Leura Blue Mountains Australia Guide to Blue Mountains Recreation

Looking for something to do? You won’t have trouble finding fun in Leura, and we’ve also included some great choices that are just a short drive from the village. Visitors come to Leura mostly to eat and shop, for it is the upmarket shopping village of the Blue Mountains. If it is raining or cold, most take time to browse in the book store, news agency and art galleries or sip tea in cafés, check out the “Shopping” and “Cafés & Restaurants” sections of the website.

Leura Village Fair - 2nd weekend in October... See Events...

Many visitors rarely venture onto the tracks (bush) at all, so we encourage you to take The Leura Bushwalk to find the Leura side of the escarpment. There are some relatively easy tracks to get to majestic lookouts you will long remember.

Looking for more of a challenge or to learn a new skill? We have included a little about some very active sports, abseiling and canyoning, where you can truly become part of the environment. The Blue Mountains National Park is often described as the epicentre of these sports, and you are here, so close to such an exciting opportunity. Instructors of these sports tell us that a moderate fitness level or better is the only requirement, so give it a go.

Leura Bushwalks

The Leura Bushwalks: The Lookouts

In the Leura Bushwalks, we are taking you on three easy walks that go beyond the shopping area of Leura. While not vigorous, these walks take you out of the village centre and into nature’s bounty. Along the escarpment and down to the lookouts you will discover Leura in its relationship to the Blue Mountains and the World Heritage designation that preserves it. Each short walk to a lookout will get you up close and personal with the natural beauty that prompted Leura’s attraction to Blue Mountains visitors.

Print Map (PDF)

Tread Lightly Eco Tours (Nature Base Touring)

Phone: 02 47 881 229

We hope we can persuade you to explore the exquisite and wondrous heritage wilderness that surrounds Leura and its neighbouring villages. Tim Tranter’s team of qualified ecological guides provides minimal-impact eco tours, bushwalking or four-wheel drive. The oldest rainforests, the tallest waterfalls and the deepest canyons on Tread Lightly’s Tours are a reality, not a marketing promise. Tours are highly interactive – a few muscles will know they’ve been tested – accentuating ancient trails with local environmental and cultural aspects of the Blue Mountains.

For travellers experiencing jet lag, ‘Rendezvous with the Kangaroos’ is a terrific early morning activity – a continental breakfast in beautiful Megalong Valley, kangaroos within reach. This is a delightful experience for mixed-generation families.

Round out the afternoon with Tread Lightly’s wilderness walk in the “Valley of the Waters” to an unimaginable 450-metre waterfall, a vision etched indelibly in your memory (and hopefully, your camera). A day with Tread Lightly and you are an environmental enthusiast forever.

A day with Tread Lightly and you are an environmental enthusiast forever.

Scenic World Blue Mountains

Address: Corner of Violet Street and Cliff Drive, Katoomba
Phone: 02 4782 2699

International travellers, schoolchildren and backpackers come from all corners of the globe to Scenic World in the Blue Mountains, and this is an experience you won’t want to miss. Don’t miss the short explanatory film as it prepares you for the natural spectacles you are about to see.

In keeping with the World Heritage environment, Scenic World has incorporated a two-hour walk across the Prince Henry Cliff Walk to the Three Sisters as a walk/ride combination ticket. On the trail, you will follow signs to the recently refurbished Giant Stairs.

At the Giant Stairs, the view out across the Jamison Valley is spectacular and the world you descend to is magical. Eight hundred and sixty-one steps — count them if you must, but don’t lose sight of your environment for halfway down these magnificent steps is Honeymoon Bridge, from which you can access one of the Three Sisters rock formations.

At the bottom of the stairs the track winds its way to the bottom of the majestic cliff face and onto the Federal Pass track. The Pass opens to world of temperate rain forest and then to an open and dry eucalypt forest. It is nature at its finest. The Great Round Walk ticket allows you the option of a cableway ride back to your destination. (This is something we recommend unless you are extremely fit.) When hiking in the region, please carry water and energy snacks, raingear and skin protection. And a reminder for all good walkers: carry out what you carry in. For full details on the Great Round Walk, please request maps at the Scenic World ticket office. Upon your return, you will be grateful for Scenic World’s small café for takeaway, or the open-air restaurant overlooking the Jamison Valley in the Blue Mountains.

Blue Mountains Heritage Centre & Shop

Staff and rangers are on hand here to give you an overview of the Blue Mountains National Park and World Heritage Site, including camping areas, walking tracks and the Discovery Program (see entry below for more information). There are interactive displays, videos and an art exhibition, all providing facts and insights into the natural wonders, and you can enjoy it seven days a week from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Discovery Program – Walks, Talks and Tours

Address: End of Govetts Leap Road, Blackheath
Phone: 02 4787 8877

The Discovery Program is a statewide education program aimed at fostering an appreciation for natural and cultural heritage in New South Wales residents and visitors. Walks, talks and tours are led by trained and experienced Discovery Rangers.

The Blue Mountains Region runs four seasonal Discovery Programs that offer half- and full-day walks, Junior Ranger activities, night walks and birdwatching walks every day of school holidays and Saturdays outside of this period. Activities are located in the region’s World Heritage-listed National Parks such as Blue Mountains, Kanangra-Boyd and Wollemi.

Whether you are 5 years old or 95, there are affordable and enjoyable Discovery activities for everyone.

Cultural Tours

Blue Mountains Cultural Tours

If you want to discover the unique and the hard-to-find in this ancient land of Australia, Blue Mountains Cultural Tours, located in Leura, will customise and personalise a tour that will provide images and memories to last a lifetime.

A door to door tour from your accommodation – either in Sydney or within the Blue Mountains – can include horse riding, bushwalking, abseiling, canyoning, or for the less adventuresome, guided walks through historic estates and gardens with a seasoned botanist. Perhaps, chat with local artists in their studios, or lunch with kangaroos in their natural environment? This trip is yours to plan. Ask your Tour Planner about the Blue Mountains Night Tour and other packages.

Blue Mountains Golfing

Leura Golf Club

Address: Sublime Point Road
Phone: 02 4782 5011

It would be hard to find a more dramatic setting for a round of golf. With exceptional views from every hole, it is the 14th that leaves one gasping in awe. We are vividly reminded that even in a sporting environment, we are still surrounded by the spirit of the World Heritage-listed Blue Mountains.

For more than 100 years, golf and the Leura Golf Club – now adjacent to the York Fairmont Resort Blue Mountains, have been an integral part of the recreational and social scene. Members are proud of their important and long heritage in Leura.

And Leura golfers and their guests have been, and continue to be, a hardy bunch — inclement weather does not deter them. Driving along Sublime Point Road in an early morning misting fog, a lone golfer can be sighted, headed for the second tee. Hopefully spectacular vistas, however limited, bring out spectacular golfing!

If you have arrived empty handed, you can hire everything from the first-rate golf shop: motorised carts, clubs or shoes. Note: Call for details about the Leura Golf Open held annually in the Blue Mountains in September.

Kid's Activities in the Blue Mountains

Gordon Falls Reserve & Bloome Park (Picnic Spots)

There are two perfect locations for picnicking with very young children—Bloome Park, on the corner of Craigend Street and The Mall, and the Gordon Falls Reserve at Olympian Parade and Lone Pine Street. Both have flat terrain, playground equipment, picnic tables and space for running, jumping or kicking a ball. On warm sunny days, both locations are often crowded, so plan ahead. Street parking is available at Bloome Park, and at Gordon Falls there is a designated parking area.

Sample Discovery program for kids:

Junior Rangers and Little Lyrebirds

For kids aged 6 to 12, discover Aboriginal culture with stories, craft and a Blue Mountains bushwalk. Bring morning tea and water. Parents need not stay. Fee based.

Leuralla Toy & Railway Museum

A feature of this museum is the extensive collection of toys and childhood paraphernalia. Electric and steam model trains, stations and figures of the 1920s and ’30s are housed in a restored cottage, which looks like an authentic railway station. Rail signs, signals, levers, trolleys and sound effects recall the great days of rail travel.

Nature-base Tours

Abseiling and Canyoning in the Blue Mountains

Abseiling is an old German term, “down rope”, which simply means to throw a rope over the cliff edge and lower yourself down. We often hear the verb, to rappel, in this context.

Today, in the Blue Mountains where the cliff line extends for more than 2000 kilometres, abseiling is a sophisticated and popular sport. Friction harnesses keep you safe, and instructors encourage participants to forget the adrenalin surge and take it slowly. Enjoy the sport and take in the magnificent surroundings. Of course, for thrill junkies, rappelling down at a fast pace is still the way to go.

Canyoning is a summer sport in the Blue Mountains and not for the faint of heart. Wetsuits protect you from the canyons’ chilly waters as you drop through narrow slots and fern-lined walls down to the canyon floor. You can wade and swim through some 700 canyons in the Blue Mountains where you’ll have a chance to see the Blue Gum Forest, temperate rainforest and eucalyptus forest. And for that extra thrill, water-slide into deep pools, which are home to water dragons, crayfish and amazing bird life. After an adventure like this, the term “spectator sport” is stricken from your vocabulary.

Tread Lightly Eco Tours (Nature Base Touring)

Phone: 02 47 881 229

Round out the afternoon with Tread Lightly’s wilderness walk in the “Valley of the Waters” to an unimaginable 450-metre waterfall, a vision etched indelibly in your memory (and hopefully, your camera). A day with Tread Lightly and you are an environmental enthusiast forever.

Misty Mountains 4WD Tours (Nature Base Touring)

Misty Mountains will personalise your tour through the Blue Mountains to fit your time constraints. They offer a wide range of interesting tours including a self-drive one in your own 4WD vehicle. They are eco certified.

High ’n Wild Mountain Adventures

Whether you are a novice or an old hand, you seek adventure and out of the way places. Satisfy the quest deep inside you for an adventure you won’t forget. High n’ Wild is geared up to take you on a magnificent journey of your choice, abseiling, canyoning or mountain biking. Abseil instruction takes a full day, and you’re ready for the real thing on the second day. You begin with a five-metre drop, and by the end of the day you have pulled off that 60-metre abseil. Exciting? We think so.

Other Activities in the Blue Mountains

The Edge, Maxivision Theatre

With little exaggeration, we can say movies at this theatre are colossal. Films are projected onto a six-storey-high screen. Uninterrupted viewing is possible from all seats, and popular films are shown daily.

Climbing Centre Leura

The Climbing Centre has a variety of different climbs for beginners and advanced climbers. The Centre caters to groups, families and individuals. Build your skills before your venture into the great outdoors.

Spas for Health & Wellbeing

Leura is home to an array of exceptional day spas and wellness centers. Several of these spas are located on The Mall and up a flight of stairs where the hustle of street traffic is muted and you step into a calm and relaxing environment. Others are at a nearby resort welcoming day use of their facilities. Each offers some distinctive product or package, but collectively their approach to wellbeing and good health is respectful and purposeful. Stop in and take a look at the extensive products available and make an appointment for some great body work. It is unusual to have such choices in a village this size, so take “the cure”, relax and be pampered.

Body & Being Massage, Healing, Beauty

Address: 173a The Mall
Phone: 02 4784 3498

Established ten years ago, Body & Being brings to Leura a focus upon healing therapies and body maintenance. The spa offers massage, holistic therapies and beauty treatments which include a wide range of massage options to luxurious facials and a sensational Ayurvedic scalp treatment.

Rejuvenation treatments – a deep massage or a blissful body wrap – will refresh and rejuvenate your mind and body. With the stress of modern life, pampering and body maintenance seems a necessity today – after too many hours at a computer, juggling demanding schedules, just putting one foot in front of the other becomes an effort at times. This is when Body & Being comes to your rescue. Note: The Hot Stone massage worked miracles for this editor.

Ask the staff about the one-of-a-kind organic skincare products. And for a great gift to someone special, check out the deluxe “pamper packages”.

Pampering will take on new meaning for you at this Blue Mountains wellness centre.

Lilianfels Blue Mountains Resort & Spa

Address: Lilianfels Avenue, Echo Point
Phone: 02 4780 1200

Though a few kilometres beyond the boundaries of Leura, we’ve included Lilianfels Blue Mountains Resort & Spa because of its matchless service and luxurious setting.

The door to the Spa opens, like a portal, to a distinctive, perhaps forgotten time and place. A respectful quiet, an intentional calm floats up the stairway. Spices and flowers – a fragrance wafts by faintly as one descends the steps.

Bottles and candles, teas and bush flowers, oils, soaps, and bath salts sit upon the shelves, grouped artistically in twos and threes. A tranquil waiting lounge, flickering candlelight, refreshing organic tea and fresh fruit. The staff speaks in subdued voices. In the Spa, a concept of restorative healing comes together – a holistic approach for body and mind Australian Dreaming.

Lilianfels offers many recreational amenities, including tennis courts and indoor and outdoor pools with an infinity edge overlooking the Jamison Valley. For outdoor lovers, Lilianfels arranges mountain bikes, daily guided bushwalks and 4-wheel drive eco tours.

Mandala, Massage & Holistic Living

On the second floor, recently opened Mandala is hushed, a calm refuge from the busy Mall below. Timber floors, high ceilings, flowers and a welcoming cup of tea immediately instill peace and quiet in our frenetic lives. Mandala is Sanskrit for ‘circle’ – the journey for reunifying the self. Three young Blue Mountains women have joined together their creativity, intuition and skill to form a practice of holistic living through healing modalities, massage, yoga and meditation. Workshops and personal consultations are yet another aspect of their practice.

Vyasti – Massage & Beauty

The word vyasti is, in Sanskrit, “pertaining to the individual” and this unusual spa reflects that theme – designing a treatment to your individual needs. Many want a relaxing massage or a full body exfoliant, a real “just pamper me” treatment! Others of us want a therapeutic deep massage to get at aching shoulders and sore muscles brought on by bushwalking or rock climbing.

For visitors to Leura, Vyasti is mobile – specialists come to your accommodation, so you can fit a massage into your schedule of shopping, sightseeing or bushwalking. We think this is the ideal way to end a great day – try the convenient 9 pm appointment.

If, however, a therapeutic clinic is your choice, this small facility (two treatment rooms) is surrounded by bushland – an outlook of beautiful birds and leafy mountain hillsides. And, if your appointment is in the early evening, perhaps the family of unusual and elusive owls will make a special appearance.