5 National Parks You Should Visit in Australia

Many of Australia's great national parks are a quick road trip away from the major cities. The contrast between the big cities and the wilderness of a national park are great and make for a wonderful vacation with different activities.

While there are plenty of national parks to visit, we have chosen just 5 to highlight today, including Blue Mountains National Park, Border Ranges National Park, Great Otway National Park, Kosciuszko National Park and Yanchep National Park. Here is a little about each one.

Blue Mountains National Park

Our first stop is the Blue Mountains National Park, located about an hour and a half drive west of Sydney.

When planning on heading west to the Blue Mountains National Park, you can hire a car in Sydney, at one of Budget's many convenient locations.

The Blue Mountains are the perfect getaway from the big city. Here you can explore them by camping in them, taking the hiking trails, or even celebrating Christmas in July here, where the tradition originated.

Border Ranges National Park

The Border Ranges National Park is about a 2 hour drive south from Brisbane, the capital of Queensland. You can experience the beautiful nature here with walking trails and settle down for a picnic lunch in the park among the scenery.

The park is known for being one of the top spots for seeing the sunrise in Australia. You get an amazing 360-degree view from the Pinnacle lookout. Border Ranges is just one of the many national parks on the Rainforest Way road trip through Queensland.

Our cover pic (above) shows the view from the Border Loop Lookout, where the Main Northern Railway line from Sydney to Brisbane loops around upon itself to get over/through the McPherson Range.

Great Otway National Park

It takes a little less than 3 hours to get from Melbourne to the Great Otway National Park.

You will want to take your time getting here because it is one of the stops about halfway along the Great Ocean Road, an iconic Australian road trip. The park offers a variety of landscapes including sandy beaches, rugged coastlands and the hinterland covered with colourful spring wildflowers, waterfalls and tranquil lakes.

Kosciuszko National Park

This park is located in New South Wales, with the closest car hire location in Canberra. Kosciuszko National Park is known for being covered in snow in the winter, so winter sports like skiing and snow boarding are popular. Mountain biking, camping and cave exploring are popular at other times. The 7 areas of the park are:
1. Thredbo Perisher area
2. Lower Snowy River area
3. Khancohan area
4. Selwyn area
5. Yarrangobilly area
6. Tumut area
7. High Plains area

Yanchep National Park

This park is situated just 42km off the coast, north of Perth. Yanchep National Park is one of the most popular parks in Western Australia.

The cave tours are one of the biggest draws to Yanchep. There have been over 400 caves discovered to date.

Koalas, western grey kangaroos and birds are the most prevalent species in the park. Picnicking and wildlife watching are popular activities are popular in this park. Camping and Aboriginal tours are also popular.

Many of the top National Parks are situated on the way to other sites or road trips, so plan to see more than one.