Prince Henry Cliff Walk in the Blue Mountains – Epic Views and Waterfalls

Prince Henry Cliff Walk is one of the iconic walks in the Blue Mountains. It meanders for 6.8 km along the cliff tops over Jamison Valley between Scenic World in Katoomba and Gordon Falls in Leura. As a clifftop walk, Prince Henry Cliff Walk has the best of all worlds: sweeping 180-degree vistas from a multitude of lookouts as well as cascades and waterfalls along the creeks that run from the top of the plateau to the densely forested floor of Jamison Valley.

It is a great introductory walk to the Blue Mountains. It is fairly easy, without any long steep sections and it passes some of the most well-known landmarks.

There are so many ways to walk Prince Henry Cliff Walk. You can take it in either direction, starting in Katoomba or in Leura. You can take the entire walk in a single stretch or take shorter sections of it. You may even be already familiar with parts of this walk, since many trails that run between the cliff tops and the valley connect to Prince Henry Cliff Walk.

This walk is also a great option if you prefer to catch a train to the Blue Mountains. The walk starts and finishes within an easy walk from Katoomba and Leura train stations.

Here is your complete guide to Prince Henry Cliff Walk with different options for taking this walk and suggested side trails.

Track at a glance

• Start: Scenic World, Katoomba
• Finish: Gordon Falls Lookout, Leura
• Distance: 6.8 km one way
• Time: 3.5 hrs
• Difficulty level: 3 – Moderate Track

How to get to Scenic World

• By train. A 2-hour ride on a BMT line train from Central will bring you to Katoomba village. From the train station, cross the road and walk to the bus stop on Katoomba Street. Take the 686 bus to Scenic World. Alternatively, you can purchase a ticket ($55) for the Blue Mountains Hop-On-Hop-Off Explorer bus and ride it to Echo Point.
• By car. From Sydney, take Great Western Highway (M4 and A32) towards Katoomba. At Katoomba, turn left off the Great Western Highway at the traffic lights, then follow the signs to Scenic World.

Scenic World to Echo Point

The first section of Prince Henry Cliff Walk travels between the Scenic World and Echo Point in Katoomba. Like all other sections of this walk, you can take it in either direction and either retrace your steps to make it a circuit walk or catch a bus back to where you started.

The Scenic World to Echo Point section is 2.1 kilometres-long one way and takes about 1.5 hrs to complete. You can find more details in my guide to Echo Point to Scenic World walk.

The walk starts just behind the Scenic Skyway terminal at Scenic World. It starts as a boardwalk and soon becomes a bush track that gently descends from the top of the escarpment. Soon you come to a junction with a few options. Follow the sign to Katoomba Falls Lookout. There are two falls that you can see from this lookout: the smaller Witches Leap Falls and the spectacular Katoomba Falls. You won’t mistake the two!

READ MORE: How to explore the Blue Mountains by train

Katoomba Falls is one of the most scenic waterfalls in the Blue Mountains. Their fed by the Kedumba River that plunges about 150 meters from the top of the cliff to the valley below. From the lookout, you can only see the first drop of the falls. If you would like to see the entire waterfall, take the Katoomba Falls Round Walk from Scenic World.

From the lookout, retrace your steps to Prince Henry Cliff Walk and follow the signs to Echo Point. After about 15 minutes to come to a creek crossing and the picturesque Katoomba Cascades. It is a popular spot with locals and tourists alike, so it may be a little busier than the rest of the trail. But this doesn’t mean that you can’t enjoy the cascades. The trail runs right next to the water, so you could even wade in the biting cold water if you wanted to.

When you are ready to continue, follow the trail up a set of stairs to Katoomba Falls Reserve. There isn’t much to do in the reserve, unless you brought a picnic, so continue following the signs to Eco Point along Prince Henry Cliff Walk.

While the first half of the walk was all about cascades and waterfalls, the second half of this stretch of the walk is all about the sweeping views of the surrounding landscape. The trail continues travelling along the top of the cliff past a few lookouts and dramatic rock formations past the Skyway East Station – the second terminal of the Scenic Skyway.  

Now and then, the trail ducks into shaded gullies dominated by the magnificently tall eucalypt trees. These are some of the steeper parts of the trail but they are absolutely magnificent. The gullies are also good spots for catching a glimpse of the tiny little Brown thornbills.

Before long you arrive at the buzzing Echo Point. It is the main hub of the Blue Mountains and the busiest spot in the National Park. Make sure to check out the Three Sisters and the expansive view of Jamison Valley framed by the distant sandstone walls. It is the most iconic lookout in the Blue Mountains. No matter how many times you see this view, it doesn’t get any less spectacular.

Now that you have reached the end of the first section of Prince Henry Cliff Walk, you have a few options.

• You could catch the local 686 bus back to the Scenic World.
• You could grab a coffee or some lunch and walk back by retracing your steps
• You could continue along Prince Henry Cliff Walk to Leura Cascades or all the way to Gordon Falls
• You could walk or catch a 686 bus to the Katoomba train station

Echo Point to Leura Cascades

The second section of Prince Henry Cliff Walk starts just past the information centre and gift shop at Echo Point and takes you to Leura Cascades. This section of the walk is 3 kilometres long and features both panoramic views and atmospheric cascades. You can take this walk in either direction.

From the Echo Point information centre, follow the signs to the Three Sisters walkway for a short walk to the most famous rock formations of the Blue Mountains. As you walk past the monumental towers of the Three Sisters, keep in mind that you could descend down the face of one of the sisters via the Giant Stairway that counts 910 steps and 32 narrow steel staircases! You can read my guide to Giant Stairway and the Dardenelles Pass walk here.

From the Three Sisters, follow the signs towards Leura Cascades. The trail alternates between heading uphill and downhill following the cliff tops past a number of signposted Lookouts. One of the best lookouts is Jamieson Lookout. It is perched on a large rock overhang and offers unobstructed views of the Jamison Valley, the Kings Tableland escarpment and Mount Solitary.

After Banksia lookout the track dips into Banksia streamlet traveling past prehistoric-looking ferns. It then ventures into a damp gully dominated by black wattle, king ferns and blankets of coral fern. This is a very pretty part of the forest.

After walking through the bush for about 40 minutes you come to a set of wooden steps up to Cliff Drive and Solitary Restaurant. It is only a short walk along the road before the walk re-joins Prince Henry Cliff Walk and ducks back into the eucalypt forest.

From here, keep following the signs to Leura Cascades for a little detour. Leura Cascades is a set of atmospheric waterfalls along the Leura Falls creek. As you follow the creek upstream, you will discover different sections of the cascades, one prettier than the next.

This is the perfect place to find a secluded spot on the creek to have a break from the walk and enjoy an atmospheric setting and the sound of rushing water. You may need to walk a little off-trail but there are plenty of opportunities to do so.

Leura Cascades mark the end of the second section of Prince Henry Walk, and again you have a few options to choose from.

• From the top of Leura Cascades you could make your way across Leura Cascades Picnic Area and walk to Leura train station.
• Or you could retrace your steps to the bottom of Leura Cascades and re-join Prince Henry Cliff Walk for the final stretch of the walk to Gordon Falls.

Leura Cascades to Gordon Falls

This section of the walk is currently closed. Check the National Parks website for updates.

If you are continuing this walk from Katoomba, simply retrace your steps to Prince Henry Cliff Walk at the bottom of Leura Falls.

If you are joining the walk at Leura Cascades, read my guide to Leura Cascades to Gordon Falls walk. You can take it either from Leura Cascades or from Gordon Falls.

This stretch of the walk is 3 km long and like the previous two sections, it is packed with both expansive views and waterfalls.

Once you reach the bottom of Leura Cascades, veer left and follow Prince Henry Cliff Walk to Gordon Falls. The first lookout you come across is The Rock. It offers nice views of Jamison Valley, and Mt Solitary, similar to other lookouts on this walk.  

Another couple of minutes down the trail you come to a sign pointing towards Bridal View Lookout. Take the short side trail to this lookout and you will get a superb, unobstructed view of the Bridal Veil Falls. The falls are about 150m away, and looking down on them you can see why they are called Bridal Veil Falls.

The next lookout along the trail is Tarpeian Rock. It’s an unusual rock formation where layers of ironstone are exposed in wave-like patterns.

After Tarpeian Rock, the trail descends into the valley and the eucalypt forest gives way to the rainforest. The next lookout you come across is as the Olympian Rock. It’s a pretty impressive lookout perched on the edge of the cliff and enveloped in expansive views of Jamison Valley.

Further down the trail, there is an even more interesting lookout – Elysian Rock. This lookout is accessed via a metal bridge and offers sweeping views of the Jamison Valley to Mt Solitary.

From Elysian Rock Lookout it’s only a few minutes to the Gordon Falls Lookout where Prince Henry Cliff Walk ends. The lookout is reached by a short trail via a set of wooden and metal stairs. Gordon Falls is not a large waterfall but it is lovely to see it in the context of the surrounding landscape of mammoth sandstone walls.

You have now reached the end of Prince Henry Cliff Walk. As with previous endpoints, you have a few options here.

• If you have some energy left, you could take a short but steep walk to the Pool of Siloam.
• If you prefer a slightly longer walk, follow the trail from the Pool of Siloam to the atmospheric Lyrebird Dell. More details on both walks in my guide to Pool of Siloam and Lyrebird Dell walk
• Or you could return to Leura Train station via the lovely streets of Leura or by retracing your steps along Prince Henry Walk. The walk along the streets is about 15 minutes.

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