Great Ocean Road and the Grampians: a 6-Day Loop from Melbourne
Six days in a loop from Melbourne: the Great Ocean Road and the Twelve Apostles, an Aboriginal landscape older than the pyramids, two nights under the sandstone ranges of the Grampians, and the goldfields city of Ballarat
Most people drive the Great Ocean Road to the Twelve Apostles and turn back to Melbourne the way they came. This loop keeps going. It follows the coast west to Port Fairy, turns inland to the stone eel traps of Budj Bim, spends two nights in the Grampians, where the ranges rise straight out of farmland, and comes home through Ballarat, the city gold built. You see the sea, the mountains and the goldfields, and you never drive the same road twice.
6 days · 5 nights · four bases · by car · a loop from Melbourne, about 870 km, plus up to 120 km of side trips in the Grampians.
It suits travellers with a car and a week who want walks as well as views. It drives west, so the passenger sits on the sea side of the Great Ocean Road. If you only want the coast, our Great Ocean Road guide covers it as a trip from Melbourne. If you want the coast and then Adelaide, take Melbourne to Adelaide via the Great Ocean Road.
How this page was madeFriends drove us along the Great Ocean Road to the Twelve Apostles, and in 2009 we rode a bike into Warrnambool on our way from Perth to Sydney. We have been to Ballarat and Sovereign Hill. We have not been to the Grampians, Budj Bim or Port Fairy, or driven the route, so the driving, the walks and the advice on where to stay are researched, from Parks Victoria and the tourism bodies and operators named here. Distances are from OpenStreetMap, without stops.
Last updated 29 October 2026
The itinerary, day by day
Open one day, or all of them.
Day 1Melbourne to Apollo Bay — onto the Great Ocean Road195 km · about 3¼ hoursTorquay → Lorne → Kennett River → Apollo Bay
The first day gets the city behind you and the coast road under you, with time to stop at the surf beaches, a seaside town and, with luck, a koala. Our Great Ocean Road guide has more on the road itself.
- MorningWest to TorquaySeeBells Beach·the surf towns
Leave on the West Gate Bridge and the M1 to Geelong, then turn south to Torquay, where the Great Ocean Road begins. The bridge is toll-free; the new West Gate Tunnel is tolled. Bells Beach, a few minutes past Torquay, is where Australia’s best-known surf contest is held: a cliff-top lookout over the breaks.
- The road reaches the sea at Anglesea and stays on the cliffs to Lorne.
- MiddayLorneSeethe beach·the pier·Erskine Falls inland
Lorne is the holiday town of the Great Ocean Road: a curve of beach on Loutit Bay, a pier, and cafés along the front. People stop for lunch and a walk on the sand. From here the road clings to the cliffs, with the sea below on the passenger side.
- AfternoonKennett RiverSeekoalas in the gums
Kennett River is where people look up. Wild koalas are often seen in the gums along Grey River Road, just inland from the highway. Walk slowly and look for a grey bundle in the forks of the trees. Nothing here is fenced or fed, so there is no guarantee.
- EveningApollo BaySeethe long beach·the harbour
Apollo Bay sits where the Otway Ranges come down to a long, curving beach. It is a fishing town with a harbour and a quieter feel than Lorne. Walk the beach at the end of the day, with the green hills behind you, and eat by the water.
Sleeping here · Apollo Bay, night 1. Stay near the foreshore or the harbour, so the evening is on foot. Pick a motel, apartment or holiday park in town. It suits a first night that ends the hardest driving early. Watch the summer and Easter school holidays, when the town fills; book well ahead. We have no Apollo Bay guide yet.
- Drive
- 195 km via Geelong, Torquay and Lorne · about 3¼ hours without stops
- Stay
- Apollo Bay — near the foreshore
- Eat
- Lorne for lunch; Apollo Bay by the harbour in the evening
- Check
- The road between Lorne and Apollo Bay can close after storms and landslips: check VicTraffic before you set out
Day 2Apollo Bay to Port Fairy — the Apostles and the shipwreck coast190 km · about 3 hoursTwelve Apostles → Loch Ard Gorge → Warrnambool → Tower Hill → Port Fairy
The day of the famous coast: the road crosses the Otways, then comes back to the sea for the limestone stacks and gorges, and ends in a small old port.
- MorningOver the OtwaysSeethe forest road·Cape Otway, if you have time
The road leaves the sea and climbs through the forest of the Otways. Start early: this is the day with the most to see. A side road runs south to Cape Otway and its lightstation of 1848; it adds about an hour and a quarter, and the lightstation does not open every day.
- Late morningThe Twelve ApostlesSeethe stacks·Gibson Steps·the new visitor centre
This is the stop people drive from Melbourne to see. Friends drove us here, and we remember the scale of it: stacks of yellow limestone standing in the surf below the cliffs, the sea working at their feet. Gibson Steps, just before the main viewing area, take you down 86 steps to the beach beneath the cliffs; they reopened in February 2026.
A new visitor centre opened here in October 2026 with timed bookings, free until a fee starts in April 2027. The authority does not yet say clearly whether a booking covers parking and the lookouts or only the centre, so check the Twelve Apostles site before your day.
- MiddayLoch Ard Gorge and Port CampbellSeethe gorge·the shipwreck story·Port Campbell for lunch
Loch Ard Gorge is a narrow inlet between two headlands, named after the ship wrecked at its mouth in 1878: two of the fifty-four aboard survived. The lookouts are open; the steps down to the beach have been closed since 2023, with reopening planned, so check before you go. Port Campbell, a few minutes on, is the place for lunch.
- West past London Bridge and the Bay of Islands; Warrnambool is about an hour from Port Campbell.
- AfternoonWarrnambool and Tower HillSeeLogans Beach·the crater reserve·the von Guérard lookout
We rode into Warrnambool in 2009, from the other side, chasing a tailwind. From June to September southern right whales calve off Logans Beach, where the council keeps a viewing platform. Fifteen minutes on, Tower Hill is a volcanic crater whose floor is a wildlife reserve: walk the boardwalks for emus, kangaroos and koalas. Its trees were replanted from 1961, guided by a painting of 1855 (see What writers and artists have made of it).
- EveningPort FairySeethe Moyne River·Griffiths Island
Port Fairy is a small old port with fishing boats on the river and streets of stone cottages. At dusk, walk out to Griffiths Island and its lighthouse; the island is about 1.5 km long, and some of its tracks are uneven. From September to April short-tailed shearwaters nest there and fly in from the sea after sunset.
Sleeping here · Port Fairy, night 2. Stay in the old town between the river and the main street, so the evening is a walk to the river and the island. Pick a bed and breakfast, cottage or motel. It suits anyone who wants a quiet, walkable night after a busy day. Watch the folk festival weekend in March, when the town is booked out. We have no Port Fairy guide yet.
- Drive
- 190 km via the Twelve Apostles, Warrnambool and Tower Hill · about 3 hours without stops; add about 66 km for Cape Otway
- Stay
- Port Fairy — the old town
- Eat
- Port Campbell for lunch; Port Fairy in the evening
- Check
- The Twelve Apostles booking and the Loch Ard Gorge steps, on the day
Day 3Port Fairy to Halls Gap — Budj Bim and into the Grampians224 km · nearly 4 hoursTae Rak → Budj Bim → Hamilton → Dunkeld → Halls Gap
The day the route turns inland, from the coast to the mountains. On the way it crosses a volcanic landscape where the Gunditjmara people have farmed eels for thousands of years, a place now on the World Heritage list beside the pyramids and Stonehenge.
- MorningBudj Bim and Tae Rak (Lake Condah)Seethe stone eel channels·a Gunditjmara-guided walk
Budj Bim was World Heritage listed in 2019 for one of the oldest aquaculture systems on earth: channels, weirs and stone traps that the Gunditjmara built in the lava flows to catch and keep eels, some of them dated to about 6,600 years ago. Visitors come to walk it with someone whose people made it.
The guided tour at Tae Rak, about 50 minutes’ drive from Port Fairy, takes about two hours and runs Wednesday to Sunday at 10am and 2pm, from $89 an adult. Book it, and take the 10am tour.
- MiddayThe crater lake, if you have timeSeeLake Surprise
Budj Bim National Park, about 25 minutes further east, is the volcano itself. Its crater holds Lake Surprise, with a walk of about 2 km around the water according to walkers’ guides; allow an hour. From May to August, when the days are short, leave it out so you reach Halls Gap in daylight.
- North-east through Hamilton, the wool town of the Western District, to Dunkeld.
- AfternoonDunkeld and the southern GrampiansSeeMount Sturgeon·Mount Abrupt
At Dunkeld the Grampians begin all at once: Mount Sturgeon and Mount Abrupt stand up out of flat paddocks at the southern tip of the range. From here the road runs north for about an hour through the national park, between the ranges, to Halls Gap.
- EveningHalls GapSeethe village·kangaroos at dusk
Halls Gap is the only town inside the Grampians, a village of shops and cafés in a valley under the cliffs. Kangaroos graze the open grass round the town early and late; give them room. Arrive in daylight: the park road is a wildlife road after dark.
Sleeping here · Halls Gap, nights 3 and 4. Stay in the village or on its edge, so you can walk to dinner and start the walks early. Pick a motel, cabin or holiday apartment; with two nights, self-catering pays. It suits a base for a day on foot. Watch the long weekends, Easter and the Grampians Peaks Trail event weekends, when beds go. We have no Grampians guide yet.
- Drive
- 224 km via Tae Rak, Hamilton and Dunkeld · nearly 4 hours without stops; add about 50 minutes there and back for Lake Surprise; 157 km direct, about 2 hours
- Stay
- Halls Gap — the village
- Eat
- Hamilton for lunch; Halls Gap in the evening
- Check
- The Tae Rak tour runs Wednesday to Sunday only: book it before you choose your start day
Day 4The Grampians — lookouts, one climb and the rock art55 km, or about 120 km with Bunjil’s ShelterBoroka Lookout → the Balconies → the Pinnacle → Bunjil’s Shelter
The one day without packing. People come to the Grampians for the long views from the sandstone edges, and for walks short enough to do three of them before dinner. Gariwerd, the range’s Aboriginal name, is Jardwadjali and Djab Wurrung Country.
- First lightBoroka LookoutSeethe valley·Lake Bellfield·the plains
Drive up before breakfast. Boroka is a roadside lookout with a short level path from the car park, suitable for wheelchairs and prams, and it looks straight down on Halls Gap and Lake Bellfield, with the plains running away to the east.
- MorningReed Lookout and the BalconiesSeethe sandstone ledges
From Reed Lookout, a walk of 2 km return, about 30 minutes, leads to the Balconies, two jutting slabs of sandstone over the Victoria Valley. Stay behind the barriers.
- MiddayThe PinnacleSeethe climb·the view over Halls Gap
The Pinnacle is the Grampians’ best-known walk, to a rock platform above the valley. From the Sundial car park it is 4.2 km return, an hour and a half to two hours, and Parks Victoria calls it suitable for young children. The route from Wonderland car park, through the Grand Canyon and Silent Street, is harder.
- AfternoonRock art, or Venus BathsSeeBunjil’s Shelter·the rock pools
Bunjil’s Shelter, near Stawell, about an hour there and back, holds a painting of Bunjil, the creator spirit, with two dingoes, reached by a short walk whose length is not published. Check that it is open before you go. Or stay in town and walk the 2.3 km circuit to Venus Baths, rock pools in Stony Creek.
What is closed in 2026. The MacKenzie Falls precinct has been shut for rebuilding since February 2026, with the car park, the walks and the base of the falls all closed. Parks Victoria’s pages disagree on when it reopens: one gives no date, another said mid to late 2026. Check before you plan on it.
The Zumsteins to Fish Falls walk is open. Brambuk, the cultural centre, is closed for refurbishment, though the park information centre is open. The Billimina rock art walk is closed after fire damage in 2024–25; Manja is open. Check Parks Victoria before the day.
- Drive
- About 55 km of short drives to the lookouts; Bunjil’s Shelter 64 km return
- Stay
- Halls Gap — second night
- Eat
- Picnic on the walks; Halls Gap in the evening
- Check
- Parks Victoria’s closures and the fire danger rating: the park closes on Catastrophic days
Day 5Halls Gap to Ballarat — the Chinese goldfield and the gold city141 km · about 2 hoursArarat → Gum San → Ballarat → Lake Wendouree
A short drive east out of the mountains into the goldfields, with a stop at a town that tells the Chinese side of the gold rush, and an evening in a city of grand Victorian streets.
- MorningArarat and Gum SanSeethe Chinese Heritage Centre·J Ward
In 1857 Chinese miners found gold at the Canton Lead, near what became Ararat. Many Chinese reached Victoria by landing in South Australia and walking overland; the Robe day on our Melbourne to Adelaide route tells that story. Gum San, the Chinese Heritage Centre, tells this end of it. It opens Thursday to Sunday, 10am to 3pm, $14 an adult, and is volunteer-run, so check before you go.
- East on the Western Highway, about an hour to Ballarat.
- AfternoonBallaratSeeSturt Street·Lake Wendouree·the Eureka Centre
Ballarat is the city the gold rush built, with wide streets of banks, hotels and verandahs paid for by the diggings. We have been. Walk Sturt Street and Lydiard Street, a few blocks of the centre, then go out to Lake Wendouree for the end of the day; the path round it is about 6 km.
The Eureka Centre, on the site of the 1854 stockade rebellion, opens daily, $7 an adult. Ask whether the original Eureka flag is on show.
Sleeping here · Ballarat, night 5. Stay in the centre, around Sturt Street and Lydiard Street, so the evening is on foot. Pick a hotel, motel or apartment. It suits a night in a city after four in small towns. Watch the school holidays, when Sovereign Hill fills the town. We have no Ballarat guide yet.
- Drive
- 141 km via Ararat · about 2 hours without stops
- Stay
- Ballarat — the centre
- Eat
- Ararat for lunch; Ballarat in the evening
- Check
- Gum San’s days: Thursday to Sunday
Day 6Ballarat to Melbourne — Sovereign Hill and home116 km · about 1½ hoursSovereign Hill → Melbourne
The last day goes back to the 1850s for a morning, then home on the freeway.
- MorningSovereign HillSeethe main street·the gold panning·the mine
Sovereign Hill is an outdoor museum of a goldfields town of the 1850s, with shops, a school, a coach on the main street, and costumed staff at work. We walked round it and found it well done: you come away knowing how people lived. Allow at least half a day: the site spreads down a slope. Pan for gold in the creek.
It opens Tuesday to Sunday, 10am to 5pm, and every day in the Victorian school holidays: $68 an adult and $43 a child. AURA, its evening sound-and-light show, runs on some nights if you arrive the day before.
- AfternoonBack to Melbourne
The Western Freeway runs straight back to Melbourne in about an hour and a half. Return the car in daylight.
- Drive
- 116 km on the Western Freeway · about 1½ hours without stops
- Eat
- Sovereign Hill for lunch
- Check
- Sovereign Hill is closed on Mondays outside the school holidays
Apollo Bay, Port Fairy, Halls Gap and Ballarat have no where-to-stay or where-to-eat guide on this site yet, so their days name the areas without links. The sleeping advice in each day is ours; for individual places, use the tourism bodies linked at the foot of the page. Our day trips from Melbourne page has more on Ballarat and the Grampians.
What writers and artists have made of it
In 1855 the painter Eugene von Guérard painted the crater of Tower Hill in remarkable detail. When the crater was restored from 1961, the Warrnambool Art Gallery says, the work came to be based on his painting; a lookout in the reserve is named after him. Ballarat has its novel: Henry Handel Richardson’s Australia Felix (1917) opens on the diggings there.
Go up before the sun, and stand at the rail while the light comes. The valley below is still dark, and Halls Gap is a few lights in the trees. Then the far edge of the plains turns gold, and the light comes across the farmland towards you, field by field, until it reaches the lake and the cliffs at your feet. Notice the sound: birds first, then nothing much. Notice how far you can see. Stay until the valley is lit.
The route at a glance
| Base | Nights | The leg in | What these nights are for | Pressure |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apollo Bay | 1 | 195 km from Melbourne, about 3¼ hours | The first of the Great Ocean Road, with a beach at the end | One night; summer beds go early |
| Port Fairy | 1 | 190 km via the Apostles, about 3 hours | The Twelve Apostles, then a quiet old port | A full day; check the Apostles booking |
| Halls Gap | 2 | 224 km via Budj Bim, about 3¾ hours | The eel traps on the way; a day of lookouts and walks | The longest drive in; the tour sets the day |
| Ballarat | 1 | 141 km via Ararat, about 2 hours | The goldfields, and Sovereign Hill in the morning | Day of the week matters |
The shape of the route
The route is a loop, driven clockwise. It runs west along the Great Ocean Road to Apollo Bay for one night and Port Fairy for one, then turns north, inland past Budj Bim, to Halls Gap in the Grampians for two. It comes home east through Ararat to Ballarat for the last night, and back to Melbourne on the freeway. About 870 km, with short drives in the Grampians on top.
Before you commit
The hardest move is day 3: 224 km and nearly four hours of driving, with a tour time to meet in the morning and the park road to Halls Gap at the end. Leave Port Fairy by nine, and reach Halls Gap in daylight.
The bookings, in order. First, the Tae Rak tour, because it fixes your start day. Then beds at Apollo Bay and Port Fairy in summer and the school holidays, and Halls Gap on long weekends. Check before day 2: the Twelve Apostles visitor centre’s timed booking, since the authority does not yet say what it covers. A loop means no one-way fee on the hire car.
Start on a Monday or a Tuesday. The tour runs Wednesday to Sunday, Gum San opens Thursday to Sunday, and Sovereign Hill closes on Mondays outside the school holidays. A Monday or Tuesday start puts all three on open days.
What this route leaves out is Daylesford, the spa town north-east of Ballarat. It has its own route: our Goldfields and Daylesford loop from Melbourne.
The Great Ocean Road is slow. It is a winding two-lane road with tight bends and drops to the sea, busy in summer and at weekends. Use the pull-over bays and let faster cars by. Storms and landslips close sections for hours or days; in January 2026 it was shut between Lorne and Skenes Creek. Check VicTraffic before each day.
Bushfire. Our Melbourne reviewer, who has lived there for forty years, told us to avoid the hot months, December to February. The Grampians burned in 2024–25, and parts are still closed. Check the fire danger rating for each day’s district on VicEmergency, and stay out of the park on a Catastrophic day, when it closes.
Driving at dusk. Kangaroos and wallabies are most active at dawn and dusk. Plan each day to arrive in daylight, slow down where the signs warn of animals, and brake rather than swerve.
With children. Gibson Steps are 86 steps down and up again, too many for a pushchair. Boroka is pram friendly; the Sundial route up the Pinnacle suits young children. The Tae Rak tour is $69 a child; Sovereign Hill is $43 a child, and its gold panning is the best hour of the week for small ones. We have no guide to Australia with children yet.
Make it yours
Lorne or Anglesea instead of Apollo Bay. Both are nearer Melbourne, so day 1 is shorter and day 2 longer: about 45 km more from Lorne, more again from Anglesea. Start day 2 early.
One night in the Grampians. Drive Port Fairy to Halls Gap direct, 157 km, and spend that afternoon on the lookouts; go on to Ballarat next morning. You lose Budj Bim and a day of walking, and gain a day.
Daylesford for the last night. Daylesford, the spa town, is 45 km from Ballarat, about half an hour by Tourism Australia’s reckoning, and about an hour and a half from Melbourne. Do Sovereign Hill on the afternoon of day 5 instead of the evening in Ballarat, sleep in Daylesford, and drive home from there.
Reverse it. It works anticlockwise too, with Ballarat first and the coast last, but the sea is then on the driver’s side of the Great Ocean Road, and the Apostles come at the end. The open days shift too: start on a Wednesday or a Thursday.
If the route slips
The fixed points are the Tae Rak tour on day 3 and Sovereign Hill’s opening days on day 6. The Twelve Apostles slot is the one to protect on day 2.
- Safety first. On a Catastrophic fire day, or with a road closed by fire or landslip, stop where you are safe and wait; do not look for a back road through the forest. Follow VicTraffic and VicEmergency.
- Use the local fallback. If the Great Ocean Road is closed between Lorne and Apollo Bay, go inland by Birregurra and Forrest to Skenes Creek. If the Grampians are closed, drive Dunkeld to Ballarat by the Glenelg Highway and spend the spare day in Ballarat.
- Drop the peripheral stop. Cape Otway first, then Lake Surprise, then Bunjil’s Shelter. None is booked.
- Rebook the night. If you lose a night, give up the second Grampians night, and move the Halls Gap booking through whoever you booked it with. Keep Port Fairy, so the Apostles day is not rushed.
A final word on the Great Ocean Road and the Grampians
Most people give the Great Ocean Road a day and drive back. Give it six and it turns into a loop: the Apostles in the surf, the stone channels of Budj Bim, sunrise over the Grampians, and the goldfields on the way home.
Andrew + Margaret
- Australia itineraries Overview
- The Great Ocean Road Highlight
- Day trips from Melbourne Day trips
- Melbourne Overview
- Melbourne to Adelaide via the Great Ocean Road Journeys
- Getting around Australia Practical
- Perth to Sydney by bike Journeys
- Tourism Australia — 6 days on the Great Southern Touring Route Official
- Great Ocean Road authority — the Twelve Apostles visitor centre Booking
- Budj Bim — the Tae Rak guided tour Booking
- Parks Victoria — Grampians (Gariwerd) National Park Official
- Sovereign Hill — tickets and opening days Booking
- VicTraffic — road closures in Victoria Safety
- VicEmergency — fire danger ratings and warnings Safety
- Warrnambool Art Gallery — von Guérard’s Tower Hill Reading
- Henry Handel Richardson, Australia Felix (1917) Reading