The top ski resorts in Australia

Craig Tansley Craig Tansley
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Little known fact: Australia has more mountains covered in snow than Switzerland and our biggest ski resort is over twice the size of New Zealand’s largest. And nowhere else can you ski between gum trees and among kangaroos. So, what more motivation do you need to strap on some skis and hit our home-grown slopes?

With some incredible snowfields across New South Wales and Victoria, it’s time to gather the gear and head to the slopes. Take your pick out of these ski resorts in Australia and get planning.

1. Thredbo

Why Thredbo?

Thredbo looks more like a European-style ski village than a purpose-designed ski resort; homesick Austrians designed it (in the ’60s) to look like the Tyrol region they left behind. Most bars and restaurants offer stunning views over the slopes, all accommodation is a short walk to the lifts (some hotels are ski-in/ski-out) and the skiing is some of Australia’s best.

Who it suits

There’s more to do off-piste at Thredbo than at any other ski resort in Australia, so most will love this place. Thredbo Village has a large variety of cafes, restaurants and retail stores, as well as an art walk featuring more than 30 sculptures and paintings.

Thredbo in NSW
Thredbo is the place to be this winter. (Image: Destination NSW)

Skiing kudos

Thredbo has the highest vertical drop of any Australian resort, and its longest run (the Supertrail). But it also suits total beginners; Friday Flat is one of Australia’s best beginner areas.

Apres and off-piste action

Ski down to the Alpine Bar at Thredbo Alpine Hotel for a taste of Chamonix-style après, with DJs playing from 2 pm to 6 pm as skiers hit the heated pool. Or try Australia’s best alpine cocktails at the Après Bar of the Denman Hotel; its restaurant, The Terrace, is regarded as one of the best restaurants in NSW’s southern region. For families, there’s also a flare run and fireworks display every Saturday night.

Stay at

You’ll find some of Australia’s most luxurious on-snow accommodation in Thredbo, like Ski In Ski Out, Thredbo’s only five-star ski-in, ski-out accommodation, or River Inn, where you can ski right to the chairlift.

Cedar Cabin The Eastern Thredbo
Spend a dreamy winter afternoon sequestered at Thredbo Village’s Cedar Cabin (Credit: Monique Eastern)

Secret gem

Take a snowcat to the Kareela Hutte restaurant on top of the mountain for a five-course meal with matching local wines.

2. Falls Creek

Why Falls Creek?

Falls Creek is the quintessential Aussie snow village, one of the world’s more unique. It is pedestrian-only, so you can walk or ski around the village right up to ski runs, après bars and restaurants.

Drone shot of Falls Creek at sunrise
All the Falls Creek accommodation, dining, day spas and on-piste activities are ski-in/ski-out. (Image: Jezzalanko Creative)

Who it suits

With its small, safe village atmosphere and a high number of beginner runs, Falls Creek was traditionally marketed as Australia’s ultimate family ski resort. But in recent years the development of luxury hotels, bars and restaurants has seen it take aim at the couples market.

Skiing kudos

Victoria’s largest ski resort is also one of the best spots in Australia for cross-country skiing, with 70 kilometres of trails.

Apres and off-piste action

Where Falls Creek’s dining and bar options were once more down-homey, now they’re downright sexy. For drinks, try Apartment 3 or Astra Bar & Restaurant, with culinary treats from award-winning French chef Janis Mallet. QT Falls Creek’s Stingray bar has its characteristic retro style, while its Bazaar restaurant brings some chic to town, with guests encouraged to ‘dress to impress’.

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Stay at

Astra Falls Creek designed its rooms with a European flavour, but it’s the day spa that really impresses. QT Falls Creek is also a super-stylish option.

Astra Falls Creek at night
Stay at Astra Falls Creek to be really impressed. (Image: Tourism Australia)

Secret gem

The ’60s-era Feathertop Alpine Lodge offers the best happy hour at Falls Creek; enjoy Coffin Bay oysters with a glass of Veuve and stunning alpine views.

3. Mt Hotham

Why Mt Hotham?

Mt Hotham is an Australian resort with terrain as challenging as the US or Europe.

Skiers heading down slopes at Mount Hotham in Victoria
Mount Hotham promises visitors incredible panoramic views.

Who it suits

Experts, granted (this is the mountain to come to on a powder day), but there’s a lot at Mt Hotham to suit even the rawest novice. You can also try snow-shoeing or take a sunset tour by Snowcat.

Skiing kudos

Mt Hotham is a magnet for advanced skiers because of its side and backcountry options. There’s a designated Extreme Zone just beyond the lifts, where a free snowcat vehicle will take you to an area featuring gullies, steep cliffs and tree skiing. As for beginners, they get to learn at the top of the mountain (every other ski area uses the bottom of the slopes).

Aerial shot of Craig Parry Village in Mt Hotham
Mt Hotham is a magnet for advanced skiers because of its side and backcountry options. (Image: Victoria High Country)

Apres and off-piste action

Dinner Plain is Mt Hotham’s own specially built alpine village 15 minutes from the slopes. Here you’ll find Stonesthrow Restaurant at Hotel High Plains, with its open fire and windows looking out across the snow; visit after soaking at the Japanese-inspired Onsen Retreat + Spa a few doors up. There’s also fine dining looking across the slopes at Jack Frost Restaurant.

Dinner Plain accommodation in Mt Hotham
Dinner Plain is Mt Hotham’s own specially built alpine village 15 minutes from the slopes. (Image: Julian Kingma)

Stay at

Sleep in a four-storey chalet at Nolyski, with its own sauna, then ski down to fresh snow.

Secret gem

Head to Alpine Nature Experience, Australia’s only igloo village, to camp amid snow gums in a snow dome.

snow dome at alpine nature experiences in mt hotham
Head to Alpine Nature Experience to camp amid snow gums in a snow dome. (Image: Kate Hanton)

4. Mt Buller

Why Mt Buller?

You can be on a chairlift in three hours from Melbourne’s CBD.

Who it suits

Everyone. Some 65 per cent of Mt Buller is designated as a beginner or intermediate terrain, while the remaining 35 per cent includes some of the most challenging terrain in Australasia. With its wide range of activities and après-ski options, it’s also ideal for those who don’t want to ski all day.

Kids skiing in Mt Buller
65 per cent of Mt Buller is designated as a beginner or intermediate terrain. (Image: Andrew Railton)

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Skiing kudos

Beginner area Bourke Street runs alongside some of Mt Buller’s best cafes, restaurants and bars, offering a non-stop action reel of spills and thrills. Experts meanwhile have an endless range of tree runs just beyond the groomed slopes.

Apres and off-piste action

Aside from Thredbo, no ski resort in Australia offers the night-time attractions of Mt Buller, with bars and restaurants for every kind of skier: from ski-in, ski-out après bars like the Arlberg Bar, to the best Austrian drinking establishment outside of Europe, Kaptans Restaurant and Herbies Bar, where you can enjoy schnapps and schnitzels beside a log fire. There are plenty of off-piste activities on hand too, from sled dog and snow-shoeing tours to sculpture park walks.

Slopes at Mt Buller
Mt Buller has great night-time attractions. (Image: Andrew Railton)

Stay at

Ski straight to the chairlift from the luxurious Breathtaker Hotel and Spa, which is also home to an award-winning day spa. Chalet 5 is one of Australia’s newest luxury ski-in, ski-out options, part of the new Whitehorse Village.

Secret gem

Mt Buller’s best coffee can be found on a sundeck at Koflers Hutte, right up on the mountain.

Mt Buller sunset
There are plenty of off-piste activities at Mt Buller as well. (Image: Andrew Railton)

5. Perisher

Why Perisher?

Perisher is Australia’s answer to the super-resorts of North America and Europe, an amalgamation of four ski villages that covers 1245 hectares and is serviced by Australia’s only underground alpine railway. This means you can easily stay in the nearby ski town Jindabyne for a bigger choice of restaurants, bars and activities.

Who it suits

Eighty per cent of the mountain at Perisher is designed for beginners and intermediates making it the ideal place for a family ski holiday. It’s not as steep as any of the other major resorts, but you’ll find the southern hemisphere’s best terrain park for experts.

Chair lift at Blue Cow Perisher in New South Wales
Perisher is the largest ski resort in the entire Southern Hemisphere. (Image: Destination NSW)

Skiing kudos

You can ski an entire weekend without doing the same run twice, across four distinct ski areas: Guthega, Blue Cow, Perisher Valley and Smiggin Holes.

Apres and off-piste action

Perisher doesn’t have the same village amenities as its neighbour Thredbo, but what’s here is intimate and cosy. Chill in front of a fire at Marritz Hotel’s Rams Head Bar or Marritz Restaurant or meet locals at the Pub Bar in The Man From Snowy River Hotel. If staying in Jindabyne, stop along the way for a locally distilled schnapps at Wildbrumby Distillery or a craft beer with tapas at Jindabyne Brewing. Brumby Bar & Grill offers the best dinner option in town.

Stay at

Lake Crackenback Resort & Spa offers two on-site restaurants and a day spa, or stay beside the lifts at Barrakee Ski Lodge.

Secret gem

You’ll find 100 kilometres of cross-country skiing at nearby Alpine National Park; try snow-shoeing with Wilderness Sports.

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Craig Tansley
Craig Tansley has been a travel writer for over 20 years, winning numerous awards along the way. A long-time sucker for adventure, he loves to write about the experiences to be had on islands, on the sea, in forests or deserts; or anywhere in nature across Australia, and the world.
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Discovering Bendigo’s unique heritage through incredible foodie experiences

    Kate Bettes Kate Bettes
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    Tuck your napkin firmly in place and get ready to dive into Bendigo’s history.

    It’s an internationally recognised fact that Bendigo food experiences prove this region knows how to wine and dine. After all, its shiraz-laden landscape was named Australia’s first UNESCO Creative City and Region of Gastronomy. But what visitors lured in by this shiny label might not know is how deeply its culinary scene sits within the gold-rush town’s colourful past.

    Whether you’re eating in a grand colonial bank or nibbling through a gold miner’s garden, grab a big plate. In Bendigo, every meal is served with a huge helping of heritage.

    Take a food tour

    foodie walking tour in bendigo at Ms Batterhams restaurant Bendigo foodie experiences
    Join a Foodie Walking Tour to local highlights like Ms Batterhams.

    Start in the capable hands of Bendigo Guided Tours. Named as the 2025 Victorian Best New Tourism Business, they run two 12-person options. A Taste of Bendigo – Foodie Walking Tour will see you tasting seasonal dishes and sipping wine, craft beer and cocktails made with regional spirits over two-and-a-half hours, with stops at Ms Batterhams, Wine Bank on View, The Dispensary and Bendigo Brewing.

    You can up the ante a notch or two with the Four Hats of Bendigo – a night of fine-dine hopping with the experts across Terrae, Le Foyer, Alium Dining and The Woodhouse.

    Book a table

    Terrae restaurant in bendigo victoria
    Dine at Terrae.

    Alternatively, see Bendigo’s stars under your own steam. There’s Terrae, where produce from the owners’ own farm kitchen garden and orchard is plated up inside what was once a bank, while cocktails are poured in the underground bar below. For something special, book a private table in old bank vault. Rather less wholesome? The bullet hole in the window – a throwback to Victoria’s wild gold rush era.

    Another former bank-turned-eatery, Alium Dining, goes full art nouveau inside a 1908 building overlooking the Alexandra Fountain in the heart of Bendigo. Here, Alium’s Asian-meets-European flavours run all the way from duck leg croquettes with mandarin marmalade to raw trevally with coconut and nước chấm, to pork milanese with anchovy and stout mustard.

    Beneath an old school hall at Mackenzie Quarters, Ms Batterhams serves southern European-inspired dishes inside a 19th-century basement bar and restaurant. Beyond its sourdough crumpets (smeared with taramasalata, paprika and parsley oil, if you must know) is the origin of the restaurant’s name: Winifred Batterham, the owners’ mother’s former kindergarten teacher. Honour her properly with a ‘Winifred’ cocktail.

    Alium Dining in bendigo victoria
    Alium Dining offers a unique setting inside a 1908 building.

    Carnivores, get ready to bang your sharpest knives on the table. Bendigo’s only dedicated steakhouse, The Woodhouse, specialises in Wagyu sourced from surrounding farms. They’ve got beef every which way – from tartare topped with Giaveri Oscietra caviar and wagyu toast to porterhouse dry-aged and grilled over redgum.

    Your next bank stop on the food circuit is Bunja Thai. Housed inside the former Colonial Bank, it’s all Victorian-era Australian grandeur, from the enormous arched ceilings to the detailing overhead. Thai Singha and local craft beer jostle for attention – but both are perfect quenchers when you’re sharing barramundi baked in banana leaf beneath all that old-world opulence.

    If your trip through Australia isn’t complete without a country pub stop, make it The Bridgewater Hotel on the Loddon River. Renovated since its 1942 beginnings, but the establishment still retains its Art Deco charm. It’s the kind of place where steak burgers come stacked with bacon, egg, cheese and dripping beetroot relish, and are best handled in the riverside beer garden.

    Pour a glass

    Heathcote Wine Hub bendigo food experiences
    Find over 180 local wines at Heathcote Wine Hub.

    Your plate’s been stacked. Now it’s the glass’s turn – ideally with the famously bold shiraz and cab sav grown here. Early settlers in Bendigo and Heathcote were onto something when they first planted vines in the area’s mineral-rich soil, and their legacy still pours strong across more than 60 cellar doors today. Start big at the Heathcote Wine Hub, where more than 180 wines from nearby vineyards sit beneath the rafters of a restored former wooden church, with 16 available to taste by the glass.

    Heathcote Winery might have become one of the area’s first commercial wineries in the seventies, but its story started way before its courtyard tastings. Back in 1854, it operated as a miners’ produce store during the gold-rush years. Other cellar doors aren’t immune to reinvention under the wine wave either. At Munari Wines in Heathcote, charcuterie boards are presented in their newly renovated cellar, originally the stables of the former sheep station.

    Discover local events

    the Heritage and Hidden Spaces Wine Walk in bendigo
    Time your trip for the Heritage and Hidden Spaces Wine Walk

    Time your trip right and watch the parks, gardens and buildings fill with food and drink. Fans of the malt: mark 29 August  2026 for Bendigo On The Hop, when craft breweries take over venues throughout the CBD. Brews make way for history at the Heritage and Hidden Spaces Wine Walk (17 October 2026), where bottles are opened inside some of the city’s most interesting buildings – including rarely opened spaces. In November, the Regional Gin Gala raises spirits in Mackenzie Quarters with a boozy celebration of its homegrown distilleries, including Noble Bootleggers, Envy Distilling and In Good Spirits. Explore wine, food and live music at Heathcote on Show (6 – 8 June 2026).

    Take it all in

    bendigo tram cafe Bendigo foodie experiences
    Tram meets tasty at Bendigo Tram Cafe.

    Takeaway means something different in Bendigo. At Australia’s oldest operating Tram Depot, the Tram Cafe sits aboard an out-of-service 1916 N-Class Tram that serves tea and scones. Once you’ve polished off the last crumb, you can even pop into the driver’s cab and try the controls yourself.

    Peppergreen Farm continues Bendigo’s long connection to Chinese market gardens, first established here by immigrants in the 1850s. Today, the not-for-profit farm invites visitors to pick up organic produce, alongside jars of honey harvested from its own hives.

    Indulge in retail therapy

    Bendigo Pottery
    Elevate your at-home dining experience after a trip to Bendigo Pottery.

    If there’s still room in your bag among the clanking jars and bottles, stop by Uniquely Bendigo inside the Old Post Office. Sharing space with the Bendigo Visitor Centre, it’s a one-stop shop for favourites like Bendigo Brittle, Bridgeward Grove and Tea Associates.

    If you’d rather leave your fingerprints on your Bendigo souvenir, there’s a place for that too. At Bendigo Pottery, visitors can try their hand at shaping clay while taking part in another tradition of evolving old spaces – creating works of art within Australia’s oldest working pottery.

    Start planning your Bendigo adventure at bendigotourism.com.