Walks & Hikes

Coast or country. Flat or hilly. There are endless options to stretch your legs and hit your step count across Geelong and The Bellarine.

Experienced hikers will head to the Brisbane Ranges National Park near Anakie.

More leisurely walkers will enjoy the Geelong waterfront or Geelong Botanic Gardens trails with plenty of cafés to pause and refuel at along the way.

One of the most scenic trails around the region is the walk around Barwon Bluff. The coastal walk passes all the icons of Barwon Heads – the bridge, At The Heads restaurant and The Bluff – with a mix of steps, gravel and sand.

You’ll find several walking trails around the maritime and heritage town of Queenscliff. From the 500-metre Ferry to Pier trail, the timber boardwalk part of the way provides all-abilities access to the beach and lookout with water views, through to the 3.2 kilometre Lovers Walk traversing the coastal Moonah Woodland along the top of the Santa Casa, Narrows and Springs beaches. This trail is sandy underfoot, undulating and becomes narrow in parts.

For those looking to stretch the legs a little more, a network of trails from Portarlington to St Leonards forms the Bellarine Coastal Trail and provides 17 kilometres of coastal walking. It’s wide and mostly flat gravel trails.

The state’s richest wildflower habitat can be found in the hills and gullies of the Brisbane Ranges National Park where plenty more walking trails, from a few hours to three days, await.

There are three short trails to choose from; Ted Errey Nature Circuit (8km, 3 hours return) which will take you to a lookout, Anakie Gorge Walk (3.5km, 1.5 hours one way) and Wadawurrung Walk (2.5km, 1 hour return) with great views of the gorge and You Yangs. The Burchell Trail is the longest hike – that’s for the more adventurous and organised. The 40km trail will take 3 days one way, with several campsites along the way.

Around the You Yangs Regional Park, you can take on the gentle 450-steps and 200m elevation to Flinders Peak for views across Wadawurrung Country and out to Melbourne. It’ll take you roughly 45 minutes to one hour return. For the more adventurous, there’s the East-West Walk (4.5km, 2 hours return), Big Rock Walk (3km, 1 hour return) and the Branding Yard Trail (5km, 2.5 hours return) as well as a few others with varying difficulty. Dogs are welcome on lead only.

On the much smaller end, is the short and linear Kevin Hoffman Walk, which is surrounded by scenic native vegetation and overlooks Hovells Creek. It can be done as a loop around 2km.

When hitting the wilderness be sure to travel safe. Download the VicEmergency App – the go-to source of emergency information and warnings. Parks Victoria provides information on trail closures or impacts and VicTraffic provides updates as you’re travelling on the roads.

For emergency warnings and advice, call the VicEmergency Hotline on 1800 226 226.

And in life-threatening emergencies always call Triple Zero 000.