I’d suggest visiting Sydney – lots of things to do as a family such as the Aquarium, Taronga Zoo, Maritime museum – and then you could visit the Blue Mountains – so many beautiful natural attractions.

Manly beach is my favourite beach to visitor Bondi beach is good as well.

Byron Bay and Kiama are my absolute favourite coastal places in NSW. Beautiful beaches, great shops and local food as well as very friendly people.
Jervis Bay is wonderful with Hyams beach having some of the whitest sand in the world.
Coffs Harbour has a huge 20 hectare botanical garden and great take away on the marina.
Gosford has a lovely Japanese gardens.
Port Macquarie has a wonderful Koala hospital that you can visit.
There’s also lots of reptile & animal parks and zoos along the way.

Come to Forster. The best place to stop. Come to spice monkey restaurant. It’s so yummy and the best spot. Forsterite waters are crystal clear, there is an amazing water park. Small country town meets the coast. Love love love.

I love the beaches especially Manly. Perhaps take a ferry from Sydney to Manly and go on a day that the markets are running. The Rocks is also really nice and a must see if you’ve read the novel Playing Beatie Bow

As others have said it is a big state with lots of places to visit. We are from Melbourne and we personally love holidays up the north coast of NSW and mainly Coff’s Harbour and Byron Bay. It’s a nice change from the usual city attractions.

The Hunter Valley is really gorgeous.
One place we loved and visited often was the Featherdale Wildlife Park. http://www.featherdale.com.au/
I don’t remember exactly how far is from Sydney, maybe 40-50 minutes, but worth the visit. It’s a small park where kids (and adults) can feed kangaroos, emus, sheep… It’s really lovely. You will love it, I assure you!!

Forgot to say that our 3 year old loved the Aquarium and Australia Wildlife Park so much that after day 1 we purchased an annual pass – we spent ages in both every day straight after breakfast and again at night. The initial outlay was expensive, but the savings added up quickly! Kids of this age like doing things a few times, need sleep, need food and need kid friendly activities! The Japanese Gardens in Darling Harbour are also a fun place for kids to explore (heaps of climbing and lots of koi ponds – a quiet zone in a busy city).

Its already been said, but NSW is a big place and there is so very much to see and do. Sydney is great – if you like cities and people and feel comfortable on trains etc. We spent the best part is a week in Darling Harbour with a toddler. Ours loved the Aquarium, Madame Tussauds, and the Australian Wildlife Park (all right on top of each other in Darling Harbour). You can easily get to the Opera House and Botanic Gardens, catch ferries and get to the Zoo and so much more. You could do a day or overnight trip to the Blue Mountains too by train.

We like the idea of being able to walk and use public transport. I suppose it depends a lot on what you like and what kinds of things you want to see. Do chat with a travel agent – they have personal insights and heaps of brochures that will be more tailored to your needs than randomly picking tourist brochures up elsewhere.

Enjoy NSW, whatever places you find. Sometimes its better to stay off the main tourist drags and enjoy the quieter things on life – you don’t have to “see it all”. Have a wonderful family holiday!

Barrington tops and hunter valley wine region

It is a big place LOL – Blue Mountains, Mid and South coast are divine, Sydney has so much history, contact information centres or go to local travel agent and grab some free brochures