Victoria map & highlights

The second smallest state in the country but also one of the most populated, Victoria covers some 228,000 km² of southeast Australia and is home to one of its most vibrant cities in Melbourne. The coastline looks out over the Southern Ocean and the Bass Strait, and eventually across to Tasmania, while to the northeast you’ll find the mountains of the Alpine region, one of Australia’s top ski destinations. In between, you’ll find forests, wild rivers, inland lakes and a smattering of former goldrush towns, rich in 19th-century architecture. “Victoria is a very fertile rain-rich state like Tasmania, so there's beautiful forest and magnificent mountain areas like the Victorian Alps and the Grampians, as well as stacks of beaches and coastline,” says Brett Neagle from walking vacation specialists Auswalk. “Little-known fact: Australia has more snow than Switzerland, much of it in Victoria.”

Getting around Victoria is fantastic on foot or by road. National parks and coastal trails offer endless variety for walkers, while self drive routes along the Great Ocean Road take you past some of the world's most enticing shores, where parking up for a picnic or impromptu barbecue can turn into a real event, as long as you time it to avoid the peak summer crowds of December and January.