“How beautiful it is to do nothing and then rest afterwards,” reads the ‘please do not disturb’ sign dangling from the suite doorknob at a new retreat in the Hunter. Well, our sentiments exactly. Time to escape – whether it’s to bask on a quiet beach, get in the car and zoom off on an impromptu adventure, go bush, or pack up the kids for a day of family fun. It’s what escaping is all about and we have some top ideas for weekend dashes out of town, day trips and ferry hops in and around Sydney. The question is, which way to escape – mountain hikes, spa retreats, or scoping out secluded beaches? Perhaps enjoying a tipple at some cellar doors in our beautiful wine regions or exploring a little national park solitude?

It’s all here… For vino connoisseurs, we’ve selected top drops from Mudgee and the Hunter Valley to bring you a delicious list of wines and events to calendar block for a future weekend away. Then we go a couple of hours north to discover the best of  Newcastle and surrounds and a tad further to Port Stephens, with its pristine white sandy beaches, marinas and headlands. Dolphin spotting, whale watching, quad biking, kite surfing, fishing, taking tea and more… To the west of Sydney we head to Mount Tomah and the Blue Mountains and to the south to the national park for some coastal drives and beach hopping in Jervis Bay. North, south, east and west.

Here are some ultimate spots around Sydney to escape to!