Weekend in the Blue Mountains

September 22, 2026

Weekend in the Blue Mountains

This page is alive!

I post every now and then on Instagram and of course I update my website with links to interesting things, but I miss writing in longform about, you know, life. Horrible things have happened - are still happening - in the world, but there's still some living to be done. So let me blow off the cobwebs from this space and let's have a little chat about our Blue Mountains trip.

A view of the Three Sisters from Echo Point. The photos I took don't quite do them justice.

I would like to acknowledge the Darkinjung, Dharawal, Dharug, Gundungurra, Wonnarua and Wiradjuri peoples as the Traditional Owners of the Greater Blue Mountains region, and pay respect to Elders past and present.

We've been living in Sydney for nearly a decade now, but this trip was our first time in the Blue Mountains. Which is incredible in hindsight - we've ridden in cramped coach seats to fly 17 hours across the world, but didn't even think to jump on a train to a World Heritage-listed site sitting only 100 kms away. (!!!)

The Blue Mountains (Colomatta, koala place) are a mountainous region bordering Sydney metro and home to several established towns: Blackheath, Mount Victoria, Springwood, and Katoomba, where we stayed. The region is densely populated with eucalyptus trees; the trees' scattered oil droplets give the mountains their dreamlike blue hue.

When you look out at the great expanse of trees - just an ocean of green as far as the eye can see - it just makes you wonder why the European settlers still decided to jam their way in there. (I mean, we can guess why.) The Blue Mountains were judged impassable and seen as a barrier to colonial expansion, until the 1813 Blaxland expedition that led to European encroachment into the lands of the Wiradjuri people.

To add insult to injury, the lookout point below Echo Point is called the Queen Elizabeth Lookout. There's a plaque and everything! J quipped, 'Why? Did she build it?'

Getting to the Blue Mountains

The region is very accessible from Sydney. You can take the train from Central Station or Strathfield, which are the main hubs on the Sydney train system. You don't even need to purchase or pre-book a separate ticket. You can just tap on using your Opal card (the card you use for the Sydney public transport system) or your credit or debit card.

This is not the train to the Blue Mountains, just the regular-degular train to Strathfield.

The train we took left Strathfield around 6:30 am. The Blue Mountains fleet recently got an upgrade with the Mariyung trains (Mariyung in the Darug language means emu). The train we rode on was very comfortable, with charging ports, tray tables, arm rests, and bathrooms. The 6-carriage train has Quiet cars at the front and the back (Cars 1 and 6), in case you need some quiet time or a low sensory ride.

The train trip to Katoomba took about 2 hours, so we were in town by 8:30 am. We dropped our bags first at our accommodation, The Carrington Hotel.

The view from across the road. The hotel has a small garden in front that is open to the public. (Sorry, my photos are crooked! I'm too lazy to fix them.)

The Carrington Hotel opened as The Great Western Hotel in 1883, later renamed in honour of the new Governor of New South Wales, Lord Charles Robert Carrington. Behind the hotel was the Katoomba Power Station, now a deli and brewery, and to the side in front of the hotel was the City Bank of Sydney, now a bar and brasserie.

I'll share more photos of the hotel, but first: breakfast and a tour.

We went to Little Paris Cafe in The Town Centre Arcade

Reading magazines about Blue Mountains property and the eye-wateringly expensive house prices.

J was wearing a Buc-ees shirt, and we randomly ran into a couple from Frisco, TX who COULDN'T BELIEVE they would see the beaver in this corner of the world, much less Australia. (Buc-ees is a huge Texas chain.)

The Carrington is a great choice of accommodation (thanks J!) - it's a short walk from the train station, and the first stop of the Blue Mountains Explorer Bus tour is just across the street.

Stop 1: Katoomba

How the Explorer bus tour works: you pay for your tickets online and show up at the Explorer bus stop with your digital tickets to hop on. You can choose from the most basic Boomerang Pass (you hop on but you can't hop off; you just sit back and go around the BMT and return to Stop 1 at the end of the ride) to the Kookaburra Pass (hop on hop off all day plus tickets to Scenic World plus a food and beverage voucher).

Scenic World has rides including the steepest passenger railway in the world, but when we started planning this trip, I just wanted a chill day. Didn't feel like stressing over crowds and heights, to be honest with you. So we chose the Explorer Pass, which allowed us to hop on and hop off across the bus's 23 stops.

It's a double-decker bus, so I suggest riding on the top deck for better views, if you're mobile. The ride comes with live commentary from the bus driver (as an introvert who dislikes driving, this job sounds like hell on earth, but they sound like they're having fun??) who also announces each stop (e.g. 'We're now coming up to Stop 6, Echo Point'), so if you have pre-planned a series of stops you will know exactly when to get up and go. Just press the big red Stop button in front of you.

You can see the Stop buttons on the back of the seats here

Source: Explorer Bus map

We only planned to hop off three times. Our first stop was Stop 6, Echo Point.

Echo Point

The Three Sisters is an unusual rock formation overlooking the Jamison Valley. You can see the blue haze over the mountains in the background.

This is the view from my bus window!

Cafe Lurline

We next hopped off at Stop 15, Cafe Lurline. I think they have a Filipino cook on staff? Not sure. But they do have Filipino dishes on the menu, like silog.

Selfie pa more

Don't come at me, but this was listed as tapsilog, but it was more like a barbecue because the meat came on a skewer. (We don't skewer the tapa in a tapsilog.) It's really good, though.

Devonshire Tea at Bygone Beautys

Our third and last stop before returning to Katoomba was Leura Village. Leura is a small town adjacent to Katoomba, just one train stop away. Its main street is called 'Leura Mall' (which confused the hell out of me because whenever I looked at the map I thought it's referring to an actual mall).

Leura has a lot of small shops, including Josophan's Fine Chocolates (where we bought Belgian chocolate and Turkish Delight), The Candy Store (where we bought an ungodly amount of French bon bons), and Bygone Beautys.

Bygone Beautys has the world’s largest private collection of teawares, including more than 11,000 teapots from all over the world and spanning five centuries. They also serve Devonshire Tea. We had scones with Lady Grey tea. The scones were SO GOOD. Must try.

Old school lollies in old school jars at The Candy Store

Antique jewellery on display. (In this economy??)

We hopped back on the bus and checked in at the hotel. They gave us an honest-to-goodness key instead of a key card. You know, like in the olden days.

I kept joking that the hotel was giving The Overlook, but it was actually a really nice hotel with the prettiest bathroom tiles I've ever seen.

I loved these tiles, and it felt great to walk on them barefoot!

This news clipping is from 1888 (!!!) They were so happy to be getting a horse for the mail service.

I creeped myself out staring for too long down this hallway

This shot is not helping The Carrington beat The Overlook allegations lol

Remember when I said the old bank has been turned into a bar and brasserie? It's now called The Old Bank Bar & Brasserie. (Of course.) You can still see traces of the bank in the features and details.

Look at the green lampshades hanging from the ceiling.

This probably used to have a desk where a European settler asked for a 10-dollar loan so he could buy a four-bedroom house. That's how inflation works right?

The next day, we found a cinema in town and watched Resident Evil. (It was a fun time - highly recommended!) Dumayo pa talaga ng Blue Mountains para mag-sine.

We had dinner at the Polar Bear of Leura, which of course had a polar bear displayed inside. (By the way, the trains after a certain time will only run every hour, so keep that in mind when planning! We had to hoof it after dinner and I almost left my jacket behind.)