Yarra Valley day trips from Melbourne
Yarra Valley
An hour from Melbourne, the Yarra Valley puts cool-climate wineries, long lunches, local produce, chocolate and gin within a short drive of each other. Join one of our daily tours, let us build a private day around your group, or bring your own itinerary and we will take care of the driving.
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Melbourne owned and operated since 2015No booking fees or card surchargesDaily and private Yarra Valley tours from Melbourne
The region we are best known for. Join one of our daily tours from the city, or let us build a private day around your group with pickup from your door.
North-east of the city, up through Lilydale and Yarra Glen.
Sparkling, Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, from big names to small family estates.
More than cellar doors. Cheese, produce, distilleries and breweries too.
Three or four venues and a proper lunch sits comfortably in one day.
Closer from the east
For guests staying in Melbourne’s eastern suburbs, the valley is noticeably quicker to reach than it is from the city. Times vary by suburb, so we confirm yours when we plan the day.
Choose the kind of day that suits you
Three ways into the Yarra Valley, and the only real question is how much of the planning you want to do yourself.
Join a daily tour
Everything organised, a small group, a set route and a host who does this every week. Pick a date and turn up.
Best for couples, friends, solo travellers and smaller groups
Plan a private day
Your group only. Choose the venues, the lunch, the pace and the style, or tell us the occasion and let us shape it.
Best for groups, celebrations, and anyone with strong preferences
Vehicle and driver
You book the wineries and lunch. We provide the vehicle and professional driver, stay with your group and follow your itinerary.
Best for groups who already know exactly where they want to go
Getting there
How far is the Yarra Valley from Melbourne?
Closer than most visitors expect. Around an hour each way, which leaves the bulk of the day for the region itself rather than the road.
One hour out, one hour home, and the rest of the day in the valley. Long lunch included.
Travel times are approximate and may vary with traffic, your pickup location and the day's itinerary. Pickup times move with where you are staying.
Once you are through Lilydale the suburbs fall away quickly, and the first vineyards appear well before the first tasting.
Why visit the Yarra Valley?
Established estates and small family cellar doors, minutes apart.
The valley has been making wine since 1838, and the range is the point. Grand hillside estates with restaurants and architecture, then ten minutes down the road a shed with four barrels and the winemaker pouring.
Cool nights and a long ripening season give the region its reputation for sparkling, Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. Most cellar doors sit within a twenty-minute drive of each other, which is what makes a day here work so well.
Easy for non-drinkers
Chocolate, cheese, produce, coffee and the views all stand on their own, and cellar doors are used to guests who taste nothing.
Every season works
Vintage colour in autumn, fireplaces in winter, green hills in spring and long outdoor lunches in summer.
Close to Melbourne
Around an hour from the city, so more of the day is spent in the valley than on the road.
Wine at the centre, and plenty around it
Victoria’s oldest wine region, and still the one that gives you the most variety in the smallest area. You can spend a day here on wine alone, or barely touch it and still eat and drink extremely well.
Long lunches and a genuine produce trail
Winery restaurants with proper kitchens, farm gates, cheese rooms and bakeries. Lunch is usually the anchor of the day rather than an afterthought.
The stop that wins over the non-drinkers
The valley’s chocolaterie and ice creamery is one of the busiest attractions in the region, and it is the reason a mixed group of drinkers and non-drinkers can share the same day happily.
Not only wine
Award-winning gin distilleries, craft breweries and cider houses sit alongside the wineries. A day here can just as easily be built around spirits and beer.
What does a Yarra Valley day feel like?
Two groups can spend the same day in the same region and have completely different ones. Most people recognise themselves in one of these.
Relaxed and scenic
Fewer stops, more time at each. Two or three beautiful cellar doors, a long lunch, and no sense of being moved along.
Looks like two wineries, a two-hour lunch, one lookout
Social and lively
More tastings, a distillery or brewery in the mix, and a group that wants a good time rather than tasting notes.
Looks like four venues, gin or beer, music on the bus
Food focused
Wine matters, but so do cheese, produce, chocolate and a serious lunch booking.
Looks like produce stop, cheese room, chocolaterie, winery restaurant
A celebration
Birthdays, anniversaries, hens days and milestones, built around the people rather than a set route. Getting married in the valley? See our winery wedding transport.
Looks like sparkling to start, a long lunch together, photos in the vines
Prefer to join a daily tour?
We run several Yarra Valley days from Melbourne, from a full day across four venues to a relaxed half day. Full inclusions, timings and pricing live on the tour pages.
Epic Yarra Valley
Our fullest day. Four wineries, a two-course winery lunch and a sweet finish at the chocolaterie.
From $179 per adult
Amazing Yarra Valley
Wine, seasonal fruit and chocolate, with a gin tasting you can add when you book. The mixed day that suits groups who are not all drinking.
From $114 per adult
Relaxed Half Day
An 11:45am start in Southbank, three wineries, and back in Melbourne by about 5:45pm.
From $119 per adult
Prefer the Yarra Valley to yourselves?
Choose the wineries, the lunch, the pace and the atmosphere that suit your group. Or tell us what you are celebrating and let us shape the day around it.
Your group only
No strangers, no shared seats, no waiting on anyone else’s schedule.
Your pace
Start when you like, stay longer where you are enjoying yourselves, skip what you are not.
Your choices
Specific cellar doors, a particular restaurant, or a shortlist we build with you.
Group size shapes a Yarra Valley day
Group size sets how many stops fit in a day. A bigger group takes longer to move between venues, and a cellar door needs longer to pour for everybody, so we plan fewer stops rather than a day that feels rushed.
16 guests or fewer
Everyone travels together in one vehicle, from a car or people mover for a handful of guests to a van or minibus as the numbers grow.
- Small family cellar doors are all open to you
- Late changes are easy on the day
- Most cellar doors host you in their main room
- The easiest size to build around a birthday or a favourite lunch
Typical day · Up to 4 stops
17 guests or more
From seventeen guests the day runs to a firmer schedule. Venues are chosen because they can seat and pour for a group properly, and lunch is booked well ahead.
- A minibus for up to 24 guests, a coach beyond that
- Lunch is usually a set menu at this size
- Every stop gets its full time rather than a rushed pour
- Very large groups travel in more than one vehicle on the same itinerary
Typical day · Usually 3 stops
Numbers move, and that is fine. Tell us roughly how many are coming and we will plan the right shape, then confirm the detail closer to the day.
Places we love building Yarra Valley days around
Inspiration rather than a fixed list. With around eighty cellar doors in the valley, the right mix depends on your group, your date and the kind of day you want.
Domaine Chandon
A glass of sparkling with a view is a popular way to open a day, and it works whether the group knows wine or not.
Four Pillars Gin
A gin paddle in the middle of the day adds a change of pace, particularly when not everybody is drinking wine.
Yarra Valley Chocolaterie
Free tastings, ice cream and something to take home. The stop nobody objects to, and an easy finish before the drive back.
Wineries and estates
From grand estates with restaurants to small family cellar doors where the maker pours, chosen to suit what your group likes drinking.
Domaine ChandonYering StationSoumahHelen & JoeyGreenstoneTokarPayten & JonesYileena ParkCoombeDe Bortoli
Gin, beer and cider
A change of pace for groups where not everybody wants wine all day, usually mid afternoon or to finish.
Four PillarsStag LaneMorgansWatts RiverColdstream Brewery
Produce, chocolate and farms
The makers of the valley, and the easy stops everybody enjoys, drinking or not.
Yarra Valley ChocolaterieYarra Valley DairyRaynor’s OrchardHealesville Sanctuary
These are venues we regularly consider, not guaranteed itinerary inclusions or partnerships. Availability, group policies and trading hours vary, and we confirm the day with you before it runs.
Good wine deserves a proper lunch
Food is as much a reason to come here as the wine. Most of our Yarra Valley days are built around a proper sit-down lunch at a winery, rather than a quick bite squeezed in between tastings.
Depending on the group we might suggest a relaxed winery lunch, shared plates, a longer premium sit-down, or a venue where everyone orders from the menu. We will put a recommendation in front of you and adjust from there.
Winery lunchShared platesPremium sit-downOrder from the menuCheese and produce
What might a full Yarra Valley day look like?
This is the shape most of our private Yarra Valley days follow. Times are deliberately loose, because pickup location, venue bookings and the mood of the group all move them.
Prefer a shorter day? A 9:00am to 3:00pm day, or an 11:00am start that finishes around 5:00pm, both work for private groups.
Pickup from your door
We collect your group from your address anywhere in Melbourne, so nobody in the group has to drive.
First winery, tasting
A hosted tasting to open the day, often a well known name or a glass of sparkling with a view.
Second winery, tasting
Something smaller and more personal, often with the maker or the family pouring.
Lunch at a winery
Usually the longest stop of the day, and deliberately so. This stop is lunch rather than another tasting.
A last tasting, or a change of pace
A final cellar door, or gin, beer or chocolate if the group is ready for something different.
Home to your door
Dropped back where we collected you, with the drive home allowed for properly.
Along the valley floor
The valley floor from the Yarra Glen side, late afternoon. Most of our days finish somewhere along this stretch of road.
There is more to the valley than wine
Wine stays at the centre of most days here, but some of the valley’s best stops have nothing to do with it. One or two in the mix keeps a mixed group happy.
Healesville Sanctuary
Native Australian animals up close, a favourite when the group includes people visiting from overseas or families with kids.
Not part of every itinerary. Tell us if it matters to you and we will build the day so it fits.
Raynor's Orchard
A tractor ride around the fruit farm with whatever is ripe that week, picked and eaten on the spot. A good change of pace between tastings.
Hot air ballooning
A sunrise flight over the valley before we collect you, for a group that wants to start the day somewhere special.
Golf driving range
A relaxed hour on the range suits groups who want something active in the mix, without turning the day into a round of golf.
When is the best time to visit the Yarra Valley?
There is no bad season here, only different ones. What changes is the light, the temperature and how busy the cellar doors feel.
Autumn
Vintage. The valley smells like fermenting fruit, the vines turn gold and red, and it is the photographers’ season.
Winter
Fireplaces, quiet tasting rooms and more time with the people pouring. The best season for an unhurried day.
Spring
Green hills, new growth and the first of the season’s produce. Changeable weather, so bring a layer.
Summer
Long daylight, outdoor lunches and busy cellar doors. Book lunch ahead and start early.
Planning your day
The questions we are asked most often about visiting the Yarra Valley.
How long should I allow for a Yarra Valley day?
A full day. With an hour of driving each way, three or four venues and a proper lunch, most days run from around 9am to 5pm. A half day works if you only want two or three cellar doors and are happy to be back mid-afternoon.
How far is the Yarra Valley from Melbourne?
Around 55 km and about an hour each way from the CBD, depending on traffic and where you are staying. The map above shows the relationship. Nothing about the region requires a long drive between venues once you are there.
Do I need to book wineries in advance?
For tastings, often not, though weekends are busier every year. For lunch, yes. If you are travelling with us on a daily tour, everything is booked for you. On a private day we handle the bookings once the itinerary is set.
Can I visit without drinking?
Easily, and plenty of our guests do. Chocolate, cheese, produce, coffee and the scenery all stand on their own, and cellar doors are used to guests who are tasting nothing.
Daily tour or private tour?
A daily tour if you are one or two people, want it organised and do not mind sharing the day. A private tour if you have a group, want specific venues, or want the pace and the timing to be yours. If you are unsure, tell us the group and we will say which we think fits.
Can you provide transport only?
Yes. If you have already chosen your wineries and booked lunch, we provide the vehicle and driver and follow your itinerary. That is charter and driver hire, and it is priced on the shape of your day.
Explore our other wine regions
Four regions within easy reach of Melbourne, each with its own character.
Yarra Valley
Victoria’s oldest wine region. Sparkling, Chardonnay, chocolate and gin, an hour from town.
≈ 1 hr from Melbourne · 55 km
You are reading this one
Mornington Peninsula
Coastal landscapes, Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and beautiful long lunches.
≈ 1½ hrs from Melbourne · 80 km
Bellarine Peninsula
Bay views, cool-climate wines and relaxed, uncrowded cellar doors.
≈ 1 hr 20 from Melbourne · 95 km
Macedon Ranges
Boutique wineries, cool mountain air and a quieter country feel.
≈ 1 hr from Melbourne · 70 km
The valley, your way
Choose the wineries, the lunch and the pace. We’ll plan a private day around your group.
Door to door pickup
Plan your private Yarra Valley day
Tell us who is coming, roughly when, and what you would like the day to include. Selina or Kim will come back to you with a suggested shape for the day and a quote for your group, most often the same day.
Asking about a daily tour? Message us on WhatsApp or use our contact page.
or WhatsApp +61 452 560 488
Ready to explore the Yarra Valley?
You know the region now. Pick the way in that suits your group.
Prefer to talk it through? Call us or send the enquiry and we will come back with a suggested shape for the day.
Daily tours or private