Melbourne to Bathurst road trip: Best stops, distance & drive time
The best stops on a Melbourne to Bathurst road trip itinerary include Albury, Young and Cowra. By car, the distance from Melbourne to Bathurst is 779km, with a driving time of around 8h23m.
Planning a Melbourne to Bathurst road trip itinerary
A Melbourne to Bathurst road trip connects the capital of Victoria to a historic inland city in New South Wales.
Melbourne offers street art tours, supreme views from the Melbourne Skydeck and Aboriginal cultural tours in the Botanic Gardens.
Melbourne also offers evening dinner cruises along the Yarra River and cross-city hot air balloon flights. To track down the best Melbourne accommodation rates, head here.
👇 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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Bathurst brings private luxury wine tours and jet fighter flights. For Bathurst accommodation, investigate here.
This guide should help you plan out the best stops on a Melbourne to Bathurst road trip itinerary. Click through on the individual places and attractions for more detailed, specific information – and remember to stock up on your road trip essentials before setting off
Melbourne to Bathurst distance and driving time
By car, the distance from Melbourne to Bathurst is 779km. That makes for a driving time of around eight hours and 23 minutes.
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.
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.
Melbourne to Bathurst drive: Tallarook to Euroa
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.
Road trip essentials that many travellers forget
Search on the web, and you’ll find ludicrously long lists of equipment to take on a road trip. Australia Travel Questions isn’t going to do that to you. But it is worth buying the following road trip items before setting off. Click through for a good range of options.
- Charging cables – yes, you’ll probably need a spare at some point.
- Car charger adaptor – in case your rental car has the old-fashioned cigarette lighter rather than a USB.
- Multi USB charger – for those hotel rooms that don’t have enough power sockets.
- Fold-up chairs – to make anywhere a picnic spot.
- A really good water bottle – go for a bigger one than usual to last the longer drives.
- Packing cubes – save space but, more importantly, avoid unpacking everything every night.
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.
Melbourne to Bathurst road trip: 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.
Pick the best Benalla accommodation options
The best places to stay in Benalla are…
- For a solid, affordable motel with a pool: Glider City Motel.
- For family-friendly cabins: Benalla Tourist Park.
- For central location: Top of the Town Motel.
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 Gundagai.