Six of the best hikes within one hour of Sydney

The scenic South Head Heritage Trail skirts the cliffs above Lady Bay Beach, finishing at Hornby Lighthouse.Credit: Destination NSW

You might think an hour in Sydney traffic won't get you beyond city confines, and you'd be right. But you don't need to leave the city to hike. The great outdoors hunkers in spectacular pockets amid suburbia, offering the chance of a leg-stretch without a long drive. Hikes can take an hour, a half-day or a week if you care to take up the challenge of the Great Coastal Walk around Sydney's entire Pacific-pounded edge. Put your best foot forward and Sydney rewards you with great urban walks.

LANE COVE RIVERSIDE WALK

Credit: Destination NSW

Who says Sydney is only about the harbour? Lane Cove National Park in northern Sydney has numerous bushwalks, and you don't have to miss out on water since they follow the Lane Cove River, where native bass lurk. The river and several creeks provide micro-climates that support delicate ferns and flowers, as well as birds such as egrets and spoonbills. The Riverside Walk is five kilometres, but the feisty can tackle a 20-kilometre section of the Great North Walk, which although only gently hilly, has lots of steps. You can camp or stay in cabins under towering blue gums.

See nationalparks.nsw.gov.au

KARLOO WALKING TRACK

Credit: Tamara Dean

Royal National Park in Sydney's south is one of the world's oldest nature reserves and offers everything from a one-kilometre stroll to a 26-kilometre hike along the coast, which takes in secluded beaches, pockets of subtropical rainforest and heathland where wildflowers erupt in spring. A good medium-range walk is the 10-kilometre-return Karloo Track, which starts conveniently at Heathcote train station for those without transport. It passes fantastic rock outcrops, waterfalls and Karloo Pool, which is just the place for a picnic and cooling swim. Avoid this walk after rain however, as it tends to get boggy.

See nationalparks.nsw.gov.au

SOUTH HEAD HERITAGE TRAIL

Credit: Destination NSW

Okay, this isn't exactly a hike, but for incorrigible strollers this one-hour walk provides the feel of one as it leads from Watsons Bay through Sydney Harbour National Park to South Head. The path packs a scenic punch, skirting the cliffs above Lady Bay Beach (popular for nude bathing) and finishing at Hornby Lighthouse with a full panorama across the harbour to North Head and Manly. Two centuries-worth of gun emplacements will satisfy military buffs, while passing whales are easily spotted in the May-November migration season.

See nationalparks.nsw.gov.au

MANLY DAM

Credit: Kristjan Porm

Built in the late-19th century to supply Sydney's famous seaside suburb with water, Manly Dam is a great local secret, overlooked by the many day-trippers who pack Manly's beaches and harbour walks. You can fish, kayak, water-ski and even golf at scenic Wakehurst Golf Course, as well as tackle the seven-kilometre track that runs right around the dam's lake. If it has rained recently you'll enjoy several small waterfalls. The surrounding bushland's 300 plant species include glorious, gigantic gum trees. You might spot bandicoots, swamp wallabies, turtles and dozens of bird species.

See northernbeaches.nsw.gov.au

BAY RUN

Credit: iStock

This circular route around Iron Cove in the Inner West mightn't fit your idea of hiking, since it's fully paved, runs through suburbia and gets some traffic noise. But its seven kilometres gives you a great workout, and views change along the way, sometimes looking towards CBD skyscrapers, sometimes into tangled mangrove swamps. Good interpretive signs highlight local flora and fauna, or you can follow an audio app to learn curious things – for example that Rodd Island was used by the nephew of great French scientist Louis Pasteur to conduct experiments on rabbit eradication.

See canadabay.nsw.gov.au

FINCHS LINE

Credit: Destination NSW

It takes four hours to cover this sometimes challenging nine-kilometre walk, which follows the original 1828 convict-built bush road north from Wisemans Ferry in northwest Sydney towards the Hunter Valley – although how bullock teams negotiated the sometimes steep and zig-zagging path is a wonder. Views from the escarpment over the Hawkesbury River from several lookout points are superb, and you can spot the distant Blue Mountains on a fine day. Finches Line is just part of the 42-kilometre Convict Trail as far as Mount Manning, a serious bushwalk that takes most people three days.

See convicttrail.com.au