New South Wales family holidays and breaks

Known as the ‘Premier State’, New South Wales has everything you need for wonderful family holidays. Outside of its capital, Sydney, pristine beaches and funky seaside towns line its shore from the South Coast to the North Coast, while the outback, rich in Australian colonial history, offers you the chance to really discover the beauty of Australia’s unique bush — her ghostly gums and rambling rivers, the red soil roads and tiny wildflowers. 

Best of all, especially for outdoorsy families, is the fact that NSW has perhaps the best weather in all Australia – summers are hot but not often unbearable, as they are in Queensland, while winters are milder than in frosty Victoria and freezing Tasmania. Australians, unsurprisingly, love their outdoor sports, with skiing and snowboarding particularly popular here, at excellent resorts and in wild and wonderful landscapes just waiting to be discovered.

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Today

16°C
61°F

Flying Time	21 hours
Timezone	GMT +10
Local Currency	Australian Dollar

What to do

Visit sparkling Sydney, the in-your-face Emerald City famous for its beaches but boasting a surprising number of cultural delights.

Embrace your inner hippy in Byron Bay on the North Coast, soaking up the rays and the magical vibes of this mystical, hedonistic resort town located on the easternmost point of Australia and, according to Aboriginal legend, on energy lines that heighten the spiritual lessons of all who end up here. The Byron Shire is rainbow country, from those that appear almost daily across the green hills to the rainbow-coloured tribes of ferals and fantastical self-made shamans who play djembe on the beach and twirl fire-sticks outside the beachfront pub. Like most places in Australia once heralded as ‘alternative’, Byron has gone more mainstream as the lines between hippy and yuppie have blurred, and it’s now packed with fashionable restaurants and cafés, and opulent resorts and boutiques, all reaping the dollar in Buddha tourism. But my God, is it gorgeous! No wonder people here fall under a kind of spell. Byron, Mullumbimby, The Channon and Bangalow hold rotating Sunday markets that are like mini carnivals, with music and great food, anything New Age under the sun, and great people-watching.

Feed wild kangaroos by hand at Pebbly Beach on the South Coast – a highlight of all family holidays. Backed by forest and set 20km from the nearest town of Batemans Bay, this quiet beach is famous for the eastern grey kangaroos who emerge from the banksias to be fed by whoever’s around. It’s quite something to see them ambling gracefully along the beach, the muted colours of their fur like the hues of the bush they inhabit.

All along the South Coast, beaches are backed by national parks and camping and caravanning facilities. This is much less commercial than the North – a place to let it all hang out. Dolphins, seals and migrating whales abound. Spectacular Jervis Bay, 3hrs south of Sydney, claims to have the whitest sand on Earth.

Ski, snowboard and toboggan the slopes in the Snowy Mountains inland of the South Coast. Thredbo and Perisher Blue are the most popular resorts, catering to families and novice skiers. Mount Kosciuszko National Park is a wilderness haven, with, at the summit, some 20 species of plants found nowhere else in the world. In the off season, when the snow is long gone, Lake Jindabyne is beautiful for swimming, and you can take scenic horse-riding trails that will make you feel like you’re in The Man From Snowy River. Explore the Yarangobilly Caves, with its thermal wading pool for children. When the slopes are dry, you can expect good deals on family-holiday packages in this area.

Enter the vastness of time and space in Mungo National Park nearly 1000km west of Sydney (in fact, it’s closer to Adelaide in South Australia). Carbon-dating has placed the remains of human inhabitation found here at 40,000 years old – a time of giant kangaroos and buffalo-sized wombats. Stones sharpened into tools can still be seen lying in the red soil, and rock and sand formations known as the Wall of China, stretching for more than 30km, shift in colour from khaki in the early morning through yellows and oranges, to deep red at sunset. If you are not planning to go to central Australia but want a taste of infinity, this is your place.

Where to stay

As in much of Australia, there’s a huge choice of family-friendly hotels to suit family holidays on all budgets in New South Wales, from the most sybaritic five-star hotel resorts, outback retreats and houseboats, to cottages, treehouses and budget motels, where a family room might set you back as little as £40. See our feature on Green Places to Stay with Kids: Australasia and the Pacific for some suggestions.

Hiring a motorhome is a classic way to explore this country’s vast spaces, while in towns or resorts, apartments can represent the best value for money – and flexibility – for family holidays. Or you might be lucky and find a suitable homeswap.

For accommodation in the NSW capital, see our Sydney guide.

When

Whenever! Summer – December to February – is an obvious choice for family holidays, as New South Wales is a beach-lovers’ paradise. But March and April are still lovely, and the further north you go the warmer it stays. Temperatures in late spring and early autumn can remain in the mid-20°Cs.

Winter is the time for skiing in the Snowy Mountains, but their gorgeous lakes and parks make a visit in the other months worthwhile too.

If you are around in Easter, Byron Bay holds the fantastic East Coast Blues & Roots Music Festival, with on-site camping and a KidzKlub away from the hustle of the festival. From 6pm till midnight its supervised crèche for 5- to 12-year-olds has books, movies and board games so big people can have a boogie and pretend they are carefree, just for a while.

How

Most people fly to Sydney Airport, which as New South Wales' only and the country’s largest international airport is a competitively priced route offered by a number of major airlines. However, the Gold Coast Airport in neighboring Queensland does have some international flights and can be handier for those heading for Byron Bay. There are a number of domestic airports for those travelling within Australia.

For fares, see our flights page.
 
You’ll need a car (or motorhome) for getting around – see our family holidays car-hire page.

Eat

The fertile volcanic soils of New South Wales produce macadamia nuts, bananas, coffee and gorgeous wines. About 2hrs from Sydney, the Hunter Valley Wine Region has more than 120 vineyards and lots of accommodation options.

Beef and lamb are reared here, but it’s the oysters from the South Coast that are the star turn, and fish is good and fresh all along the coast. In Sydney and the resort towns, eating out with kids is no problem, with the usual cosmopolitan choice that makes for stress-free family holidays.

Cost

It’s expensive to get to Australia (think about £3,000 for a family of four flying to Sydney), but once you’re there, the low cost of much accommodation combined with the fact that eating out is relatively inexpensive means family holidays in New South Wales don’t need to break the bank.

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