Mornington Peninsula Private Tours, and the Small Groups That Rival Them

A private day on the peninsula buys you a vehicle, a guide and a route of your own. It does not buy a lower price: the fare is per person. This guide sets out what the private day includes, who it suits, and when a Mornington day tour for six or nine does the same job for less.

What does a private Mornington Peninsula tour include?

The private day includes a private air-conditioned vehicle, a guide for your group only, pickup and drop-off, bottled water and hand sanitiser. It runs ten and a half hours from an 8:30 pickup, and it holds 5.0 from 40 reviews.

It does not include lunch, or coffee and tea along the way. Those are yours to buy, usually in Sorrento, where the route allows an hour. You need a moderate level of fitness, because several stops are short walks.

How is the private day priced?

Per person, from $192 a person, with discounted rates for children. That surprises people who expect a private tour to cost one price per vehicle. A couple pays twice the figure, and a family of four pays for four seats.

For two adults that comes to $384, and for four adults $768, before lunch and any tastings. Children pay less, so a family's total falls below the four-adult figure.

Set against the shared days, that puts it at the top of the range. The six-seat wine day costs $192 a person with tastings and lunch included, and the southern-coast day costs $87 a person. The private day includes neither lunch nor tastings, so you are paying for the vehicle, the guide and the freedom of the route.

What does a private day look like, stop by stop?

The suggested route gives you a sense of the pace. Each stop is short, which is what lets one day cover both coasts; you can lengthen any of them and drop others.

That is just over four hours of stops, with the optional hour, in a ten-and-a-half-hour day, with the rest on the road between the bay, the ocean side and the city. If you would rather spend two hours at the forts at the tip, say so when you book, and let something else go.

Where does the private day pick you up?

From your Melbourne hotel, from Melbourne Airport, or from the Station Pier cruise terminal in Port Melbourne. The exact point is confirmed after you book. No shared day from the city collects from the airport or the cruise pier.

That makes it the natural choice if you land in the morning and want the peninsula before you check in, or if you arrive by ship. Every other day meets at a kerb or a hotel in town, as the Mornington Peninsula day tours from Melbourne page lays out.

Can you build your own route?

Yes; that is the point of it. The suggested day runs from Mornington's harbour and Main Street to Arthurs Seat, lunch in Sorrento, a back beach at Portsea, the Millionaires Walk, the Mount Martha bathing boxes and the Cape Schanck boardwalk. It ends with an optional hour at Pt. Leo Estate.

The day is yours to customise: add sights, drop some, or spend longer where you like. A day built around the harbour and the bathing boxes suits a slow start; a day built around cellar doors works too, since the guide drives, but the tastings are yours to pay.

For ideas, things to do on the Mornington Peninsula covers the lookouts, the lighthouse and the arch near Portsea, and the peninsula town by town sets out what each bay town is for.

How does private compare with a small group?

For most visitors, the real choice is not private against a coach but private against a small group. The peninsula's small groups are small indeed.

At six guests, the wine days feel close to private, and they include what the private day does not: the tastings and the lunch. If wine is your reason, they are the better value. If your reason is a mixed route, or an airport or cruise-pier pickup, only the private day does it.

How far ahead should you book a private day?

Well ahead. The private day is booked 75 days in advance on average, the longest lead of any day from the city except the seven-hour wine day.

Booking early costs you nothing if your plans move: the private day refunds you in full up to 24 hours before the start. Once it is booked, send the guide your wish list, your pickup address and, if you are on a ship, your all-aboard time.

Can cruise passengers be back for the ship?

The private day is the one built for it. It collects from the Station Pier cruise terminal, and because the route is yours, the guide can plan around your all-aboard time. Give it when you book, and build in a margin: the sightseeing day allows 75 to 90 minutes for the drive back to the city.

The standard pickup is 8:30. If your ship berths later than that, ask when you book whether the start can move, and whether the route can be cut short to suit. A shorter day costs the same fare, so decide what matters most before you go.

A shared day is riskier on a port call. Its return time is set for the group, and the sightseeing day, for one, gets back between 6:00 and 6:30 pm.

Is private the best choice for wine lovers?

Not usually. The private day's fare includes no tastings, so you pay each cellar door on top. The six-seat food and wine day costs about the same per person, includes two tastings, a third where you eat and lunch with a glass of wine, and is limited to six guests.

Its sister, the seven-hour six-seat day, is shorter and includes a barrel-room tasting and a two-course lunch. It is booked 139 days ahead on average, so plan early if your dates are fixed. The cellar doors are compared in the cellar doors, one by one, and every wine day on Mornington Peninsula wine tours.

Is private the best choice for families?

It can be. Children pay a discounted rate, the pace is yours, and you can build the day around beaches, the bathing boxes and a lookout rather than cellar doors. The day is stroller accessible.

The alternative is a springs day. The Bath House welcomes all ages, children from 3 to 15 bathe with an adult, and infants up to 2 go free. The post on the peninsula with kids sorts every day by the ages it takes.

Who should not book a private day?

• Solo travellers: you pay a per-person fare with no one to share the vehicle, and a small group costs less.
• Anyone who only wants the springs: a springs day from the city includes your entry, which the private day does not.
• Wine-only groups on a budget: the six-seat days include the tastings and lunch for a similar fare.
• Active travellers: the paddle-and-hike day caps its group at nine and packs a paddleboard, a bushwalk, a picnic, a tasting and the pools into nine hours.
• Anyone booking late: the private day is booked 75 days ahead on average, so last-minute dates may be gone.

Still undecided? The guide to the best day for you sets the private day beside every other kind.

Frequently asked questions

Your own vehicle, or six seats and lunch

Mornington Peninsula Day Tour. Your Day Your Way. Your group only

Your group only, collected from a Melbourne hotel, the airport or the cruise pier at 8:30, on a route you shape: Mornington's harbour, the Mount Martha boxes, Sorrento, a back beach and the Cape Schanck boardwalk. Lunch is at your cost.

From $192 per person

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Mornington Peninsula Small Group Lunch and Wine Tasting Quealy

The seven-hour six-seat day from your city hotel at 10:00: a sculpture walk above the sea, a barrel-room tasting, and two hours over a two-course lunch with a glass of wine.

From $185 per person

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Ultimate Peninsula Adventure: Stand Up Paddle, Hot Springs, Hike, Lunch & Winery

An active day for nine at most from the springs car park at Fingal: a paddleboard lesson on the bay, a coastal bushwalk, a picnic and a winery tasting, then the pools with a towel provided.

From $242 per person

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