The Melbourne and Sydney Long Weekend Getaway Guide

You’ve hopped over to Australia for a long weekend – but don’t just stick to the big cities.

Here’s our long weekend guide – five destinations within two hours drive of Melbourne and Sydney where you can escape the grind and recharge.

Melbourne

Hepburn Springs

Spa country. Just an hour and a half away from Melbourne, Hepburn Springs is the little sister often sitting in the shadow of the well-known township of Daylesford. Just a few minutes’ drive from Daylesford’s pretty shops and award winning restaurants, Hepburn Springs has charm in spades and a few hidden gems. Make a beeline for Hepburn at Hepburn, home to a handful of uber-luxe villas. We’re talking enormous bathtubs in glass-walled bathrooms, electric fireplace, super cool lights and a velvet lounge you’ll want to sprawl out on and never move. But you will, because the Hepburn Bathhouse and Spa is just across the road. Dating back to 1895, the bathhouse draws mineral waters straight from the spring out back into a series of pools and spas. The main pool’s modern makeover sees you soaking and looking straight out the floor to ceiling windows into a little patch of rainforest.

Bendigo

Ninety minutes’ drive North West on the Calder Highway and you’re out of Melbourne and into gold mining country. Bendigo had its boom back in the 1870s when the Sandhurst mines were pumping, and after a lull, the town is making a comeback. The Colonial buildings give the town an old worlde feel but there’s plenty of new activity around the place. The Brewhouse Coffee Roasters take their coffee seriously – with a graffiti art, exposed brick walls and roasting on site, you could be in a Melbourne café. The high ceilings and dramatic arches of the Wine Bank on View’s original building (as the name suggests, it was originally a bank when built in 1876) alone are worth a visit – a glass of wine from one of the local Victorian wineries is the cherry on top. Take the kids to Bendigo Pottery, Australia’s oldest working pottery, where they can get their hands dirty in clay sculpting classes. Then check into The Schaller Studio, the brand new Art Series hotel in town. As the name suggests, this boutique hotel takes its design theme from artist Mark Schaller, with 240 original works on display throughout the public spaces and rooms.