Things to do in Torquay, and how to get there from Geelong

Torquay is the surf town at the eastern end of the Great Ocean Road, about 21 km south of Geelong. The things to do in Torquay mostly involve the beach: the Australian National Surfing Museum, a surf lesson on the main beach, the rock pools at Point Danger and the clifftop walk to Bells Beach. You can drive there in about 25 minutes or take bus 53 from Geelong Station in 45 to 50.

It makes a good half day on the way down the coast, or a full day if you swim and walk. Several of the big Great Ocean Road day tours from Melbourne stop here for morning tea, so the beachfront gets busy mid-morning.

Geelong to Torquay

Way to go	Time	Details (Checked October 2026)
Car	About 25 min	About 21 km on the Surf Coast Highway; allow more on summer weekends
Bus 53 (McHarry’s)	45 to 50 min	Geelong Station to Bell Street, Torquay, via the city centre, Belmont and Armstrong Creek; weekdays about every 30 minutes from 6:15 am; weekends every 30 minutes until mid-afternoon, then hourly; pay with myki
From Melbourne	About 1.5 h	Train to Geelong (about an hour, see Melbourne to Geelong), then bus 53

Bus 53 replaced the old routes 50 and 51 in June 2024, so older guides give the wrong numbers. The timetable used here started on 23 August 2026. If you are staying in Geelong rather than on the coast, our where to stay in Geelong guide covers the city hotels; pick one near the station if you plan to use the bus.

Australian National Surfing Museum

This is the one indoor sight in Torquay worth planning around. It sits at 77 Beach Road and covers more than a century of Australian surfing.

What you see:

• More than 150 surfboards, from century-old wooden slabs to modern boards
• The Australian Surfing Hall of Fame, with a board and biography for each inductee
• “The Bell”, an exhibition on the Bells Beach trophy with more than a dozen of the bells on display
• A room tracing how board design and materials changed, plus live board shaping and a small theatre

Detail	Checked October 2026
Hours	9 am to 5 pm daily, closed Christmas Day
Adult	$12
Concession, student, child (16 and under)	$8
Family	$25

The museum’s site does not date these prices, so check before you go. Allow an hour, more if you read the Hall of Fame boards. It pairs well with Bells Beach afterwards, since the trophy room explains why winners ring a bell.

Torquay beaches

Point Danger, the headland in the middle of town, splits Torquay’s beaches in two.

Front Beach is the calmer side and the one for small children: Beachsafe gives its average wave height as under 1 m. Cosy Corner sits between Front Beach and the Point Danger rocks, with paid lifeguards on weekdays in December and January. Fishermans Beach is also on Visit Great Ocean Road’s list of popular beaches.

Torquay Surf Beach is on the other side of the point and catches the swell, with waves averaging about 1.2 m.

Jan Juc is the next surf beach west. Unless you surf, swim at Front Beach instead.

Patrols, as listed by Visit Great Ocean Road (Checked October 2026):

Who	When
Volunteer lifesavers	Weekends and public holidays, November to April
Paid lifeguards	Weekdays, December to February

Lifesavers are on duty only while the red and yellow flags are up. Dates shift each season, so check the beach on beachsafe.org.au on the day. For calmer water closer to the city, see our guide to Geelong beaches.

Point Danger rock pools

Point Danger Marine Sanctuary covers 21.7 hectares around the headland, according to Parks Victoria. At low tide the flat limestone platform turns into a field of rock pools. Parks Victoria counts 26 kinds of marine plants on it, and surveys have found more than 44 kinds of small animals, most of them hiding under rocks. Go on a falling tide, wear shoes that grip, and keep an eye on the sea: Parks Victoria warns about big waves arriving without warning and about getting cut off by the tide. It is a protected area, so look and leave everything where it is.

Surf lessons

If you want to try surfing, Torquay has several surf schools.

The lesson we list in the box above is Go Ride A Wave, based on Bell Street: a beginner group lesson of 1.5 to 2 hours on the main beach, board and wetsuit included, from A$94 (GetYourGuide, checked October 2026). It is rated 4.8 from 121 reviews. The same company also runs three-lesson courses and private sessions.

For something louder, a tandem skydive from up to 15,000 ft goes over Torquay and Bells Beach (from A$379, 4.9 from 56 reviews, checked October 2026).

Walk to Bells Beach

The Bells Beach section of the Surf Coast Walk starts at Point Danger and runs along the clifftops past Jan Juc. Trail guides put that stretch at about 6.5 km, so two hours or so one way at an easy pace. There is no bus at the Bells end, so either walk back, arrange a lift, or drive the 8 km and walk just the clifftop part near the reserve.

In July 2026 the Great Ocean Road Coast and Parks Authority announced it was moving the walk’s trailhead from Point Impossible to Whites Beach East, at the Torquay end of Tip Road. That makes the full walk to Fairhaven about 41 km; older guides say 44 km.

Where Torquay fits in a Great Ocean Road trip

Torquay is kilometre zero. From here the Great Ocean Road runs past Bells Beach, Anglesea and Aireys Inlet to Lorne, about 47 km on. Our Great Ocean Road itinerary has one-day and two to three day plans from Geelong, and the Great Ocean Road map lists every town with its distance from Torquay.

If you would rather not drive, several of the big day tours from Melbourne stop in Torquay. They start in Melbourne and pass Geelong on the ring road without stopping. Our Great Ocean Road tours page compares them, and all tours near Geelong lists the shorter local trips.