How to get to Hanging Rock in the Blue Mountains

Easily the coolest rock in the Blue Mountains! If you’re planning a trip to the Blue Mountains from Sydney, I highly recommend checking out Hanging Rock. It is fairly easy to get to, has amazing views over the valleys as well as plenty of photo opportunities! In this blog post I will detail how to get to Hanging Rock in the Blue Mountains.

Step by step guide to get to Hanging Rock in the Blue Mountains.

1) Head to Blackheath in the Blue Mountains

If you want to get to Hanging Rock you will need to go to Blackheath in the Blue Mountains. We drove to the end of Ridgewell road and parked near the barrier. If you don’t have a car you could also take the train to Blackheath station and walk up the road (this will add an extra 2.6km each way).

2) Follow the Burramoko Fire Trail to Baltzer’s Lookout

You then want to follow the Burramoko Fire Trail to Baltzer’s lookout on foot (straight on, all the way) which is just over 4km one way, and took us around 1 hour 15 minutes. The path is nice and wide (surrounded by trees) and mostly flat but there are a lot of loose rocks so I would wear trainers. A lot of people also choose to do this trail on mountain bikes.

3) Once you reach Baltzer’s Lookout head left

Once you get to the end of the fire trail you will reach Baltzer’s Lookout and enjoy a beautiful view over the Blue Mountains. You want to look to the left of this to find the steps heading down to Hanging Rock. The path down is quite steep but it’s only around 100m long (see below photo taken from the bottom of the path).

4) Take in the view!

When you’ve come down the narrow steep path you’ll come to the viewpoint over looking Hanging Rock and the Blue Mountains. This is a great vantage point to take photos and enjoy the view.

5) Mind the gap

If you want to walk to the end of hanging rock please be aware that you will need to leap over an 80cm gap that plummets down over 20m and separates hanging rock from the main cliff. This is obviously very scary and I wouldn’t recommend it if you don’t think you are capable.

6) Best time to go to Hanging Rock?

A lot of blogs recommend going for sunrise, but personally I don’t like it when rocks are too orange/yellowy. We left our car at 6:30am, arriving at Hanging Rock around 7:45am and we stayed until 10am. We went on a Monday and only came across another couple when we were on the track back to the car.

Hanging Rock got its name from people who tie a rope at the top and actually JUMP OFF!! They then hang below before climbing back up the rope! I would never in a million years do that, just standing near the edge was scary enough for me!

Hanging Rock is a great half day trip to the Blue Mountains from Sydney. I would give yourself  around 3-4 hours to enjoy it, so you can easily do another hike or area of the Blue Mountains in the same trip. Find out more about the Top Instagrammable Spots in the Blue Mountains.

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