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Wine, art and good food: 15 ways to spend your time in Albury Wodonga

Kassia Byrnes Kassia Byrnes
More than just a stopover, Albury Wodonga is an elevated city escape immersed in nature.

Perhaps best known as a road trip stop between Sydney and Melbourne, Albury Wodonga offers a combination of natural beauty, cultural experiences and a vibrant food scene that make it well worth its own journey.

Nestled on the banks of the mighty Murray River and surrounded by famed wine and gold rush regions, this riverside town packs a broad punch. Discover how best to spend your days on the border.

Exploring the Murray River

1. The Crossing Place Trail

woman looking at sculpture along Crossing Place Trail loop
Admire sculptural works from local Indigenous artists.

Head to the original crossing places of the Murray River since 1848 – at the junctions of Bungambrawatha Creek and Oddies Creek. Today, these crossings are still used by cars and cattle, but the five-kilometre Crossing Place Trail loop connects the two bridges for bike riders and walkers.

Wander through gum trees, and maybe even spot local platypus and birdlife. Stop along the way to admire sculptural works from local Indigenous artists, see evidence of a scar tree and learn about the importance of this billabong environment to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

2. Canoe The Murray

two people kayaking along the murray river at Noreuil Park
Hire canoes or kayaks and get out on the river.

What better way to get a feel for the Murray River than by getting out on its waters? Hire canoes or kayaks from Canoe the Murray , then explore solo or join one of the offered tours. Get up early for a Sunrise and coffee tour, watch the sun dip below the water on a sunset tour or choose one of several daytime trips.

Stand-up paddleboard hire and other water sports, fishing and swimming are also available to river explorers.

3. Noreuil Park Foreshore

aerial of Noreuil Park albury wodonga
Cool off at Noreuil Park Foreshore. (Image: Visit Victoria)

Just outside Albury’s CBD, the riverside Noreuil Park becomes a hub of activity as the weather heats up. Set up on picnic tables under shady trees, use the public barbecues (or pop into the nearby cafe) and cool off with a float down the river.

4. Mungabareena Reserve and Water Works

Mungabareena Reserve albury wodonga
Spend time at Mungabareena Reserve. (Image: Visit Albury Wodonga)

Delve into nature and culture at the beautiful Mungabareena Reserve . Recognised by state law as a ‘Declared Aboriginal Place’, it was once a historical meeting point for trade and journeys to Mount Bogong for the local Wiradjuri people and still holds deep significance.

It’s another popular spot for fishing, swimming and picnics, while the nearby Water Works area is a great place for spotting wildlife. Try your luck seeing platypuses, wood ducks or rainbow bee-eaters.

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Adventuring on Lake Hume

1. Walk the dam wall

parent and child look at the view from the damn wall walk at lake hume
Enjoy the view from the dam wall. (Image: Visit Albury Wodonga)

The majestic Lake Hume – a massive man-made reservoir on the Murray River – was once the largest dam in the Southern Hemisphere.

A great way to get acquainted is by walking along the dam wall, taking in views of outflows, electricity turbines and the transmission plant from above. Not to mention vistas of the lake and the Murray. It’s a particularly gorgeous spot for sunsets and sunrises.

A wide sealed walkway gives easy access to the wall, and informative signs and displays along the way educate on the dam’s construction.

2. The High Country Rail Trail

This 44-kilometre trail hugs the shoreline. Stop along the way at the historic town of Tallangatta, relocated to its current position in the 1950s after its original location was flooded. Cross the lake over the bright red Sandy Creek Bridge. Enjoy a lakeside picnic or go for a swim at Ebden, Ludlow’s or Huon Reserve.

3. Water sports

two people watching SUP boarders and a boat our on the water at lake hume
Dive into water sports on Lake Hume.

Lake Hume is a popular local spot for boating, fishing, and swimming. Drop a line or dive right into the clear waters.

Sip and Savour

1. Dux Albury

two people sitting at counter drinking wine inside Dux Albury
Sit down to delicious meals and wine at Dux.

Those looking for a high-end dining experience need to book a table at Dux Albury in the heart of Albury Wodonga. Sit down for curated wine lists, cocktails and share plates. Think starters like burrata with beetroot, chervil, caper berry and sherry, mains like Wagyu sirloin with Café De Paris, red wine and caramelised onions and all manner of fresh seafood.

2. Murray Towns Brewing Co.

people being served lunch at Murray Brewing Co.
Recharge at Murray Brewing Co.

Perched on the banks of the river, Murray Towns Brewing Co . has come a long way since two mates started experimenting in their backyard chook shed. With all beer brewed onsite and a sun-drenched beer garden to drink them in, it’s a perfect stop along a bike ride or walk.

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3. Temperance and General

Step into Albury’s original laneway bar, Temperance and General . Set inside a historic building, but offering a modern vibe, the bar is locally famous for its cocktail list. Stop in before or after dinner for a creative tipple.

4. BeanStation Cafe

two people drinking coffee at Bean Station albury wodonga
Dine on a modern Australian menu.

Dine on a modern Australian menu , inside the historic Wodonga train station building, dating back to 1873. Pop over in the morning and line up with the locals for great coffee and all-day brekkie, or head over after midday to swap the beans for local wines and Aussie boutique beers.

5. River Deck Cafe

waiter holding two dishes at Riverdeck Cafe albury wodonga
Soak in views and good food at Riverdeck Cafe. (Image: Visit Victoria)

Another dining destination next to the Murray, the award-winning River Deck Cafe provides a large deck covered in dappled sunlight that makes for the ideal long lunch spot. Here, menus focus on natural, native and local ingredients sourced from regional farmers and producers across Albury Wodonga and surrounds.

Museums, murals and more

1. Albury Wodonga Public Art Trail

Gain a sense of Albury Wodonga’s vibrant arts community while wandering the Public Art Trail. Works range from sculptures and murals to wrapped infrastructure. Be sure to check the council map before you head out, so you don’t miss a thing.

2. Murray Art Museum Albury (MAMA)

couple admiring the art at Murray Art Gallery
Stop into one of the most visited galleries outside of Sydney. (Image: Visit Albury Wodonga)

MAMA forms the heart of art and culture in Albury Wodonga, some may say the entire Murray region. In fact, it’s one of the most visited galleries outside of Sydney. What makes it so lauded? The museum has earned a reputation for curating innovative, original exhibitions from some of the best contemporary Australian and international artists.

3. HotHouse Theatre

Originally built in 1928 as the Butter Factory Theatre, HotHouse Theatre has been a home of performance since 1997. Stop by to see the best of new Australian theatre. Continue to explore unique architecture on the Historic Building Walking Tour of Albury, the perfect way to round out your stay.

Start planning your Albury Wodonga getaway at visitalburywodonga.com.

Kassia Byrnes
Kassia Byrnes is the Native Content Editor for Australian Traveller and International Traveller. She's come a long way since writing in her diary about family trips to Grandma's. After graduating a BA of Communication from University of Technology Sydney, she has been writing about her travels (and more) professionally for over 10 years for titles like AWOL, News.com.au, Pedestrian.TV, Body + Soul and Punkee. She's addicted to travel but has a terrible sense of direction, so you can usually find her getting lost somewhere new around the world. Luckily, she loves to explore and have new adventures – whether that’s exploring the backstreets, bungee jumping off a bridge or hiking for days. You can follow her adventures on Instagram @probably_kassia.
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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)