Parking
Use the asphalt car park at Blue Mountains Heritage Centre, 270 Govetts Leap Road; it has 2 accessible spaces and bus parking. There is also a bitumen car park at the Govetts Leap end, with 2 accessible spaces.
Overview
About Fairfax Heritage walking track
Why go
- Gentle sealed path reaches both escarpment lookouts.
- Hanging swamp, grass trees and early-summer waratahs on one short walk.
Map & elevation
The route
Loading the Blue Mountains map
Full mapElevation960–1,023 m
Plan your hike
Before you go
Parking
Safety
3 active Blue Mountains alerts
- ClosureRoads and tracks closed across Blue Mountains National ParkMany roads, fire trails and walking tracks across Blue Mountains National Park are closed; do not enter closed areas.Official details
- CautionPark-wide solid-fuel fire banA park fire ban is active across Blue Mountains National Park: campfires and solid-fuel barbecues and stoves are prohibited. - Gas and electric cookers are permitted, subject to safety rules.Official details
The highest, rockiest slopes around here are a summer buffet for grizzly bears.
Blue Mountains Tour Guide
Your drive to Fairfax Heritage walking track, narrated.
Parkwolf is a GPS audio tour guide for Blue Mountains National Park. As you drive, it chimes in with what’s ahead: hidden gems, upcoming stops, history, geology, and wildlife, right through your car’s speakers.
See the Blue Mountains audio tourRecorded for this trailhead
Blue Mountains Heritage Centre0:00 / 0:31
“Up ahead is the Blue Mountains Heritage Centre, a useful stop if you're choosing a longer or more remote walk. Staff can help with route advice, and personal locator beacons are available to borrow.”
Plays as you drive up to this trailhead in the Parkwolf Blue Mountains Tour Guide.
More stories near here in the app
- Govetts Leap and Bridal Veil Falls
- How Rain Sends Up a Scent
- Walls Cave and the Creek Gorge
- Baltzer Lookout and Hanging Rock
- 188 audio storiesacross Blue Mountains’s roads, triggered by GPS as you drive
- Wildlife heatmapsfor Grey Kangaroo, Wombat, Red-necked Wallaby, and 13 more
- Works offlinemaps, 110 trails, 84 places, and audio download before you lose signal
- CarPlay readysimple controls built for the drive
“Fantastic app with many points of information… It’s great to just turn on while you’re driving and it gives you an audio tour of the national Park. We love it!!!!”
Trail guide
Hiking Fairfax Heritage walking track
An easy route to two big viewsFairfax Heritage walking track is a gentle 1.
Fairfax Heritage walking track is a gentle 1.8 km one-way walk from Blue Mountains Heritage Centre to George Phillips and Govetts Leap lookouts. The usual return is 3.6 km (2.24 miles) on the same path; allow about 1 to 1.5 hours with time at both lookouts. It’s an easy way to reach the Grose Valley escarpment without taking on a steep descent track.
A sealed path through plateau forestThe path is about 1 m wide, bitumen sealed and flat with gentle slopes.
The path is about 1 m wide, bitumen sealed and flat with gentle slopes. It’s suitable for wheelchairs, prams and people with reduced mobility. The track skirts the edge of a hanging swamp, then opens into peppermint and scribbly gum forest dotted with grass trees. Red waratahs and other wildflowers may flower in early summer.
Take your time at the lookoutsNear the escarpment, George Phillips and Govetts Leap lookouts open onto sandstone cliffs,…
Near the escarpment, George Phillips and Govetts Leap lookouts open onto sandstone cliffs, Grose Valley, Govetts Gorge and Jungle Falls. Both have picnic shelters. At Govetts Leap, include part of the cliff wall below the valley rim in a photo to show the scale of the drop.
Choose your returnFor the full walk, retrace the sealed path to Blue Mountains Heritage Centre.
For the full walk, retrace the sealed path to Blue Mountains Heritage Centre. There’s also an unsealed 500 m track beside Govetts Leap Road that returns to the centre, making a shorter loop of about 2.3 km from the centre. If you need a sealed surface, return the same way. The Heritage Centre is the natural start for the full out-and-back; there’s also a car park at Govetts Leap if you prefer to begin at the other end.
Wildlife
Wildlife in Blue Mountains
58 sightingsGrey KangarooMost seen around 6 AMSighting map
43 sightingsWombatMost seen around 6 PMSighting map
18 sightingsRed-necked WallabyMost seen around 6 PMSighting map
53 sightingsSwamp WallabyMost seen around 7 AMSighting map
23 sightingsBrushtail PossumMost seen around 7 PMSighting map
30 sightingsRing-tailed PossumMost seen around 7 PMSighting mapSighting maps show where each species has been reported across Blue Mountains. Wildlife moves, so no sighting is guaranteed.
