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2025 Readers’ Choice Awards – here are the results you’ve been waiting for

Australian Traveller Australian Traveller
Thousands of Australian Traveller readers voted in our 2025 Readers’ Choice Awards. The results are in, and here are your winners.

We asked you to vote for your favourite Australian travel experiences, and we received thousands of responses. Here are the results: the most dreamy destinations, incredible hotels and unforgettable journeys around the country. 

Read more about the winners in our 2025 Readers’ Choice hub.

Best city to visit

Winner: Melbourne/Naarm, Vic

Runners-up:  
Sydney/Warrane, NSW 
Perth/Boorloo, WA 
Brisbane/Meanjin, Qld  
Adelaide/Tarntanya, SA 

Best town to travel to

Winner: Noosa , Qld

Runners-up:   
Byron Bay, NSW  
Port Douglas, Qld 
Mudgee, NSW 
Margaret River, WA 

Best outback destination

Winner: Uluṟu, NT  

Runners-up: 
Broken Hill, NSW
Alice Springs, NT
Longreach, Qld
Broome, WA  

Honourable mentions: South Australian outback; Top End, NT 

Best island escape

Winner: Hamilton Island, Qld

Runners-up:  
Lord Howe Island, NSW 
Tasmania  
Kangaroo Island, SA 
Hayman Island, Qld 

Best family holiday spot

Winner: Gold Coast, Qld  

Runners-up:
Noosa, Qld
Sunshine Coast, Qld
Cairns/Gimuy, Qld
Port Douglas, Qld 

Honourable mentions: NSW coastal towns of Yamba, Port Stephens and Port Macquarie 

Best under-the-radar destination

Winner: Tasmania/Lutruwita

Runners-up:
Adelaide/Tarntanya, SA
Kangaroo Island, SA
Yamba, NSW
Canberra, ACT 

 Honourable mention: Newcastle, NSW

Best country escape

Winner: Mudgee, NSW  

Runners-up:   
Hunter Valley, NSW 
Orange, NSW 
Daylesford, Vic  
Margaret River, WA 

Best glamping or off-grid experience

Winner: Sal Salis Ningaloo Reef, WA

Runners-up:   
Paperbark Camp, NSW 
Wallaroo Outback Retreat, Qld 
Longitude 131°, NT 
Cockatoo Island, NSW

Need tips, more detail or itinerary ideas tailored to you? Ask AT.

AI Prompt

Best road trip

Winner: Great Ocean Road , Vic

Runners-up:  
Tasmania/Lutruwita
Gibb River Road, WA 
Cairns to Port Douglas, Qld 
East coast of Australia  

Best foodie experience

Winner: Melbourne/Naarm, Vic

Runners-up:   
Tasmania/Lutruwita
Margaret River, WA 
Adelaide/Tarntanya, SA 
Hunter Valley, NSW 

Best wine region

Winner: Barossa Valley, SA 

Runners-up:  
Hunter Valley, NSW 
Margaret River, WA 
Yarra Valley, Vic 
McLaren Vale, SA

Best cultural or arts experience

Winner: Melbourne/Naarm, Vic 

Runners-up:  
Mona, Tas
Uluṟu, NT
Sydney/Warrane, NSW  
National Gallery of Victoria, Vic 

Best festival to travel for

Winner: Adelaide Fringe, SA

Runners-up:   
Vivid Sydney, NSW  
Dark Mofo, Tas 
Byron Bay Bluesfest, NSW 
Floriade, ACT

Best First Nations experience

Winner: Uluṟu, NT  

Kakadu, NT   
Darwin, NT   
Alice Springs/Mparntwe, NT  
Garma Festival, NT

Best beach

Winner: Whitehaven Beach, Qld

Runners-up:  
Noosa Main Beach, Qld  
Bondi Beach, Qld 
Hyams Beach, NSW   
Cable Beach, WA

Best walk or hike destination

Winner: Blue Mountains, NSW

Runners-up:  
Cradle Mountain, Tas  
Grampians/Gariwerd, Vic 
Bondi to Coogee, NSW   
Noosa National Park, Qld 

Best rail journey

Winner: The Ghan, SA-NT 

Runners-up:   
Indian Pacific, WA, SA + NSW 
Puffing Billy, Vic   
Kuranda Scenic Railway, Qld   
Spirit of Queensland, Qld 

Best resort

Weekly travel news, experiences
insider tips, offers, and more.

Winner: Hamilton Island, Qld

Runners-up:  
Hayman Island, Qld   
qualia, Qld   
Sea World Resort, Qld   
Saffire Freycinet, Tas  

Best destination for wellness

Winner: Byron Bay, NSW 

Runners-up:  
Daylesford, Vic   
Gwinganna Lifestyle Retreat, Qld   
Noosa, Qld 
Hepburn Springs, Vic

Best family accommodation

Winner: Sea World Resort, Qld

Runners-up:   
Paradise Resort, Gold Coast  
Turtle Beach Resort, Qld  
RACV Noosa, Qld  
Wallaroo Outback Retreat, Qld 

Best hotel

Winner: Park Hyatt Sydney, NSW 

Runners-up:  
The Calile Hotel, Qld   
W Melbourne, Vic   
W Sydney, NSW 
Crown Towers Melbourne, Vic

Best accommodation brand

Winner: Accor  

Runners-up:  
Marriott  
Hilton  
Sofitel  
Hyatt  

Best luxury accommodation brand

Winner: Sofitel 

Runners-up:  
Crown  
Hilton  
Hyatt  
Langham 

Best cruise line to sail from Australia

Winner: Royal Caribbean

Runners-up:  
Princess Cruises   
Carnival Cruise Line    
Celebrity Cruises 
Ponant

Best airline

Winner: Qantas

Runners-up:  
Virgin Australia  
Jetstar   
Rex Airlines   

Best airport to spend time in

Winner: Sydney/Warrane, NSW  

Runners-up:   
Melbourne/Naarm, Vic   
Brisbane/Meanjin, Qld   
Adelaide/Tarntanya, SA   
Perth/Boorloo, WA

BONUS: Editors’ Choice

Winner: The Kimberley, WA 

Runners-up:  
Hamilton Island (Race Week), Qld 
Cocos Keeling Islands 
Arnhem Land, NT 
Southern Highlands (Osborn House), NSW 
Arkaba Walk, SA 
Victoria’s High Country (Pedal to Produce Trail), Vic 

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The Macedon Ranges is Victoria’s best-kept food and wine secret

    Emily McAuliffe Emily McAuliffe
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    Located just an hour north-west of Melbourne, the largely undiscovered Macedon Ranges quietly pours some of Australia’s finest cool-climate wines and serves up some of Victoria’s best food.

    Mention the Macedon Ranges and most people will think of day spas and mineral springs around Daylesford, cosy weekends away in the countryside or the famous Hanging Rock (of enigmatic picnic fame). Or they won’t have heard of the Macedon Ranges at all.

    But this cool-climate destination has been inconspicuously building a profile as a high-quality food and wine region and is beginning to draw serious attention from oenophiles and epicureans alike.

    The rise of Macedon Ranges wine

    liquid gold barrels at Kyneton Ridge Estate Winery
    Barrels of liquid gold at Kyneton Ridge Estate Winery. (Image: Chloe Smith Photography)

    With elevations ranging from 300 to 800 metres, Macedon Ranges vineyards are among the highest in the country. This altitude, combined with significant day/night temperature swings, makes for a slow ripening season, in turn nurturing wines that embody elegance and structure. Think crisp chardonnays, subtle yet complex pinot noirs and delicate sparkling wines, along with niche varietals, such as gamay and nebbiolo.

    Despite the region’s natural advantages – which vary from estate to estate, as each site embodies unique terroir depending on its position in relation to the Great Dividing Range, soil make-up and altitude – the Macedon Ranges has remained something of an insider’s secret. Unlike Victoria’s Yarra Valley or Mornington Peninsula, you won’t find large tour buses here and there’s no mass marketing drawing crowds.

    Many of the 40-odd wineries are family-run operations with modest yields, meaning the wineries maintain a personal touch (if you visit a cellar door, you’ll likely chat to the owner or winemaker themselves) and a tight sales circle that often doesn’t go far beyond said cellar door. And that’s part of the charm.

    Though wines from the Macedon Ranges are just starting to gain more widespread recognition in Australia, the first vines were planted in the 1860s, with a handful of operators then setting up business in the 1970s and ’80s. The industry surged again in the 1990s and early 2000s with the entry of wineries, such as Mount Towrong, which has an Italian slant in both its wine and food offering, and Curly Flat, now one of the largest estates.

    Meet the new generation of local winemakers

    the Clydesdale barn at Paramoor.
    The Clydesdale barn at Paramoor. (Image: Chloe Smith Photography)

    Then, within the last 15 years, a new crop of vignerons like Andrew Wood at Kyneton Ridge Estate, whose vineyard in 2024 was the first in the Macedon Ranges to be certified by Sustainable Winegrowing Australia; Geoff Plahn and Samantha Reid at Paramoor, who have an impressive cellar door with a roaring fire and studded leather couches in an old Clydesdale barn; and Ollie Rapson and Renata Morello at Lyons Will, who rapidly expanded a small vineyard to focus on top-shelf riesling, gamay, pinot noir and chardonnay, have taken ownership of local estates.

    Going back to the early days, Llew Knight’s family was one of the pioneers of the 1970s, replacing sheep with vines at Granite Hills when the wool industry dwindled. Knight is proud of the fact that all their wines are made with grapes from their estate, including a light, peppery shiraz (some Macedon wineries purchase fruit from nearby warmer areas, such as Heathcote, particularly to make shiraz) and a European-style grüner veltliner. And, as many other wineries in the region do, he relies on natural acid for balance, rather than an additive, which is often required in warmer regions. “It’s all about understanding and respecting your climate to get the best out of your wines,” he says.

    farm animals atKyneton Ridge Estate
    Curious residents at Kyneton Ridge Estate. (Image: Chloe Smith Photography)

    Throughout the Macedon Ranges, there’s a growing focus on sustainability and natural and low-intervention wines, with producers, such as Brian Martin at Hunter Gatherer making waves in regenerative viticulture. Martin previously worked in senior roles at Australia’s largest sparkling winemaking facility, and now applies that expertise and his own nous to natural, hands‑off, wild-fermented wines, including pét‑nat, riesling and pinot noir. “Wild fermentation brings more complexity,” he says. “Instead of introducing one species of yeast, you can have thousands and they add different characteristics to the wine.”

    the vineyard at Kyneton Ridge Estate Winery
    The estate’s vineyard, where cool-climate grapes are grown. (Image: Chloe Smith Photography)

    Most producers also focus on nurturing their grapes in-field and prune and pick by hand, thus avoiding the introduction of impurities and the need to meddle too much in the winery. “The better the quality of the fruit, the less you have to interfere with the natural winemaking process,” says Wood.

    Given the small yields, there’s also little room for error, meaning producers place immense focus on quality. “You’re never going to compete in the middle [in a small region] – you’ve got to aim for the top,” says Curly Flat owner Jeni Kolkka. “Big wineries try to do things as fast as possible, but we’re in no rush,” adds Troy Walsh, owner and winemaker at Attwoods. “We don’t use commercial yeasts; everything is hand-harvested and everything is bottled here, so we bottle only when we’re ready, not when a big truck arrives.” That’s why, when you do see a Macedon Ranges product on a restaurant wine list, it’s usually towards the pointy end.

    Come for the wine, stay for the food

    pouring sauce onto a dish at Lake HouseDaylesford
    Dining at Lake House Daylesford is a treat. (Image: Chloe Smith Photography)

    If wine is the quiet achiever of the Macedon Ranges, then food is its not-so-secret weapon. In fact, the area has more hatted restaurants than any other region in Victoria. A pioneer of the area’s gourmet food movement is region cheerleader Alla Wolf-Tasker, culinary icon and founder of Daylesford’s Lake House.

    For more than three decades, Wolf-Tasker has championed local producers and helped define what regional fine dining can look like in Australia. Her influence is palpable, not just in the two-hatted Lake House kitchen, but in the broader ethos of the region’s dining scene, as a wave of high-quality restaurants have followed her lead to become true destination diners.

    the Midnight Starling restaurant in Kyneton Ridge Estate Winery
    The hatted Midnight Starling restaurant is located in Kyneton. (Image: Chloe Smith Photography)

    It’s easy to eat well, whether at other hatted restaurants, such as Midnight Starling in the quaint town of Kyneton, or at the wineries themselves, like Le Bouchon at Attwoods, where Walsh is inspired by his time working in France in both his food offering and winemaking.

    The beauty of dining and wine touring in the Macedon Ranges is that it feels intimate and unhurried. You’re likely to meet the winemaker, hear about the trials of the latest vintage firsthand, and taste wines that never make it to city shelves. And that’s worth getting out of the city for – even if it is just an hour down the road.

    dishes on the menu at Midnight Starling
    Delicate dishes on the menu at Midnight Starling. (Image: Chloe Smith Photography)

    A traveller’s checklist

    Staying there

    the accommodation at Cleveland Estate, Macedon Ranges
    Stay at the Cleveland Estate. (Image: Chloe Smith Photography)

    Soak up vineyard views from Cleveland Estate near Lancefield, embrace retro charm at Kyneton Springs Motel or indulge in lakeside luxury at the Lake House.

    Eating there

    Enjoy a four-course menu at the one-hatted Surly Goat in Hepburn Springs, Japanese-inspired fare at Kuzu in Woodend or unpretentious fine dining at Mount Monument, which also has a sculpture park.

    Drinking there

    wine tasting at PassingClouds Winery, Macedon Ranges
    A tasting at Passing Clouds Winery. (Image: Chloe Smith Photography)

    Settle in for a tasting at Boomtown in Castlemaine, sample local drops at the cosy Woodend Cellar & Bar or wine-hop around the many cellar doors, such as Passing Clouds.

    the Boomtown Winery and Cellar Bar signage
    Boomtown Winery and Cellar Bar. (Image: Chloe Smith Photography)

    Playing there

    a scenic river in Castlemaine
    Idyllic scenes at Castlemaine. (Image: Chloe Smith Photography)

    Wander through the seasonal splendour of Forest Glade Gardens, hike to the summit of Hanging Rock, or stroll around the tranquil Sanatorium Lake.

    purple flowers hanging from a tree
    Purple flowers hanging from a tree. (Image: Chloe Smith Photography)
    2025 Readers’ Choice Awards – Results - Australian Traveller