Wonderful hikes in and around Melbourne
Get out, stretch your legs and breathe some fresh air.
Hello! I’m Celine and I write about books, cooking, walking, creativity and surviving life in the city, with a wild heart. Subscribe for free posts like this one, or join the community for other exclusive writing. Either way, thanks for reading!
Autumn is, in my opinion, one of the best times of the year for a few outdoorsy pursuits.
The weather can still be really nice, the leaves of trees are doing their thing and the summer crowds have dissipated somewhat. All good reasons to get outside and go for a lovely amble.
Here’s a collection of some most excellent day walks in Melbourne and beyond. Inspiration to get out of the house, get into nature and enjoy the scenery along the way.
Hikes in the city
Capital City Trail
This 29 kilometre trail starts in the city centre (in Southbank) and follows the Yarra River (Birrarung) past sights such as the Arts Centre, Royal Botanic Gardens and Melbourne Cricket Grounds.
There are some other lesser-known sights along the way, such as Herring Island, Burnley Gardens and Dights Falls, Melbourne’s only ‘waterfall’ (apparently there used to be an actual waterfall leading into the city, but it got dynamited for reasons I can’t remember, which is cool, thanks guys).
The entire trail takes around four hours to finish.
Yarra Bend Park Loop
This two hour walk takes you through some of the city’s nicest natural spaces, right near the Yarra River (Birrarung).
Merri Creek Trail
This is a lovely trail that merrily follows the Merri Creek, beloved by north-dwelling Melburnians.
Starting in Fitzroy North, the trail cuts through the city’s northern suburbs, finishing in Fawkner.
If you’re keen to do the whole trail, be warned it’s point to point. You’ll need someone to pick you up at the end, or you can catch public transport back towards the inner city.
St Kilda Solar System Trail
Difficulty: Easy
You may think you’re simply walking along the City of Port Phillip foreshore, but you’re actually travelling along a to-size replica of our solar system. See the map (1.2 MB, PDF).
The trail starts with our sun and ends at Pluto. Not considered one of the big boys anymore, but still an important part of our solar system!
Built to scale, every centimetre you walk equates to 10,000kms, yikes. That’s some distance.
Hikes west of the city
You Yangs Regional Park
Distance from Melbourne: around 1 hour, 10 minutes from the city centre
Difficulty: Easy to moderate
The You Yangs as they’re known, are an easy drive along the M1, with a turn off before Geelong.
There are quite a few hikes to choose from, suitable to different levels of fitness. My favourite is the East and West walk, which will take you around one of the hills/mountains (it’s not really a mountain, but anyway).
Werribee Gorge Circuit
Distance from Melbourne: 1 hour
Difficulty: Medium
This popular walk is also quite challenging; there’s some rock scrambling involved, which can be upsetting if there are many people on the trail (as everyone just kinda has to climb over each other, coming from opposite directions).
My advice? Don’t go on a sunny public holiday! Just don’t do it.
I highly recommend wearing shoes with grip, so proper hiking boots (I swear by my Teva’s). Don’t be like the people I once saw attempting this walk in Converse sneakers.
Read this next:
Lerderderg State Park
Distance from Melbourne: 1 hour
Difficulty: Challenging
Up for a proper challenge? Hit the 8 kilometre long Lerderderg Gorge Circuit.
Keep in mind, this trail involves river crossings. So perhaps not entirely advisable to head here in winter, or after heavy rainfall.
Regardless of when you do it, you’ll be rewarded with gorgeous views of the gorge on the way up and down.
Brisbane Ranges National Park
Distance from Melbourne: around 1.5 hours
Difficulty: Easy to challenging, depending on which route you take
There are a few different walks in this park.
If you’re new to hiking or just fancy more of a nice stroll through bushland, try the Anakie Gorge Walk. It’s 8 kilometres long and takes around two hours to complete.
For a full day of walking, jump on the Brisbane Ranges Circuit Walk. This 17.9 kilometre trail should take around four hours to finish, which will certainly feel like an achievement.
Hikes north of the city
Mount Macedon
Distance from Melbourne: 1 hour
Difficulty: Easy to moderate
Head to Mt Macedon at this time of the year for gorgeous autumn foliage. A word of warning – it’ll seem like the whole of Victoria is there too.
Once you’re there, pick from several different walks of varying lengths and difficulty. Walk to the summit of the highest peak in Macedon Regional Park, Camel’s Hump. Trek to Sanatorium Lake.
Or jump on the Macedon Ranges Walking Trail, a full day’s walk which takes around 5 hours to complete.
Hanging Rock
Distance from Melbourne: 1 hour drive
Difficulty: Moderate
Victoria’s Hanging Rock is basically famous due to Joan Lindsay’s slim novel Picnic at Hanging Rock.
The main trail here is the trek to the summit. It’s not a hard walk, but it takes around an hour to do properly, leaving yourself time to take in the views from the top.
Black Hill Reserve
Distance from Melbourne: 1 hour 10 minutes driving
Difficulty: Moderate
This reserve is located in 260 acres of bushland and there are several walking tracks to choose from. On your first visit, you may want to jump on the Circuit Track, which is a 3.9km trail with only a few inclines.
The Ridge Track is only 2.7km but has steeper sections. However, the pay off is some lovely views.
Organ Pipes National Park
Distance from Melbourne: 35 minutes
Difficulty: Moderate
This unique park is located on the edge of one of the world’s largest volcanic lava flows. It takes around half an hour to trek to the ‘Organ Pipes’ the park is named after.
These columns were formed when huge quantities of molten lava were ejected from volcanoes a short distance away, then flowed over the plains. I find it wild that Victoria was once mega volcanic. We should just rename it to ‘Volcano’, that would be fun and cool.
Cathedral Range State Park
Distance from Melbourne: 2 hours driving
Difficulty: Moderate to challenging
After an adventurous day hike near Melbourne? Trek out to Cathedral Range State Park, north-east of the city.
Take to the Friends Nature Trail for a gentle walk or get the blood pumping on the 5.3 km Razorback Trail or circuit routes.
Read this next:
Hikes east of the city
Dandenong Ranges National Park
Distance from Melbourne: around an hour driving. You can also get here by train – alight at Belgrave.
Difficulty: Easy to moderate
Choose from an array of top day hikes near Melbourne at this one park.
The most popular trail is the Kokoda Track Memorial Walk, which consists of 1000 steps. It’s basically a very steep war memorial, modelled after the real Kokoda Trail located in Papua New Guinea. It’s also very popular; you have been warned.
Sherbrooke Falls Loop is another good walk, trailing past gigantic Mountain Ash trees and lush ferns.
Mornington Peninsula National Park
Distance from Melbourne: 1 hour 20 minutes
Difficulty: Easy to moderate
This lovely coastal park has quite a few trails you can attempt on a day trip to the Mornington Peninsula.
I recommend jumping on the Two Bays Walking Track, a moderately challenging hike which takes around three hours to complete.
You’ll head towards Cape Schanck Lighthouse, check out the sights there and on the way, then turn around and head back to Bushrangers Bay Picnic Area.
Hikes south of the city
Cape Woolamai Circuit Walk
Distance from Melbourne: 1 hour 40 minute drive
Difficulty: Moderate
This walk is located on Victoria’s gorgeous Phillip Island, one of my favourite places for a weekend break in the state.
The 8.3 kilometre trek generally takes around two hours to complete. Highlights include wildlife, such as migratory birds(!), wallabies, possums, koalas and perhaps even Australian fur seals.
You should attempt this walk during low tide, as part of it trails along beach.
French Island
Distance from Melbourne: 1 hour 14 minute drive plus the ferry ride. You can also catch a train from Melbourne to Stony Point, swapping at Frankston and jump on the ferry from there.
Difficulty: Easy
Take a loop around a relatively peaceful trail on an off-grid island.
Along this path you’ll pass wetlands, mangroves and small forest. You will probably also see plenty of wildlife, such as birds and echidnas.
This is one of the quieter trails I’ve been on – in fact I saw absolutely no one when I walked it myself. No humans at least.
Bliss.
Read an account of visiting French Island.
***
Hopefully there’s some inspiration to get you out and about, if you live in Melbourne (or plan on visiting at some point).
If you don’t, I’d love to hear about any walks in your town that you love ambling along.
See you next week – same time, same place.
‘Til then, stay well and well-fed.
-Celine
Coming up on What’s Cooking this month:
Remember in ye olden days of TV where you only got one episode of your favourite show a week and at the end, you were teased with what was to come? I guess this is like that.
To come:
Some notes on wild herbalism
Ditching your smartphone for a ‘dumb phone’
Art boot camp wrap up
April’s crumbs.
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Other posts on hiking:
I'd like to register my vote in supporting the name change from Victoria to Volcano.
So many great hikes here! (And so many I hadn't even heard of!) I honestly want to treat this as a checklist and work my way down now.