The best places to go camping near Sydney

Distance from Sydney: 40km north/1hr drive.
Price per night: from $34.85. Check camping fees with the National Parks and Wildlife Service.

Reach it by the public ferry from Palm Beach or by car (fair warning: it's a 2.8km walk from the West Head Road carpark). The Basin campsite is a pleasingly democratic contrast to the resort-wear brigade who long ago colonised the area. During school holidays, this Pittwater paradise becomes the United Nations of the camping world, with bronzed Anglo grandmas, and cricket-playing blokes happily jostling for space. The sites are unmarked and unpowered and it’s for tents only.

Distance from Sydney: 350km/4h 15m drive  
Price per night: from $24.60 per night. Check camping fees with the National Parks and Wildlife Service.

Can you imagine kangaroos hopping around at dusk, set against the backdrop of the ocean? At Diamond Head Campground, you’ll get to see this most days and sometimes these cuties even laze amongst the tents all day long. With 75 campsites to choose from, there are plenty of options for where to park your caravan or pitch your tent for the night. If you don’t mind a stroll, there’s a walk-in area (no cars allowed) with nine-secluded camp-sites, hidden amongst the bushes, with the beach just a few steps away. 

Distance from Sydney: 95km northeast/1hr 45m drive.
Price per night: from $24.60 at Tallow Beach campground and $34.85 at Putty Beach campground. Check camping fees with the National Parks and Wildlife Service.

If this campsite were any closer to the beach, you’d be sleeping on a waterbed. Stake out a spot here and you can keep busy for a week: hike the 8km Bouddi coastal walk to MacMasters Beach (views! rainforest! whales!), walk to Killcare for brunch at the Fat Goose, lie on the beach and perve at the surf lifesavers. The northern bit of beach, closest to the campsite, is heaven on a stick if you prefer calm, clear water.

Distance from Sydney: 30 minutes from Circular Quay.
Price per night: Ranges from $50-$360. Check Cockatoo Island wesbite.

Did you know the largest island in Sydney’s harbour is also home to camping and glamping sites? Get over to Cockatoo Island and choose from four options: the premium waterfront package (which is more glamping than camping, from $300 a night); deluxe waterfront glamping (from $155 a night); a camping package (including a tent, sleeping mats and camping chairs, from $99); or BYO everything (from $50). Each have killer views of the harbour, by the way.

Distance from Sydney: 50km south/40m drive.
Price per night: from $12.30. Check camping fees with the National Parks and Wildlife Service.

The rewards of hiking to this spot deep in the interior of Royal National Park (OK, 6km from Waterfall Station) include an intimate campsite by the creek and likely solitude. Round out the trip with a swim in Karloo Pool (another 2.3km), then finish up at Heathcote Station for a total hiking distance of just over 11km. Cycling option: bike along the fire trail from Waterfall Station, then return the same way (the last 200m are for walkers only).

Distance from Sydney: 200km south/3hr drive.
Price per night: from $70 a night. Check camping fees with the National Parks and Wildlife Service.

Booderee is the Canberra of national parks: generously funded and bureaucratically staffed. There’s even a roundabout at the entrance. But when the sun shines on the beach at Green Patch campsite, it feels more like the Caribbean than our nation’s capital. Booderee, in Jervis Bay Territory, is one of only three mainland national parks run by the federal government (along with Kakadu and Uluru-Kata Tjuta). Campsites offer privacy amid scribbly gums and banksias, and great facilities are made for comfort.

Distance from Sydney: 413km south/6hr drive.
Price per night: from $24.60. Check camping fees with the National Parks and Wildlife Service.

The perfect campground for those headed south towards Eden, Gillards Campground sits pretty between the beach and the bush of Mimosa Rocks National Park. Sites are unpowered so, yes, it’s perfect for that digital detox you’ve been planning. Swap scrolling for strolling along the beach and lazing about on sandy shores. Keep an eye out for potoroos who like to roam around after dark.

Distance from Sydney: 70km northwest/1hr 15m drive.
Price per night: from $24.60. Check camping fees with the National Parks and Wildlife Service.

You’re not full bushing it at Cattai – there are hot showers and flushing toilets – but you’ll still be surrounded by gloriously vibrant greenery and the Hawkesbury River which means fishing, canoeing and kayaking are on the menu. Bring your bike for a ride around the park and your binoculars if you like spotting rare native birds.

Distance from Sydney: 260km northwest/4hrs drive.
Price per night: from $12.30 per night. Check camping fees with the National Parks and Wildlife Service.

The little-known Wollemi National Park is full of dramatic landscapes: big leafy ferns, big deep valleys, historic ruins, rocky pagodas and even a glow worm tunnel in the neighbouring town of Newnes. The campground is perfectly placed to explore it all – there’s no marked spots so just find a quiet corner to plant your pegs and enjoy. Keep your eyes peeled for passing wallabies, purple swamp hens and, if you’re very lucky, long-necked turtles and platypus who might pop up along the dam.

Distance from Sydney: 66km west/1h 15m drive.
Price per night: from $24.60. Check camping fees with the National Parks and Wildlife Service.

Everyone knows a trip to the Blue Mountains promises seclusion and serenity among the gum trees, and with such a wealth of great accommodation options to try in the area, camping means you get up close and personal with it all. Euroka Campground can get pretty crowded during peak times, but it’s popular for a reason. The campground is surrounded by tall gums, big picnic benches and the pièce de résistance two (two!) wild swimming holes, Jellybean Pool and Blue Pool.