Melbourne to Ballina road trip: Best stops, distance & drive time

The best stops on a Melbourne to Ballina road trip itinerary include Albury, Bowral, Sydney and Coffs Harbour. By car, the distance from Melbourne to Ballina is 1,598km, with a driving time of around 16h35m.

Planning a Melbourne to Ballina road trip itinerary

A Melbourne to Ballina road trip connects the capital of Victoria to one of the hub towns of the Northern Rivers region in New South Wales.

Melbourne offers street art tours, supreme views from the Melbourne Skydeck and Aboriginal cultural tours in the Botanic Gardens. For a great range of Melbourne tours and experiences, explore here. To track down the best value Melbourne accommodation, walk this way.

Ballina brings dolphin-watching cruises, surfing lessons and guided coastal walks. For more Ballina experiences, check out a wider selection. To hunt down the best value Ballina accommodation, come this way.

However, there is plenty to see along the way. A Melbourne to Ballina road trip strings together wineries, charming country towns, urban energy, national parks and glorious coastline.

This guide should help you plan out the best stops on a Melbourne to Ballina road trip itinerary. Click through on the individual places and attractions for more detailed, specific information.

Melbourne to Ballina distance and driving time

By car, the distance from Melbourne to Ballina is 1,589km. That makes for a driving time of around 16 hours and 35 minutes.

On the way out of Melbourne on the Hume Motorway, there are a few stops worth considering on the way to Seymour, the first decent-sized town. The Mount Ridley Lookout in Craigieburn shows suburbia give way to rural Victoria, and the walking trails of Mount Disappointment are a short detour to the east of Wallan.

Tallarook has an outdoor pool and a few wineries, including the visitor-friendly Trawool Estate, and Seymour is just to the north.

Things to do in Seymour include the memorably moving Vietnam Veterans Commemorative Walk and vintage trains of the Seymour Railway Heritage Centre.

If you want to stay and explore Seymour further, try booking accommodation at the family-inclined Big4 Holiday Park and the well-rated New Crossing Place Motel and Apartments.

North of Seymour, you can go wine-tasting at Fowles Wine and get lost at the Avenel Maze in Avenel.

There’s more wine-tasting just outside Longwood at the Magyars Hill Vineyard and Cottage. Euroa, meanwhile offers nature at Euroa Arboretum and the Balmuttum Walking Track.

Euroa to Wangaratta

The Reef Hills State Park on the way into Benalla is also a good place to see wildflowers and wildlife.

Things to do in Benalla include admiring the town’s many murals, and checking out one of Australia’s best regional art museums – the Benalla Art Gallery. The Benalla Aviation Museum offers surprisingly interesting insights into pilot training during World War II.

Next up is Glenrowan, scene of Ned Kelly’s last stand. The interpretive displays on Siege Street tell the tale of the shoot-out.

You might also want to make a short detour to the King Valley wineries around Milawa on the short drive from Glenrowan to regional hub Wangaratta.

Things to do in Wangaratta include swimming in the Ovens River from the Northern Beaches and admiring Aboriginal sculptures on the Bullawah Cultural Trail.

For Wangaratta accommodation, try the riverside Big4 Wangaratta North Cedars Holiday Park and the well kitted-out Quest apartments.

Click through to the next section: Wangaratta to Jugiong.