Two Bays and the Prom: a 6-Day Loop from Melbourne
Six days in a loop from Melbourne: the Mornington Peninsula between its two bays, the penguins of Phillip Island, and two nights on Wilsons Promontory, the southern tip of the mainland
Melbourne sits at the head of a bay, and the coast south of it holds three of Victoria’s best escapes. This loop drives all three: the Mornington Peninsula, between Port Phillip and Western Port; Phillip Island, across the mouth of the second bay; and Wilsons Promontory, the granite headland at the bottom of the mainland.
You ride a gondola up Arthurs Seat for the view over Port Phillip, and walk out to the old forts at Point Nepean, where the bay meets the ocean. You soak in hot mineral pools in the peninsula’s hills, then stand on the clifftop boardwalk at Cape Schanck above Bass Strait.
On Phillip Island you sit by a beach at dusk and watch little penguins come out of the surf and walk home up the sand. Next day you see koalas asleep in the gums at eye level, and walk the granite cliffs of Cape Woolamai.
Then the Prom: white beaches where the sand squeaks underfoot, the climb to the summit of Mount Oberon, a fern gully, and wombats and kangaroos grazing round Tidal River as the light goes. It gets two nights, because it is the place on this route that most rewards staying still.
6 days · 5 nights · three bases · by car · a loop from Melbourne, about 700 km.
It suits travellers who would rather spend a week on coast and wildlife than in towns. For gold towns and spa country, see our Goldfields and Daylesford loop; for the ocean road, our Great Ocean Road and Grampians loop.
How this page was madeWe have watched the Penguin Parade on Phillip Island, more than ten years ago. We have not been to Arthurs Seat, Point Nepean, the hot springs, Cape Schanck or Wilsons Promontory, so those days, and the advice on where to stay, are researched from the pages of Parks Victoria, Phillip Island Nature Parks, the operators and the tourism bodies named here. Distances are from OpenStreetMap, without stops.
Last updated 30 October 2026
The itinerary, day by day
Open one day, or all of them.
Day 1Melbourne to Sorrento — down the bay to the Heads127 km · about 2 hoursMount Martha → Arthurs Seat → Point Nepean → Sorrento
Down the east shore of Port Phillip, with the bay on your right most of the way, to the old resort near the end of the peninsula.
- MorningMornington and Mount MarthaSeeMain Street·the harbour·the bathing boxes
People stop in Mornington for its main street and harbour, the first of the bay towns, 68 km from the city. South of it the road follows the cliffs to Mount Martha, where painted bathing boxes line the beaches. These calm bay beaches are the ones for swimming.
On the way you pass Mount Eliza, where Stanley Kramer filmed scenes of Nevil Shute’s On the Beach in 1959: a Melbourne waiting for the fallout of a nuclear war.
- Late morningArthurs SeatSeethe Eagle gondola·the view over Port Phillip
People go up Arthurs Seat for the widest view of the bay: on a clear day, the whole sweep of Port Phillip to the towers of the city. The Arthurs Seat Eagle gondola takes about 15 minutes each way, $36.50 an adult return. It runs generally from 10am to 5pm, and stops in high wind and lightning. Buy lunch to take with you: Point Nepean is 34 km on.
- MiddayPoint Nepean National ParkSeeFort Nepean·the Quarantine Station·Cheviot Beach
People come to Point Nepean, the tip of the peninsula where Port Phillip meets Bass Strait, for the walks and the history. A shot from Fort Nepean across the bows of the German steamer Pfalz in August 1914 is claimed as the first Allied shot of that war. At Cheviot Beach, Prime Minister Harold Holt vanished in the surf in 1967.
A shuttle runs to the Quarantine Station and the fort, $12 an adult; its last run from the entrance is at 1.30pm. There is no water beyond the Quarantine Station.
- EveningSorrentoSeethe back beach·the 1803 settlement site
People stay in Sorrento for a village between two waters: the calm bay on one side, the surf of Bass Strait on the other. Go to the back beach for the evening light, and swim on the bay side: the ocean beaches have strong rips.
Sorrento is also where Europeans first tried to settle in what is now Victoria. In October 1803 a party of convicts, marines and free settlers landed at Sullivan Bay, just east of the town, and left for Tasmania seven months later.
Sleeping here · Sorrento, night 1. Stay in the village, or along the bay at Blairgowrie or Portsea, so dinner is a walk. Pick a motel, guesthouse or holiday apartment. It suits one night before an early start at the hot springs. Watch summer weekends and the school holidays, when Melbourne fills the peninsula; book early. We have no Sorrento guide yet.
- Drive
- 127 km via Arthurs Seat · about 2 hours; Point Nepean, 10 km each way
- Stay
- Sorrento, Blairgowrie or Portsea
- Eat
- A packed lunch for Point Nepean; Sorrento for dinner
- Check
- Point Nepean: last shuttle 1.30pm; cars enter until 6pm, 8pm in summer
Day 2Sorrento to Phillip Island — hot springs, cliffs and the penguins175 km · about 2¾ hoursHot Springs → Cape Schanck → Penguin Parade
The day begins in hot water and ends on a beach at dusk. Between them is the long drive round Western Port: the ferry across it takes no cars.
- Early morningPeninsula Hot SpringsSeethe Bath House pools
People come to Peninsula Hot Springs, in the hills behind Rye, to soak in hot mineral water drawn from deep underground, in pools set among the bush. Go early: the Bath House opens at 7am on weekdays and 5am at weekends. Bathing costs $60 to $90. Book ahead: same-day bookings cost 10% more. Allow two or three hours.
- Late morningCape SchanckSeethe 1859 lighthouse·Pulpit Rock from the boardwalk
Cape Schanck is where the peninsula meets the open ocean. A lighthouse of 1859 stands on the cliff, and a staircase and boardwalk go down to the beach and rock platform, with lookouts over Pulpit Rock and Bass Strait breaking below. Parks Victoria gives no length; large waves can wash across the platform without warning. The tower can be climbed only on a tour. For a longer walk, the Bushrangers Bay track, 2.6 km, leaves from the car park.
- North-east up the peninsula, round the head of Western Port by Tooradin, then south to the bridge at San Remo: 143 km, the long leg of the day.
- EveningThe Penguin ParadeSeelittle penguins coming ashore at dusk
This is why most people come to Phillip Island. Every night at sunset, little penguins, the smallest penguins in the world, come out of the sea at Summerland Beach and walk up the sand to their burrows in the dunes. We watched them more than ten years ago, sitting on the beach; today you watch from stands and boardwalks (see Pause and notice).
Arrive at least an hour before the penguins. There is strictly no photography or filming after sunset. Bring warm, windproof clothes and rain gear, even in summer.
Sleeping here · Cowes, nights 2 and 3. Stay in Cowes, the island’s main town, on its sheltered north shore, so the drive back from the parade in the dark is short. Pick a motel, apartment or holiday house. It suits two nights with the car mostly parked. Watch the summer holidays and race weekends at the Grand Prix circuit, when the island fills. Our Phillip Island guide has more on the island.
- Drive
- 175 km round Western Port · about 2¾ hours; the parade, 12 km each way
- Stay
- Cowes, Phillip Island
- Eat
- A picnic at Cape Schanck; an early dinner in Cowes before the parade
- Check
- Book the parade and the hot springs; sunset sets the time of your evening
Day 3Phillip Island — seals, koalas and granite cliffsAbout 60 km on the islandThe Nobbies → Koala reserve → Churchill Island or Cape Woolamai
A day with the car mostly parked: cliffs in the morning, koalas at midday, and a choice for the afternoon. If the weather spoiled last night’s parade, tonight is your second chance.
- MorningThe NobbiesSeethe boardwalks·Seal Rocks offshore
People drive out to the Nobbies, the island’s western tip, for its clifftop boardwalks over a rocky coast, with Seal Rocks, home to a colony of Australian fur seals, offshore. Allow about an hour. The boardwalks and car park are open and free. The Nobbies Centre, its café and toilets are closed, so bring what you need.
- MiddayKoala Conservation ReserveSeetwo treetop boardwalks
People come here to see koalas at eye level, asleep in the forks of the gum trees. Two boardwalks run through the trees, loops of 800 m and 600 m, each about 20 minutes. The reserve opens 10am to 5.30pm, $17.50 an adult.
- AfternoonChurchill Island, or Cape WoolamaiSeea heritage farm·the granite cliffs·shearwaters at dusk
Two ways to spend the afternoon. Churchill Island, over a bridge off the east coast, is a heritage farm with an old homestead and gardens: easy walking, 10am to 5pm, $17.50 an adult.
Or walk Cape Woolamai, the island’s wildest coast, to its granite pinnacles: 4.4 km return, about two hours. From late September to April, short-tailed shearwaters nest in their hundreds of thousands in the burrows here, back from a migration of 16,000 km. Or take the two-hour seal cruise from Cowes jetty, at 2pm.
Sleeping here · Cowes, night 3, as on day 2.
- Drive
- About 60 km round the island in short legs
- Stay
- Cowes, Phillip Island
- Eat
- Cowes; the farm café on Churchill Island for lunch
- Check
- The Nobbies Centre is closed; the boardwalks are open
Day 4Phillip Island to Wilsons Prom — the dinosaur coast159 km · about 2¾ hoursThe Bunurong coast → Inverloch → Squeaky Beach
Off the island and east along a shore of rock platforms and sea stacks, then south down the long road onto the Prom.
- MorningThe Bunurong coastSeeEagles Nest·Flat Rocks·the dinosaur coast
Cross the bridge at San Remo and follow the coast east. Between Cape Paterson and Inverloch the Bunurong Coastal Drive, 14 km, runs above rock platforms, stacks and coves. People stop at Eagles Nest, a rock stack with a lookout, because Australia’s first dinosaur fossil was found here in 1903. Flat Rocks is the place for rock pools, best within about an hour of low tide.
- MiddayInverlochSeethe inlet·lunch and fuel
Inverloch, at the eastern end of the drive, is a small resort on Anderson Inlet, and the place for lunch. Fill the tank here or on the way, at Fish Creek or Yanakie: there is no fuel at Tidal River.
- South-east to the park entrance at Yanakie, then 32 km down the only road to Tidal River.
- Late afternoonWilsons Promontory: Squeaky BeachSeewhite quartz sand·granite boulders
People come to Wilsons Promontory, the Prom, for its beaches, its walks and its animals. It is a granite peninsula at the southern tip of mainland Australia, a national park since 1898, and Yiruk or Wamoon to its Traditional Owners.
Start at Squeaky Beach, just north of Tidal River, where grains of quartz squeak underfoot between great granite boulders. Its small car park fills fast in summer, so come late in the day.
Sleeping here · Tidal River, nights 4 and 5. Stay inside the park, in Parks Victoria’s cabins, lodges, huts or campground at Tidal River, so the evening walk and the animals are on your doorstep. It suits two nights with the car parked. Watch the summer holidays, Easter and long weekends, which are booked months ahead; book the moment your dates are fixed. If the park is full, stay at Yanakie, 32 km away, or Foster, 59 km. We have no Prom guide yet.
- Drive
- 159 km via the Bunurong coast and Inverloch · about 2¾ hours without stops
- Stay
- Tidal River, or Yanakie outside the park
- Eat
- Inverloch for lunch; your own food, or the Tidal River store
- Check
- No fuel at Tidal River; roadworks at the entrance until 20 November 2026
Day 5Wilsons Prom — the summit and the gullyAbout 16 km by car, and two walksMount Oberon → Lilly Pilly Gully → Tidal River
A day on foot: two of the Prom’s best short walks, then the evening at Tidal River, when the animals come out.
- MorningMount OberonSeethe granite summit·the view over the Prom
People climb Mount Oberon for the view from the top of the Prom: beaches, headlands and islands spread out below. The walk is 6.8 km return, about two hours, up a steady track from the Telegraph Saddle car park. At weekends from November to April, in the summer holidays and at Easter, the car park closes and a shuttle runs from Tidal River; ask at the visitor centre for times.
- AfternoonLilly Pilly GullySeestringybark forest·a rainforest gully
The Lilly Pilly Gully circuit, 5.8 km and about two hours, crosses the face of Mount Bishop through stringybark forest and comes down into a gully of rainforest, cool and green after the open hilltop. Take water: there is none on the track. The Big Drift dunes walk is closed for works.
- EveningTidal River at duskSeewombats·kangaroos·emus
As the light goes, wombats, kangaroos and emus come out to graze round Tidal River. Walk down to the river mouth and Norman Beach, and watch; feeding them is against the law. With fit legs and a full day, you could give day 5 to the walk to Sealers Cove instead, whose boardwalk reopened in September 2026.
Sleeping here · Tidal River, night 5, as on day 4.
- Drive
- Telegraph Saddle, 8 km each way, and short drives in the park
- Stay
- Tidal River
- Eat
- A packed lunch; the Tidal River store sells basics and takeaway
- Check
- The Telegraph Saddle shuttle at weekends and holidays, November to April
Day 6Wilsons Prom to Melbourne — home by Foster233 km · about 3¼ hoursPicnic Bay → Melbourne
The longest drive of the trip, so use the morning in the park and leave by midday.
- MorningPicnic BaySeegranite boulders·the surf
People stop at Picnic Bay, a few kilometres north of Tidal River, for a sheltered cove of granite and surf, and a last walk on the sand before the long drive home. Then leave the park, 32 km to the gate at Yanakie.
- North to Foster, 61 km from Tidal River, the first town of any size and the place for lunch. Then the South Gippsland Highway runs north-west to Melbourne, 172 km through dairy country. Drive the Prom road in daylight: animals are on it at dawn and dusk.
- Drive
- 233 km via Foster · about 3¼ hours without stops
- Eat
- Foster for lunch
- Check
- Roadworks at the park entrance until 20 November 2026
Sorrento and Tidal River 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 Parks Victoria and the tourism bodies linked at the foot of the page. Cowes is covered by our Phillip Island guide.
Be in your seat early, and as the sun goes down, put the camera away: after sunset the rules forbid it anyway. Watch the line where the waves break. The first penguins gather there in a small group, as if deciding, then come up out of the white water together and set off across the sand, small, upright and quick. Notice how the crowd goes quiet. Then listen: from the dunes behind you, the birds already home are calling.
The route at a glance
| Base | Nights | The leg in | What these nights are for | Pressure |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sorrento | 1 | 127 km down the bay from Melbourne, about 2 hours | Arthurs Seat, Point Nepean and the bay towns | Summer weekends fill the peninsula |
| Cowes | 2 | 175 km via the hot springs and round Western Port, about 2¾ hours | The penguins at dusk, the koalas and the cliffs | Parade tickets in the holidays |
| Tidal River | 2 | 159 km via the Bunurong coast, about 2¾ hours | The beaches, Mount Oberon and the wildlife | Beds in the park go months ahead |
The shape of the route
The route is a loop, driven anticlockwise. It goes south down the shore of Port Phillip to Sorrento for one night, then round Western Port to Phillip Island for two, then east along the coast to Wilsons Promontory for two. It comes home north-west by Foster. About 700 km in all, and about 800 with the side trips.
Before you commit
The hardest thing is a bed at Tidal River, not the driving. No day is longer than about 3¼ hours at the wheel. But the park’s cabins and sites in the summer holidays, at Easter and on long weekends are booked months ahead, so fix those two nights first and build the rest round them. Most of the places on the route open every day.
Every day. The Bath House opens 7am to 11pm on weekdays and 5am to 11pm at weekends. Book ahead: same-day bookings cost 10% more.
Generally 10am to 5pm, varying with the season. It stops in high wind and lightning, so keep the view for a clear day if you can.
Cars enter until 6pm, 8pm in daylight saving; the shuttle’s last run from the entrance is at 1.30pm. A landslip has closed part of one track; check the alerts.
Every night at sunset, from $34 an adult; dearer tickets buy other views. Book ahead, most of all from mid-December to late January and in the school holidays.
Every day. The koala reserve opens 10am to 5.30pm, last entry 5pm; Churchill Island 10am to 5pm, last entry 4.30pm.
The boardwalks and car park are open. The Nobbies Centre, its café and toilets are closed, according to Phillip Island Nature Parks in October 2026.
Open, with no entry fee; the visitor centre opens 9am to 4pm. Roadworks at the entrance until 20 November 2026. The Big Drift walk is closed.
Closed to cars at weekends from November to April, in the summer holidays and at Easter. A shuttle then runs from Tidal River to the Mount Oberon walk.
The bookings, in order. First, two nights at Tidal River, through Parks Victoria. Then the Penguin Parade for the night of day 2. Then the hot springs for the morning of day 2. Then a bed in Sorrento, if you travel at a summer weekend.
What this route leaves out is French Island, reached only by the passenger ferry; the wineries round Red Hill, in the peninsula’s hills; and the Prom’s overnight walks into its southern wilderness. Red Hill fits easily into day 2 if you skip Cape Schanck.
Bushfire. The Prom and Point Nepean are national parks. On a Catastrophic fire danger day, Parks Victoria closes parks; on an Extreme day it asks you to reconsider going. Check each day’s rating on VicEmergency. If a Catastrophic day is forecast while you are at Tidal River, leave the night before or early that morning.
Driving at dusk, and swimming. Animals are on the roads at dawn and dusk, the Prom road above all. Arrive in daylight, slow down where signs warn, and brake rather than swerve. Swim on the calm bay beaches, or between the flags on a patrolled beach; the ocean beaches have strong rips.
With children. The Penguin Parade is $17 a child aged 4 to 15, or $85 for a family of four; everyone, babies included, needs a ticket. It is late, cold and dark, hard for toddlers. The koala reserve is $8.75 a child.
The hot springs’ Bath House takes all ages, with children aged 3 to 15 kept with an adult; the spa centre is for 16 and over. Squeaky Beach and the animals at Tidal River suit any age. With a pushchair, the koala boardwalks are the easiest going; the Cape Schanck staircase and the Mount Oberon and Cape Woolamai tracks are not for wheels. We have no guide to Australia with children yet.
Make it yours
Three nights at the Prom. Add a night at Tidal River and give the extra day to the walk to Sealers Cove, through forest and over its reopened boardwalk to a beach on the east coast. It is the Prom’s classic day walk, and it needs the whole day.
Five days, without the peninsula. Drive straight to Phillip Island on day 1, 141 km from Melbourne, and see the parade that night. You lose Arthurs Seat, Point Nepean and the hot springs, and keep the island and the Prom.
Join it to the Great Ocean Road. The car ferry from Sorrento crosses the mouth of Port Phillip to Queenscliff in about 45 minutes, hourly from 7am to 6pm, and Queenscliff is on the way to the Great Ocean Road. Drive this loop with Sorrento as its last night instead of its first, and cross on the ferry to begin our Great Ocean Road and Grampians loop without going back through Melbourne.
If the route slips
The fixed points are the hot springs session and the Penguin Parade on day 2, and the two booked nights at Tidal River.
- Safety first. On a Catastrophic fire day the parks close. Do not drive onto the Prom, and if you are there already, leave as Parks Victoria advises. Follow VicEmergency.
- Use the local fallback. If weather or a late arrival spoils the parade on day 2, book it again for day 3: you are in Cowes for both nights. If the Telegraph Saddle shuttle is not running, give the morning to Squeaky Beach and Picnic Bay instead.
- Drop the peripheral stop. Cape Schanck first, then Point Nepean, then Churchill Island. None is booked.
- Rebook the night. If you lose a night, give up the second night in Cowes, not one at the Prom. Move the bed through whoever you booked it with, and Parks Victoria for Tidal River.
A final word on two bays and the Prom
This is the gentlest of our loops from Melbourne, and perhaps the wildest. The days are short at the wheel and long outdoors: a gondola over one bay, a road round the other, penguins coming home in the dark, and two slow days on the granite at the bottom of the mainland.
Andrew + Margaret
- Australia itineraries Overview
- Phillip Island Overview
- The Great Ocean Road and the Grampians: a 6-day loop Journeys
- The Goldfields and Daylesford: a 4-day loop Journeys
- Melbourne Overview
- Getting around Australia Practical
- Visit Mornington Peninsula Official
- Arthurs Seat Eagle — tickets Booking
- Parks Victoria — Point Nepean National Park Official
- Peninsula Hot Springs — the Bath House Booking
- Phillip Island Nature Parks — the Penguin Parade Booking
- Parks Victoria — Wilsons Promontory National Park Official
- Parks Victoria — staying at Tidal River Booking
- Parks Victoria — park closures on Catastrophic days Safety
- VicEmergency — fire danger ratings and warnings Safety
- Nevil Shute, On the Beach (1957) Reading