Mt Hotham's Onsen Retreat & Spa - Australian Traveller

That achy feeling after skiing is about to be a distant memory when you check into Mt Hotham’s Onsen Retreat & Spa.

Located in the Victorian Alps in the Great Dividing Range, Hotham Alpine resort is home to the most relaxing experience. The Onsen Retreat & Spa offers patrons massages, facials, skin and body treatments as well as the outdoor Onsen. After you’ve done a few laps through most of the 66 runs over the 320 hectares, a retreat and spa is the perfect stop off before dinner.

This Japanese styled Onsen is heated to 38 degrees and sits just outside in the midst of the snow. The warmth of the natural hot springs is said to relieve muscle pain, fatigue and stress.

If you’re staying in the Dinner Plain area, the Retreat & Spa is located smack bang in the middle. However, if you’re 10 kilometres up the road on Great Alpine Road, a shuttle bus can easily take you there and back.

The entry road to Mt Hotham: Great Alpine Road.

What’s Offered?

Bathing

Each bathing session goes for two hours in the outdoor heated Onsen. A single session is $45 per adult and also offers access to the heated plunge spa, sauna, heated lap pool and fitness centre.
Guests can also opt for a Private Geisha Bathing, priced at $110 for 30 minutes. Instead of using the communal Onsen, they will be lead into a private room with a spa containing only the purest alpine water. Guests can choose from an array of customised bath salts to maximise the experience.

Onsen Retreat & Spa, Mt Hotham — Sink into the 38-degree hot springs.

Unlike a traditional Japanese Onsen, the Retreat & Spa requires patrons who are using the communal bathing facilities to wear swimwear. Before your session, you’ll be given a warm fluffy robe and slippers to drape over you walk between each area.

Spa Packages

The packages that Onsen Retreat & Spa have available range from $199 to $760 (couples) and offer a wide variety of treatments. Each package offers a complimentary session of Alpine Onsen Bathing.

Enjoy the light touch of their signature massage and organic facials to get you feeling refreshed and rejuvenated. Most of the packages include a light tasting platter in case your stomach starts rumbling throughout that body exfoliation and wrap.

Please note that while some guests prefer to undress entirely for their treatments, whereas some leave on underwear. The Onsen Retreat & Spa explains that they will accept whatever is comfortable for you.

Massage Therapies

With a mixture of massage therapies available to patrons, it’ll be tough to choose the favourite. With remedial, volcanic hot stone, muscle focus and Moroccan remedy options, each one will bring you ultimate relaxation. If the classic suits your interests, then the signature massage with customised aromatherapy will do the trick.

Body and facial therapy are well performed as well. With organic facials both for men and women, it will replenish, brighten and be a natural anti-aging agent for the skin. And if you’ve ever dreamed of a body wrap, the mineral detox therapy will do you wonders.

When to Go

The best time to visit the Onsen Retreat & Spa is right after you’ve spent some time skiing or snowboarding on the slopes. The treatments are incredibly therapeutic and performed by professionals.

During the winter season, the centre offers fitness and wellness classes. Sign up for a Mountain Yoga session before your dip in the outdoor or indoor spas. A single class will only set you back $15, which is an absolute steal considering the location. The instructor is an experienced yogi who will cater for all ages and health levels. The class will be about healing your physical, mental and spiritual body.

Nearby Restaurants

When you’ve finished up your afternoon delight at the Onsen, hop down to the local eateries to replenish your bellies.

Hotel High Plains is located in Dinner Plain, so very close to the retreat. The menu is full of delights from the Chicken Schnitzel Saltimbocca to the Prawn Okonomiyaki (Japanese Pancake).

And just up the road in Mt Hotham sits The General . They’re well known for the quirky woodfired pizzas. Order up a Flu Fighter or even a Pelly Pond and it’ll have your taste buds dancing.

Getting There

When heading straight from Melbourne the drive to Mt Hotham will take roughly 4 and a half hours. Whereas Sydneysiders, get yourself strapped in for a long 8-hour road trip.

For those who hate to drive that long, HothamBus offers discounted express coaches heading to the Victorian snowfields. The bus departs from three major cities, Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide.

HothamBus also offers day trips for central Melburnians straight to Mt Hotham. The overnight service departs at 1:50 AM, offering guests a whole day of swooping along the snowy ravines and relaxing in the Onsen retreat.

Open 10 AM to 6 PM Monday through to Sunday, these expansive services are offered every day.

Address: Big Muster Drive, Dinner Plain

Is High Country where you’re planning on heading? Click here for our guide on everything you need to know.

Mythical, historical and most of all, spectacularly beautiful, Buchan Caves demands you take your time – and a tour.

In the pools of water, so still they could be mirrors, the reflections of the stalactites make these limestone towers seem even taller. Almost 400 million years ago, an underground river carved through the rock to create the Buchan Caves . Now, artworks created by dripping water adorn these subterranean galleries: stalactites hanging from the ceiling, pillars connecting some to the ground, even curtain-like wave formations clinging to the stone.

Visit the caves for the day or stay onsite in the campground or at the self-contained Caves House. (Image: Ben Savage)

“This is called the Fairy Cave because it’s full of fairy dust,” a guide tells visitors as they enter a cavern glittering with “calcite that’s solidified into thousands of tiny little diamond shapes”. Buchan Caves is Victoria’s largest cave system, but Fairy Cave is a highlight and, along with nearby Royal Cave, is accessible only by tour. Naturally cold, naturally dark, these caverns deep below the surface light up as the local experts tell their stories.

couple walking in cave — You’ll need to book a guided tour to see the caves. (Image: Tourism Australia)

Among the hundreds of caves, some can be easily accessed from the surface. For instance, a casual stroll along the FJ Wilson Interpreted Walk, as kangaroos watch on from beneath acacia trees, leads into the 400-metre-long Federal Cave and its natural steps of white limestone. A slightly longer track, the Granite Pools Walk heads through soaring forest down into moss-covered gullies where the calls of lyrebirds trill through the leaves.

A quick history lesson on Buchan Caves

Among the geology and the nature are millennia of history. This part of East Gippsland connects the high country to the coast and was long a place of refuge for the local Gunaikurnai people on seasonal migrations to the mountains. Archaeological studies show humans lived here up to 18,000 years ago, with artefacts such as small stone tools found around the site. But not too far into the caverns – oh no! The Gunaikurnai didn’t dare venture deep into the dark at Buchan Caves, telling stories they were inhabited by gnome-like nyols (small grey-skinned creatures that could steal memories).

The Buchan Caves Hotel was rebuilt after burning down in 2014. (Image: Jess Shapiro)

By the early 1900s, more people had started to hear about these incredible caves and so the Moon family set up home at the site and started to run tours below ground for intrepid visitors. More than a century later, their historic residence is available as accommodation, with the three-bedroom house sleeping up to eight people and now equipped with modern amenities the Moons could only have dreamt of.

But whether you stay overnight or just spend the day here, it’s worth taking your time to explore more than just the main caves, to get a deeper understanding of one of Victoria’s fascinating geological attractions.

Mt Hotham Onsen Retreat & Spa