15 BEST AUSTRALIAN ROAD TRIPS FOR ADVENTURE + BEAUTY

Planning to visit Australia? You’re in for a treat! The country is bursting with exciting attractions for you to explore. From vast, desolate deserts, tropical islands, dense jungles, historic aboriginal lands, crocodile-filled wetlands, and miles upon miles of scenic coastline – you’ve got scenery for days in Australia.

Not to mention the culture and wildlife, which is second to none and incomparable to anywhere else in the world.

With so much to see and explore, there’s only one way to do Australia right – a road trip.

In my opinion, the best way to see what this vast country has to offer is to take one of these classic road trips in Australia.

Especially if you have kids like us, road trips make family travel more practical, cost-effective, and offer so much more flexibility.

Instead of flying from point A to B and missing everything in between, the journey becomes just as memorable as the destination.

We completed an 18-month road trip around Australia. In this guide, we have broken down each of our best road trips in Australia into individual trips you can take, to help you make planning easier.

About These Road Trips in Australia

In this post, we have included both long and short Australian road trips, and cross-country road trip routes that incorporate multiple stops or destinations.

They are usually longer than a day trip and usually take anywhere from a weekend to a week to complete. In fact, you could complete them all and have a really incredible adventure across Australia!

We’ve also given an estimated recommended time frame for each road trip. To be honest, the best part of a road trip is going at your own pace. The longer you have the better, but I know your time may be limited.

But, even if you follow our itineraries, each of these Australian road trips can be driven in a 1-2 week period but for some of them, we recommend you take longer!

But before you see why Australia is one of the best road trip destinations in the world, you need to be prepared

Getting a Road Trip Rental

Unless you have your own car, you’re going to need to get yourself a vehicle for your road trip in Australia. If you’re visiting from abroad, we recommend you use RentalCar, as this is a price comparison site that compares all the top rental car companies.

If you’re planning on camping in your vehicle, then RV Share is the site to browse around. It has RVs and motorhomes of all sizes and weights, plus you can pick them up from several locations.

Best Australian Road Trips

Now you know how to get started and find a vehicle, it’s time to take a look at the stops! These are our favorite itineraries for a road trip in Australia and they cover all our favorite places to visit in Australia.

1. Great Ocean Road, Victoria

• START | END: Torquay to Warrnambool
• DISTANCE: 250 km
• TIME RECOMMENDED: 2 – 3 days

If I only had one piece of advice for driving the Great Ocean Road in Victoria, I would say don’t just rush to see the 12 Apostles for your tourist snap. Slow down and appreciate all this drive has to offer.

Certainly, don’t drive it in one day like the tourist buses do from Melbourne. It deserves at least a few days. It’s the perfect weekend getaway from Melbourne.

The Great Ocean Road is not only one of the most famous road trips in Australia but around the world and is one of the best drives on the planet.

Beginning one hour outside of Melbourne in Torquay, this drive stretches over 250 kilometers to Warrnambool and offers stunning coastal scenery, wildlife, waterfalls, hiking, and beachside towns.