Spring has officially sprung. Daylight savings is fast approaching, and the promise of beach days is the perfect excuse to start booking your summer escape. When it comes to summer holiday spots, NSW kinda excels – with gorgeous laid-back beach towns lining the coast, and magical mountain villages transforming from sprawling ski resorts into idyllic hiking meccas. With our focus on sunny spots, it can be easy to forget that NSW has a whole lot to offer in the wintertime too. New data from Big Red Group's latest Seasonal Experiences Index ranked the top 10 Aussie destinations for domestic travellers this winter, and three NSW spots made the list.
RECOMMENDED READ: These are the best weekend getaways in NSW
To determine Aussie travellers’ favourite domestic holiday destinations this winter, Big Red Group analysed booking data from 200,000 experiences, with bookings for NSW experiences up by 1.6 per cent year on year. We hear you, 1.6 per cent isn’t major, but the interest in one particular NSW hotspot jumped 10 places in the rankings. Just west of Sydney, the Blue Mountains region climbed from 19th place in 2024 to 9th place in 2025.
If you ask us, this beautiful region has long been worthy of the top spot on your Aussie winter hit list – with adorable towns home to dreamy bathhouses and cosy boutique stays making the mountains the perfect cold-season setting. In recent years, the Blue Mountains restaurant scene has gone from good to great, with a gorgeous new eatery seeming to open in the area every few months.
RECOMMENDED READ: These are the best day spas in the Blue Mountains
Another likely reason for the Blue Mountains’ boost in the rankings is an increased interest in hiking across NSW – with the mountains home to some of the state’s best hiking trails, including the most popular hike in the country (based on recent data).
RECOMMENDED READ: Chalets at Blackheath is a gorgeous boutique hotel in the Blue Mountains
Closer to the city, Sydney overall ranked as the fifth-most popular spot, and the North Shore suburb of Mosman ranked sixth – with Targona Zoo playing a big part in Mosman’s winter appeal. From experience, we’d highly recommend Wildlife Retreat at Taronga for a magical surreal winter staycation.
These were the top 10 domestic destinations for Aussie travellers this winter:
- Melbourne, VIC
- Ormeau - Oxenford, QLD
- Surfers Paradise, QLD
- Cairns, QLD
- Sydney, NSW
- Mosman, NSW
- Port Douglas, QLD
- Blue Mountains, NSW
- Mornington Peninsula, VIC
- Brisbane, QLD
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