6 hours ago
4
September 14, 2025 — 12:27am
Two days can seem like a lot more with a mix of good food and wine mixed with culture and the great outdoors.
MORNINGTON PENINSULA, VIC
Good for Wine drinkers, spa lovers, beach devotees.
Stay The five new villas of The Sanctuary are hidden among moonah woodlands at Alba Thermal Springs & Spa. Spend the day hopping between pools of hot, mineral-rich waters and then retreat to your villa for peninsula wines and cheese platters. In the morning, order breakfast from Alba’s excellent restaurant, Thyme, and watch eagles coast on the sea breezes. From $950 a room.
See + do + eat Make like the eagle and cruise up Arthurs Seat Eagle gondola for glittering bay views and the Dromana Drive-In, ideal for a cosy night tucked in for starlit movies. The 40-seat Barragunda Dining at Cape Schanck is the latest addition to the peninsula’s exceptional dining scene; work up an appetite on the Fingal Beach Walk or the shorter Cape Schanck lighthouse boardwalk.
Don’t miss Swim with the dolphins and Australian fur seals of Port Phillip Bay on a boat tour from Sorrento Pier – if the dolphins are fickle and don’t want to play, the boisterous seals are always delighted by company.
Essentials The Mornington Peninsula is an hour’s drive south-east of Melbourne CBD via the Peninsula Link tollway. See albathermalsprings.com.au; aseagle.com.au; barragunda.com.au; moonrakerdolphinswims.com.au; visitmorningtonpeninsula.org
NEWCASTLE, NSW
Good for Surfers, foodies, art lovers
Stay Little National’s third design-led property opened last year in Newcastle’s rejuvenated waterfront precinct. Designed by Bates Smart and Luchetti Krelle, all 181 compact rooms and apartments offer super king beds, delicate sconce lighting and Byredo amenities. There’s a club-like library with oversized couches and granite bar, 24-hour gym and sunny ground floor cafe with alfresco tables overlooking the bustling harbour.
See + do + eat Start with coffee and Newcastle’s best paninis (try the #23 with porchetta) at Florence-inspired Arno Deli. Nearby, Newcastle Art Gallery reopens, in part, this month after a $47 million expansion with a full unveiling due in February. At QT Newcastle, new executive chef Carmine Mari’s (ex-Becco, Melbourne) ingredient-led menu is shaped by his southern Italian roots. Think hand-rolled pasta with mortadella and pistachio, dry-aged duck and red wine and West Australian truffles, shaved tableside over buttery potato gnocchi. Book way in advance for hatted Bistro Penny featuring a French forward wood fire menu (the oxheart tomato salad and whole lemon sole are highlights) followed by a nightcap at cocktail bar Roxanne. At the refreshed watering hole, The Del, chef Stephen Scott’s truffle pizza, barbecue king prawns with spicy salami butter and Sunday roasts are wowing pub goers.
Stay Mount Duneed Estate is just 20 minutes’ drive from Geelong and 15 minutes from the coast, so it’s perfectly positioned for exploring both. Go for a wine tasting or long lunch, then head to one of the estate’s sleek accommodation pods featuring private outdoor tubs overlooking the vineyard.
See + do + eat Geelong’s art scene is thriving: head to the new arts centre to see a concert or show, drop into the stately Geelong Art Gallery, explore Fyansford village and its old paper mill turned design-focused hub and enjoy the public art on the ever appealing waterfront. Head out of town for a wine tasting at one of the many regional cellar doors or stay in town for a gin masterclass at Ceres Distilling Co, one of several local distilleries, breweries and cideries. There’s no shortage of good dining options, but you can’t beat a meal overlooking the beach. The imposing Tarra at Queenscliff fits the bill.
Don’t miss You’ve tasted wine, cheese and chocolate, how about butter? Lard Ass’s butters are made from local dairy and come in a range of flavours, from black garlic to miso. The Ocean Grove factory shop is open weekdays or find them at the South Geelong Farmers Market on the third Sunday of every month.
Essentials Geelong is just under one hour’s drive or train journey from Melbourne. Jetstar flies direct to Avalon Airport from Sydney. See mtduneedestate.com.au; geelonggallery.org.au; fyansfordpapermill.com.au; ceresdistillingco.com.au; tarra.com.au; lardass.com.au; visitgeelongbellarine.com.au
MANLY, SYDNEY, NSW
Good for Beachy types, nature lovers, foodies
Stay Ruminating over “what could have been” rarely elicits a warm glow. But when you consider the Manly Pacific Hotel was built in the heady ’80s, when excess equalled success, it’s a relief to know cooler heads prevailed and the hotel is not tall enough to throw shade on the main attraction across the road. After all, Manly is all about that mesmerising blue expanse. And this five-star MGallery Collection hotel does not take its enviable position lightly, cementing its coast-loving cred with a $30 million beach-vibe renovation in 2023 by Coco Republic. Beachside rooms and villas offer unrestricted views as does the rooftop pool. From $399 a night.
See + do + eat Travel by ferry then walk up the Corso, dotted with weekend markets, and dive into Manly Beach. Or take a 161 bus to the Q Station on North Head for historical shocks. Away from the surf and harbour are cafes, bars and second-hand sensations such as Desire Books and Records in Whistler Street. Food offerings may surprise, starting with the hatted Italian Cibaria next to the Manly Pacific; Young Chef of the Year Luke Bourke’s foray into respectful fish dishes at Felons Seafood at the wharf, and a deli on steroids at Norma’s Deli in the Corso. For pastries with a Nordic twist head to Fika or roll with the locals to Rollers Bakehouse.
Stay Feel life’s missing some Mad Men glamour? Dress the part and make like you’re in Manhattan on a mid-week or weekend getaway at the delectably art-deco Kimpton Margot Hotel. Here, it may all appear to be about stylish aesthetics thanks to an astonishingly stylish reworking of the 1930s Sydney Metropolitan Water Sewerage and Drainage Board headquarters, complete with pink Scagliola columns in the striking Wilmot Bar. But this hotel’s location and food and drink options deliver so much more.
See + do + eat This five-star offers a stunning “exit, stage-left” for fans of the irreverently raucous Book of Mormon showing around the corner at the Capitol Theatre. A dine, show & stay package until January allows guests to stay at this designer overnight spot, nab two A-Reserve theatre tickets and enjoy a two-course set menu at the in-house Luke’s Kitchen. The next day the revamped Paddy’s Markets beckon for lunch, but then so does Chinatown and Little Thailand – they’re all on your doorstep.
Don’t miss Sydney’s largest open-air rooftop bar. You can be swimming in it thanks to the sparkling pool on level seven amid the skyscrapers. Take friends and get a sun-lounger and cocktail and listen to some tunes with Mangan share plates in the sun-drenched surrounds of the Harper Rooftop Bar. You can also take Fido. Fridays and Saturdays.
Essentials Kimpton Margot dine, show & stay $738. See kimptonmargotsydney.com; capitoltheatre.com.au; paddysmarkets.com.au
SOVEREIGN HILL, BALLARAT, VIC
Stay You can stay at Sovereign Hill, the open-air museum set in the Ballarat of the 1850s, with rooms at the onsite hotel from $155 – a good option for experiencing Aura, the sound and light show. Closer to Ballarat’s centre are the hip and luxurious Hotel Vera, where rooms start from $230, and the heritage Craig’s Royal Hotel (from $150).
See + do + eat About 500,000 people a year visit Sovereign Hill to understand life in the gold rush era through the lens of this living museum, but its operators saw something was missing. “Sovereign Hill told the story of the people who came, but not the people who were already here,” says deputy chief executive Katrina Nitschke. So the museum worked with the Wadawurrung people, the traditional owners of the Ballarat region, to create the Wadawurrung Cultural Precinct within Sovereign Hill. You’ll find its main expression in and around a small dam where the work of five Wadawurrung artists tell their stories, such as those connecting them with Chinese miners. “We have a lot of stories of conflict, but there are many of connection,” Nitschke says. Food onsite has a museum vibe, but modern quality includes a bakery, cafe and restaurant.
Don’t miss Such is its significance as a museum, Sovereign Hill also hosts the Australian Centre for Goldrush Collections and the Rare Trades Centre. Here you’ll find everything from a Chinese processional dragon to fashions of the 1850s to a blacksmith’s forge to Indigenous art. Tours and experiences are available through Cultural Attractions of Australia.
Essentials About an hour and 15 minutes from Melbourne by car or train, Ballarat, Victoria’s third-largest city, holds its goldfields heritage in high esteem, not least at Sovereign Hill. See sovereignhill.com.au; hotelballarat.com.au; craigsroyal.com.au; culturalattractionsofaustralia.com
Contributors: Justine Costigan, Jim Darby, Belinda Jackson, Julie Miller, Jane Reddy, Sheriden Rhodes, Jane Richards, Craig Tansley and Sue Williams.
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