By Pavan The best of New South Wales is mostly free. The state’s natural spectacles — sea-carved rock formations, glow worm colonies, ocean pools built in the 1930s — cost nothing beyond the drive, and many outshine attractions charging $50 a head.
Here are twelve free experiences we’d put against any paid attraction in the country, from an hour out of Sydney to proper road-trip territory. Each links to our full guide with maps, directions and FAQs.
1. Karloo Pools
A crystal bush swimming hole in Royal National Park you can reach by train — the Karloo Track starts opposite Heathcote station. Read the full guide →
2. Wedding Cake Rock
The impossibly white sandstone slab on the Royal Coast Track. The 3.5 km walk from Bundeena is free; the photos look expensive. Read the full guide →
3. Glow Worm Tunnel, Wolgan Valley
Switch your torch off inside this abandoned 400 m railway tunnel near Lithgow and watch the walls light up with blue-green constellations. Read the full guide →
4. Bombo Quarry (The Boneyard)
Iceland-grade basalt columns rising from the sea at Kiama, fifteen flat minutes from the car park. Sunrise here is a photographer’s pilgrimage. Read the full guide →
5. Little Blowhole, Kiama
The locals’ blowhole — smaller, more reliable and far quieter than its famous sibling. On a south-east swell it erupts over head height. Read the full guide →
6. Blue Pool, Bermagui
Possibly Australia’s most beautiful ocean pool, walled into the base of Bermagui’s cliffs in 1938. Free, cold and unforgettable. Read the full guide →
7. Burning Mountain, Wingen
The world’s oldest coal fire has smouldered under this Upper Hunter hill for about 6,000 years. A 4.6 km walk reaches the smoking vents. Read the full guide →
8. Horse Head Rock, Bermagui
A 500-million-year-old sea stack shaped exactly like a drinking horse. Time the low-tide rock walk from Camel Rock Beach for sunrise. Read the full guide →
9. Sea Cliff Bridge, Grand Pacific Drive
Walk the 665 m ocean-hugging bridge on the Grand Pacific Drive free, any hour — whales pass below from May to November. Read the full guide →
10. Cape Byron Lighthouse, Byron Bay
Be the first person in Australia to see the sunrise. The walking track to the easternmost point costs nothing; the paid car park is optional. Read the full guide →
11. The Skillion, Terrigal
The Central Coast’s great green wedge, tilting into the Pacific. Ten minutes up the grass buys a 270-degree ocean view. Read the full guide →
12. Observatory Hill, Sydney
Sydney’s most romantic free lookout: a heritage rotunda, giant figs and the Harbour Bridge at arm’s length, open around the clock. Read the full guide →
Stringing them together
Half this list stacks into two easy drives: the South Coast run collects Bombo, the Little Blowhole, Blue Pool and Horse Head Rock down the Grand Pacific Drive; Royal National Park bundles Karloo Pools and Wedding Cake Rock into one train-accessible day. See our road trips for full itineraries, and the whole Free Things To Do collection for more.
