The Geelong Waterfront is the walkable bayfront on Corio Bay, from Rippleside Park past Cunningham Pier and the Carousel to Eastern Beach. Entry is free. Allow two to three hours for the painted bollards, the 1890s carousel ($6 a ride), Steampacket Gardens and a swim in the 1930s Eastern Beach enclosure.
The Geelong Waterfront is the strip of parks, piers and promenade along Corio Bay on the edge of the city centre. It runs from Rippleside Park in the north-west, past Cunningham Pier, Steampacket Gardens and the Carousel, to the Eastern Beach swimming enclosure and on to Limeburners Point near the Botanic Gardens. Walking it costs nothing. The paid extras are a carousel ride and, if you drive, parking.
The bayfront was rebuilt in the late 1990s, when the old port edge became public lawns and boardwalks. It is on Wadawurrung Country; the city’s name comes from the Wadawurrung name Djilang (also spelt Djillong).
| Stop | What it is | Cost | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rippleside Park | Foreshore park, playground, western end of the bollard trail | Free | 1.8 km north-west of Cunningham Pier |
| Cunningham Pier | 1850s railway pier, now a boardwalk and restaurant pavilion | Free to walk | Start of the central stretch |
| Steampacket Gardens | Lawns between the pier and the Royal Geelong Yacht Club | Free | Next to the Carousel |
| The Carousel | Restored carousel from around 1892, plus visitor information | $6 adult or child, $5 concession | 0.7 km from Geelong station |
| Eastern Beach | 1930s swimming enclosure, children’s pool, diving tower | Free | 1.1 km east of Cunningham Pier |
| Limeburners Point | Eastern end of the bollard trail, by the Botanic Gardens | Free | 1.1 km past Eastern Beach |
Checked October 2026. Distances are measured between map points, so the walked path is a little longer. Carousel prices are the council’s, in force from 1 July 2025.
Cunningham Pier is the long pier straight out from the city centre. The Geelong and Melbourne Railway Company built the first version, the Railway Pier, in 1854 and 1855, and a new straight pier about 1,000 feet long followed in 1863 and 1864, according to the Victorian Heritage Database. It took its current name after a rebuild in the late 1920s (Wikipedia gives 1929).
Cargo had left the pier by the 1980s. The renovation in the late 1990s added the restaurant pavilion at the seaward end, and today most people walk out for the view back to the city and across the bay. We have not checked which venue currently trades on the pier, so look at the signs when you get there.
The Carousel sits in a glass pavilion between Steampacket Gardens and the bay. The council dates the machine to around 1892. It came from the Armitage-Herschell company of New York, has 36 horses and 2 chariots, and 24 of the horses are originals hand-carved by Charles Dare. The band organ is part original and part replica.
It spent the 1920s to the 1950s on Mordialloc Pier. The Steampacket Place Development Board bought it in August 1996, and it was restored over the next three years before opening on the waterfront in October 2000.
| Carousel | Detail |
|---|---|
| Hours | 10 am to 5 pm every day, last ride 10 minutes before close |
| Adult or child (0 to 16) | $6 |
| Concession | $5 |
| Multi-ride | $50 |
| Pavilion entry | Free |
Checked October 2026 on the council’s Carousel page. Hours can change for private functions.
The Geelong Waterfront Visitor Information Centre is inside the Carousel building at 1 Eastern Beach Road, open 10:30 am to 4:30 pm daily. Many older listings still send people to a centre in the National Wool Museum; that one has moved.
Steampacket Gardens is the stretch of lawn between Cunningham Pier and the Royal Geelong Yacht Club, named after the steamships that once tied up here. It is the open space for the waterfront’s big events. The best known is the Festival of Sails in late January, the Australia Day regatta that includes the Melbourne to Geelong Passage Race; the 2027 festival starts on 23 January. Outside event days it is a place to sit on the grass with takeaway and watch the yachts.
Along the whole bayfront you pass Jan Mitchell’s painted wooden figures, the Baywalk Bollards: sea captains, swimmers in striped costumes, a tram conductress, a volunteer rifle band and dozens more, all characters from Geelong’s past. The council says the project began with about 104 works between 1994 and 1999 and has grown to more than 155 across the region. Most visitors meet them between Cunningham Pier and Eastern Beach. The Geelong bollards guide has the full trail, the history and a route table.
At the eastern end of the central stretch is Eastern Beach, Geelong’s swimming spot. The semicircular enclosure, boardwalk and diving tower were built in stages through the 1930s, and the children’s pool is open around the clock. Lifeguards patrol from November to mid-April, and the reserve behind the beach has lawns, a playground and barbecues. See the Eastern Beach guide for patrol hours and rules.
Keep walking another kilometre or so past the enclosure and you reach Limeburners Point, where the trail ends below Eastern Park. The free Geelong Botanic Gardens are a short climb up the hill.
This order keeps the best views in front of you and ends at the beach:
That takes two to three hours at an easy pace. Add Rippleside Park at the start if you want the whole bollard trail. The National Wool Museum is one block back from the Carousel if the weather turns.
If you want the waterfront and the Bellarine in one day without driving, the Bay Sightseeing and Ferry Ride tour from Melbourne starts here with a walk past the bollards, then goes to Point Lonsdale, Queenscliff and the ferry to Sorrento.
From Melbourne, the V/Line train from Southern Cross takes about an hour. From Geelong station it is a 0.7 km walk down to the Carousel. On weekends Port Phillip Ferries runs from Docklands via Portarlington to a stop beside the Carousel, about 2 hours 10 minutes each way; timetables change with the season, so check the Melbourne to Geelong ferry guide before you plan around it.
By car it is about 75 km from Melbourne on the Princes Freeway. The council’s Western Beach car park beside Cunningham Pier charges $3.80 an hour with a three-hour limit, and Garden Street and Hearne Parade above Eastern Beach are free all day (council rates, checked October 2026). The National Wool Museum also points drivers to the Civic Centre car park on Gheringhap Street, free after 6 pm on Fridays and all weekend. Our Geelong parking guide covers the other car parks.
Dogs are welcome but must be on a lead; the council lists the Waterfront Precinct as an on-leash area.
Hotels near the bay, such as the Crowne Plaza by the convention centre, put you a few minutes’ walk from the pier and the Carousel, which is handy for an evening walk and an early swim. Our guide to where to stay in Geelong compares them.
10 hours
Starts with a walk past the Baywalk Bollards on the Geelong waterfront, then Point Lonsdale lighthouse, lunch in Queenscliff and the car ferry across the bay to Sorrento and the Mornington Peninsula.
fromA$199
Check availability10 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 availabilityPrices and ratings were taken from GetYourGuide and can change. Booking through these links supports this site at no extra cost to you.
Updated
Yes. The promenade, Steampacket Gardens, Cunningham Pier's boardwalk, the painted bollards and Eastern Beach all cost nothing to visit, and the Carousel pavilion is free to walk into. You pay only for extras: a Carousel ride is $6 for adults and children and $5 concession (council prices from 1 July 2025, checked October 2026), plus parking if you drive.
The central stretch from Cunningham Pier to the Eastern Beach enclosure is about 1.1 km, so 15 to 20 minutes without stops. The full bayfront from Rippleside Park to Limeburners Point is about 4 km measured point to point. The council puts its bollard trail at about 30 minutes one way. Most visitors spend two to three hours with stops.
Yes, at Eastern Beach. The 1930s swimming enclosure has a shark-proof sea bath, a children's pool and a diving tower. Life Saving Victoria lifeguards patrol from 1 November to 19 April, 10 am to 7 pm daily from 22 December to 28 February (council, checked October 2026). Outside those hours you swim unsupervised, and the council calls the area a drowning blackspot.
The council dates it to around 1892. It was built by the Armitage-Herschell company of New York and has 36 horses and 2 chariots, 24 of the horses original and hand-carved by Charles Dare. It ran on Mordialloc Pier from the 1920s to the 1950s, was restored from 1996 to 1999 and opened in its waterfront pavilion in October 2000.
The simplest way is the V/Line train from Southern Cross to Geelong station, about an hour, then a 0.7 km walk down to the Carousel. By car it is about 75 km on the Princes Freeway. On weekends Port Phillip Ferries also sails from Docklands to a stop beside the Carousel, via Portarlington, in about 2 hours 10 minutes.
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.
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.