the view for about 10 minutes before clearing.
- Lunch money or a picnic. The Activity Tours listing contradicts itself on lunch. Its inclusions mention a meal in Leura or Katoomba, while its add-ons say lunch is at your own expense. Bring the means to buy one.
- Insect repellent. A reviewer and the host both mention flies on the walks.
- Water. Bottled water is supplied on the AEA, private and night trips, but carry your own on the bushwalk days.
- Walking poles, if you use them at home. A reviewer on the stair-heavy Wentworth Falls section found them a help.
- Sunscreen and a hat. The Boutique Tours listing asks for both.
For the night trip the operator supplies a headlamp with a red light mode. Bring a raincoat; reviewers say the evenings can be wet.
A dietary note: Boutique Tours asks you to declare dietary needs when you book, since lunch is included there.
How to choose
| Type | Tours | Good for | Trade off |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bushwalk day with wildlife park | Exclusive Blue Mountains Wildlife and Bushwalk Tour; Blue Mountains Day Tour With Bushwalks, Waterfalls & Featherdale | First visit, kangaroos and koalas as well as lookouts, a big review record | Short walks only, groups up to 23, lots of stops |
| Cliff walk day | Blue Mountains Wildlife Full-Day Sights and Hiking from Sydney | A real 1 hour 30 minute walk along the Grose Valley rim, groups of 14 | The walk is self-guided, and the farm visit takes an hour |
| Night walk | Blue Mountains Hiking Glow worms Cave Wildlife Spotlighting Night Adventure | Something different after dark, 9 people at most | About 30 minutes of walking, wet and slippery ground, a late return |
| Private hike | Blue Mountains Private and Customisable Hike from Sydney | 3 hours on the Grand Canyon Track at your own pace, your own start time | Priced per group, so it only makes sense split between several people |
What the dearer days add is walking time and a smaller group. The AEA day trades the second hour of short stops for one longer cliff walk. The private hike swaps the whole sightseeing loop for a proper track. Neither changes the drive.
Pick a guided hike if:
- You don’t drive in Australia and don’t want to plan trains and buses between trailheads
- You want someone to choose tracks that are open on the day
- You’re travelling alone and would rather walk with a group
Skip it if:
- You walk regularly and want a full day on the trails. A guided bushwalk day gives you around two hours on foot, and you’ll want more
- You only want the Three Sisters and a short walk. The train to Katoomba gets you there and back in a day
- You want ropes and abseiling. That’s canyoning, a different trip with its own specialist operators
Fit walkers can do most of these tracks alone. The train runs from Central to Katoomba, and the NSW National Parks page for Blue Mountains National Park describes the park’s walks, and each track page gives its length, grade and current alerts. Our guide to the walks you can do on your own covers the routes.
Our pick
If it’s your only day in the mountains and you came to walk: the AEA Wildlife Full-Day Sights and Hiking tour. It’s the one group day built around a real track, 1 hour 30 minutes from Evans Lookout to Govetts Leap along the Grose Valley rim, with 14 people at most.
If you’ve done a day tour before: the private hike. Three hours on the Grand Canyon Track is more walking than any group day here offers, and it’s worth the group price when four to six of you split it.
The one we would skip, if walking is the point: the Bushwalks, Waterfalls and Featherdale day. Its walks run 10 to 45 minutes and none is named, so you can’t tell what you’ll walk until you’re there.
Season and timing
Tours run all year. What changes is the heat, the track closures and how much water is coming over the falls.
| Months | On the tracks | Watch for | For a walk |
|---|---|---|---|
| December to February | Warm to hot on the exposed cliff tops; cooler in the valleys | Total fire ban days and bushfire closures; afternoon storms | Take the early pickup and more water than you think |
| March to May | Mild, settled walking weather | Busy Easter weekends at Echo Point | The easiest months for a longer track |
| June to August | Cold, often windy at 1,000 metres; frost on early starts | Fog and low cloud over the valleys; short daylight | Fine for the bushwalk days. Dress in layers for the night walk |
| September to November | Warming, with wildflowers along the cliff tracks | Spring storms, track work after winter | Good balance of temperature and daylight |
Waterfalls need rain. Two of the traveller videos we compared found thin falls after dry weather: Aquarius Traveller at Wentworth Falls, Jamie Does Life at Witches Leap. After a wet week they’re far better.
Cloud lifts. If the Three Sisters are hidden when the bus pulls in, wait. On Jamie Does Life’s December visit the cloud cleared in about 10 minutes.
Crowds. Jamie Does Life found Echo Point busy with tour buses, since every company stops there. The cliff walks further from the car parks are much quieter.
Closures. Tracks shut after rockfalls, storms and fires, sometimes for months. Aquarius Traveller found the Honeymoon Bridge at the Three Sisters closed with no reopening date, and Josh Goes Slow found the same walk shut in March 2023. NSW National Parks still listed the bridge as closed for rockfall hazards in October 2026. Check the NSW National Parks alerts for the Blue Mountains the night before.
FAQ
Is hiking in the Blue Mountains hard?
It depends on the track, but almost every walk involves stairs. The tracks start on the cliff tops, so any walk into a valley is a climb back out. Every tour here asks for moderate fitness, and reviewers on the most booked tour found the Wentworth Falls section harder than they expected.
Do Blue Mountains hiking tours include a proper hike?
Most don't. The two most reviewed tours run several bushwalks of 10 to 45 minutes between lookouts and a wildlife park. For a longer walk, the AEA day includes a 1 hour 30 minute cliff walk, and the private hike spends 3 hours on the Grand Canyon Track.
Which trails do the tours use?
The listings name Wentworth Falls, the Three Sisters at Echo Point, Evans Lookout to Govetts Leap, and the Grand Canyon Track. The two biggest day tours don't name their short bushwalks, so ask the guide at pickup which ones are planned.
Can I go hiking from Katoomba without a tour?
Yes. Katoomba station is 90 minutes to 2 hours from Central by train, and several tracks start within walking distance of town, including the walk to Echo Point. Jamie Does Life walked from Katoomba Falls to the Three Sisters in about an hour, with a few steep parts.
Is the Grand Canyon Track on a tour?
Only on the private hike in our grid, which gives it 3 hours. None of the group tours with at least 10 reviews walk it. The private tour is priced per group of up to 6, so it suits a family or a few friends sharing.
Do I need a guide to hike in the Blue Mountains?
Not on the main tracks, which are signposted. A guide earns their fee on transport, on knowing which tracks are open that day, and on the drive between trailheads that the train can't do for you. For a first visit without a car, that's most of the value.
What happens if a track is closed?
The guide changes the route. Tracks close after rockfalls, storms and fires; the walk to Honeymoon Bridge at the Three Sisters was shut on two of the traveller visits we compared, and is still closed. NSW National Parks posts every closure, so check it before booking a tour built around one track.
Is there a night hike in the Blue Mountains?
Yes, the Glow Worms Night Adventure. Pickup is between 7:50 and 8:35pm, the group is 9 at most, and the walk is a short headlamp trail down stairs to a cave where glow worms light the roof. Bring shoes with grip; the cave is wet.
How long do I actually walk on a day tour?
On the two biggest bushwalk tours, by our count from the stop lengths, about two hours in total, split into several walks. The rest of the 10 hour day is driving, lookouts, lunch and the wildlife park. The AEA day and the private hike roughly double that.
Can children join?
On the two biggest tours, children 5 and over can join; under 5 isn't recommended. AEA accepts children with an adult and has infant seats. The night walk and the private hike ask for moderate fitness and give no minimum age, so ask the operator before booking for a young child.