New South Wales
Australia’s most populous state is also home to its biggest, brashest city, Sydney. An electric, frenetic global hub, the city is famed for its spectacular natural and manmade assets, from rolling surf and deep-blue harbour, to its Opera House, Harbour Bridge and dynamic dining scene.
Beckoning beyond its multicultural urban sprawl is an extraordinary diversity of landscapes, from the dramatic plateaus and rugged wilderness of the Blue Mountains to the sun-drenched beaches of boho-glam Byron Bay.
Air: Sydney International Airport is Australia’s busiest airport, with extensive international and domestic flights. Convenient domestic airports in NSW include Ballina Byron Gateway (handy for Byron Bay), Coffs Harbour and Newcastle.
Bus: From Sydney, long-distance buses run to regional towns in NSW not serviced by rail; see Transport NSW for route maps. Long-distance Greyhound Australia coaches stop at numerous coastal towns between Sydney and Brisbane, and also run south to Canberra and Melbourne.
Train: Services connect Sydney to many towns in southern, central and northern NSW, as well as to Broken Hill in the state’s far west. See NSW TrainLink.
Car: From Sydney, the Pacific Mwy/Hwy (M1/A1) follows the coast north to Brisbane. The Hume Hwy (M31) weaves southwest of Sydney towards Canberra and Melbourne.