Top Towns for 2022: The ever-changing town of Ballarat

Imogen Eveson Imogen Eveson
hero media
A boom town of the Victorian goldrush era and today one of Victoria’s fast-growing regional cities, Ballarat continues to bloom featuring at no.24 on your list of Top 50 Aussie Towns.

Find the complete list of the Top 50 Aussie Towns here.

A 75-minute drive west of Melbourne, Ballarat was voted Victoria’s top tourism town in 2021 and is recognised as a UNESCO creative city. Its rich culture of artisans and dynamic culinary offerings tucked into reinvented goldrush buildings is a winning formula for a long weekend of wining, dining and soaking in the new wave of creativity that taps into the city’s past.

Heritage building in Ballarat.
Ballarat’s CBD is characterised by its grand goldrush buildings. (Image: Tara Moore)

A place in constant evolution, newcomers on the scene include pop-up restaurant Peasant, open Friday and Saturday evenings for just a few diners at a time in Ballarat’s historic Bank of New South Wales, and serving a five-course degustation of rustic European fare.

Food at Peasant Ballarat
Eat rustic fare at Peasant.

Meanwhile chef Derek Boath’s Underbar, Ballarat’s destination restaurant since it opened in 2016, is relocating to brand-new boutique digs at Hotel Vera (sister property to Bendigo’s Hotel Ernest).

And in the CBD spot it has vacated, Boath and sommelier Anthony Schuurs have created a sharp and fun urban wine bar, Pencilmark Wine Room, where an ever-changing roster of global drops are matched with fresh regional produce.

Browsing the bottles at Pencilmark Wine Room in Ballarat
Browse the bottles at Pencilmark Wine Room. (Image: Thom Mitchell)

Further emphasising Ballarat’s ongoing revitalisation, a major development and refurbishment of an 1863 heritage-listed bluestone building adjacent to the Ballarat railway station was unveiled at the start of 2022.

The Goods Shed now acts as a social, cultural and hospitality hub; its most recent additions include a gin distillery, Little Lon Distilling Co, an all-day dining outpost, a dumpling house and Quest Ballarat Station, an of-its-place hotel to complete the ‘eat, play, stay’ experience.

Exterior drone shot of The Goods Shed in Ballarat
The Goods Shed signals the Victorian city’s ongoing revitalisation.

Time your visit for the spring-summer season of artisan producer experiences, Made of: Ballarat. Picks of the bunch include the Secret Life of Bees with Backyard Beekeeping Ballarat, which runs on selected dates from October to February and will take you on a hands-on journey through a working honey beehive in the heart of the city.

Or take a trip 20 minutes out of town to Buninyong on Wadawurrung Country to embark on an Australian bushfoods adventure with Saltbush Kitchen. Also in late spring, the Australian Centre for Rare Arts & Forgotten Trades will open to offer workshops and masterclasses to those looking to learn everything from woodcarving and locksmithing to armoury and leatherwork.

Street art in Ballarat
You’ll find pockets of creativity everywhere around town. (Image: Tara Moore)

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

AI Prompt

Explore more of Ballarat in our travel guide or find out which other towns made it into your Top 50.

Want to see more stories from Australian Traveller in your Google search results?

  1. Click here to set Australian Traveller as a preferred source.
  2. Tick the box next to "Australian Traveller". That's it.
Imogen Eveson
Imogen Eveson is Australian Traveller’s Print Editor. She was named Editor of the Year at the 2024 Mumbrella Publish Awards and in 2023, was awarded the Cruise Line Industry Association (CLIA) Australia’s Media Award. Before joining Australian Traveller Media as sub-editor in 2017, Imogen wrote for publications including Broadsheet, Russh and SilverKris. She launched her career in London, where she graduated with a BA Hons degree in fashion communication from world-renowned arts and design college Central Saint Martins. She is the author/designer of The Wapping Project on Paper, published by Black Dog Publishing in 2014. Growing up in Glastonbury, home to the largest music and performing arts festival in the world, instilled in Imogen a passion for cultural cross-pollination that finds perfect expression today in shaping Australia’s leading travel titles. Imogen regularly appears as a guest on radio travel segments, including ABC National Nightlife, and is invited to attend global travel expos such as IMM, ILTM, Further East and We Are Africa.
View profile and articles
Two festivals are coming to Ballarat: here’s how to plan for them
Ballarat

Two of the best festivals are coming to Ballarat: here’s how to plan for them

Come for a couple of unmissable festivals, stay for a long, leisurely weekend of wining, dining and exploring all the heritage-rich glory Ballarat has to offer.

Read more
Couple by Lake Wendouree, Ballarat, Victoria
Ballarat

This surprising city has dethroned Adelaide as Australia’s happiest

Move over, big smoke – a Victorian goldfields city has just claimed Australia's top spot on the world's largest happiness ranking.

Read more
a laneway filled with artworks in Ballarat
Ballarat

Meet the makers shaping Ballarat’s new era of creativity

Makers, bakers, artists, chefs, crafters – Ballarat and its surrounds are overflowing with creative spirits. All dedicated to keeping traditional skills alive for a city that is humming with artful energy.

Read more
Ballarat International Foto Biennale, events in Ballarat
Ballarat

Two immersive art experiences are coming to this Vic town in spring

In recent years, Ballarat has emerged as one of Victoria’s most dynamic and daring cities. And, this spring, two unexpected creative showcases will take over the town.

Read more
hero media

Victoria’s surprising new outdoor adventure hotspot

    Craig Tansley Craig Tansley
    Continue
    A town charmingly paused in time has become a hot mountain biking destination. 

    There’s a forest reserve full of eucalyptus and pines surrounding town – when you combine all the greenery with a main street of grand old buildings still standing from the Victorian Gold Rush, Creswick looks more period movie set than a 21st-century town.  

    old gold bank Victoria
    Grand buildings from the Victorian gold rush. (Image: Visit Victoria)

    This entire region of Victoria – the Central Goldfields – is as pretty-as-a-picture, but there’s something extra-special about Creswick. I used to live 30 minutes north; I’d drive in some evenings to cruise its main street at dusk, and pretend I was travelling back in time. 

    It was sleepy back then, but that’s changed. Where I used to walk through its forest, now I’m hurtling down the state’s best new mountain bike trails. There’s a 60-kilometre network of mountain bike trails – dubbed Djuwang Baring – which make Creswick the state’s hottest new mountain biking destination.  

    Meet Victoria’s new mountain biking capital 

    Creswick bike trail
    This historic town has become a mountain biking hotspot.

    Victoria has a habit of turning quiet country towns into mountain biking hotspots. I was there in the mid-2000s when the tiny Otways village of Forrest embarked on an ambitious plan to save itself (after the death of its timber cutting industry) courtesy of some of the world’s best mountain bike trails. A screaming success it proved to be, and soon mountain bike trails began popping up all over Victoria. 

    I’m no expert, so I like that a lot of Creswick’s trails are as scenic as they are challenging. I prefer intermediate trails, such as Down Martuk, with its flowing berms and a view round every corner. Everyone from outright beginners to experts can be happy here. There’s trails that take me down technical rock sections with plenty of bumps. But there’s enough on offer to appeal to day-trippers, as much as hard-core mountain-bikers. 

    I love that the trails empty onto that grand old main street. There’s bars still standing from the Gold Rush of the 1850s I can refuel at. Like the award-winning Farmers Arms, not to be confused with the pub sharing its name in Daylesford. It’s stood since 1857. And The American Creswick built two years later, or Odessa Wine Bar, part of Leaver’s Hotel in an 1856-built former gold exchange bank.  

    The Woodlands
    The Woodlands is set on a large bushland property. (Image: Vanessa Smith Photography)

    Creswick is also full of great cafes and restaurants, many of them set in the same old buildings that have stood for 170 years. So whether you’re here for the rush of the trails or the calm of town life, Creswick provides. 

    A traveller’s checklist 

    Staying there 

    1970s log cabin
    Inside the Woodlands, a chic 1970s log cabin. (Image: Vanessa Smith Photography)

    RACV Goldfields Resort is a contemporary stay with a restaurant, swimming pool and golf course. The Woodlands in nearby Lal Lal comprises a chic log cabin set on a 16-hectare property abundant in native wildlife. 

    Eating there 

    Le Peche Gourmand
    Le Peche Gourmand makes for the perfect pitstop for carb and sugar-loading.

    The menu at Odessa at Leaver’s Hotel includes some Thai-inspired fare. Fuel up for your ride on baguettes and pastries from French patisserie Le Peche Gourmand. The Farmers Arms has been a much-loved local institution since 1857. 

    Playing there 

    Miss NorthcottsGarden
    Miss Northcotts Garden is a charming garden store with tea room. (Image: Visit Victoria)

    Creswick State Forest has a variety of hiking trails, including a section of the 210-kilometre-long Goldfields Track. Miss Northcotts Garden is a quaint garden store with tea room.