Victoria is state of beauty and intrigue – from waterfalls and caves to gardens and sand dunes, there are plenty of spectacular natural wonders you can discover by wandering off the beaten track. And we're not the only state home to a bounty of treasures; Australia as a whole is packed full of magical places to explore if you know exactly where to look. So if you're gathering inspo for your next adventure, this might help: a new study has revealed the most searched hidden gem destinations and attractions in Australia, and four of the best are right here in Victoria.
Using trusty travel sources like Time Out Australia (hell yeah!), the luggage storage legends at Bounce put together a list of 70 hidden treasures across the country. They then looked at search trends to rank each spot by popularity and also tapped into Tripadvisor data to uncover the highest-rated secret attractions.
Queensland’s largest inland city, Toowoomba, took the title of Australia’s most searched hidden gem, racking up 937,500 searches across the past year. Coming in at seventh was our very own Wilsons Promontory National Park, also know as mainland Australia's southernmost point. This wild and rugged corner of our state is a popular hiking and camping destination, and boasts the title of the best beach in the country – yep, you read that right. In ninth are the famed (and rare!) Pink Lakes, including the local Westgate Park pond that turns a vibrant shade of fuchsia when conditions are right and Lake Tyrell aka Victoria's largest inland salt lake.
Here are the 10 most searched hidden gems in Australia:
- Toowoomba, QLD
- Lord Howe Island, NSW
- Kangaroo Island, SA
- Moreton Island, QLD
- Yamba, NSW
- Broome, WA
- Wilsons Promontory National Park, VIC
- Glasshouse Mountains, QLD
- Pink Lakes, VIC
- Ningaloo Reef, WA
When it comes to Australia's top hidden gem attractions, Victoria’s Panorama Garden Estate claimed the highest Tripadvisor rating, with an impressive 95.89 per cent of reviews marked as “excellent”. Chasing at its tail is the Kangaroo Sanctuary in Alice Springs, with 95.27 per cent of “excellent” reviews. Also making an appearance at seventh on the list is the Great Aussie Beer Shed and Heritage Farm Museum in Echuca.
Aussies clearly love their wineries, with Ernest Hill Wines in NSW’s Hunter Region, Kies Family Wines in the Barossa Valley, and Ivanhoe Wines in Newcastle also making the top ten. Down Under, we also love a good national park, with Hill Inlet in the Whitsunday Islands National Park, Cape Le Grand National Park in Esperance, and Maria Island National Park in Tasmania also receiving rave reviews. You can check out the full rankings below.
Here are the 10 best hidden gem attractions in Australia:
- Panorama Garden Estate, VIC
- The Kangaroo Sanctuary, NT
- Ernest Hill Wines, NSW
- Hill Inlet, QLD
- Kies Family Wines, SA
- Ivanhoe Wines, NSW
- The Great Aussie Beer Shed and Heritage Farm Museum, VIC
- Opal Museum, QLD
- Cape Le Grand National Park, WA
- Maria Island National Park, TAS
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