The Great Ocean Road is one of the best road trips in the world, with spiralling cliff-edge roads and spectacular views. It’s comparable to the famous Pacific Coast Highway, which we travelled a couple of years back. However, the iconic Great Ocean Road isn’t just winding coastal roads and limestone rocks, it has rainforests, marine national parks and awesome beaches.
This is a great place to visit if you are an international traveller, or simply locked down in Victoria. It can be the perfect trip for a weekend but you could probably extend it for a week or so and travel even further along this majestic stretch of coastline. However long you decide to road trip for, make sure you visit the following sites:
- Bells Beach
- Split Point Lighthouse
- Aireys Inlet
- Lorne
- Kennet River
- Great Otay National Park
- London Bridge
- Loche Ard Gorg
- The Grotto
- 12 Apostles
- The Great Ocean Road Wildlife Park
- Bay Of Islands / Bay Of Martyrs
Where to stay on the Great Ocean Road
In order to comfortably spread out your drive across a long weekend and access the best spots, whilst enjoy staying in some great locations; I recommend you stay in the following places. These will allow you to have a couple of days of reasonably distanced drives and you’ll be able to spend enough time at each stop without having to rush.
Apollo Bay
Apollo Bay is just a super chilled seaside town, right on the sea-front. Pretty much all the hotels and motels are centred around one small strip of restaurants and cafes. This is a really easy place to spend your first night along the Great Ocean road.
If you’re looking for a cheap eat in Apollo Bay, I would recommend Chopstix Noodle Bar, for casual dining and a pretty decent Pad Thai.
Peterborough or Port Campbell
Port Campbell is the main location to visit and stay in, but for the more budget traveller, you can stay 15 minutes away in the tiny town of Peterborough. There isn’t a great deal there, but you can still base yourself on the main coastal road and you are also within a short drive of a few quiet viewing spots to start the next day.
Forage On The Foreshore is a perfect spot for some lunch during the day. Located in a little cover with a beachfront, you can sit inside or out. Take a break from your busy itinerary with a simple sandwich, cake or all-day breakfast menu.
Torquay or Geelong
If you are heading back the next day to drop off your rental car as we did, then you might want to pick somewhere just an hour’s drive away from Melbourne CBD. As we were planning to arrive later the night before and set off early we opted for Geelong, especially as it was substantially cheaper in terms of accommodation. However Torquey is the more beachy seaside option if you do plan to spend a little more time chilling on your final night.
Hotels on the Great Ocean Road
Sandpiper Motel (Apollo Bay)
I would give this motel a 5 star. Easy to check-in, polite service, clean and very comfortable rooms with a little outside space. The location was just a one or two minute walk from the local restaurants. I’ll definitely consider booking next time I travel the Great Ocean Road.
Seahorse Coastal Villas (Peterborough)
When I walked into our Villa I remember thinking it was actually a shared space of lobby because it was so spacious. It had a living room and a kitchen with a homely feel and as a result we cooked our first meal in 3 months of travelling there.
The owner was a really easy going and easy to talk to guy, and that’s actually one of the reasons I would think about staying there again. There’s not very much at all located nearby but as this is a road trip, you can also drive to the next town.
Discovery Parks Geelong
Simple and affordable, cheap and cheerful, and all the other similar cliches you can think off. It’s not going to blow your mind but this place will do the trick for a final night.
Stops on the Great Ocean Road By Day
There are so many little spots on the Great Ocean Road that you will feel like you are constantly stopping. To help fit them nearly into one itinerary, I’ve broken them out by day.
Day 1: Melbourne CBD To Apollo Bay
Bells Beach
Torquay is one of the surf capitals of the world and as such Bells beach plays host to the Ripcurl Pro annually each Easter weekend. There’s a good reason for this too! I have never seen waves like it, and I watched in awe as the surfers rode the mega waves from the viewing point at Bells beach.
Great Otay National Park
The Great Otway National Park stretches from Torquay, along the world-famous Great Ocean Road and up through the Otway. It contains the likes of Apollo Bay and the Twelve Apostles.
Split Point Lighthouse & Aireys Inlet
The Round the Twist Lighthouse in the sleepy seaside village of Aireys Inlet, just 25 minutes from Torquay along the Great Ocean Road. I’d also recommend you visit the Skinny Legs Cafe, for one of the best roast pork sandwiches in the world.
Lorne
I’ll admit we just had a drive through Lorne, but if you don’t grab lunch at the Skinny Legs cafe, then Lorne looked like a great place for a spot of lunch for a coffee.
Nearby Lorne is the Beach Forest, which we skipped because the wind had really picked up and it was looking like rain. However, I will be back next time for the 2km rainforest canopy Treetop Walk and zipline experience.
Also 30 mins after Lorne is Kennett River, which is one of Australia top Koala-spotting capitals but we saw just one single bear hiding at the top of a tree.
Melba Gully
There is 35 minute Madsen’s Track Nature Walk which provides a mini adventure into a world of ancient, mossy trees and cool fern gullies. The air is so fresh here, you’ll love it!
Day 2 – Apollo Bay To Peterborough (Sat)
Port Campbell National Park
The Port Campbell National Park’s coastline has earned it the nickname of the Shipwreck Coast. The rock formations there are famous the world over and include the likes of London Bridge, The Grotto, Loch Ard Gorge and the unmissable Twelve Apostles.
Loche Ard Gorg
The Loch Ard Gorge is surrounded by jagged cliff tops, and it can be breathtaking to watch the waves roll and crash against the cliff faces. The power of the waves crashing against Australia’s coastal walls is really something to see.
There is also a little beach tucked away just outside of the view below, that you can walk down to, should you fancy just chilling out.
12 Apostles
No Great Ocean Road Trip is complete without a visit to this iconic location. The rocky stacks formations known as the 12 Apostles stand proudly in the panoramic views across rich azure waters.
London Bridge
The stack was created over hundreds of years, with the weaker layers toward the base being eroded away by wind and water to form a structure that looks a little like London’s London Bridge.
The Grotto
This picturesque grotto is a great way to finish off for the day. If you can arrive during golden hour you will be treated to a perfect reflection in the water or the sky and limestone cliffs. This grotto is essentially a sinkhole where the limestone cliffs fell away to meet the receding cliff line.
This was one of my favourite stops, it was surprisingly spectacular and definitely underrated against places like the 12 Apostles and London Bridge.
Day 3 – Peterborough To Geelong (Sunday)
Bay Of Islands / Bay Of Martyrs
Just a couple of minutes drive from Peterborough, you can see more of the coastlines spectacular views and rock formations.
The Great Ocean Road Wildlife Park
To be clear, Great Ocean Road Wildlife Park is not a zoo. It is a 39 acre family farm where sustainable living and gentle interactions with the animals is promoted. It’s simple and educational and features Emus and Kangaroos. The later of which you can have close encounters with and even feed them by hand.
Final Thoughts On The Great Ocean Road
Driving the Great Ocean Road is a guaranteed great weekend, even if you go in the shoulder season. I’ll admit we didn’t always have perfect weather on our autumn trip but even if you don’t get a perfect sunny day, the scenery is amazing. In fact, sometimes if the wind and waves pick up, it can only add to the rawness of mother-nature.
The sleepy seaside towns are the perfect break from city life and the cosy motels are great for winding down in after a busy day of stop-start exploring. I can gurantee you will need after the exciting cliff-top drives and hikes.
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