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Royal National Park, NSW
Royal National Park
The world's second-oldest national park, an hour from Sydney
About this place
Last updated: 15/10/2026
The Royal is the city's own wilderness: about 15,000 hectares of sandstone coast, rainforest gullies and heath starting 30km south of the CBD, and the second-oldest national park in the world after Yellowstone.
Most visitors come for the coast - the 26km Coast Track, Figure Eight Pools, Wattamolla's lagoon and waterfall, and Garie Beach at the end of the road - but the quietest part is inland, where the Hacking River runs past the Audley boatshed and Lady Carrington Drive is closed to cars.
You can reach the park by train, and the northern trailhead at Bundeena by ferry from Cronulla, which is what makes it a genuine car-free day out of the city.
The one thing to settle before you go is the sea: this coast is unpatrolled, the rock shelves are lethal at the wrong tide, and parts of the park close at short notice for fire and safety reasons.
Highlights
The 26km Coast Track, Bundeena to Otford
Bundeena by ferry from Cronulla
Wattamolla lagoon and falls, and Garie Beach
Figure Eight Pools - low tide and a calm sea only
Attractions
What to see, how long to spend, and roughly what it costs.
The Coast Track
2 days (10-12 hours of walking)Free to walk; the North Era campsite booking is paid - check the current rate with NSW National Parks.
The 26km walk from Bundeena to Otford, and the reason the park is on most itineraries: cliff tops, the Palm Jungle, Wedding Cake Rock, and beaches at Marley, Little Marley, North Era and Garie.
Usually done as an overnighter at North Era, which has to be booked, and there is no drinking water anywhere on the route.
Bundeena and the Cronulla ferry
Half a day with the crossingTrain fare plus the ferry fare; the ferry is a private service and does not take Opal, so check the fare at the wharf.
The village at the northern trailhead, reached by a 30-minute passenger ferry across Port Hacking from Cronulla. The crossing is the prettiest way into the park and most visitors never consider it: you leave a suburban wharf and arrive at a beach village with the Coast Track starting at the end of the street.
Wedding Cake Rock
2-3 hours return from BundeenaFree to walk; street parking in Bundeena is limited at weekends.
The white, undercut sandstone ledge about an hour's walk south of Bundeena on the Coast Track. The rock itself is unstable and has been fenced off since 2015 - you see it and photograph it from behind the fence, and going over the fence draws a fine and risks your life.
The walk out along the cliff tops, with whale-watching views, is the point.
Figure Eight Pools
3-4 hours return from Garawarra FarmFree to visit; the park entry fee applies if you drive in.
The figure-of-eight rockpool on the rock shelf below Burning Palms, and the most dangerous place in the park: it is only safe at low tide with a calm, flat sea, waves sweep the whole shelf, and people have been swept off it and killed.
There is no road access - you park at Garawarra Farm and walk about 3km each way - no lifeguard, no water and no phone coverage you can rely on.
Wattamolla and Garie Beach
Half a day$12 per vehicle per day park entry
The two coast car parks. Wattamolla has a lagoon behind the beach with a waterfall dropping into it and a large picnic area; Garie is a long surf beach at the end of the park road with a picnic area and a rock pool at the northern end.
Neither beach is patrolled, and there are strong rips, so treat the water with respect.
Audley and the Hacking River
2-4 hours$12 vehicle entry; boat hire is extra
The historic heart of the park on the Hacking River: the old boatshed hires rowboats and kayaks, Lady Carrington Drive runs upstream for 10km as a walking and cycling track closed to cars, and the visitor centre at Audley is where you pay fees and ask what is open.
How to get there
By train, and which station you want. The T4 gets you to the northern edge of the park. Loftus is the station for Audley, and from there the entrance is a short bus or taxi ride - the bus service is thin, especially at weekends, so check the trip planner rather than assuming a connection.
For the southern end of the Coast Track the station is Otford, out past Waterfall, which the planner will route for you; it is a few minutes on foot from the platform to the trailhead.
Cronulla, also on the T4, is the station for the ferry to Bundeena. Those three stations between them cover Audley, the whole Coast Track and the ferry, which is why a car is optional in this park.
The Bundeena ferry from Cronulla is the prettiest way in. From Cronulla station it is a short walk to the wharf, then a 30-minute passenger crossing across Port Hacking to Bundeena — mangroves, a sand spit, then the low cliffs of the park's northern boundary.
You land in a village where the Coast Track starts about ten minutes' walk away at the end of the street. The ferry takes foot passengers only, is a private service, does not take Opal, and its last crossing is in the late afternoon or early evening depending on the season, so check the timetable on the day and do not leave the last boat to chance.
Most visitors drive to Wattamolla and never consider this route, which is a shame: the crossing is half the day.
By car, the entry fee and the park road. There are two approaches - Audley from the Princes Highway at Loftus, and the coast road through the park from the highway near Otford.
Park entry is $12 per vehicle per day, paid at the Audley visitor centre, at vehicle entry stations, at pay machines or through the Park'nPay app.
Seasonal ticket booths at Wattamolla and Garie take cash and card, and correct change helps in summer. Arriving by train means you never pass a fee station.
Inside the park, one road links Audley to Wattamolla and on to Garie: it is narrow, winding and partly unsealed, it has no fuel, no shops and no mobile coverage in places, and the park gates are locked at night, with the park open 7am to 8.30pm in normal conditions.
The Coast Track, and the booking it needs. Twenty-six kilometres from Bundeena to Otford, normally walked in two days with a night at North Era campground, which must be booked in advance with NSW National Parks and sells out on summer weekends.
There is no drinking water anywhere on the track, the climbs are real, the cliff tops have no shade, and parts of the route are loose rock and soft sand.
A fit walker covers it in 10 to 12 hours of walking. The day-walk versions - Bundeena to Wedding Cake Rock, or Bundeena to Marley Beach - are one to two hours each way and need no booking at all.
At the Otford end there is a station and a pub; at the Bundeena end, shops and cafes.
Figure Eight Pools: read this, then check it again on the day. There is no road access - you park at Garawarra Farm and walk about 3km each way, with no water, no toilets and no shade.
The pools are only safe at low tide and when the sea is calm and flat. Waves sweep the entire rock shelf, there is no lifeguard, and people have been swept off this shelf and killed.
NSW National Parks' own advice is to check the tide and the wave forecast before you leave, never to turn your back on the ocean, and to accept that on many days it is simply not safe to visit.
Access arrangements here have also changed more than once, with a booked timeslot required in recent years, so check the Figure Eight Pools page and the park's local alerts before you commit to the walk instead of trusting a rule quoted anywhere else.
What closes, and why you check the alerts page. This park closes things often: total fire bans shut walking tracks, storms take out sections of the Coast Track, and pest-control programs close areas from sunset to sunrise.
A current example running into December 2026 is the deer-control closure of Garawarra Farm, the Wattamolla and Garie picnic areas, the Audley precinct and the coast between Garie Beach and Figure Eight Pools, between sunset and sunrise from Monday to Thursday.
Penalties apply, and the closures are signposted and dated rather than permanent. Read the Royal National Park local alerts page the day before you go, not the week before.
And what the park does not have. No public transport runs inside it, so the train stations on the edge are your start and end points rather than a way to move around.
There is one road through the middle - Audley to Wattamolla to Garie - and nothing along the coast except the Coast Track itself, so a car day that tries to see both ends of the park spends a lot of it driving.
If you are on foot, pick one end and commit: Bundeena in by ferry for the coast, or Audley from Loftus for the river, the boatshed and Lady Carrington Drive.
Best time to visit
Summer (December to February): The beaches are the draw - Wattamolla's lagoon and Garie are at their best, and the water is warm enough to stay in.
Both car parks fill by mid-morning in the school holidays, so arrive before 9am or come on a weekday, and remember that neither beach is patrolled and the rips are real.
This is also the worst season for the Coast Track: no water, no shade and 30-degree heat on the cliff tops, and total fire bans can close the walking tracks altogether.
Autumn (March to May): The best all-round window. Daytime temperatures of 15 to 25 degrees, cooler nights for camping at North Era, the sea still warm into April, and the crowds gone after Easter.
The whales are still moving north into May and the cliff tops between Bundeena and Garie are one of the best land-based places in Sydney to see them.
Winter (June to August): Whale season peaks in June and July, which makes this the connoisseur's time to walk the cliffs even if you never get in the water.
It is also the quietest season and the cheapest, with short daylight hours - start early, because the gates are locked at 8.30pm and there is no lighting anywhere - and cold, windy nights if you camp at North Era.
Spring (September to November): Wildflowers along the heath, humpbacks heading back south, and the classic window for the Coast Track. The trade-off is unsettled weather: strong winds, rain fronts, and snakes and ticks waking up along the tracks.
Carry a layer and check the forecast the morning you set out.
What closes, and what to check before you go. The park opens at 7am and the gates are locked at 8.30pm, and both can change with fire danger.
Total fire bans close bushwalking tracks, including the walk to the Wedding Cake Rock lookout. Storm damage regularly closes sections of the Coast Track. Pest-control programs close areas from sunset to sunrise, and the closure running into December 2026 covers Garawarra Farm, the Wattamolla and Garie picnic areas and the coast between Garie Beach and Figure Eight Pools between sunset and sunrise from Monday to Thursday.
Every one of these is listed on the park's local alerts page - read it the day before, not the week before.
Top things to do
1. Walk the Coast Track from Bundeena to Otford
Twenty-six kilometres of cliff tops, the Palm Jungle, the white sandstone of Wedding Cake Rock and half a dozen beaches, usually split with a night at North Era campground that you book well ahead.
No water on the route, so carry all of it, and start early enough that the last climb out of Garie is not in the dark.
2. Take the ferry from Cronulla to Bundeena
Thirty minutes across Port Hacking on a small passenger ferry, past mangroves and a sand spit to a village where the Coast Track begins at the end of the street.
It is the prettiest way into the park, it needs no booking, it takes no Opal card, and almost no visitor thinks of it.
3. Walk out to the Wedding Cake Rock lookout
About an hour south of Bundeena along the cliff tops, over a rough and often steep track. The rock itself is unstable and fenced off - view and photograph it from behind the fence, because going over the fence draws a fine and the ledge is expected to collapse. The walk and the clifftop views are the real reward.
4. See Figure Eight Pools, but only on the right day
A rock shelf of pools shaped like a figure eight, reached by a 3km walk each way from Garawarra Farm. It is only safe at low tide with a calm, flat sea, waves sweep the shelf, there is no lifeguard, and people have died here.
Check the tide and the wave forecast, check the park's alerts, and be willing to walk away.
5. Swim and picnic at Wattamolla
A lagoon behind the beach with a waterfall dropping into it, a big picnic area, and the easiest coast day in the park. The car park fills early in summer and the beach is unpatrolled, so swim with the rips in mind and keep children in the shallow water at the lagoon end.
6. Spend the afternoon at Garie Beach
The long surf beach at the end of the park road, with a picnic area and a rock pool at the northern end, surfers on the banks and no development at all.
It is the quietest of the coast car parks outside summer, and the climb back out of the valley is the price of that.
7. Hire a rowboat at the Audley boatshed
The historic heart of the park, where the Hacking River is slow and flat enough to row or paddle, the boat shed has been hiring boats on the same bank for well over a century, and Lady Carrington Drive runs upstream for 10km as a walking and cycling track closed to cars.
Pro tips
Check the tide, the swell forecast and the alerts page before you drive down
Two of the park's best-known sights are ruled by conditions rather than opening hours: Figure Eight Pools is only safe at low tide on a calm day, and the Wedding Cake Rock track closes during total fire bans.
The park also closes areas for pest control and storm damage. Five minutes on the tide chart and the NSW National Parks alerts page decides whether the day works.
Do the coast car-free: train, ferry, walk
The T4 to Cronulla, the ferry to Bundeena, and the Coast Track starting ten minutes from the wharf gets you the best day in the park without a car at all.
A car is only really needed for Wattamolla and Garie, and even then the $12 vehicle fee and the full car parks in summer are an argument for the train.
The park costs about $12 a car, and nothing on foot
Entry is $12 per vehicle per day, payable at the Audley visitor centre, at entry stations, at pay machines or through the Park'nPay app, with seasonal booths at Wattamolla and Garie.
Walk in from a station or arrive by ferry and you pass no fee station at all, which makes the car-free version the cheap one.
Carry twice the water you think you need, and assume your phone will not work
There is no drinking water anywhere on the Coast Track and none at Figure Eight Pools, the cliff tops have no shade, and mobile coverage drops out in the gullies and along parts of the coast.
Tell someone where you are going and when you expect to be back before you leave the trailhead.
Plan your trip
How many days do I need in Royal National Park?
1 day for Audley, Wattamolla and Garie by car; 2 days to walk the Coast Track as an overnighter
When is the best time to visit Royal National Park?
September to November and March to May for walking; weekdays in summer for the beaches and the car parks
How do I get to Royal National Park from Sydney?
T4 train to Loftus for the Audley end of the park, or a train from Central to Otford for the southern end of the Coast Track. T4 to Cronulla, then the Bundeena ferry across Port Hacking. By car, Audley is off the Princes Highway at Loftus, and Wattamolla and Garie are reached on the park road from the same highway near Otford. Park entry is $12 per vehicle per day.
Getting there
T4 train to Loftus for the Audley end of the park, or a train from Central to Otford for the southern end of the Coast Track. T4 to Cronulla, then the Bundeena ferry across Port Hacking. By car, Audley is off the Princes Highway at Loftus, and Wattamolla and Garie are reached on the park road from the same highway near Otford. Park entry is $12 per vehicle per day.
Best time to visit
September to November and March to May for walking; weekdays in summer for the beaches and the car parks
Suggested stay
1 day for Audley, Wattamolla and Garie by car; 2 days to walk the Coast Track as an overnighter
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