Travel tours can save you time planning and booking your trip and let you experience hidden gems you might not have otherwise found out about. Additionally, if you’re on a group tour, they also let you meet like-minded folks, some of whom you might form long-lasting friendships with.
From budget to luxe, and newbies to NSW or residents looking to explore more of your backyard, the state has plenty of tours to choose from. Ahead, we round up a few favourite NSW tours, including group jaunts and individual, totally tailored itineraries. All allow you to soak up NSW’s stunning surroundings and friendly local operators.
Bill Peach Journeys
Bill Peach Journeys offers luxury tours across Australia and New Zealand. One highlight is its Springtime in the NSW Riverina Luxury Tour, which lets you explore the area on an escorted, small-group tour. Ready your appetite because you’ll dine at lauded restaurants and embark on sumptuous food trails, tasting local delights in characterful towns like Griffith and Gundagai. The area really comes alive in spring when the countryside lights up with blooms. All meals, accommodation, and even flights from Sydney to Wagga Wagga are included.
Addicted to Australia
Addicted to Australia offers tours all across the country, working with luxury accommodation and experience providers to tailor the travel. All you need to do is choose a destination like Jervis Bay and the Shoalhaven, just a three-hour drive south of Sydney. Then prepare to wake up to the soothing sounds of the ocean at the likes of Bangalay Luxury Villas at Shoalhaven Heads, or immersed in native bushland at Paperbark Camp in nearby Huskisson, before a day out visiting the region’s top wineries, spotting dolphins and whales in winter, and dining at the region’s finest restaurants.
Crooked Compass
Crooked Compass lets you book adventures as they are or modify them to ensure the journey is completely yours. One experience of note is a long lunch in Orange. Take off from Sydney on a 45-minute flight to the NSW regional town. There, you’ll experience a day of curated gourmet indulgences. Begin your day with a moving introduction to Wiradjuri Country and local bush tucker hosted by Indigenous guide Gerald Power before picking your own cherries at a farm. Enjoy a gin tasting before unwinding between the vines over lunch at Printhie Wines. Finish your day with a tasting of sparkling wines paired with fresh oysters before heading back to the airport for your return flight.
The Tailor
The Tailor was founded in 1998 with a vision of creating personalised travel experiences that’ll become cherished, life-long memories. One highlight? NSW Surfing Life journey that’ll see you get a taste of surfing with a private lesson at Sydney’s Bondi before heading to the North Coast to hit the similarly iconic waves of Byron Bay with local surfing legend Rusty Miller. Together with his daughter Taylor, he’ll personalise your surf coaching. The tour runs for eight days and seven nights and will see you staying in luxury accommodation.
Southbound Escapes
Southbound Escapes is exclusive to NSW South Coast, which means it knows the area well. It can curate itineraries based on your interests and requirements or lets you book accommodation and experiences online using its reservation system. Select where to stay from a range of options, then mix and match activities spanning from action-packed boat tours to Montague Island off Narooma, to a romantic alfresco picnic and a transformative walk on Country with a local Indigenous guide. Every experience has been personally vetted by the company.
Australian Luxury Escapes
Australian Luxury Escapes offers small group or private tours in NSW, Sydney, Blue Mountains and Hunter Valley, and Australia’s Outback. The Blue Mountains tour will see you stopping at Featherdale Sydney Wildlife Park on your way to the UNESCO World Heritage-listed wilderness area that is Blue Mountains National Park. There you can embark on a two-hour guided hike, enjoy views of the blue-tinged wilderness from lookout spots, and spot kangaroos and other local critters along the way. Then, simply relax and enjoy the scenery as your guide drives you back to Sydney.
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