Melbourne to Ballarat: Distance, drive time & road trip stops
The drive from Melbourne to Ballarat along the Western Freeway is 116km. If planning a road trip, the Melbourne to Ballarat driving time is around one hour and 22 minutes.
No-one’s going to claim that the drive from Melbourne to Ballarat in Victoria is the most exciting road trip in Australia. The important thing for visitors, however, is that the Melbourne to Ballarat drive is fast.
Before leaving, you may want to tick Melbourne Cricket Ground tours, Yarra River dinner cruises and cross-city hot air balloon flights off your Melbourne wish list. For a great range of Melbourne tours and experiences, explore here. To track down the best value Melbourne accommodation, come this way.
Ballarat, meanwhile, offers the amazing Sovereign Hill open air museum and the quirky Kryal Castle theme park.
Search for the best Melbourne car hire deals.
Ballarat is one of Australia’s best gold rush towns. It has some handsome architecture, such as the Ballarat Town Hall, but by far and away the biggest draw card is Sovereign Hill. This exceptional open air museum recreates a Victorian gold rush town. Wheelwrights, candlemakers and blacksmiths give demonstrations, trains head into a mine for underground tours and kids fossick for gold in the creek.
Sovereign Hill is the sort of place you can happily spend a day at, but is it feasible as a day trip from Melbourne?
👇 7 great day trips while you’re in Melbourne 👇
- Great Ocean Road tour – with koalas 🐨.
- Brighton Beach, Moonlit Sanctuary and Phillip Island tour – with penguins 🐧.
- Yarra Valley wine tour – with gin, cider and cheese 🍷.
- Grampians National Park tour – with bushwalks and LOADS of kangaroos 🦘.
- Mornington Peninsula tour – with hot springs bathing 🛀.
- Wilsons Promontory tour – with all manner of native wildlife 🦘🐨.
- Dandenong Ranges steam train ride – plus wildlife at Healesville Sanctuary and chocolate-tasting in the Yarra Valley.
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Melbourne to Ballarat driving distance
Well, thanks to the fast-but-dull Western Freeway, yes. The drive from Melbourne to Ballarat is around 116km long. Advance book Melbourne car hire for the best deals if you don’t have your own wheels.
For an international comparison, this is the same distance as the Leicester to Cambridge drive in the UK.
4 Ballarat experiences to book in advance ⬇️
- Sovereign Hill tickets – visit Australia’s best open air museum. Give it a full day, too – there’s so much to see and do.
- Ballarat Wildlife Park entry – meet loads of cute native Aussie animals.
- Kryal Castle admission – enjoy a bizarre knights in armour theme park.
- Beer-making course – learn to brew, with tastings and lunch thrown in.
It might take a while to get through Melbourne’s western suburbs, but the Western Freeway then shoots cars past Melton and Bacchus Marsh, getting them to Ballarat as quickly as possible.
The Melbourne to Ballarat driving time is around an hour and 22 minutes. That makes Sovereign Hill work as a day trip, although you may prefer to stay in Ballarat and enjoy the evening sound and light show.
It’s also possible to turn the Melbourne to Ballarat drive into a full day out by stopping at the Organ Pipes National Park, Trentham Falls, Lerderderg State Park or Kryal Castle on the way. Other attractions in Ballarat include Lake Wendouree, home of the 1956 Olympic rowing and canoeing events.
Drive from Melbourne to Ballarat on road trip to the Grampians
Another option is to make the Melbourne to Ballarat drive the first leg in a trip to the wildlife-packed Grampians. The Grampians National Park is further along the same road, although it becomes the A8 rather than the M8, and the Western Highway rather than the Western Freeway. Once there, you can visit the Boroka Lookout, see the Giant Koala at Dadswell Bridge and spot kangaroos in Halls Gap. The food and wine in the Grampians is also impressive.
14 fantastic experiences that make the most of your free time in Melbourne
- Get the very best views – on a hot air balloon flight over the city.
- See the changing colours of the river – on a sunset kayaking tour – with dinner. (Highly recommended ✅)
- Feast and see the sights at the same time – on a four course dinner cruise along the Yarra River.
- A genuinely excellent street art tour, led by prominent street artists. (Highly recommended ✅)
- The also superb Aboriginal heritage, plants and bush food tour in the Botanic Gardens. (💲 Great value 💲)
- Best of Melbourne bike tour – you can see more on two wheels than walking.
- Hidden laneways bar crawl OR foodie discovery tour OR chocolate and dessert tour.
- Combo ticket for Australian Sports Museum and MCG tour.
- Hassle-dodging advance tickets for the Melbourne Skydeck, Melbourne Zoo, the Ice Bar (with cocktails) and Sea Life Aquarium.
More Victoria travel
Take a Geelong helicopter ride along the Surf Coast.
Learn to surf in Torquay.
Check out the mural trail in Yarram, South Gippsland.
Stop at the Tallarook wineries on a Melbourne to Wagga Wagga road trip.