Two days. Two completely different landscapes. One continuous private journey from Sydney's coastline to the heart of the nation.

Most visitors squeeze Canberra into a single exhausting day. This tour gives it the time it deserves — with a spectacular coastal drive thrown in along the way. I've been guiding private tours from Sydney since 2009, and this is the tour I'd want to take myself.

Day 1 — Coast to Capital

Departing your Sydney hotel at 8:00am we head south along the Illawarra Coast. Bald Hill Lookout is our first stop — one of the most dramatic coastal viewpoints in NSW, with the Sea Cliff Bridge curving out over the ocean far below. From there we continue to Kiama where the Southern Ocean forces water through the famous blowhole with remarkable force before we climb the rainforest escarpment of Macquarie Pass into the Southern Highlands.

Bowral is our lunch stop — a refined country town with excellent restaurants and boutique streets worth a proper wander. After lunch we continue south, arriving at Mount Ainslie in the late afternoon where the entire Griffin Plan reveals itself from the summit — the War Memorial, ANZAC Parade, and Parliament House aligned in a perfect geometric axis. It reframes everything you'll see the following day.

Your Canberra accommodation is independently booked, with the evening entirely free to explore the capital's restaurants at leisure.

Day 2 — Canberra, Unhurried

This is what separates this tour from every other Canberra experience available from Sydney. You wake up in the capital, with a full day ahead and nowhere to rush to. No 3.5 hour drive looming over the afternoon. No clock watching.

We set out at 9:00am and you choose the day. Canberra's national institutions are all free to enter and world-class — I'll discuss your group's interests and build the schedule around what matters most:

Australian War Memorial — recently expanded, and one of the most moving experiences in the country

Old Parliament House — the corridors of power where Australia's federal government met for over 50 years

Parliament House — the modern heart of the nation, with views from the grass roof walk

National Gallery of Australia — home to Jackson Pollock's Blue Poles and the world's largest collection of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art