Private day trips with a driver who waits at every stop
Victoria's best day trips are all within three hours of Melbourne, and almost all of them are awkward without a car. Public transport does not suit an evening at the Phillip Island Penguin Parade. A Great Ocean Road coach stops at each lookout for the time its timetable allows, not the time you want. The Yarra Valley is simple enough to reach until somebody in the group has to stay sober to drive home.
A day tour solves all three. You book the vehicle and the driver for the day instead of for a single trip. We collect you from your door, drive the route you choose, wait at every stop for as long as you like, and bring everyone home at the end. One price covers the day, agreed before anything is booked, so there is no meter ticking over while you are standing at the Twelve Apostles.
These are the days people book most often. Every one of them can be shortened, extended or combined with another, and you can swap any stop for something else on the way.
The coast road runs through Torquay, Lorne and Apollo Bay before the limestone stacks at Port Campbell. Most groups stop for lunch on the way and reach the Twelve Apostles in the late afternoon, when the light on the rock is at its best. It is a long day, and the one visitors remember.
The Penguin Parade at sunset is the reason most groups go, and the drive home afterwards is the part people underestimate. Add the Koala Conservation Reserve, the boardwalks at the Nobbies and Churchill Island on the way in.
Cellar doors around Healesville, Coldstream and Yarra Glen, with a long lunch at a vineyard restaurant. Everyone in the group can taste, because the driver waits at every stop and drives you home.
Mountain ash forest, fern gullies and the Puffing Billy steam railway. The shortest day trip on this list, which makes it the easy one with children or grandparents in the group.
Hot springs, cellar doors around Red Hill and Main Ridge, and the bathing boxes and beaches at Sorrento and Portsea. Easy to combine a soak at the springs with a vineyard lunch in one day.
Sovereign Hill is a working gold rush town you walk into, so it takes most of a day on its own. Add the Ballarat Wildlife Park or the gardens at Lake Wendouree if the group still has energy.
We match the vehicle to the group and quote one figure for the day, whichever size you need.
Send the form at the top of this page, or call 0412 456 588 with your date, group size, pickup suburb and where you want to go. We confirm the vehicle, the route and the price for the day before anything is booked. For a wine focused day, the winery tour page has the cellar doors we drive to most.
You book the car and driver for the day rather than for a single trip. We pick you up from your home, hotel or nominated address, drive the route you want, wait at every stop for as long as you like, and bring you home at the end. There is no meter running between stops and no coach timetable telling you when to leave. You choose the destinations and the order, and the driver handles the roads, the parking and the return drive. One price covers the whole day, confirmed before you book.
Day tours are quoted as one price for the whole day rather than on the meter, because the vehicle and driver are held for you from the first pickup to the last drop off. The price depends on the destination, the hours you need, your pickup suburb and the vehicle size. A Dandenong Ranges day is the shortest on our list at five to seven hours, and the Great Ocean Road is the longest at ten to twelve. Tell us the date, the group size, your pickup suburb and where you want to go, and we quote one figure before anything is booked. Call 0412 456 588 or send the form on this page.
Yes. Waiting is the point of a day tour and it is included in the day price. At every stop the driver parks and waits while your group takes as long as they want, whether that is a two hour lunch at a vineyard, an afternoon walking around Sovereign Hill, or waiting out the Penguin Parade at Phillip Island. You are not charged extra for the waiting and nobody in the group has to stay sober or watch the clock.
From a couple up to eleven people. A sedan suits one to four, an SUV takes up to six with luggage, and the Maxi Van seats up to eleven. One Maxi Van for a group of eight is normally cheaper than two or three separate cars, and it keeps everyone together for the day. Tell us the group size when you book and we match the vehicle. If you are buying wine by the case or carrying prams and gear, mention it so the vehicle has room.
Yes. The destinations on this page are the days people ask for most, not a fixed menu. If you want to combine the hot springs with a Red Hill winery, add Healesville Sanctuary to a Yarra Valley day, or build something that is not listed here at all, tell us the stops and we plan the order and quote the day.
Book at least two days ahead, and earlier for a weekend or a public holiday, because day tours hold a vehicle and driver for the whole day. Weekends and school holidays book up first. If your plans are last minute, call 0412 456 588 and we will tell you honestly what is still available.
