Kosciuszko National Park

Fast facts

• This UNESCO Biosphere Reserve – one of the world’s great national parks and the largest in New South Wales – is crowned by Australia’s highest mountain, Mt Kosciuszko.
• About 400 km southwest of Sydney; five hours by road or 50 minutes by air.

Why go there

The high country between the Australian Capital Territory and the Victorian border is a wild and spectacular region and Kosciuszko National Park, covering almost 675,000 hectares, encapsulates the best of it.

Here, in the highest section of Australia’s Great Dividing range in the Snowy Mountains, you can walk through alpine herbfields, explore caves and limestone gorges, enjoy scenic drives and stay at historic huts and homesteads – all within sight of the tallest mountains in Australia.

Mountain villages include Charlotte Pass Village, the highest resort village in Australia; Thredbo Village, with its great restaurants, and Jindabyne.

Kosciuszko National Park ranges from just 213 metres above sea level up to 2228 metres. The alpine section of the park includes a wetland included in the Ramsar list (a group of wetlands around the world internationally recognised for their ecological, botanical, zoological, limnological or hydrological importance). Some of Australia’s best-known and most beautiful rivers, including the Snowy, Murray and Murrumbidgee, flow from this area. Apart from its winter role as a skiing and snowboarding paradise, the Biosphere Reserve supports wildlife such as the grey kangaroo, the red-necked wallaby, swamp wallaby and wombats.

Don’t miss

• Taking an overnight guided trek with Kosciuszko Alpine Guided Walks. The walks use catered overnight campsites, taking the hassle out of organising your own trek.
• Trying an easy walk, like Snow Gums Boardwalk, a 15-minute stroll from Charlotte’s Pass lookout, with great views – or a more challenging alternative like the Summit walk from Charlotte Pass to Snowy River.
• Enjoying the region’s diverse carpet of wildflowers in spring on one of the great Alpine drives. 
• Fishing for trout. The streams and rivers in the park are famous for fish, as is Lake Eucumbene, largest of the Snowy Mountains Scheme reservoirs.
• Skiing or snowboarding, if you visit in winter; white water rafting and abseiling in summer.
• Exploring Yarrangobilly Caves in the northern end of the National Park, inside the deep gorges and rugged limestone bluffs of the Yarrangobilly River Valley.
• Putting your feet up in a mountain lodge in the evening and relaxing with a glass of local cool-climate wine.