13 of the best things to do in the Grampians

Wondering what are the best things to do in the Grampians? Don’t worry we have you covered with our 13 things you’ll definitely want to see.

Home to some of the most scenic roads in Australia, the Grampians is stuff of road tripping dreams. The iconic route between Dunkeld and Halls Gap, a 65-kilometre stretch of road so spectacular you’ll want to drive it twice because the views are that good, is just the beginning. Follow this list and go a little deeper.

1. Find “Hope" in St Arnaud

The Grampians may be famous for its soaring peaks and amazing views, but one of the region’s best kept secrets is the historic gold mining town St Arnaud and in particular, its Silo and Art Trail. The trail reveals a collection of nine public works by local artist Kyle Torney. Torney’s most arresting work, titled “Hope", spans two silos and reflects the aspirations of the time.

St Arnaud Silo Art, Grampians, VIC, Australia — One of the region’s best-kept secrets is the historic gold mining town of St Arnaud.

2. Be awed by Mad-Dadjug (Mt Abrupt)

When the sandstone ridge of Mad-Dadjug (Mt Abrupt) majestically appears at the end of the road it’s one of the most remarkable – and photogenic – sights on the scenic route through the heart of Grampians (Gariwerd) National Park between Dunkeld and Halls Gap. For truly awesome views, tackle the steep walking track up to the summit. It’s a challenging climb but the rewards are worth the effort.

Road, Mt Abrupt, Grampians, VIC — The remarkable drive towards the equally remarkable Mad-Dadjug (Mt Abrupt). (Image: Grampians Tourism)

3. Chill out at Victoria’s largest waterfall

Standing at the foot of Mikunung wira (MacKenzie Falls), it’s hard to believe that these thundering cascades – the largest in the state, and the only falls in the Grampians that flow all year round – are less than 100 kilometres from a desert. It’s one of the park’s most celebrated attractions, but to really get a sense of all that natural power, follow the walking trail from the lookout down to the pool at the base (be prepared to get doused in the mist). If you don’t fancy tackling the 265 steps, the longer but gentler MacKenzie River Walk is easier on the knees.

Mackenzie Falls, Grampians, VIC, Australia — These are the only falls in the Grampians that flow all year round. (Image: Visit Victoria)

4. Be humbled by ancient creation stories.

The Grampians region has the largest number of rock art sites in southern Australia (more than 80 per cent of Victoria’s First Nations art sites are here). One of the most significant is Bunjils Cave, in the Black Range Scenic Reserve near Stawell, the only known rock art depiction of the spirit Bunjil, who created not only the sandstone ranges of Gariwerd, but all the plants and animals as well. Seeing these ancient galleries in real life is a powerful reminder that this place is home to the oldest living continuous culture in the world.

Indigenous Art, Bunjil, Grampians, VIC, Australia — See the only known rock art depiction of the spirit Bunjil.

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5. Get in the picture at Framing the Wimmera

There are plenty of views in the Grampians worth framing, but the vistas in the art installation Framing the Wimmera really are next level. Super-sized frames in four of the most picture-perfect locations across the region – at Mount Arapiles, the Grampians, Toolondo Reservoir and the Wimmera River – make glorious locations for road trip snaps, ready to share. Don’t forget to tag #FramingTheWimmera.

Framing the Wimmera, Grampians, VIC, Australia — Don’t forget to tag #FramingTheWimmera. (Image: Robert Crack)

6. Take a deep dive into the world of olive oil

The Grampians Olive Co is one of the oldest olive groves in Australia. Family run and certified organic, it’s the place to get the good oil on, well, the good oil. Visit the farm, follow the process from tree to bottle, learn how to taste like an olive oil sommelier and stock up on picnic supplies. Need another reason to stop? They also roast their own coffee and serve lunch platters. The mountain views are pretty special too.

The Grampians Olive Co, Olive Groves in Australia — The Grampians Olive Co is one of the oldest olive groves in Australia.

7. Putt your way through the fern forest at Adventure Golf

You don’t have to be an expert golfer to play around at this course, but you will need a sense of adventure. Rated one of the best adventure golf courses in the world, the 18-hole course has no less than four waterfalls and five ponds, plus a few tunnels and other challenges. Surrounded by the wilds of the national park with its own beautiful gardens, it’s family-friendly fun, although the infamous ‘nerve test’ has been known to spark some serious social rivalry.

Mini golf at Adventure, Grampians, VIC, Australia — Beyond golf, there are lots of options for family-friendly fun.

8. Pay your respects to the father of football

Here’s something most folks don’t know: Australian rules football was born in Moyston! Cricketing superstar, Thomas Wentworth Wills, who in 1858 co-founded and captained one of the oldest professional sporting clubs in the world, Melbourne Football Club, grew up at Lexington Station, near Moyston. Inspired by the games he played with local Indigenous kids as a child, he helped develop the rules of the game we now call Aussie Rules as a way for cricketers to keep fit in winter.There’s a monument to the sporting great in Moyston, and the gazebo behind it features a six-sided history of the game. It’s one of the stops on the East Grampians Scenic Route.

Tom Wills Memorial, Moyston, Grampians, VIC, Australia — Australian rules football was born in Moyston!

9. Take a tour of one of the longest underground wine cellar in the world

Ever wondered how much space you’d need to keep three million bottles of wine? The answer is heaps. A cellar three kilometres long, at least. Seppelt Great Western is home to the longest and largest underground wine cellar in the southern hemisphere and can hold three millions bottles of bubbly. Dug by out-of-work gold miners in the 1860s, the labyrinth of tunnels known as ‘drives’ took more than 60 years to build. The daily tours include a tasting of the region’s famous sparkling shiraz, first made back in 1890.

Seppelt Great Western Old Cellar, Grampians, VIC, Australia — Seppelt Great Western is home to the longest and largest underground wine cellar in the southern hemisphere

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10. Climb a volcano and peer into a bottomless lake

Something else most people don’t know is that the southern Grampians sit atop the third largest volcanic plain in the world. Take a drive along Mt Rouse Tourist Road near Penshurst and stop at Crater Lake on the way to the top – it was once believed to be bottomless. Follow the walking track up to a viewing platform and stairs to the summit of the now dormant volcano, where you’ll find extraordinary 360-degree views of the lava plain and neighbouring volcanoes Budj Bim (Mt Eccles) and Mt Napier. Learn more about the amazing history of the region at the Volcanoes Discovery Centre in Penshurst.

Mount Rouse, Crater Lake, Grampians, VIC, Australia — Take a drive along Mt Rouse Tourist Road near Penshurst and stop at Crater Lake on the way to the top. (Image: Robert Crack)

11. Take a walk on the dark side in Ararat

Delve into Victoria’s dark underbelly on a guided tour of J Ward , Ararat’s Old Gaol and Lunatic Asylum. Built as a goldfields prison in 1859, it became home for the criminally insane once the gold ran out, incarcerating some of the most depraved, desperate and dangerous men in the state. It’s not for the squeamish or easily spooked, as you’ll be chilled by the stories of murderers, ghosts and the rather barbaric treatments for mental illness in the past. It’s proof that real life can be stranger than fiction – and even darker than your favourite Friday night TV crime show.

J Ward, Street view, Grampians, VIC, Australia — Delve into Victoria’s dark underbelly on a guided tour of J Ward.

12. Give the big koala a big hug

We all know it’s not a real Aussie road trip without snapping a selfie with a big thing, and big things don’t come more Instagrammable than the giant koala at Dadswells Bridge, roughly halfway between Stawell and Horsham. Standing 14 metres high and weighing in at a whopping 12 tonnes, Sam – named in honour of a real life koala rescued from the Black Saturday bushfires in 2009 – even has his own hashtag. If you really want to impress your friends, pick up a t-shirt while you’re there: there’s a gift shop in his belly.

13. Marvel at a giant shed made of sticks

Not just any shed, the Murtoa Stick Shed is simply marvellous. Built in 1942 as an emergency grain store – the only Second World War emergency store still standing – it’s made of hundreds of hand-hewn poles of mountain ash (big sticks). It feels more like a cathedral than a silo, with its vast gabled interior and long rows of poles casting ethereal shadows. Part of the 200-kilometre Silo Art Trail – soon to become Australia’s biggest outdoor art gallery – you’ll never see anything else like it.

Murtoa Stick Shed, Grampians, VIC, Australia — Built in 1942 as an emergency grain store, Not just any shed, the Murtoa Stick Shed is simply marvellous.

Plan your Grampians road trip at visitgrampians.com.au.

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.

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)