What are the best day trips from Melbourne?

Great day trips from Melbourne include surfing in Torquay, wine and snorkelling on the Mornington Peninsula and penguin-viewing on Phillip Island.

One of Melbourne’s great qualities is that much of regional Victoria is easily accessible within a day trip. There are several day trips from Melbourne that you can have a great time on, before getting back to your Melbourne hotel for the night.

But before looking at the best day trips from Melbourne, it’s worth looking at the parts of Victoria that SHOULDN’T be done as a day trip.

Most glaring amongst these, however, is the Great Ocean Road. Several companies offer one day Great Ocean Road tours from Melbourne, and they’re only worth doing if you’re on an extremely limited time frame. Doing the Great Ocean Road and back in a day leads to a lot of time on a bus, with perfunctory photo stops. If you want to enjoy waterfall walks in Lorne, koala-spotting at Cape Otway, scenic flights over the Twelve Apostles and wildlife at Tower Hill in Koroit near Warrnambool, spend at least two or three days on the Great Ocean Road.

The Grampians, similarly, is another region that benefits from staying a couple of days. Go walking, check out the Aboriginal heritage sites, spot kangaroos, take in the views from the Boroka Lookout and enjoy the Grampians food and drink trails.

The Organ Pipes National Park, which is near Melbourne Airport, can be tackled in half a day. Trentham Falls is only a little further north – combine them both with a walk in the Lerderderg State Park, and you’ve got a proper day out. The Mt Disappointment State Forest is an alternative option, about an hour’s drive north of Melbourne.

Now onto the places that do make good day trips from Melbourne…

Day trips from Melbourne: Surfing in Torquay

90 minutes south-west of the city, hippy-spirited Torquay is one of the world’s true surfing capitals. Surf gear giants Rip Curl and Quiksilver are based there. Also, legendary pro-surfing championship venue Bells Beach is just outside. Mercifully, the Torquay Surfing Academy picks more beginner-friendly beaches for its two hour, $60, small group surfing lessons.

Day trips from Melbourne: Mornington Peninsula

Go south-east instead, and you hit the Mornington Peninsula. Here, the swanky beach suburbs of Portsea and Sorrento have long been the weekend hangout of Melbourne’s fashionably wealthy. Mount Martha is photogenic, too. But it’s the boutique wineries such as the Polperro Winery that have given a reinjection of cool. The $250 Mixed Bunch tour from Wine Compass mixes sampling sessions with a goat cheese maker, gin distiller and microbrewery.

Near the Portsea Hotel at Portsea, kids jump off the pier and stingrays mind their own business on the sea bottom. But the best snorkelling expedition is in search of weedy sea dragons. They look like floating seaweed from above, but duck dive down, and they’re all pink and yellow frilly flamboyance. Bayplay offers two hour sea dragon snorkelling tours – one of Australia’s best wildlife encounters – for $99. There are also snorkelling tours from Sorrento where you can swim with dolphins and seals.

Further down the Peninsula is Point Nepean, one of Australia’s most important World War II sites and home to the beautiful-but-dangerous Cheviot Beach. This was where Australian Prime Minister Harold Holt went missing, presumed drowned. The nearby Peninsula Hot Springs offer considerably less fraught bathing, while the Moonlit Sanctuary is the top spot for classic Aussie wildlife encounters.

Melbourne day trips: Phillip Island

Then comes the classic day trip from Melbourne. Phillip Island would be a pleasant day trip anyway. It offers rugged coastal scenery at Cape Woolamai, a koala sanctuary and a chocolate factory. But the evening penguin parade, where hundreds of little penguins waddle in from the sea after a hard day’s fishing, make it special. Oceania Tours runs small group day tours for $175 – but pay the $54 extra for the underground viewing. This is where the little penguins scuttle past up-close and at eye level.

Surfers will prefer Woolamai Surf Beach.

You can also enjoy Phillip Island’s indulgent side at the Phillip Island Chocolate Factory, Purple Hen Winery and Rusty Water Brewery.

Between June and August, it’s possible to go on a Phillip Island whale-watching cruise. But the Phillip Island weather is better during the summer months.

Day trips from Melbourne: Bellarine Peninsula

The Bellarine Peninsula is arguably better tagged on to a Great Ocean Road trip, but the Portarlington ferry offers another option. The ferry from Melbourne’s docklands lands at Portarlington on the northern tip of the Bellarine Peninsula. Take a bike on board (for free) and you can go cycling to the beach at Indented Head or the Bellarine Peninsula wineries. The best include the Jack Rabbit Winery and the Terindah Estate.

Melbourne day trips: Yarra Valley

The Yarra Valley wine region is to the north-east of Melbourne, and it’s the most convenient spot for wine tourism. Yering Station is perhaps the most spectacular winery, although the Balgownie Estate is also worth a visit. Meanwhile the Yarra Valley Chocolaterie caters for sweeter teeth. You can get around by bike – pick up a rental bike at Yarra Valley Cycles in Lilydale.

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