New South Wales by Rail. Part 1: Hunter Valley, Coffs Harbour and the Coastal Stops
We think New South Wales train travel gets a little overlooked when it comes to Australian rail holidays.
Perhaps that’s because it doesn’t have a train journey that defines the state in quite the same way as some other parts of Australia. A Ghan rail journey immediately conjures up the Red Centre and the journey between Adelaide and Darwin. Queensland has a collection of long-distance trains that lend themselves naturally to rail holidays, while the Indian Pacific is all about the enormous journey across the country.
New South Wales train travel is different. It has a comprehensive passenger rail network, plenty of places worth visiting and, importantly, relatively short distances between many of them. Sydney also tends to be viewed as either the beginning or end of a bigger Australian journey rather than the starting point for a rail holiday within NSW itself.
The wonderful Great Southern train tour has changed the picture a little. Its summer journey travels through New South Wales and includes experiences along the way, putting places such as Coffs Harbour and the Hunter region firmly into an Australian luxury rail itinerary. But you don’t need to travel aboard one of Australia’s great named trains to discover NSW by rail.
In fact, once we started looking properly at New South Wales train travel, we found ourselves asking a slightly different question: rather than which train should you take?, where could the train take you for a holiday?
The line north from Sydney is a particularly good place to start. Newcastle, the Hunter Valley, Port Macquarie, smaller coastal towns such as Sawtell and Urunga, and eventually Coffs Harbour can all form part of the journey. Some are directly on the railway; others need a short transfer. Put them together carefully and there is the makings of a very good rail holiday.
So for Part 1 of our look at New South Wales rail tours, we’re heading north from Sydney to see how it could work.
Sydney to Newcastle
Newcastle is an obvious first stop for some decent New South Wales train travel, although it can be tempting to treat it simply as the gateway to the Hunter Valley. We’d give it some time of its own.
The train journey from Sydney is straightforward and, once there, you have a proper coastal city rather than just another overnight staging point. Newcastle has a working harbour, beaches, ocean baths and the Bathers Way running along the coast between some of the city’s best-known beaches.
If you’re travelling between May and November, there’s another very good reason to look towards the ocean. Newcastle sits on the route of the annual humpback whale migration, with whales passing remarkably close to the coastline. There are dedicated whale-watching cruises from the harbour, but you don’t necessarily need to get on a boat. The coastal walks and lookouts around Newcastle provide some excellent vantage points, so during whale season it’s worth keeping an eye on the water as you explore. And if wildlife is high on your list, nearby Port Stephens is renowned for its resident bottlenose dolphins, with dolphin-watching cruises operating throughout the year.
There is certainly enough reasons to stay in Newcastle for two nights, particularly if you enjoy being able to leave the hotel in the morning and head straight towards the water rather than organising a day’s sightseeing. And during whale season, that morning walk may turn out to be considerably more interesting than expected.
From a rail-holiday point of view Newcastle also works nicely because there is no complicated arrival. Get off the train, settle in and start exploring. The Hunter Valley using New South Wales train travel requires a little more thought – but this is where LOCO Journeys can help!
Getting to the Hunter Valley by train
We’re often asked Can I get to the Hunter Wine Valley by train? This is where looking at a railway map can be slightly deceptive. Hunter Line trains run inland through places including Maitland, Greta, Branxton and Singleton, but the vineyards most visitors picture when they think of the Hunter Valley are spread around Pokolbin and the surrounding countryside. There isn’t a convenient station in the middle of the cellar doors.
That doesn’t make the Hunter difficult to include. It just means a rail-road transfer needs to be part of the plan. Maitland or Singleton can provide the rail connection, followed by a transfer into Wine Country. Once there, staying for two nights makes much more sense than trying to squeeze the Hunter into a rushed excursion.
There are dozens of cellar doors, vineyard restaurants and small producers scattered across the valley, so we’d also include an organised wine tour rather than relying on taxis between wineries. Apart from being considerably easier, it removes the fairly obvious problem of deciding who isn’t going to drink the wine.
For anyone planning a New South Wales train travel itinerary, it’s a good reminder that the best rail holidays aren’t always entirely by rail. Sometimes a short transfer takes you somewhere well worth the detour – and that’s where LOCO Journeys can help piece it all together.
Back to the coast
Once you’ve finished in the Hunter, the North Coast route provides plenty of choices.
This is the part we found most interesting when looking more closely at the journey. Between the Hunter and Coffs Harbour the train serves places such as Taree, Wauchope, Kempsey, Macksville, Urunga and Sawtell. Some make obvious stops; others are worth considering precisely because they aren’t places that immediately appear on every Australian itinerary. Port Macquarie is probably the best example.
The train doesn’t go into Port Macquarie itself. It stops at Wauchope, roughly 20 kilometres inland, and from there you continue by road. Initially that can make Port Macquarie look less attractive as a rail stop. We think the opposite is true. With the transfer organised properly (courtesy of LOCO Journey’s rail experts), it adds one of the best coastal destinations on the route.
Port Macquarie deserves more than an overnight stop. Set between the Hastings River and the Pacific Ocean, the town has beautiful beaches, a spectacular coastal walk, a lively waterfront and the much-loved Koala Conservation Hospital. You can follow the coast to Tacking Point Lighthouse, take a dolphin-watching cruise on the river or simply make the most of the beaches and cafés. Two nights gives you enough time to enjoy Port Macquarie properly, rather than turning it into another arrive-one-day, leave-the-next stop.
LOCO Tip: Check train arrival and departure times before deciding how many nights to stay. A two-night stop can sometimes provide only one usable sightseeing day. Good news! You may need to extend your stay.
What about the smaller stations?
This is where a New South Wales rail tour can become much more personal. You don’t have to choose the largest town at every stop.
Sawtell is just south of Coffs Harbour and has the sort of relaxed beach-town feel that can be lost when an itinerary concentrates only on major attractions. Its main street has cafés and restaurants, while the beach and headlands are close enough to make this an easy place to slow down for a night.
Urunga is another possibility. The town sits near the meeting point of the Bellinger and Kalang rivers and is particularly known for its board-walk stretching through wetlands towards the coast. Neither needs three days of sightseeing. Sometimes the reason for stopping somewhere is simply that it looks pleasant.
That may not sound terribly sophisticated, but it is one of the advantages of travelling by train. You can include places that would probably never justify a separate flight or a long diversion by car.
Coffs Harbour
Eventually the railway brings you to Coffs Harbour.
Coffs is one of the more substantial stops on the North Coast route and works particularly well as the end of this section of the journey. The station is close to the harbour area, while the wider Coffs Coast stretches well beyond the city itself. There is the Big Banana, obviously. It has been sitting beside the Pacific Highway since the 1960s and avoiding it completely would take some determination!
But Coffs is much more interesting for its combination of coastline and hinterland. Walk out towards Muttonbird Island and you get wide views along the coast. Head a little further afield and places such as Bellingen and Dorrigo take you away from the beaches and into lush hinterland and rainforest country.
This is probably where we’d again suggest including some local touring. The train is excellent at delivering you into Coffs Harbour, but once you start looking at waterfalls, rainforest and the hinterland, having transport arranged makes the day considerably easier.
How long would we allow?
If we were building this as one of our own New South Wales rail tours, we’d be reluctant to rush it. A comfortable version could look something like:
Sydney – Newcastle – Hunter Valley – Port Macquarie – Coffs Harbour – Sydney
Nine or ten days would give the journey room to breathe. Remember, this is why you’re travelling by train. To take the time to just be and let the scenery unfold in front of you.
Newcastle deserves at least one full day. The Hunter Valley really needs two nights if you’re going to include a proper wine tour. Port Macquarie works well as another two-night stop, and we’d allow a similar amount of time around Coffs Harbour before returning to Sydney. You could shorten it, of course. You could also make it longer by swapping one of the larger towns for Sawtell or Urunga.
That’s really the attraction of this particular journey. The railway provides the route, but you can build the holiday around the places that interest you and the team at LOCO would be more than happy to create the perfect itinerary for you – delivery a complete booking service.
A Vintage Way to see New South Wales by train
If you prefer your New South Wales train travel with a little more nostalgia, the Golden West Rail Tour is worth knowing about. Travelling aboard the restored Southern Aurora, this multi-day rail journey heads out from Sydney into regional New South Wales, with destinations including the Hunter Valley, Orange and Bathurst. Sleeping accommodation, onboard dining and off-train touring turn it into a proper rail holiday and further prove our point that NSW has more to offer rail travellers than you might first think.
For something shorter, keep an eye out for The Picnic Train. Its heritage excursions operate on selected dates and routes around New South Wales, using restored carriages and, on some journeys, steam locomotives. Past trips have included Sydney to Newcastle, making it an interesting possibility alongside the coastal journey we’ve outlined above. Timetables and destinations vary, so it won’t always fit your itinerary, but if the dates line up, a day aboard a vintage train could add something rather special to a NSW rail holiday.
And perhaps that’s the surprise with New South Wales train travel. Once you stop looking for one famous train journey and start looking at where the railway can take you, there is an enormous number of destinations, attractions and route options to work with.
We’ve concentrated on the coast for Part 1, but we’ve really only scratched the surface. Next we’ll turn inland and see what sort of rail holiday we can build through another part of New South Wales.
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