Great Ocean Road One Day Private Tour from Melbourne

What the Great Ocean Road one day private tour includes

A private vehicle for 1 to 3 guests with a professional driver-guide, 8 to 12 hours from pickup to return. Pickup and drop-off are at your own Melbourne accommodation, starting and ending at the same address. Tolls and parking fees, bottled water, USB-C charging ports and WiFi subject to network signal are included, and the air conditioning is set by the people in the car.

The route runs west-bound: Bells Beach lookout, Anglesea, the Memorial Archway, Lorne with Teddy's Lookout, lunch at Apollo Bay, Maits Rest when the boardwalk is open, then Gibson Steps, the Twelve Apostles and Loch Ard Gorge, with the inland highway back to Melbourne. Rating 5.0 ★ (25 reviews), from $280 per person. Ages are listed as adult 17 and over.

More than 2 million people visit the Twelve Apostles each year, and the land manager advises arriving early in the morning or later in the afternoon. A private car is the simplest way to act on that advice, because the driver-guide can shorten a town stop or stretch an hour at Apollo Bay and still reach the Apostles when the midday coaches have moved on. Since 16 October 2026 a booking is compulsory to enter the precinct, including the car park and the lookouts, and tour operators can reserve arrival slots up to four months ahead.

The great ocean road one day private tour suits couples, a small family, three friends, and anyone travelling with someone who finds a full coach day long. Plan on a long day either way: the memorial road covers 242 kilometres between Torquay and Allansford, the Lorne to Apollo Bay section is narrow and slow, and mobile reception along the coast is unreliable.

The day step by step

1. Great Ocean Road 120 min
   The morning starts with the drive out of Melbourne towards the coast road, past cliffs, beaches and stretches of forest. Australia drives on the left and the road asks for frequent breaks, which is the part the driver-guide handles.
2. Torquay 15 min
   A short stop at the Bells Beach lookout, the surf break that hosts the Rip Curl Pro every Easter. Closed from 1 April until 24 April for the competition.
3. Anglesea 30 min
   Half an hour by the Anglesea River estuary and the cliff views. About 300 Eastern Grey Kangaroos live on the Anglesea Golf Club course, which is the version of this stop used in winter. Do not feed or touch wildlife.
4. Great Ocean Road Memorial Archway 30 min
   Photo stop at the Memorial Archway. The road itself is a war memorial, built by more than 3,000 returned servicemen between 1919 and 1932.
5. Lorne 30 min
   Time in Lorne for the beach, the shops or the pier, then a short drive up into the hills to Teddy's Lookout, where a level walk reaches a platform above the bends of the Great Ocean Road.
6. Apollo Bay 60 min
   An hour at Apollo Bay, between the Otway Ranges and the Southern Ocean, with cafes and restaurants on the main street. This is the meal stop of the day; many kitchens along the route close by 2:30pm.
7. Mait's Rest 45 min
   A boardwalk loop through temperate rainforest, with myrtle beech and tree ferns, when the track is open and accessible.
8. Gibsons Steps 30 min
   Steps cut into the cliff lead down to the beach below the stacks known as Gog and Magog. Beach access reopened in February 2026 after geotechnical inspections and can still close at high tide or in rough surf, in which case the clifftop platform is the view. Optional stop.
9. The Twelve Apostles 60 min
   An hour at the precinct on the corner of the Great Ocean Road and Booringa Road, Princetown, about 7 kilometres east of Port Campbell, with wheelchair-accessible trails and viewing platforms, restrooms and a cafe. Late afternoon light on the limestone is the reason to arrive after the peak. Dogs are not allowed here.
10. Loch Ard Gorge 30 min
    The gorge is named after the clipper Loch Ard, wrecked on Mutton Bird Island in 1878, and the Razorback ridge is a short walk from the same car park. Beach access reopened in late October 2026 after safety repair works. The return to Melbourne runs inland.

What is included

Meeting point, pickup and cancellation

• Pickup: at your Melbourne accommodation or another address in the city. Give the full address when you book, and the driver-guide meets you there at the agreed time.
• Drop-off: back at the same address, since the tour starts and ends in the one place.
• Start time: flexible, and worth setting early if you want the Apostles in afternoon light.
• Cancellation and refund conditions are shown on the booking page before you confirm.
• Ages: adult 17 and over.
• Download maps and details before you leave Melbourne; mobile reception along the coast is unreliable.

How this one day private tour compares

Three private options run the same coast on different clocks. The 8 to 12 hour day on this page is the shortest and carries the highest rating of the three; the 12 hour departure has the lower starting price for a vehicle to yourselves, and the 12 to 13 hour one gives the longest day on the road. Check availability on the dates you have, since private vehicles sell out before coach seats do.

Tour details from the operator's listing, checked 10 November 2026. Prices and times can change; the booking page has the current ones.

← Compare all 15 Great Ocean Road tours

More ways to plan your visit

Private or group: which Great Ocean Road tour fits

The Twelve Apostles precinct and how booking works

Stops along the road and where they sit on the map