The Brighton Bathing Boxes date back to Victorian times, when they were used as ladies' changing rooms along Dendy Street Beach.

Visit with wildlife and world-class vintners on this Victorian getaway.

Victoria may be mainland Australia’s smallest state, but it sure draws the crowds. Visitors flock to Vic and its capital city Melbourne – aka Narrm, its Aboriginal name – for big-ticket events such as the Australian Open in January, March’s Food and Wine Festival, and the Always Live music festival in November and December. But the city’s sociable, celebratory mood continues year-round. On most days in the Central Business District (CBD), locals dressed in sleek Melburnian black hop on streetcars, duck down laneways, and pop by restaurants in a pastime known as the Moveable Feast.

Adding to the city’s cultural cred, the National Gallery of Victoria holds the world’s preeminent collection of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art, and more than 100 private galleries expand from the arts precinct into suburbs such as Fitzroy and Collingwood. After a short drive, the cosmopolitan city gives way to major wine regions, posh coastal enclaves, historic gold rush towns, and a national park that doubles as a museum of Aboriginal rock art. Take a week to explore the best bits of Melbourne and Victoria.

Victoria | 8-Day Itinerary

Days 1-3:Mornington Peninsula and Phillip Island
Days 4-5:Melbourne and Yarra Valley
Days 6-7:Grampians National Park via Ballarat
Day 8:Melbourne

Left: Alba Thermal Springs, where architecture adds to the experience.
Right: Cape Schanck's rock pools, where the setting makes the dip.

Days 1-3: Mornington Peninsula and Phillip Island

Around an hour south of the city, the Mornington Peninsula attracts locals and international travelers with more than 100 miles of privileged coastline. Melburnians escape to this maritime wine region for silky pinot noirs, protected bay waters, and elegant seaside towns.

Pt. Leo Estate epitomizes the peninsula with its award-winning wines, oceanfront sculpture garden, and lauded Laura restaurant (named after the Jaume Plensa sculpture just outside its floor-to-ceiling windows). Laura’s multicourse lunches lean heavily on local products, from flambéed southern rock lobster to Red Hill truffles. After the meal, stroll through the 16-acre sculpture park to spot works by blockbuster artists Yayoi Kusama and Kaws, collected over decades by Pt. Leo’s founding Gandel family. Finish the day with a scenic drive to Cape Schanck Lighthouse to drink in views across the churning Bass Strait before retiring to the 44-room contemporary, art-centric Jackalope Hotel, whose design theme is “alchemy.”

Cool peninsula mornings call for the half-hour drive to Alba Thermal Springs and Spa, a modern architectural feat of 31 hot springs and cold plunges surrounded by native banksias and eucalyptus trees. After dipping, graze on coffee and crumpets at Thyme restaurant before heading south for the day’s main event, a 90-minute guided swim near Port Phillip Bay’s resident bottlenose dolphins. Warm up over dinner back at Jackalope’s Asian-inspired Doot Doot Doot restaurant, where glittering light sculptures resemble Champagne bubbles mid-ferment. Then unwind with a movie night in the hotel’s monochrome, minimalist suites – don’t forget room service deliveries of bottomless popcorn and locally made ice cream.

On day three, gear up to explore 40-square-mile Phillip Island, UNESCO protected and conveniently connected to the mainland by bridge. Stop along the way to visit with Australia’s preeminent ambassadors – kangaroos, koalas, wombats, and dingoes – at Moonlit Sanctuary. Once on the island, see Phillip's famous surf breaks and fur seals, or board a helicopter for a flight across the region’s coast and farmland. The island’s unmissable experience starts at dusk, when, after a long day darting for their dinner at sea, resident little penguins waddle across the sand to their nests. Snag a front-row seat starting at 5 p.m. at the Penguin Parade Visitor Centre.

Left: A cheese- and wine-tasting spread at Yarra Valley Dairy.
Right: Looking through Alowyn Gardens' wisteria arbor in spring.

Days 4-5: Melbourne and Yarra Valley

Pick up a souvenir bottle of sparkling wine from Yabby Lake Vineyard during the hour’s drive from Mornington back to the capital, then check into the 257-room Ritz-Carlton, Melbourne, where views from the skyscraper’s 80th floor stretch all the way to Port Phillip. Plan for a few hours wandering the city’s narrow pedestrian laneways, lined with street art and slick restaurants – among them, Supernormal and Kisumé on popular Flinders Lane.

Opened originally in 1861, the National Gallery of Victoria (NGV) is Australia’s oldest art museum, housing more than 70,000 global masterpieces. Spend the better part of the afternoon exploring its two buildings – the NGV International, with an Ai Weiwei sculptural centerpiece in the foyer, and The Ian Potter Centre, a ten-minute walk away and home to NGV’s extensive Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art collection. For dinner, Vue De Monde sits 55 floors above the city, dishing out a playful Australian menu with the warmest service. Try one of Melbourne’s top plates: delicate macadamia puree served with kelp oil and caviar.

Much of Victoria borders the sea, but the state’s rich grasslands helped establish its dairy industry – a cornerstone of the Victorian economy – in the nineteenth century. Today, around 70 percent of the country’s dairy farms are found here. An hour’s drive northeast of Melbourne, the Yarra Valley shows off this living history with acres of painterly pastures speckled with grazing milk cows, and now alongside them, destination-worthy distilleries and wineries.

Head out for the day with a flat white in hand from Patricia Coffee Brewers, then visit Yarra Valley Dairy for a cheese-tasting tour, followed by lunch at Oakridge Wines. (Portarlington snapper or Corner Inlet calamari pairs well with the estate’s single-vineyard chardonnay.) The manicured hedgerows and topiaries of Alowyn Gardens make for a lovely afternoon stroll (in spring, the wisteria arbor is fragrant and infinitely photographable) before returning to Melbourne and The Ritz.

Scenic Dunkeld at the southern end of Grampians National Park.

Days 6-7: Grampians National Park via Ballarat

From Melbourne, travel west to Victoria’s historic goldfields in the state’s central highlands. A 90-minute drive from the CBD, the town of Ballarat once stood at the epicenter of Australia’s gold rush (its ornate architecture is worth the visit alone). Here, outdoor museum Sovereign Hill surveys the region’s gilded history, while Timboon Fine Ice Cream serves farm-fresh scoops to passers-through. Today, the UNESCO Creative City is a worthy stopover on the way to Grampians National Park.

Continue to the dense bushlands and sandstone mountains of Grampians (Aboriginal: Gariwerd), an area sacred to the Djab Wurrung and Jardwadjali people. The town of Dunkeld sits in the shadows of Mount Sturgeon (Wurgarri) and Mount Abrupt (Mud-Dadjug) – at dawn and dusk, emus and kangaroos graze at the mountains’ base. After an overnight in a refurbished shearers’ cottage, croissants from the 137-year-old Dunkeld Old Bakery fuel a day hike to the spectacular MacKenzie Falls (a three-hour loop) or Pinnacle Lookout (a more strenuous five-hour trek). Five Aboriginal rock paintings, some dating back 20,000 years, are also open to the public along the drivable Grampians Rock Art Trail.

Left: Melbourne's Royce Hotel was once a luxury car showroom.
Right: The conservatory of the 1928 Royce Hotel building.

Day 8: Melbourne

On the way back to the capital, in the suburb of Melton, Buddy Bakery yields a true Victorian delicacy: the thick, custardy vanilla slice, sandwiched between two squares of flaky puff pastry. Drop your bags at the Hollywood-inspired, 94-room Royce hotel, shop for couture gifts on nearby Collins Street, then grab dinner at France-Soir, one of the city’s great French restaurants (its escargot and moules marinières are legendary). End the evening with a nightcap at France-Soir’s sister bar, Le Splendide, where guests are asked to pop discreet stickers over their phone cameras before entering. Stash the device and give full attention to your final hours in Victoria.

Eight Days in Victoria: Melbourne to Grampians National Park