Great Ocean Road
243 km of curves between eucalypts and the Southern Ocean, limestone needles battered by the swell and koalas asleep above the tarmac: the most famous coastal road in the southern hemisphere.
Suggested stay — 2 to 3 nights
From Torquay to Allansford, the Great Ocean Road unrolls the best of Victoria's coastline: the surf beaches of Bells Beach, the seaside villages of Lorne and Apollo Bay, the tree-fern rainforest of the Otways, then the great limestone finale — the Twelve Apostles standing in the foam, Loch Ard Gorge with its shipwreck story, London Bridge collapsed in 1990. Built by pick and shovel by First World War veterans, it is the world's longest war memorial.
The classic mistake is doing it as a day return from Melbourne: the road deserves two to three nights, to catch the Apostles at sunset once the coaches have gone, scan the eucalypts of Kennett River for wild koalas and walk out to the Cape Otway lighthouse. Driving east to west, you're on the ocean side at every lookout — the detail that changes everything.
Don't miss
- The Twelve Apostles at sunset (and at dawn, to have them almost to yourself)
- The wild koalas of Kennett River, heads up along Grey River Road
- Loch Ard Gorge and its stairways down to the shipwreck beach
- The Otways forest: Triplet Falls and the giant tree ferns of Maits Rest
Our tips on the ground
- Drive east to west (Torquay towards Port Campbell): you stay on the sea side and every stop happens without crossing the road.
- Sleep in Port Campbell or Princetown the night before: the Apostles at 7 am, before the Melbourne coaches arrive, are a different world.
- The helicopter flight over the Apostles (around 15 minutes) is expensive but unique: only from the sky does the coast reveal its hidden arches.
Our flagship guide — €29
Guide available“Australia on Your Own”, the complete edition, is out
10 chapters: day-by-day itineraries, driving and transport, a costed budget and checklists — the same method as our Namibia guide.
The guide is currently written in French — an English edition is in the works.
Before you go
Readers' questions about Great Ocean Road
Is one day enough for the Great Ocean Road?
Technically yes — 4.5 hours of driving from Melbourne plus the stops — but it's the surest way to see everything at the worst hours. With a night or two on the spot, you get the Apostles at sunset and dawn, the Otways koalas, and a relaxed return inland via Colac. By van, the campsites at Princetown and Apollo Bay make perfect bases.
Will we really see wild koalas?
Yes, with the right method: park at Kennett River and walk up Grey River Road scanning the forks of the eucalypts — the grey balls sleep 20 hours a day, motionless. Cape Otway shelters them too. Don't approach and don't feed anything: the car-park cockatoos already take care of that far too well.