Guidebooks are structured to tell you what to see. That structure has no natural place for what has been shut for two years, so the information tends to go missing. In a landscape of sandstone cliffs served by one highway, it is often the most important thing on the page. Right now there are two headline attractions closed, three roads broken, and a scattering of tracks with no reopening date at all.
Everything below carries a date and a source. Everything below will also change, which is why the last section tells you where to check rather than asking you to trust this page indefinitely.
The two that will reshape your trip
Jenolan Caves: closed since April 2024
You cannot visit Jenolan Caves. Not on a tour, not on a day trip from Sydney, not by walking in.
The caves have been shut to the public since April 2024. NSW National Parks has the entire Jenolan Karst Conservation Reserve, the visitor precinct and the walking tracks along with it, closed until at least 31 December 2026. The operator's own site, updated in July 2026, states a target of reopening in early 2027.
The cause is the road, not the caves. The Two Mile section of Jenolan Caves Road was severely damaged by successive weather events between 2021 and 2024 and closed to visitors in April 2024. Repairs to that section run to roughly $57 million and are targeted for completion during 2026, but finishing the road does not open the caves, and the operator's early-2027 date reflects that. The Five Mile section remains closed and, according to reporting in early August 2026, may require a fix north of $150 million, with a $44 million gondola floated as an alternative to rebuilding the road at all.
There is also no back door. The Six Foot Track, which historically ran 42 km from Katoomba to Jenolan, is closed at the reserve boundary.
If you see a 2026 "Jenolan Caves tour" for sale, it is one of three things: a scenic drive that stops outside a locked gate, a forward booking for 2027, or a listing nobody has updated. None of them get you into a cave.
Instead: the Grand Canyon Track at Blackheath is the best walk currently open and takes about the same slice of a day. If it's specifically caves you wanted, there is no substitute in the region.
Victoria Pass: the highway is broken
The Great Western Highway has been closed at Victoria Pass, between Mount Victoria and Little Hartley, since 9 March 2026, after structural failure of the historic Mitchells Causeway. Traffic detours via Darling Causeway and Chifley Road, adding around 25 minutes in normal conditions and reportedly up to an hour at peak. Transport for NSW, in an update dated 26 June 2026, targets reopening in the second quarter of 2027.
This does not affect getting to Katoomba. Katoomba, Leura, Wentworth Falls and Blackheath are all east of the closure and are reached normally. It affects anything that continues west: Lithgow, Oberon, Hartley, and the road toward Jenolan.
Worth noting for anyone weighing car against train: the railway is unaffected. The Blue Mountains Line runs to Lithgow as normal while the road beside it does not.
The one nobody has caught up with yet
Mount Wilson: no visitor access at all
Mount Wilson Road has been closed to general and tourist traffic since 3 April 2026, following land instability after severe weather. Access is restricted to residents, emergency services, essential workers and urgent compassionate cases, under a council permit. Reconstruction is not expected to be complete until about July 2027.
This one deserves emphasis because Mount Wilson's autumn gardens are among the most-recommended experiences in the entire region, and virtually every listing you'll find still describes their opening hours as if you could turn up. Breenhold, Merry Garth, Windyridge, Bebeah and Nooroo are all behind the closure, along with the village itself. Nothing about them is bookable this autumn, and on the current timeline, not next autumn either.
Instead: Blackheath's Rhododendron Festival in November and the Leura Gardens Festival in early October are both open, both unaffected, and both reachable by train.
Tracks and roads inside the park
| What | Status | Reopens |
|---|---|---|
| National Pass, Wentworth Falls west of the middle crossing | Closed: major landslide | No date announced |
| Wentworth Pass and Slack Stairs | Closed: boardwalk repairs | Not stated |
| Valley of the Waters below Silvia Falls | Closed: rockfall | Not stated |
| Mount Hay Road and with it Lockleys Pylon, Butterbox Canyon, Mount Hay summit | Closed to all vehicle and pedestrian access: fire trail upgrades | 17 December 2026 |
| Fern Bower circuit, Leura | Closed: track repairs | 30 October 2026 |
| Glenraphael Drive, Narrow Neck | Closed to vehicles: road subsidence. Walkers and cyclists still permitted | Not stated |
| Lindeman Pass (part) and Roberts Pass | Closed: landslide and rockfall | Not stated |
| Honeymoon Bridge, near Echo Point | Closed: rockfall hazard | Not stated |
| Govetts descent / parts of Rodriguez Pass | Closed: rockfall. Valley access from Blackheath via the Horse Track only | Not stated |
| Pulpit Rock Reserve and lookouts | Closed: council-managed land | Not stated |
| Six Foot Track, Jenolan end | Closed at the reserve boundary. The Megalong Valley half is open | With Jenolan |
Correct as at 28 August 2026, from NPWS local alerts. Scroll sideways on a phone.
The National Pass is the loss that stings. It is the walk with the hand-cut Grand Stairway, the reason a lot of people come to Wentworth Falls at all, and there is no announced plan to reopen its western half. Treat it as closed indefinitely rather than as something that might come good during your trip.
Businesses that closed and are still being recommended
The Paragon Cafe, Katoomba: closed since 2018
Katoomba's 1916 art-deco café, one of the most photographed interiors in the mountains, has been shut for eight years. It is now the subject of heritage-enforcement proceedings in the NSW Land and Environment Court, filed at the end of June 2026 with a first hearing in July. The owner's own estimate puts the required works at around $700,000, with completion no earlier than 2027, and completion of compliance works is not the same as reopening.
Walk past it and look at the frontage. Don't plan lunch there.
Leura Garage: closed January 2023
Went into voluntary liquidation after twelve years. This one is worth calling out specifically because guides published in 2026 still recommend it. The address, 84 Railway Parade, now houses The Leopard Deli, which opened in February 2026 and is an unrelated business under different ownership. Good, but not the thing you read about.
Silk's Brasserie, Leura: superseded
No longer trading at 128 Leura Mall. The site is now Mr Collins of Leura. A widely-syndicated restaurant listing for Leura still shows Silk's as current, along with a dozen other venues that couldn't be confirmed as open at all. If a page lists Silk's, treat everything else on it with suspicion.
Perrys Lookdown camping: permanently closed
Closed since the 2019 bushfires, and NPWS confirmed in 2024 that the campground will not reopen, citing cliff-edge safety and fire risk. The day-use area has been upgraded (sealed road, toilets, parking) and is open. Older maps and older guides still mark a campground.
What is definitely open
It's a long list, and the closures above shouldn't put you off. Echo Point and the Three Sisters, Scenic World's four rides, the Grand Canyon Track, Govetts Leap and Evans Lookout, the Charles Darwin Walk, the Fairfax Heritage Track, the Glenbrook swimming holes, Megalong Valley, the Botanic Garden at Mount Tomah, Everglades at Leura, the Norman Lindsay Gallery, the Victory Theatre antiques hall, and every village on the railway line.
Where to check, because this page will go stale
This is a snapshot dated 28 August 2026. Track status genuinely changes week to week. A hazard-reduction burn closed Govetts Leap, the Fairfax Heritage Track and the Heritage Centre for a day in September, which no guide could ever have told you in advance.
- NPWS local alerts: the authoritative list for tracks and park roads. There are precinct-specific pages too, for Blackheath and Katoomba.
- Live Traffic NSW: roads, including the Victoria Pass detour.
- RFS Fires Near Me: fire bans and active incidents, essential from October to March.
- The NPWS Blue Mountains Heritage Centre, 270 Govetts Leap Road, Blackheath, 9am–4pm daily, (02) 4787 8877. A ranger who walked the track yesterday beats any website.