Mornington Peninsula day tours from Melbourne collect you at a city kerb or hotel, drive you down to the bay, and bring you back the same evening. The fare buys the transport and a guide for one theme: the hot springs, the wine, or the coast and its history. Allow six and a half to ten and a half hours, about three hours of it on the road.
Leaves the Regent Theatre on Collins Street at 8:20 and drives straight to the springs, with Bath House entry in the fare. A lookout and a bathing-box photo stop come on the way back, and lockers and towels are paid at reception.
From $135 per person
Free cancellation up to 24 hours ahead.
Out the front of your city hotel at 10:00 in a six-seat minivan, for two tastings, lunch with wine and a third pour where you eat. Alongside its seven-hour sister day, it is the smallest group that leaves the city.
From $192 per person
Free cancellation up to 24 hours ahead.
Barista coffee at Arts Centre Melbourne, then a midi-coach for up to 15: the ridge lookout, the lighthouse headland, two and a quarter hours among the forts at the tip, and half an hour in Sorrento. Bring money for lunch.
From $87 per person
Free cancellation up to 24 hours ahead.
From Arts Centre Melbourne on a midi-coach: an hour's guided walk on the ridge, a grazing-board lunch with a wine paddle, then three hours in the pools. Towel and locker hire are extra.
From $171 per person
Free cancellation up to 24 hours ahead.
A central city pickup for a food and wine day: a coastal cellar door with a sculpture park, a winery lunch, a second tasting and a beer paddle, then the ridge and the bathing boxes. Adults only.
From $139 per person
Free cancellation up to 24 hours ahead.
Nine and a half hours from a central pickup, back by 6:00 to 6:30 pm: the Dromana boxes, lunch in Sorrento, the arch near Portsea, a strawberry farm or a chocolate stop by season, and the ridge.
From $118 per person
Free cancellation up to 24 hours ahead.
Your own guide and vehicle from 8:30, collected at your hotel, the airport or the cruise terminal, for ten and a half hours on a route you shape. It is priced per person, and lunch and coffee are yours to buy.
From $192 per person
Free cancellation up to 24 hours ahead.
Pickup from central hotels and theatres, then four hours in the pools with a towel in the fare, the ridge lookout and the bathing boxes. It is not suitable in pregnancy or for limited mobility.
From $132 per person
Free cancellation up to 24 hours ahead.
The seven-hour version of the six-seat wine day: hotel pickup at 10:00, a sculpture walk, a barrel-room tasting, and a two-hour, two-course lunch with a glass of wine. You are back in town sooner.
From $185 per person
Free cancellation up to 24 hours ahead.
Up to 15 on a midi-coach from Arts Centre Melbourne: the ridge lookout, the lighthouse headland, two and a quarter hours among the forts at the tip, and free time in Sorrento.
See this dayYou are collected at a kerb or a hotel in the city, driven down to the peninsula, and brought back the same evening. The fare buys the transport, a guide or a driver-guide, and one theme done properly: the hot springs, the wine, or the coast and its history.
The road is the price of the day. The sightseeing day spells it out: two drives of 75 to 90 minutes each, with about six and three-quarter hours of stops between them. That makes a day from Melbourne six and a half to ten and a half hours door to door, with about three hours of it on the road.
Parks Victoria puts Arthurs Seat 60 km from the city and the tip of the peninsula 110 km, so a day that reaches the forts at the far end drives further than one that stops at the springs. The map of where each day starts shows the distances.
Because you are staying in the city, you have no car, and you want the peninsula in one day. Four things set these days apart from the tours that start on the peninsula.
The route is the M1, then EastLink, then the Mornington Peninsula Freeway. On a tour you sit back through all of it, and nobody in your group has to find parking at the springs or the forts.
Every day here brings you back to the city. The peninsula-start trips, from the Sorrento cruise to the springs entry ticket, end where they began. You then need your own way back, and bus 788 does not reach the springs or the wine hills.
The express to the springs leaves the Regent Theatre on Collins Street at 8:20. The coast day and the springs day with lunch meet outside Arts Centre Melbourne on St Kilda Road, with barista coffee before you leave. The wine days and the private day collect you at your hotel.
A day from the city gives you three hours or more at the thing you came for. That can be three or four hours in the pools, two and a quarter hours at the tip, or three stops with lunch in the wine hills. No single day fits all three.
If you are staying down on the bay, or you have a car, you do not need a day from the city. Here is how the two compare, from what each listing includes.
| A day from Melbourne | Starting on the peninsula | |
|---|---|---|
| Where you meet | A city kerb, theatre or hotel | Sorrento Pier, the springs car park, the bike shop at the tip, or a bus stop |
| Transport | There and back, in the fare | You get yourself there and back |
| Length | Six and a half to ten and a half hours | Ninety minutes to nine hours |
| Time on the road | About three hours | Only what you drive yourself |
| What it covers | One theme: springs, wine or the coast | A cruise, a bike ride, an active day, a soak or a bus |
| Fares | $87 to $192 a person | $28 to $242 a person |
See the southern-coast day from $87
The city days cost more because they carry you as far as 110 km each way. If you are already on the peninsula, that part of the fare buys you nothing. The Sorrento cruise, the bike ride at the tip and the paddle-and-hike day from Fingal all start on the peninsula.
Where you meet decides how early you get up. Each day's own listing sets its meeting point.
Every route in, including the train and the Sorrento ferry, is on getting to the Mornington Peninsula.
You get the round trip, a guide or driver-guide, and whatever the day lists: Bath House entry, tastings, lunch, or a coffee before you leave.
From Arts Centre Melbourne on a midi-coach: an hour's guided walk on the ridge, a grazing-board lunch with a wine paddle in Red Hill, then three hours in the pools.
Check availabilityFares from the city run from $87 to $192 a person. The coast day at $87 a person is the lowest fare with a guide, and the six-seat wine days sit at the top. The private day costs $192 a person, priced per person, however small your group.
Book the popular days early. The springs express is booked 38 days ahead on average, and the six-seat wine day 49 days ahead. Every day here refunds you in full up to 24 hours before the start.
Watch the light in winter. The sun sets around 5:00 pm in mid-June, and the sightseeing day gets back between 6:00 and 6:30 pm, so in June its drive home is in the dark. The hour-by-hour day-trip guide lays out how each kind of day runs, and the guide to the best time to visit covers the seasons.
A day from the city is built for visitors based in Melbourne. It is the wrong booking if any of these is you.
The days built around cellar doors are compared on Mornington Peninsula wine tours, and the soaks on the hot springs tours page.
Compare the days from the city with the trips that start on the bay on Mornington Tours.