Melbourne to Sydney inland road trip: Best stops & distance
The best stops on a Melbourne to Sydney road trip include the Murray River at Albury, the vineyards around Yass and the Southern Highlands. The 879km driving distance usually takes around nine hours without stops.
The drive from Melbourne to Sydney is often seen as a bit of a grim slog up the Hume Highway. But if you turn it into a road trip, undertaken over the course of a few days, you can have a great time. There are several good stops just off the Hume, and plenty of contenders for an overnight stay.
This road trip guide should help you put together the perfect Melbourne to Sydney self-drive itinerary.
Before leaving on your Melbourne to Sydney road trip, 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.
Sydney’s enormous collection of experiences includes all-inclusive sunset dinner cruises, behind-the-scenes tours of the Opera House and whale-watching cruises. Also worth looking at are helicopter flights over the harbour and coastline, jet boat thrill rides and historic walking tours.
Search for the best Melbourne car hire deals.
Melbourne to Sydney distance and driving time
By car, the distance from Melbourne to Sydney is 879km. That makes for a driving time of around nine hours, although there can obviously be some fairly hefty fluctuations for traffic conditions.
👇 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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On the way out of Melbourne, there are a few stops worth considering on the way to Seymour, the first decent-sized town you’ll encounter. 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.
Next section: Seymour to Benalla.