Victoria
Great Ocean Road
The Twelve Apostles drive done right from Melbourne: why the one-day tour misses the point, where to overnight, and the real B100 distances on the wrong side of the road for a UK driver.
In short
Great Ocean Road at a glance
The Great Ocean Road is the 243km B100 coast road from Torquay to Allansford, built by returned WWI soldiers as a war memorial, and the headline self-drive out of Melbourne. The mistake almost everyone makes is doing it as a single 12-hour day tour: that's around 600km return on a winding, left-hand-drive road, with rushed photo stops and the Twelve Apostles in the wrong midday light. Give it two days minimum — overnight at Apollo Bay or Port Campbell — and the drive becomes the point rather than the endurance test. Allow a relaxed 3 days if you want the Otway rainforest and the surf coast too.
Almost everyone meets the Great Ocean Road as a tour-desk leaflet in a Melbourne hostel, and almost everyone books the wrong version of it. The single-day coach trip exists because it sells, not because it’s the way to see this coast: you spend the daylight hours in a minibus, arrive at the Twelve Apostles when the sun is flat overhead and the car park is at its fullest, and turn straight back. The road was built by hand as a war memorial and it rewards being driven slowly — the joy is the bends above Lorne, the koalas at Kennett River and the surf towns you’d never stop in on a schedule.
The trick first-timers miss is the light. The Apostles face the Southern Ocean and they only really come alive at the edges of the day — go at sunrise from a Port Campbell bed and you can have them almost to yourself, then loop home inland on the M1 so you never grind back through the same hairpins. If you’d genuinely rather not drive on the left for two days, take the small-group tour and accept the trade-off; but if you’ll hire a car at all on your Australia trip, this is the place to use it.
The route
A two-night, one-way plan that treats the road as a drive to savour rather than a day to survive. Pick up a hire car in central Melbourne, run the coast west, and loop home on the M1 motorway so you never repeat the twisty section. Drive times are for the B100 itself, which is slower than the distance suggests — narrow, cliff-edge and constantly bending.
-
Day 1
Melbourne to Apollo Bay
About 1h15 on the M1 to Torquay (the official start and home of Bells Beach), then ~2h30 of slow coast driving through Anglesea and Lorne to Apollo Bay. Stop at Teddy's Lookout above Lorne and watch for koalas in the gums at Kennett River. Overnight in Apollo Bay — roughly the halfway point.
-
Day 2
Otways and the Twelve Apostles
Detour inland into the Great Otway National Park for the Maits Rest rainforest walk and the Cape Otway lighthouse, then rejoin the coast for the headline run: the Twelve Apostles, Loch Ard Gorge and London Bridge, all within 15 minutes of each other near Port Campbell (~1h45 from Apollo Bay). Time the Apostles for the last hour of light.
-
Day 3
Port Campbell back to Melbourne
Catch the Apostles at sunrise with almost nobody there, then drive the final stretch to Allansford and turn for home. The fast way back is inland via Colac and the M1, about 3h15 to central Melbourne, versus retracing the whole winding coast.
Where to base yourself
Pick one or two bases rather than moving every night.
Apollo Bay
££ mid-rangeThe natural mid-road base: a working fishing town with a sandy bay, pubs and motels, roughly halfway so you split the driving and can do the Otways and Apostles either side. Best all-rounder for a two-night trip.
Best for: Splitting the drive, the Otway detour
Port Campbell
££ mid-rangeA small clifftop village minutes from the Twelve Apostles and Loch Ard Gorge — the move if your priority is sunrise and sunset at the rock stacks without a pre-dawn drive. Limited rooms, so book ahead in summer.
Best for: Twelve Apostles golden hour
Lorne
£££ premiumThe prettiest and busiest resort town on the eastern half: a proper beach, cafés and the Erskine Falls walk on its doorstep. Closer to Melbourne and good for a one-night taster, but it's an early start to reach the Apostles from here.
Best for: A shorter trip or surf-coast stay
Getting around Great Ocean Road
This is a self-drive region — there's no train along the coast and public buses (the V/Line Apollo Bay service) are slow and infrequent, so a hire car is effectively essential unless you take a tour. Pick the car up in central Melbourne rather than at Tullamarine arrivals, where one-way and airport fees push the daily rate up. Budget on roughly A$55–90 (~£29–48) a day for a small car. The B100 is single-carriageway, cliff-edge and full of blind bends, so the posted distances take far longer than they look — average around 50km/h on the coastal section. Australia drives on the left like the UK, which helps, but the road is genuinely tiring; swap drivers and don't try to do the whole thing in a day. If you'd rather not drive, full-day small-group tours from Melbourne run about A$120–180 (~£63–95).
Book the essentials
Where to stay
Tours & tickets
Airport transfers
Car hire
Stay connected
Great Ocean Road FAQs
How long do you need for the Great Ocean Road?
Should you do the Great Ocean Road as a day trip or self-drive?
What is the best time to drive the Great Ocean Road?
Ready to book?
Compare car hire