Ann L.
Yelp
The Blue Mountains National Park is definitely a must-do day trip if you are visiting Sydney. There are tour companies that will take you here, but the public transit system operates a "Blue Mountain Train" aka the BMT route quite a few times each day. Just get an Opal card literally, anywhere, load some money on it, get on the train, and get off at Katoomba. You will save a ton of money! From the train station, you can get a bus that also takes the Opal cards and get as far as Echo Point and the famous Three Sisters. The only downside to the all public-transit option is that if you want to go farther than Echo Point you will be hiking/bush walking a good distance. We ended up paying for a trolley to get to Leura Cascades, but if I were with a group in which everyone was up for a longer hike, I'd suggest skipping the rather pricey trolley.
Echo Point is absolutely stunning! It is one of the most popular spots in the park and can be viewed from the parking lot, so, yes, it is crowded at the first viewpoint. I'd highly recommend taking at least a short hike down the paved trail to get some more peaceful views of the Three Sisters; most people don't leave the parking lot, so the crowds dissipate quickly! If you are really up for a workout you can descend all or part of the Giant Stairway, which is really a ladder with handrails in many places...and there is two way traffic on it...we only made it as far as Honeymoon Bridge, but the views were worth the climb down and back up.
Leura Cascades is also a very worthy stop; we hiked to the upper and lower cascades from the trolley stop. The hike to the lower cascades isn't terribly well marked, but if you follow what looks like the most obviously used trail past the upper falls, you will eventually see a sign reassuring you that you are on the right path. There are some stairs, but this is not a difficult trail. Just past the lower falls there is an amazing lookout with no sign...we just decided to go a bit past the falls to see what might be there and were rewarded greatly!
The blue color of the mountains if from the eucalyptus trees; those from the US will be reminded of the Great Smoky Mountains to an extent. Absolutely gorgeous!!