Melbourne in five days: city, Great Ocean Road and the Dandenongs
Melbourne: From melbourne great ocean road 12 apostles tour
What five days adds over a shorter trip
Quick answer: five days is enough to add the Great Ocean Road — genuinely a full day, not a half-day add-on — without sacrificing either of the two core city days. This itinerary runs two city days, one full Great Ocean Road day, one Dandenong Ranges/Puffing Billy day, and a fifth flexible day you can spend resting, shopping, or doing a second regional excursion if you have the energy left.
Everything here assumes no rental car for the Great Ocean Road day specifically — an organised tour is the more relaxing option for a single long day covering roughly 600-680 km round trip, since it means someone else is watching the road on the Great Ocean Road’s famously curvy coastal sections while you look at the view.
Day 1: CBD, laneways and Queen Victoria Market
Flinders Street Station, Federation Square, Hosier Lane for street art, then Degraves Street and Centre Place for coffee (25-30 AUD). Continue to Queen Victoria Market for the deli hall and a market-food lunch (15-25 AUD). Afternoon at Southbank, with Eureka Skydeck if you want the city’s best overview before heading regional later in the trip.
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Evening: dinner in the CBD (40-60 AUD) and a wander through the laneway bar scene.
Day 2: Fitzroy, the MCG or gardens, and St Kilda
Morning in Fitzroy for brunch and vintage shopping, continuing into Collingwood. Afternoon splits between the MCG guided tour (30-35 AUD, 75 minutes) for sports fans and the free Royal Botanic Gardens for everyone else.
book an MCG guided tourEvening tram to St Kilda for sunset, Luna Park’s heritage entrance and dinner along Acland Street (35-55 AUD).
Day 3: the Great Ocean Road, in full
This is the itinerary’s centrepiece and its longest day by far — realistically 11-13 hours door to door, departing the CBD around 7-7:30am and returning after dark. A full-day tour typically runs the coast anti-clockwise, reaching the Twelve Apostles in the afternoon light rather than the rushed early-morning window that a same-direction crowd creates, with stops at Torquay or Bells Beach, Lorne, Apollo Bay, and the limestone stacks and gorges around Port Campbell.
book a full-day Great Ocean Road and Twelve Apostles tourExpect roughly 95-180 AUD per person depending on group size and inclusions (helicopter add-ons at the Apostles push this higher), with most lunches included or available at an extra stop in Apollo Bay or Port Campbell. Bring motion sickness tablets if you’re prone to it — the coast road’s curves are the point, but they’re genuinely winding for several hours at a stretch.
Day 4: Dandenong Ranges and Puffing Billy
A gentler contrast to day 3’s long coastal drive: about an hour from the CBD, the Dandenong Ranges deliver cool temperate rainforest and the historic Puffing Billy steam railway, in service since 1900. A full-day tour typically runs 90-140 AUD per person, including return coach transport and a ride segment over the Trestle Bridge with legs hanging out the open carriage windows.
book a Puffing Billy and Dandenong Ranges day tourDay 5: your flexible day
Five days gives you genuine breathing room, and this last day is deliberately unscripted. Realistic options include:
- A slower CBD morning revisiting anything you rushed on day 1 — the NGV, State Library Victoria’s domed reading room, or a longer Queen Victoria Market browse.
- A half-day Yarra Valley wine tasting if you have any energy left and wine matters more to you than rest — most operators run half-day options (2-3 cellar doors, no full lunch) for 90-130 AUD, shorter than the full-day version.
- A genuine rest day — after a long Great Ocean Road day and a Puffing Billy day back to back, an unstructured morning with a late checkout and a slow café lunch is a legitimately good use of a fifth day, not a wasted one.
- Shopping and packing at Bourke Street Mall or Chadstone, Australia’s largest shopping centre, about 30 minutes from the CBD by tram and train.
Getting between it all
Days 1, 2 and 5 (if city-based) run on foot and tram within the Free Tram Zone and Zone 1 network. Days 3 and 4 are covered by organised tour pickup from a central point, typically 7-7:30am for the Great Ocean Road and slightly later for the Dandenongs.
Five-day budget (AUD, per person)
- Coffee, breakfast, brunch (5 days): 105-130 AUD
- Lunches (excluding tour-included meals): 55-75 AUD
- Dinners (5 days): 200-275 AUD
- Eureka Skydeck: 30-33 AUD
- MCG tour (if taken): 30-35 AUD
- Great Ocean Road tour: 95-180 AUD
- Puffing Billy/Dandenongs tour: 90-140 AUD
- Trams (city days): 15-25 AUD
- Total: roughly 620-893 AUD, before accommodation and any day-5 extras
Five nights of accommodation typically adds 600-1750 AUD depending on standard. Model your own numbers with the budget calculator.
Where to stay for this itinerary
CBD or Southbank, for the same reason as the 3- and 4-day versions: both regional tours pick up centrally, and an early Great Ocean Road departure is easier from a hotel a five-minute walk from the pickup point than from a neighbourhood requiring a tram transfer at 6:45am.
Should you self-drive the Great Ocean Road instead?
If you’re comfortable driving on the left and want full control over stops and pace, self-driving is a legitimate alternative to the tour built into day 3 — but it changes this itinerary’s shape meaningfully, since a self-driven Great Ocean Road day usually works better as an overnight in Apollo Bay or Lorne rather than a single long day trip, given how much driving fatigue a 600+ km round trip in one day involves. If overnighting appeals, look at the Great Ocean Road 3-day itinerary instead of trying to bolt an overnight onto this five-day city-based plan. Our tour versus self-drive comparison breaks down the trade-offs in more depth.
Weather and timing notes
Anti-clockwise Great Ocean Road tours (reaching the Twelve Apostles in the afternoon) generally have better light for photography and smaller crowds at the main lookouts than the more common clockwise pattern most self-drivers default to. Rain doesn’t cancel the tour, but visibility at the coastal lookouts drops meaningfully in heavy weather — if your day 3 date has a poor forecast and your day 5 is genuinely flexible, ask the tour operator about swapping to a clearer day if their schedule allows it.
Packing and practical notes for the two long tour days
Days 3 and 4 are both full-day organised tours with early pickups, so pack the night before rather than the morning of — a small day bag with a water bottle, sunscreen (Melbourne and coastal Victoria’s UV runs high even on overcast days), a light rain layer, and any motion sickness medication if the Great Ocean Road’s curves are a concern for you. Comfortable shoes matter for both days: the Twelve Apostles lookouts involve short walks from car parks along boardwalks, and some Dandenong Ranges tours include an optional bushwalk segment around Sherbrooke Forest.
Bring a fully charged camera or phone — both days are genuinely photogenic in different ways, coastal cliffs and rainforest canopy respectively — and a portable charger if you plan to shoot all day, since tour buses don’t always offer charging points.
If you’re travelling with a mild food allergy or dietary requirement, flag it when booking both regional tours rather than on the day; lunch stops on the Great Ocean Road and Puffing Billy tours are often at a fixed café or included venue with limited on-the-spot substitution options, unlike a city day where you’re choosing your own restaurant.
Money-saving adjustments to this five-day plan
The two tour days together account for roughly a third of this itinerary’s non-accommodation budget, so if costs need trimming, consider a half-day rather than full-day Great Ocean Road option if your priority is specifically the Twelve Apostles rather than the full coastal drive — some operators offer a shorter Twelve Apostles-focused tour (via the inland highway rather than the full coast road both ways) for meaningfully less than the full coastal loop. On the city days, swapping the MCG tour for the free Botanic Gardens and Eureka Skydeck for the free NGV removes roughly 60-70 AUD per person without changing the trip’s overall shape.
Frequently asked questions about five days in Melbourne
Is five days enough for Melbourne and the Great Ocean Road?
Yes, comfortably — this itinerary gives the Great Ocean Road its own full day without compressing either city day, plus a Puffing Billy day and a flexible fifth day.
Should I self-drive the Great Ocean Road or take a tour?
A tour suits a single long day trip better than self-driving, since someone else manages a full day of coastal-road driving while you take in the view; self-driving suits travellers planning to overnight along the coast rather than return to Melbourne the same night.
What’s the best use of the flexible fifth day?
Depends on your energy levels after days 3 and 4 — a genuine rest morning, a half-day Yarra Valley tasting, or revisiting a CBD sight you rushed on day 1 are all reasonable, and there’s no wrong answer here by design.
How long is the Great Ocean Road day trip, realistically?
11-13 hours door to door is typical for a full-day tour covering the Twelve Apostles, departing the CBD around 7-7:30am and returning after dark, particularly in the shorter-daylight winter months.
Can I do the Great Ocean Road and Phillip Island in the same five days?
Not comfortably alongside a Dandenongs day and two full city days — both the Great Ocean Road and Phillip Island are full, long days on their own. The 7-day itinerary is built specifically to include both without over-compressing the schedule.
How much should I budget for five days including two regional day trips?
Roughly 620-893 AUD per person for food, activities, tours and local transport across five days, before accommodation, which typically adds 600-1750 AUD depending on standard.
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