The best day hikes from Melbourne

Flinders Peak Walk

Bring your dog! The You Yangs National Park is a dog-friendly park located between Melbourne and Geelong. The best walk to try (for you and your pupper) is the 3.2-kilometre Flinders Peak Walk, which takes you to the highest point of the You Yangs. It’ll certainly have you puffing, with about 450 steps and an elevation rise of about 200 metres, but you’ll feel like a proper champ once you reach the top. The walk starts and finishes at the Turntable Drive car park.

Drive time from CBD: One hour
Duration (return): One hour (3.2km)
Level of difficulty: Medium to hard

Bushrangers Bay Trail

This coastal clifftop walk boasts picturesque vistas over Bass Strait. To begin, set off from the Cape Schanck car park through sandy outcrops, adjacent farmland and banksia forest. Keep an eye out for whales, chatty birds and maybe the occasional kangaroo as it makes its way across the grassy clearings. Top it off with a dip in the cool waves at the trail’s namesake beach.

Drive time from CBD: One hour and 30 minutes
Duration (one way): 45 minutes (2.7km)
Level of difficulty: Easy to medium

Keppel Lookout walk

You can start this walk at the Steavenson Falls car park, meaning you get to kick off your hike with a look at one of the state’s tallest (and most impressive) waterfalls. Following the signposts towards the Keppel Lookout, you’ll begin your ascent on a rough dirt track passing the De La Rue lookout. There are lots of hills and if there’s been rain, the track can be quite slippery so be prepared: bring plenty of water, snacks and wear sturdy shoes. The Keppel Lookout marks the halfway point on the hike, with views that stretch over towards the Cathedral Ranges on a clear day. Then begin your descent down back towards Falls Road. If you’ve got a little more energy in you, you can tack on a walk through the fern gully. 

Drive time from the CBD: Two hours
Duration (return): Three hours and 30 minutes (11km)
Level of difficulty: Medium to hard

Organ Pipes circuit

How weird is nature? The beautiful Organ Pipes National Park can be found just off the Calder Freeway, about 20 kilometres north of Melbourne. The 121-hectare park is named after its star attraction: 2.5 million-year-old basalt columns that look strikingly like organ pipes. Take the short circuit walk around the park while you're there. Starting at the visitor centre, you can follow the trail that passes along the main features of the park, including Keilor Plains, the Tessellated Pavement and the Organ Pipes themselves. 

Drive time from CBD: 30 minutes
Duration (circuit): 30 minutes (1.5km)
Level of difficulty: Easy to medium

Eastern Sherbrooke Forest Walk

Done with the 1,000 Steps? This Sherbrooke Forest walk offers up much of the same ferny greenery but without the hordes of fitness fanatics. Start at Grants Picnic Ground, past the bird feeding enclosure, and follow the first section of the track labelled the ‘Lyrebird Walk’. Keep on the sometimes-steep path, heading right at any turn, to see lush vegetation and the occasional kookaburra.

Drive time from CBD: One hour 
Duration (return): Two hours and 30 minutes (6.6km)
Level of difficulty: Medium

Lerderderg Gorge Circuit Walk

This is bush. Real Victorian bush. As well as some great flora and fauna, Lerderderg is characterised by a 300-metre deep gorge that has cut through the park’s sandstone and slate. This circuit walk begins in the Mackenzies Flat picnic area and mostly follows the natural course of the river. Expect plenty of rock hopping, some relics from the gold mining days and even some river crossing depending on the weather.

Drive time from CBD: 50 minutes
Duration (circuit): Four to five hours (13.5km circuit)
Level of difficulty: Medium

Neds Gully Track

There are a bunch of great walks to do around the Cathedral Ranges, but Neds Gully Track is a good place to start. It’s a steady uphill hike that takes you up to Neds Gully and Neds Saddle. From there the track veers off to Cathedral Peak, the park’s highest point at 840 metres elevation. Some bushwalking experience is recommended for this one.

Drive time from CBD: One hour and 40 minutes
Duration (one way): One hour (2.2km)
Level of difficulty: Medium to hard

Fingal Beach Walk

Those who like a lot of bang for their walking buck will rate this hike, which offers pretty breathtaking clifftop views and a secluded beach to play on. Start at Fingal Picnic Area, two kilometres north of Cape Schanck, and meander through the scrub forest. Take advantage of lookout spots – not only will they give you a chance to catch your breath, but they provide jaw-dropping views over the end of the Mornington Peninsula. The path will take you down a lot (and we mean a lot) of steps to Fingal Beach, which you are likely to have entirely to yourself. You can either return the same way (which, yes, means climbing all of those steps) or, if it's low tide, walking down the beach another two kilometres or so to Gunnamatta Beach, where a loop path will take you back to the start. Advantage of this approach: you avoid the stairs. Disadvantage: it's twice as long.

Drive time from CBD: One hour and 30 minutes
Duration (return): Two hours (5km) if you go only as far as Fingal Beach; three hours (10km) if you take the loop to Gunnamatta
Level of difficulty: Easy to medium

Hanging Rock Summit Walk

This region north of Melbourne is stacked with natural beauty – the best of which can be seen from the top of Hanging Rock. Banish the thought of picnics and white dresses and instead focus on the beautiful rock formations that you’ll spy as you make your way up to the summit. The path can be steep at points so it will get the heart pumping, but seeing these 6 million-year-old rocks up close is well worth it.

Drive time from CBD: One hour
Duration (circuit): 40 minutes (1.8km)
Level of difficulty: Medium

Point Nepean Walk

This part of Boonwurrung country has some of the earliest European settlement in Victoria. You can explore it all (and spy some killer bay views) via this 14.5-kilometre return walk. Starting at the Point Nepean entry gate, the walk takes you on both coastal and bush tracks that run past the old Quarantine Station and some World War II military buildings. The walk is pretty flat and quite variable, so you can stop and turn around at any point along the way.

Drive time from CBD: One hour and 40 minutes
Duration (return): Three hours (14.5km)
Level of difficulty: Easy to medium

Circuit Walk

This walk features a hiking trifecta: gorgeous views, rock scrambling and, depending on what time of year you visit, a post-hike swimming hole. Start at the Meikles Point picnic area and car park and follow the path as it snakes around the river and uphill via a rocky crest. Head towards the Eastern Lookout at the gorge rim for a panorama of the park’s best natural wonders.

Drive time from CBD: One hour
Duration (circuit): Four hours (10km)
Level of difficulty: Medium to hard

Deadman’s Loop

Don’t be put off by the name – this walk is a pleasant way to explore the Brisbane Ranges, a park that’s home to one of the state’s richest wildflower habitats. Start at the Stieglitz Courthouse and walk along Stawell Street to the creek to begin. Here you’ll find an interesting mix of rocky gullies and unusual geology that’s managed to preserve flora that’s long since disappeared from other parts of Victoria.   

Drive time from CBD: One hour and 15 minutes
Duration (circuit): One hour and 45 minutes (5.4km)
Level of difficulty: Medium to hard