Close to Sydney, there are dual carriageways and motorways linking Sydney with the cities to the North, South and West. The Hume Highway heading towards Albury and Melbourne is mostly dual carriageway for its entire length. The Pacific Highway towards Coffs Harbour changes rapidly between new sections of high quality freeway, and older sections of winding, two lane road. Most roads to major centres are reasonable quality, with a single lane in each direction. It isn't uncommon when accessing smaller towns, or national parks to end up on gravel and dirt roads. You usually don't need a 4 wheel drive to use them, just be sure to drive to conditions. See Driving in Australia for more information.
The State speed limit is 100 km/h outside of built-up areas unless otherwise signposted.
Roads are generally signposted to the next major town or city along the route. It pays to have at least a high level map of the state showing major towns along the route. If you are using a GPS, it pays to follow the signs through towns rather than following a short-cut suggested by the GPS. The GPS suggested shortcut along a minor or unpaved road won't save you any time.
Some popular NSW roadtrips:
Some road trips are about getting to where you are going, others are about the towns along the way, and others are just about the drive.
The drive north from Sydney along the coast is all about the towns along the way. The road itself stays just far away from the coast to spoil the view, but each diversion to the coast is worthwhile.
The drive down the south coast from Sydney to Batemans Bay and Eden is the classic coastal drive. The road stays by the coastline for much of length, with numerous towns and villages to stop in. Divert at Batemans Bay for the pretty drive to Braidwood and Canberra.
Drive around the Snowy Mountains in summer. The as far as Cooma is just getting there. The real scenery starts there.
Take a trip along Waterfall Way is windy roads and waterfalls up across the range, passing through the village of Bellingen.
The Most Frequently Asked Travel Questions about New South Wales
Where To Stay & Best Hotels in New South Wales - updated May 2024
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New South Wales Travel Guide from Wikitravel. Many thanks to all Wikitravel contributors. Text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0, images are available under various licenses, see each image for details.
