A bayside city an hour from Melbourne, with a waterfront of painted bollards and the Bellarine and the Great Ocean Road on its doorstep.
Geelong sits on Corio Bay, about 75 km south-west of Melbourne. The best things to do in Geelong are on or near the water: walk the waterfront past the painted Baywalk Bollards, ride the carousel, swim at Eastern Beach and wander the Botanic Gardens. It is also the gateway to the Bellarine Peninsula and the Great Ocean Road.
75 km
South-west on the Princes Freeway (M1), about an hour and five minutes in free-flowing traffic.
1 hour
V/Line from Southern Cross, every 20 minutes off-peak, taking about 59 to 62 minutes.
100+
Along the waterfront, and over 150 across the region, according to the City of Greater Geelong.
2017
The year UNESCO added Geelong to its Creative Cities Network as a City of Design.
Ranked for a first visit: the free waterfront sights first, then the museums, the family days out and the walks just outside the city. Each links to a full guide.
Waterfront
The bayfront runs past Cunningham Pier and Steampacket Gardens to the carousel, built around 1892, where a ride costs $6 (council prices from July 2025).
Waterfront
Artist Jan Mitchell painted the first bollards between 1994 and 1999 as local people of the past: lifesavers, a fireman, a tram conductress. The main trail, Rippleside Park to Limeburners Point, takes about 30 minutes one way.
Beach
A 1930s bathing complex with a semicircular swimming enclosure, a children’s pool and a dive tower, a short walk east of the centre. Lifeguards patrol set hours from November to mid-April.
Park
Established in 1851 in Eastern Park. Free, and open daily from 8 am until 7 pm in daylight saving, 5 pm the rest of the year.
Museum
The story of wool, told inside an 1872 bluestone wool store on Moorabool Street, a block from the water. Adult entry is $13.
Gallery
Free and open daily, 10 am to 5 pm. Founded in 1896, it holds over 6,000 works and is strong on colonial painting.
Museum
The Old Geelong Gaol is a bluestone prison from the 1850s at 202 Myers Street, now a museum.
Beaches
Eastern Beach in town, then Barwon Heads, Ocean Grove and Torquay, each about 25 minutes’ drive from the centre.
Family
Adventure Park Geelong is a summer water and theme park at Wallington, about 16 km east of central Geelong on the Bellarine Highway.
Family
Fairy Park is a fairytale theme park in Anakie, about 33 km north-west of Geelong, open since 1959.
Nature
A granite range about 22 km north of the city. Big Rock is a 100 m stroll from the car park; Flinders Peak is the climb.
Nature
Buckley Falls is a small waterfall on the Barwon River at Highton, about 6 km west of central Geelong.
Sport
Kardinia Park is home to the Geelong Football Club. The Joel Selwood Stand opened in March 2024 and lifted capacity to about 40,000.
Geelong stands on Wadawurrung Country. Its name comes from Djilang, the Wadawurrung name for the area, often translated as “tongue of land”. The town was surveyed in 1838, three weeks after Melbourne, and gazetted that October.
Gold at Ballarat in 1851 made it the main port for the central Victorian goldfields. It was also the port for Western District wool, with woollen mills from the 1860s until most closed by 1974. As a rail and shipping hub from the 1860s it picked up the nickname “The Pivot”.
Wikipedia and the Victorian Government both call it Victoria’s second-largest city. The council calls it Australia’s first and only UNESCO City of Design.
Most visitors come from Melbourne, an hour away by train or car.
Few tours are based in Geelong, and most Great Ocean Road day trips start in Melbourne and bypass the city. These 6 stop here or pick up here. The tours page lists all 10 that do, plus the bigger Great Ocean Road days.
10 hours
A food and drink loop of the bay that opens with a stroll on the Geelong waterfront, lunches at Jack Rabbit Vineyard on the Bellarine, then crosses to a Mornington Peninsula brewery and the bathing boxes.
fromA$219
Check availability3.5 hours
Snorkel at Popes Eye and with the young fur seals at Chinaman's Hat, then go looking for dolphins in Port Phillip Heads, with an optional bus transfer from Geelong Station.
fromA$210
Check availability4 hours
A dawn balloon flight that meets at the Holiday Inn & Suites Geelong and drifts over the city, the bay, the Barwon River and the Barrabool Hills, with breakfast afterwards.
fromA$390
Check availability1.5 hours
A guided look round the working Little Creatures brewery in an old 1920s wool mill in South Geelong, finishing with a tasting paddle.
fromA$35
Check availability10-12 hours
One of the few Great Ocean Road day tours that lists Geelong as a pickup point, running to the Twelve Apostles, Loch Ard Gorge, Maits Rest rainforest and Apollo Bay.
fromA$105
Check availability12 hours
A private Great Ocean Road day with a driver who speaks English, Mandarin, Cantonese or Vietnamese, including an hour on the Geelong waterfront before the coast and the Twelve Apostles.
fromA$120
Check availabilityPrices and ratings were taken from GetYourGuide and can change. Booking through these links supports this site at no extra cost to you.
Stay on the waterfront or in the centre if you are coming by train: everything in town is walkable from there. Drivers heading for the coast can stay further out.
Geelong is the closest city to the Bellarine Peninsula and the start of the Great Ocean Road.
Queenscliff and its fort, Point Lonsdale lighthouse, Portarlington mussels and dozens of cellar doors, 25 to 35 minutes’ drive away. The Searoad ferry crosses from Queenscliff to Sorrento in 40 minutes.
Torquay, the official start of the Great Ocean Road, is 22 km away, about 25 minutes. Bells Beach, home of the Rip Curl Pro at Easter since 1962, is 10 minutes further.
Built from 1919 to 1932 by more than 3,000 returned servicemen and about 240 km long. Lorne is about 1 hour 10 minutes from Geelong; the Twelve Apostles about 2 hours 25 minutes inland, or 3 hours 10 along the coast.
The waterfront, beaches, museums and family days out in and around the city.
The Geelong Waterfront is the walkable bayfront on Corio Bay, from Rippleside Park past Cunningham Pier and the Carousel to Eastern Beach.
The Geelong bollards are painted wooden figures by artist Jan Mitchell, carved from old wharf pylons between 1994 and 1999.
Eastern Beach is Geelong's city swimming spot on Corio Bay, 1 km east of the Carousel.
The Geelong Botanic Gardens are free and open every day, 8 am to 7 pm in daylight saving and 8 am to 5 pm otherwise.
The National Wool Museum is at 26 Moorabool Street, Geelong, in an 1872 bluestone wool store one block from the waterfront.
Geelong Gallery is a free public art gallery on Little Malop Street in central Geelong, open daily from 10 am to 5 pm.
The Old Geelong Gaol is a bluestone prison from the 1850s at 202 Myers Street, now a museum.
Adventure Park Geelong is a summer water and theme park at Wallington, about 16 km east of central Geelong on the Bellarine Highway.
Fairy Park is a fairytale theme park in Anakie, about 33 km north-west of Geelong, open since 1959.
Geelong's city beach is Eastern Beach, a bay beach with a netted swimming enclosure and lifeguards in summer.
The You Yangs are a granite range rising from the plains about 35 minutes' drive north of Geelong, inside a free Parks Victoria regional park.
Buckley Falls is a small waterfall on the Barwon River at Highton, about 6 km west of central Geelong.
Geelong is easy with children.
GMHBA Stadium at Kardinia Park in South Geelong is the home ground of the Geelong Cats and holds 40,000 since the Joel Selwood Stand opened in 2024.
Where to stay, parking, getting here from Melbourne and the airports, and tours.
Stay on the waterfront at the Crowne Plaza or Novotel if you have no car and want the bay at the door.
Council parking in central Geelong costs $3.80 an hour or $15.90 a day in the Haymarket and Busport car parks, and $10.30 all day on a few outer streets.
Geelong sits on the south shore of Corio Bay.
The most-reviewed Great Ocean Road tour is a 13.5-hour day from Melbourne, from A$125 and rated 4.7 from 6,444 reviews.
The Spirit of Tasmania sails from Spirit of Tasmania Quay, 136 Corio Quay Road, North Geelong, about 10 minutes' drive from the CBD.
The quickest way from Melbourne to Geelong is the V/Line train from Southern Cross: about 59 to 62 minutes, every 20 minutes off-peak and at weekends.
The Geelong ferry is run by Port Phillip Ferries on Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays only.
Avalon Airport is about 20 km from central Geelong, roughly 25 minutes by car on a toll-free road.
The direct way from Melbourne Airport to Geelong is the Gull Airport Service: a coach from outside Terminal 3 to Geelong station in about 65 to 75 minutes, roughly every hour, for $39 one way or $72 return.
A day trip to Geelong from Melbourne works best by train: V/Line takes about an hour from Southern Cross and runs every 20 minutes.
The Bellarine towns and wineries, the Surf Coast and the Great Ocean Road.
The Bellarine Peninsula is the stretch of coast between Geelong and the entrance to Port Phillip, 22 to 34 km from the city.
Queenscliff is a small Victorian-era town at the tip of the Bellarine Peninsula, about 31 km and 35 minutes from Geelong.
The Searoad car ferry crosses Port Phillip between Queenscliff and Sorrento in about 40 minutes.
Point Lonsdale Lighthouse is a 21 m white concrete tower, first lit in 1902, on the headland overlooking the Rip at the entrance to Port Phillip.
Portarlington is a bayside town on the Bellarine Peninsula, about 31 km from Geelong, known for its mussel farms.
Barwon Heads is a small river-mouth town on the Bellarine Peninsula, about 22 km and 25 minutes from Geelong.
Ocean Grove is a surf beach town on the Bellarine Peninsula, about 23 km and 25 minutes from Geelong.
The Bellarine Peninsula's wineries sit mostly on the hills between Drysdale, Portarlington and Wallington, about half an hour's drive from Geelong.
The Bellarine Rail Trail is a 35 km walking and cycling path from South Geelong station to Queenscliff on the old railway line.
Torquay is the surf town where the Great Ocean Road begins, about 21 km and 25 minutes' drive south of Geelong, or 45 to 50 minutes on bus 53.
Bells Beach is the surf break 8 km west of Torquay and about 29 km from Geelong, home of the Rip Curl Pro at Easter, a contest first held there in 1962.
From Geelong, the Great Ocean Road starts 21 km away in Torquay.
The Great Ocean Road starts in Torquay, 21 km south of Geelong, and runs about 240 km west to Allansford near Warrnambool.
Lorne is a beach town on the Great Ocean Road, about 65 km and 1 hour 10 minutes from Geelong.
For its waterfront and the painted Baywalk Bollards, for the Geelong Football Club (the Cats) at Kardinia Park, and for wool: it was the port for Western District wool, and the National Wool Museum fills an 1872 wool store. UNESCO named it a City of Design in 2017, and it is the gateway to the Great Ocean Road.
Yes, for a day or a weekend. The waterfront, the bollard trail, the Botanic Gardens and Geelong Gallery are all free, Eastern Beach has a 1930s swimming enclosure, and the city is an hour from Melbourne by train. It also makes a good base for the Bellarine Peninsula and the Great Ocean Road.
About 75 km by road, roughly an hour and five minutes on the Princes Freeway (M1) without traffic. V/Line trains from Southern Cross take about an hour and run every 20 minutes off-peak. Port Phillip Ferries also sails from Docklands on weekends, taking 2 hours 10 minutes via Portarlington.
The Bellarine Peninsula (Queenscliff about 35 minutes, Barwon Heads and Ocean Grove about 25), Torquay and Bells Beach (25 to 35 minutes), Lorne on the Great Ocean Road (about 1 hour 10), and the You Yangs or Anakie Gorge in the Brisbane Ranges (about 35 minutes). The Twelve Apostles are about 2 hours 25 each way by the faster inland route, so they make a long day.
The waterfront carousel runs daily from 10 am to 5 pm, the Eastern Beach children’s pool has lifeguards in summer, and the Botanic Gardens are free. Adventure Park and Fairy Park are the big family days out. Late January brings the Festival of Sails to the waterfront, and the Royal Geelong Show runs in mid-October.
In town, Eastern Beach, with its swimming enclosure, children’s pool and dive tower. About 25 minutes away are Barwon Heads and Ocean Grove on the Bellarine and Torquay on the Surf Coast. Bells Beach, 29 km away, is known for surfing and the Rip Curl Pro, and Point Lonsdale looks out over the Rip at the entrance to Port Phillip.