Winifred Falls is one of the most spectacular waterfalls you can swim in close to Sydney. The waterfall plunges into a deep emerald swimming hole, completely surrounded by bushland. It’s a beautiful spot and the perfect place to cool off on a hot day.
There are more pools up and downstream of the falls, so you can easily spend a whole day making the most of everything this very special part of Royal National Park has to offer.
Here’s what to expect from a visit to Winifred Falls.
Winifred Falls & Anice Falls
The trail stats
Distance: 3km return (extra 2.8km return for Anice Falls)
Elevation: 130m (extra 120m for Anice)
Difficulty: Easy, but has steep sections
Trailhead: Warumbul Road, Royal National Park
The majority of the walk to Winifred Falls is on a well maintained fire trail. There are a couple of steep sections with some loose stones, but these sections are very short.
From Winifred Falls the walk to Anice Falls is along a well formed track that will take you to the top of the falls. To continue to the bottom of the waterfall involves a short bush bash and boulder hop, but it isn’t too difficult if you know where to go and are careful.
The walk to Winifred Falls
The walk to Winifred Falls is not going to win any bushwalking awards, in a park full of outstanding trails, this isn’t one of them. But the walk itself is not the reason for visiting, the falls at the end of the trail make it well worth the trip.
They are one of our favourites in Royal National Park and an amazing place for a swim.
You begin on a wide and stony fire trail. It is lined with trees on either side, but the trees sadly don’t offer any shade.
It is flat - or very close to - for the first 930m, before you begin descending towards the falls. There are a couple of short but steep sections on the descent, and a few loose stones mean you have to watch your footing at times.
The first steep section is 120m long, before the gradient slackens again. There are a couple more steep bits, but only very minor, so it’s not too bad overall.
When we first visited the falls after some serious rain you needed to use a few logs and rocks to get over the mud with dry boots, but on all subsequent visits, including after rain, there’s barely been a single patch of mud around.
Arriving at Winifred Falls
After just over 1.45km you’ll reach the end of the fire trail and the signpost for Winifred Falls on your left, heading right here would take you to Anice Falls.
To the left you’ll see a wide cliff edge, which offers an excellent view of the falls from above. If it’s a hot day in summer you’ll no doubt encounter people basking on the rocks.
There are some shallow swimming holes along the cascades to the right of the top of Winifred Falls, though these are more easily accessed from where the main trail forked and instead of heading left to Winifred Falls you turn right to reach the shallow pools.
Swimming at Winifred Falls
Winifred Falls is exceptional, a shimmering emerald pool beneath a picture perfect waterfall and rock shelf. Pick a sunny day and the water is as spectacular as you could ever hope to see, with incredible clarity.
The pool is large and deep, so there’s plenty of room to have a proper swim.
The only thing which can spoil this very special place is if it becomes very crowded. If you are visiting on a hot sunny day in the summer holidays, you might want to come early or late - though having said that the pictures you can see in this guide are from our visit in January.
There were plenty of people around, but not always in the water.
In terms of accessing the pool, it’s easy and there are a few spots to do it. You can take the path which is on the left side of the top of the falls (directly from the main walking track, not from the top of the waterfall itself).
This is a few metres long with a fork in the middle. The right fork offers access to the lower rock platform. There are a couple of steps down on almost permanently wet rocks, but it’s not too slippery. The rock platform is tiered as you enter the water.
Alternatively, you can follow that same path down further and instead of forking right, keep straight and a few more steps will bring you down to the water’s edge.
This offers shallow access to the pool, but it’s a touch weedy right where you enter – the rest of the pool is completely clear!
The water is cool but not cold in summer, so it remains refreshing unlike some of the warmer pools in nearby Heathcote National Park.
If you’re up for more swimming, or you arrive to find Winifred Falls busy, you can continue for a further 300m (each way) downstream to Southwest Arm Pool. This is another magical swimming hole, though it has a twist as it’s tidal and a mix of fresh and sea water!
You can read about how to get there (it’s not signposted) and other details on how the tide affects the pool here.
Heading onto Anice Falls
Though Anice Falls is not one of the most spectacular waterfalls in the park, if you fancy a longer walk you can continue on from the fork, just before the Winifred Falls signpost.
So from where you turned left, you would instead turn right and follow the narrow bush track.
After 40m you'll come to a creek crossing. Unless it's incredibly dry (in which case the falls will just be a trickle) you'll need to remove your boots here. It's only a couple of metres across and easy as long as you allow for any slippery bits of rock.
Incidentally, this is also a good spot to access the shallow cascades pools which are both up and downstream of this spot. On our most recent visit it was popular with young families looking for a shallow dip.
The track continues on the other side of the creek, but it's not so obvious due to a bit of debris. Head right and hug the creek for around 60m until you see a rocky dirt track leading uphill on the left.
Once you're on this track the path is easy to follow all the way to the top of the falls. The path will flatten, but then does climb again a couple of times before flattening around 500m into the walk.
It's a mix of dirt track and some rocks, so it is uneven, but was not slippery when dry. Just under 500m into the side trail to the falls you need to cross another small creek, it's beside a large Cabbage palm and there is a rock to use as a stepping stone, so you won't need to remove your boots again.
The path then continues in a leisurely fashion through the bush for the next 300m at which point you'll come to a signposted junction. Heading straight on takes you to Anice Falls (heading right would lead to Bundeena).
The next 250m are flat or a very gentle descent to a path on the left which leads to a rock platform on top of Anice Falls.
The view is somewhat obscured, but it's a pretty bush setting and very quiet and peaceful. This is the end of the official track, but you can go off track to reach the bottom of the falls.
How to get to the bottom of Anice Falls
Before we get into how, it's worth noting there is no swimming hole at the bottom of the falls, so you are just going for the view. It's nice but a bit rough, so whether you think it's worth it will depend on your appetite for a bit of bush bashing.
To reach the base of the falls head back onto the main track and start going back on yourself for around 100m (from the top of the falls).
Now head right, into the bush and look for the gully you can see in the photo below, it's roughly at these coordinates: -34.0929838, 151.0830076.
This gully offers shallow access to the bush close to the bottom of the falls. It's a little slippery as there is some loose dirt, but it's just a few steps, though you should tread carefully.
At the bottom of the gully you'll see a fork. Head right and pick your way carefully down through the bush to the bottom of the falls, which is roughly 130m away.
Approximately 50m before you reach the bottom of the falls there are a few boulders to negotiate.
You will be able to get right up to the falls, which are split in two by some foliage on the cliff wall. It's pretty after a lot of rain, but there isn't really anywhere you can sit and relax, so it's just a quick stop.
You can then retrace your steps back up the gully and onto the main track again, all the way to Winifred Falls.
Essential information about Winifred Falls and South West Arm Pool
Where to park
The fire trail to Winifred Falls is marked on Google Maps, making it easy to find. It’s just after Audley Village and down Warumbul Road. You’ll see a place to park and the trail starts from a gated fire trail opposite.
You can find the exact trailhead location by clicking here.
Royal National Park entrance fee
As this trail isn’t in Bundeena or Otford, you will need to pay the $12 vehicle entry fee.
You will pass through a pay booth and - assuming it’s manned - you can pay the fee there.
If you are planning to visit several parks in a year it may be better value to buy the $65 NSW parks pass which includes all parks except Kosciuszko.
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Are you planning a trip to Royal National Park? Are Winifred Falls and South West Arm Pool your favourite wild swimming spots in Sydney? Let us know in the comments below!
