Guide · Victoria day trips ·
Mornington Peninsula day trip: beaches and cellar doors
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A Mornington Peninsula day trip works best as one simple loop: Red Hill in the morning, Sorrento for lunch, and Point Nepean National Park in the afternoon. Visit Victoria says the peninsula is about an hour from Melbourne, and Parks Victoria puts Point Nepean, at the very tip, 90 km from the city.
This guide gives the order of the stops, the park hours that decide your timing, and the option of coming home by ferry. It also covers the roadworks and the drink-driving rule that matter most if you plan to visit a cellar door.
Sources for this section: Visit Victoria, Mornington Peninsula; Parks Victoria, Point Nepean National Park.
The loop at a glance
| Stop | Best for | Plan around |
|---|---|---|
| Red Hill | Cellar doors, farm food, a market | The market is listed for Saturday 1 September 2018 |
| Sorrento | Lunch by the bay, the ferry to Queenscliff | Ferry runs on the hour, every day |
| Point Nepean National Park | Forts, tunnels, the Quarantine Station, ocean views | Vehicle gate open 8am to 5pm |
Start early. The park gate is the one fixed deadline in the day, so work backwards from 5pm and leave the flexible stops for the morning.
Sources for this section: Visit Victoria, Mornington Peninsula; Parks Victoria, Point Nepean National Park; Searoad Ferries, Queenscliff to Sorrento.
Red Hill in the morning
Red Hill sits in the hills inland from the beaches. Visit Victoria lists boutique wineries, the Green Olive at Red Hill with its farm shop and tapas, the Sunny Ridge Strawberry Farm, and the Ashcombe Maze and Lavender Gardens among the highlights of the region.
The Red Hill Community Market is also listed on Visit Victoria's events page for Saturday 1 September 2018. It describes the market as running since 1975, so it is an old favourite rather than a pop-up. If your trip falls on another day, pick one or two stops, not five.
Keep the morning short. Two cellar doors or one long farm lunch is plenty before the drive south.
Sources for this section: Visit Victoria, Mornington Peninsula.
Sorrento and the ferry option
Sorrento is the town where the car and passenger ferry from Queenscliff lands. Searoad Ferries describes the crossing as all weather, hourly and daily. Parks Victoria says the ferry runs on the hour from 7am to 6pm, with longer hours in summer.
That gives you a second way to make the day trip. You can drive from Melbourne to the peninsula and return the same way. Or you can cross by ferry to or from Queenscliff, on the Bellarine Peninsula, and make a loop of it around Port Phillip Bay. Check the current timetable and fares with Searoad before you plan around a particular sailing.
Whichever way you travel, Sorrento is a natural lunch stop between the hills and the park.
Sources for this section: Searoad Ferries, Queenscliff to Sorrento; Parks Victoria, Point Nepean National Park.
Point Nepean National Park
Point Nepean is at the very tip of the peninsula. The park covers 470 hectares, with views over Bass Strait, the Rip and Port Phillip Bay. Parks Victoria lists military forts and tunnels, the Quarantine Station, and the memorial where Prime Minister Harold Holt went missing.
The Quarantine Station was established in 1852 and has almost 50 heritage listed buildings. Fort Nepean is further along the point. A hop-on, hop-off shuttle runs between the two.
- Hours: The park is open every day. Vehicles can enter from 8am to 5pm, or until 6pm from 26 December to the end of daylight saving. You can always enter on foot or by bicycle.
- Information centre: Open 10am to 4pm daily, with no officer on duty from 1.00pm to 1.30pm.
- Beach access: Parks Victoria closed The Bend steps in May because of severe erosion. Beach access was open only at Observatory Point and the Quarantine Station.
Allow at least two or three hours. Walk or ride the shuttle to the fort, then come back via the Quarantine Station.
Sources for this section: Parks Victoria, Point Nepean National Park, including its conditions notices of May 2018.
Roadworks and drink-driving
Check conditions before you set out. From 28 May 2018, Parks Victoria closed a 3.6 km section of Defence Road for up to nine weeks of upgrade works. While it was closed, there was no access to Fort Nepean or Gunners Cottage carpark, and the shuttle did not run. Look at the park's conditions notice to see whether the road is open for your date.
If you plan to taste wine, decide who drives before you leave. In Victoria, driving with a blood alcohol reading over 0.05 is an offence. In 2016 the state government announced that every convicted drink driver would be required to use an alcohol interlock. The safest plan is a designated driver, or a tour that does the driving for you.
Fill the tank in Melbourne or at the first town on the peninsula. The park itself is at the end of the road.
Sources for this section: Parks Victoria, Point Nepean National Park; Transport Accident Commission, news release of 13 May 2016.
Sources
- Parks Victoria, Point Nepean National Park: parkweb.vic.gov.au
- Visit Victoria, Mornington Peninsula: visitvictoria.com
- Searoad Ferries, Queenscliff to Sorrento: searoad.com.au
- Transport Accident Commission, No second chances: crackdown on drink driving, 13 May 2016: tac.vic.gov.au