10 Best Places to Visit in Victoria High Country: Snow, Mountain Adventures + Gorgeous Little Towns

The best places to visit in Victoria High Country include some of the cutest little towns I’ve found in Australia, mountains you can ski down in winter, and rivers you can spend all afternoon swimming in come summer. I’ve spent Christmas in Bright and a snowy weekend at Mount Hotham, and I loved having such different trips in the same part of the state.

I love Melbourne, and you’ll know from my rather extensive list of things to do that I’m hardly short of reasons to stay in the city. But the mountains, little country towns, and rivers up in northeastern Victoria deserve some time of their own, especially if your Australian travel plans have mostly revolved around beaches so far.

Below are ten ideas for exploring the High Country, with a couple of stops around Marysville and the Black Spur that you can work into the drive if your route takes you that way. Pick a few around the same area rather than trying to squeeze the whole list into one weekend – there’s a fair bit of driving between them.

1. Hit the Slopes at Mount Buller, Mount Hotham, or Falls Creek

Skiing and snowboarding are the obvious winter things to do in Victoria’s High Country, with Mount Buller, Mount Hotham, and Falls Creek offering runs for different abilities. I used to be shocked that snow sports were possible in Australia, until I realized that this area is a world of its own and sooo worth visiting. June to September is the usual window to plan around snow, although the snow and operating dates have their own ideas, so check what’s actually open before booking.

I learned that one at Hotham. We booked an August weekend ahead of time and arrived to fairly sparse snow and quite a few closed runs, then a MASSIVE storm came through a few days later. We still had a fab time, but watching the mountain get all that fresh snow just after our trip was a bit painful!

You can hire skis, boards, boots, and helmets in the resorts or on the way up, and I found picking up my gear right at Hotham Central really convenient.  For those looking to engage in high-intensity snowsports, it’s also well worth considering safety essentials like helmets, eye protection, protective padding, and, of course, skiing and snowboarding travel insurance with injury cover. Preparing your car for driving on alpine roads is also essential. Check your resort’s vehicle requirements and arrange suitable chains beforehand (you can hire them), rather than assuming a 4WD means you’re sorted!

And there’s loads to do beyond skiing. My trip involved snowshoeing through the forest to fondue and sleeping in an actual igloo with Alpine Nature Experience, which was one of my most unusual travel experiences! I’ve written all about it in my Mount Hotham weekend guide, and included the Alps in my places to visit in Australia during the winter months. Snow-play areas, tobogganing, and a warm drink overlooking the snow gums are also perfectly good reasons to come up here.

2. Go Mountain Biking on the Australian Alpine Epic Trail

The Australian Alpine Epic is a whopping 46km ride through the mountains, starting at Mount Buller, crossing into the Mount Stirling area, and dropping down to Mirimbah by the Delatite River. Forest trails and long mountain descents are the attraction here, with about 2,000m of descending over the route. That sounds pretty incredible to me, although the roughly 1,000m of climbing is a fairly significant part of the deal too!

This is an advanced, six-to-eight-hour ride with an IMBA EPIC designation (the only one in Aus), so it’s a proper day out in the backcountry. The route is remote enough that food, water, and repair gear need to come with you, and a shuttle or car shuffle connects the finish back to the start.

The riding season is generally November to April, depending on conditions. There are also plenty of other mountain biking options around the High Country that are a little less gnarly, including Mystic Bike Park in Bright and the Beechworth and Yackandandah trail networks, if you’d prefer to spend part of the day riding and leave some time for the towns as well.

3. Lots of Hiking Spots! Mount Buffalo and Bon Accord Spur

The forests, huge granite formations, and mountain views make hiking one of the main reasons to visit Victoria’s High Country outside ski season. There are little waterfall walks you can fit into a morning, big uphill hikes, and longer routes where you can camp out in the mountains, which is a pretty tempting way to spend a few days up here. Camping is a pretty huge activity up here that fully immerses you in nature!

Mount Buffalo’s Big Walk takes you from the park entrance near Eurobin Creek up to the Gorge, climbing through forest towards those enormous granite cliffs. It’s 10.2km one way and takes around four to five hours, according to the Parks Victoria visitor guide. There’s a pickup if you only want to walk it one way, but a hike that ends overlooking the Gorge has a pretty convincing finish.

Bon Accord Spur is another big one, following an old access route from Harrietville towards Hotham. It’s a steep 24km return walk for experienced hikers, with connections to other alpine tracks for longer overnight adventures. The history is interesting too: people used this route to reach the mountain on foot or horseback before the Great Alpine Road.

For a shorter outing, Ladies Bath and Eurobin Falls at Mount Buffalo would be high on my list. You get the forest and waterfalls without dedicating the whole day to a climb, leaving plenty of time to head back down to Bright afterward.

4. Merrijig and the Mountains on Horseback

Horse riding through fern-filled valleys and up into the mountains might be one of the dreamiest ways to explore the High Country, especially on a longer trip where you can stay out overnight. There’s a lot of cattle-mustering history in this area, and some of the families running rides have been here for generations.

McCormacks Mountain Valley Trail Rides is one of those, based in Merrijig and run by Bruce and Deb McCormack. Their family connection to the area goes back to 1866, and Bruce was even a rider in The Man from Snowy River films. I love that little detail, especially since the rides take in Mount Stirling and Craig’s Hut – there’s a lot more behind the scenery than you’d get just driving up to a lookout.

They offer shorter rides year-round and longer trips generally between November and late April, including multi-day mountain adventures. You can also ride horses along the Great Victorian Rail Trail, which has dedicated horse paths alongside parts of the shared route, for more valley scenery and country towns.

5. Dinner Plain for an Alpine Onsen Soak

Dinner Plain is about 13km along the Great Alpine Road from Hotham, and I also explored this little alpine village during my Hotham weekend. The Onsen is a particularly wonderful change of pace when you’ve spent a lot of the trip out in the cold or doing physically exerting things like hiking and skiing – warm water, mountain air, and hopefully a bit of snow around you. Yes please.

The outdoor mineral pool is heated to around 38°C, and there’s an indoor heated lap pool, a sauna, and cold-plunge facilities too. The outdoor soak is the part that appeals most to me, especially with that alpine setting, although you could easily spend a while moving between everything.

The Onsen operates through winter and also advertises massages and facials, with the treatment menu depending on availability. It’s a lovely option for an afternoon away from the slopes, or for anyone whose idea of a snow holiday involves rather more soaking than skiing.

6. Bright for Autumn Leaves, River Swims, and a Summer Christmas

Bright is honestly one of the cutest little towns in the world, in my opinion. I absolutely love it, with all the cafés, leafy streets, and the river running through town, and it’s easily one of my favorite places to visit in Victoria High Country.

We spent Christmas here one year, and it was such a lovely Christmas destination. It was warm, green, and blooming, and we went swimming in the river in a bunch of different places. I know Bright gets a lot of attention for its autumn colours, but I have a very big soft spot for it in summer!

Autumn is gorgeous in a completely different way, with the town’s trees turning rich shades of gold, orange, and red. The strongest color usually falls around late April and early May, varying with the weather, and the autumn festival makes this a truly perfect time to visit – and when I will certainly visit next time.

I also love the rail trail and the cafés around town. The Murray to Mountains Rail Trail follows the old railway route, with a sealed cycling section heading through Porepunkah towards Myrtleford, so you can explore a bit of the valley as well as Bright itself. River swims and café stops fit quite nicely into that kind of day.

There’s Gum Tree Pies and a Bright branch of Beechworth Bakery for a country bakery fix, plus Reed & Co. Distillery for local gin. Mount Buffalo is close enough for a day of hiking and waterfalls, but I’d also give yourself some time to just enjoy Bright. We had such a lovely time swimming and exploring around town that I’d happily go back and do more of exactly that.

7. Wangaratta and the Bullawah Cultural Trail

Wangaratta is a lovely riverside setting where the Ovens and King rivers meet, with gardens and wetlands around the town, that is a favorite getaway destination in the high country. The wetlands here offer a unique landscape shaped by millions of years of alpine river formations that span mountains, cut through forests, and paint the plains of Victoria’s high country, arriving right here in Wangaratta.

The Bullawah Cultural Trail follows the Ovens for 2.4km, sharing the stories and culture of the local Pangerang (Bangerang) people through sculptures, signs, and short films.

What interests me about this walk is how much of it relates to the river and the wildlife around you. There’s a story about Mullinmurr, the platypus, along with a bush tucker garden and Marmungun Rock, and QR codes along the trail open up the films and stories as you go.

Bullawah combines words for “two” and “water,” referring to the rivers and suspension bridges as well as the coming together of Indigenous and non-Indigenous people. The nearby Mullinmur Billabongs are another part of the Ovens River landscape, so there’s quite a bit around Wangaratta for a day exploring on foot. It’s a perfct place to visit in the Victoria high counry fort both culture AND nature!

8. Mansfield for the Farmers’ Market and Local Wine

Fresh sourdough, local cheese, honey, and seasonal produce are a pretty good reason to spend a Saturday morning in Mansfield – that’s all the reason I’ll ever need (well, and wine)! The farmers’ market brings together local growers and makers on the High Street median, with eggs and free-range meat among the offerings too, so you could stock up for a few days in a unique mountain cabin, or just put together an absolutely artful picnic.

It runs from 8:30am to 1pm on the second and fourth Saturdays of the month, February through December. I like the idea of working a stop here into a mountain weekend, especially with so much of the food coming from the surrounding region.

Mansfield is also a base for horse riding, walks, and trips towards Mount Buller, with Mansfield Zoo just outside town. For a slower afternoon, Delatite Winery has tastings and a dining room overlooking the mountains, which sounds like a pretty appealing follow-up to a morning at the market.

9. Marysville and Bruno’s Art & Sculpture Garden

Marysville is a worthwhile addition if you’re extending your trip towards the Yarra Ranges, with waterfalls, forest walks, and lookouts all around it. Bruno’s Art & Sculpture Garden is the more unusual attraction here, full of characters created by artist Bruno Torfs and tucked among the trees and ferns.

I love the idea of wandering through a forest garden and finding all these sculptures amongst the greenery. There are more than 200 artworks across the garden and gallery, and the outdoor setting makes it feel quite a lot different from visiting a traditional art gallery… in a really cool and happily wild way.

The property was badly affected by the 2009 Black Saturday bushfires, and Bruno stayed in Marysville to rebuild his home and restore the garden. Both the garden and gallery welcome visitors, although the gallery opens on fewer days.

There’s plenty to pair it with nearby, including Steavenson Falls and Keppel Lookout, plus Jock and Nicholl lookouts along Marysville–Woods Point Road. Further along near Cambarville, the Big Culvert is a moss-covered stone arch built around 1870 to carry water beneath the old Yarra Track road. I find those little remnants of the old routes quite interesting, especially when they’re still there amongst all the forest.

10. The Famous Black Spur Forest Drive

The Black Spur is the kind of drive that makes traveling between places an attraction in itself, winding through towering mountain ash trees with tree ferns spreading out beneath them. It connects Healesville and Narbethong along the Maroondah Highway, so it fits into a drive between Melbourne and Marysville and makes a perfect first stop towards the high country from the city (or vice versa).

I love how different this landscape is from the snow gums and open mountain scenery further up in the Alps. Here the forest closes in around the road, with tall, straight trunks disappearing up into the canopy and all that green underneath.

The Black Spur Drive is about 28km, or roughly half an hour without stops. Fernshaw and Dom Dom have picnic areas along the way. But the drive is notoriously difficult, with plenty of winding roadways and a tendency to get dark and misty from dusk to dawn. The heavy canopies can also limit light availability even further on overcast days, and let’s face it – overcast skies are just a staple of life in Victoria.

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I’d happily head back for another summer Christmas in Bright, although a Hotham trip with slightly better snow timing would be pretty lovely too! Hope you have enjoyed this inspiration for the best places to visit in Victoria High Country! For more ideas around Victoria, have a look at my must-do day trips from Melbourne.