There's a particular kind of place that experienced travellers learn to seek out — not the destination everyone has already been to, but the one that people who know keep quietly returning to. The Southern Highlands of New South Wales has been that place for years. Rolling green hills, cool-climate vineyards, misty waterfalls, heritage villages barely changed in a century, and the kind of unhurried pace that's almost impossible to find within two hours of a major city. We've been guiding private tours through this region since the beginning of The Australian Adventure Company, and we've always known it holds something rare. Now Travel + Leisure has said it publicly.
In 2025, the magazine named the Southern Highlands one of their "27 Under-the-Radar Places to Visit Before They Get Too Popular" — placing it at number six on the list. That's significant recognition for a region that most international travellers have never heard of, and it reflects something our guides have understood for a long time: this is one of the most quietly extraordinary places in Australia.
"27 Under-the-Radar Places to Visit Before They Get Too Popular" — the Southern Highlands placed sixth on a global list that included destinations across six continents.
The Southern Highlands sit about 90 minutes south of Sydney, at around 700 metres elevation. The altitude matters — it gives the region a cooler, greener, more European quality than the coast. Autumn here is genuinely spectacular, with the old deciduous trees along Bowral's streets turning gold and red in a way that surprises most Australians, who don't expect to find it at home. In winter the valleys fill with mist and the mornings are crisp and clear. In spring the garden estates burst into colour. It's a place that offers something different in every season, and it never feels crowded.
Rolling green valleys, ancient gorges, dramatic waterfalls, and open meadows ringed by escarpment ridgelines. Kangaroo Valley alone — accessible via a heritage suspension bridge — is worth the drive from Sydney.
The Highlands wine region produces exceptional cool-climate varieties — Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Riesling — at small estates where the winemaker is often the one pouring. Add truffle season, artisan producers, and farm-gate finds and you have one of the great food regions in Australia.
Berrima is one of the best-preserved Georgian towns in Australia, barely changed since the 1830s. Bowral, Moss Vale, and Mittagong each have their own character — antique shops, independent bookshops, cafés that have been here for decades.
Eastern grey kangaroos graze in the open meadows throughout the Highlands, particularly at dawn and dusk. At our own Boscobel property, they wander past the deck at sunrise. It's the kind of wildlife encounter that doesn't require a national park or a guide — it simply happens.
Travel + Leisure's under-the-radar list spans six continents. To place sixth globally — ahead of destinations in Europe, Asia, and the Americas — reflects genuine editorial conviction that the Southern Highlands offers something that can't easily be found elsewhere. The magazine cited the region's combination of natural beauty, food culture, and the particular quality of its light and landscape as distinguishing features.
What the recognition also signals is timing. Under-the-radar destinations don't stay that way. The Southern Highlands is at precisely the point where it has accumulated enough infrastructure — excellent accommodation, serious restaurants, well-run cellar doors — to offer a genuinely refined experience, while still retaining the authenticity and quiet that make it worth visiting in the first place. That window doesn't stay open indefinitely.
"The Southern Highlands is at precisely the point where it has enough to offer a refined experience, while still retaining the quiet that makes it worth visiting."
The Southern Highlands rewards those who know where to look. The best cellar door isn't the one with the biggest sign on the highway. The most beautiful lookout isn't on the tourist map. Kangaroo Valley's drama is best experienced from the valley floor, not the road above it. These are the things a private guide changes — the difference between visiting a place and genuinely knowing it.
Our Southern Highlands private tour is built around your interests. If you want to focus on wine, we'll spend the afternoon at two or three small estates with our guides alongside you. If you want to walk — Fitzroy Falls, Belmore Falls, the Budderoo National Park tracks — we'll build the day around that. If you simply want to slow down, sit on a verandah somewhere beautiful, and watch kangaroos graze across a paddock, we have exactly the place for that too.
- A tailored itinerary built around your interests — vineyards, waterfalls, heritage villages, wildlife, or all of the above
- Private vehicle and expert local guide — no shared coaches, no fixed groups, no compromise on pace
- Insider access to producers, wineries, and local stories that don't appear in any guidebook
- Flexible timing so you can linger wherever the day takes you
- Optional conclusion at Boscobel, our own 120-acre private property in the heart of the Highlands