The ultimate day trip to the Dandenong Ranges: everything worth doing in Melbourne's backyard mountain range.
Less than an hour east of the CBD, there is a mountain range covered in the tallest flowering trees on earth, threaded with heritage steam railways, terraced with rare botanical collections, and crowned by a lookout that turns Melbourne into a postcard. The Dandenong Ranges are the kind of place Melburnians talk about going to far more often than they actually go, which is a shame, because a single well-planned day up the mountain can cover an almost absurd amount of ground.
Here is everything worth doing in the Dandenongs in one enormous day trip.
Start early: the 1000 Steps
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The Kokoda Track Memorial Walk departs from Ferntree Gully Picnic Ground in Upper Ferntree Gully. The gates open at 7am and you want to be there close to that — on weekends the car park fills by 10am. The track winds 2.8 km up a steep creek gully through lush rainforest, climbing 290 vertical metres to One Tree Hill. Fourteen memorial plaques along the route honour Australian soldiers who fought on the Kokoda Track during the Second World War. Take the Lyrebird Track back down to complete the loop. Allow about 1.5 to 2 hours return. No dogs. BBQs, toilets and a cafe at the base. Upper Ferntree Gully station is a 1.2 km walk from the trailhead.
Mid-morning: SkyHigh Mount Dandenong
Take the Mount Dandenong Tourist Road north from Ferntree Gully — narrow, winding and canopied by Mountain Ash for its entire length — to the summit at 633 metres. SkyHigh is the highest natural vantage point in the ranges, with panoramic views from the Mornington Peninsula across Port Phillip Bay to the You Yangs. Beyond the viewing terrace there is a hedge maze, landscaped English gardens, forest walks, and the Giant’s Chair photo opportunity. The bistro opens at 10.15am. Parking is $5 weekdays, $10 weekends and holidays. 26 Observatory Road, Mount Dandenong.
Late morning: the gardens circuit
Head east into Olinda. The next few stops are clustered within minutes of each other — one of the densest concentrations of publicly accessible botanical gardens anywhere near Melbourne. All managed by Parks Victoria, all free.
Dandenong Ranges Botanic Garden
The Georgian Road, Olinda. Open 10am to 5pm daily (last entry 4.30pm). Formerly the National Rhododendron Gardens, this is 40 hectares holding more than 50,000 plants. The ornamental lake is the centrepiece, especially in autumn when the surrounding maples and beeches reflect in the still water. Peak colour typically hits between mid-April and early May. The Chelsea Australian Garden, opened in 2023, recreates Australia’s first winning entry at the Chelsea Flower Show — 20 times the size of the original, with 15,000 native plants and a giant waratah sculpture. No dogs.
Pirianda Garden
5–9 Hacketts Road, Olinda. Open 10am to 5pm daily. Access via Olinda-Monbulk Road only — ignore GPS suggestions for Perrins Creek Road, which is 4WD-only steep. This 11-hectare woodland garden was created by the Ansell family from the late 1950s and is the quieter, more intimate alternative to the Botanic Garden. The collection includes 28 species of maple, 13 varieties of birch, three rare Chinese Handkerchief Trees, and 500 metres of hand-built stone terrace walls descending through fern gullies beneath towering Mountain Ash. Spectacular in autumn. Dogs on lead. The walk down is easy but the climb back up is real.
R.J. Hamer Arboretum
26 Chalet Road, Olinda. Open 24 hours. This 120-hectare arboretum was planted from 1970 onward with over 150 species arranged in mini forests rather than single specimen plantings, creating a patchwork effect across the hills. Woolrich Lookout has panoramic views across the Yarra Valley to the Great Dividing Range and displays two Arthur Streeton paintings from the Heidelberg School Artists Trail. Walking tracks connect through to Mathias Track and the former Olinda Golf Course below. Dogs on lead. Electric BBQs and toilets available.
Around midday: Olinda Precinct and the former golf course
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75 Olinda-Monbulk Road, Olinda. This 34-hectare former golf course has been transformed into community parklands and is one of the best off-leash dog areas near Melbourne. The original fairway layout is still visible but the whole site is now open grassland rolling down a steep hillside with sweeping Yarra Valley views. The designated off-leash zone is in the lower section. At the top, the Olinda Playscape is a nature-based playground with sandpits, water pumps, flying foxes, trampolines and cubby houses. From the lowest corner of the golf course you can access Mathias Track (dogs on lead), connecting through to the Hamer Arboretum and national park.
Early afternoon: Alfred Nicholas Memorial Gardens
1A Sherbrooke Road, Sherbrooke. Open 10am to 5pm daily. Free. Head south from Olinda toward Sherbrooke for one of the most photographed spots in the Dandenongs. The gardens were originally part of the Burnham Beeches estate, home of Alfred Nicholas of Aspro fame. Winding paths descend beneath Mountain Ash canopy through azaleas, rhododendrons and native ferns to an ornamental lake, where the quaint boathouse reflection in the still water is the shot everyone comes for. Best in spring and mid-autumn. Dogs on lead. Parking across the road from the entrance.
Mid-afternoon: Puffing Billy Railway
1 Old Monbulk Road, Belgrave. Head south to Belgrave for the 762mm narrow gauge heritage railway that has been running through the ranges since 1900. The Belgrave to Lakeside journey takes about an hour each way through fern gullies and over historic timber trestle bridges, with the time-honoured tradition of sitting on the carriage sill with legs dangling over the side. On weekends the full Belgrave to Gembrook route covers 24 km each way.
Tickets must be pre-booked online — no walk-up purchases. Check-in is required 60 minutes before departure. Fares start from around $42 for the shorter Menzies Creek return and up to around $82 for the Gembrook return. Trains sell out well in advance during holidays. Belgrave station is also the terminus of the Belgrave train line from the CBD.
Late afternoon: Treetops Adventure Belgrave
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Glen Harrow Park, adjacent to Puffing Billy station. Victoria’s first tree ropes course, set across eight hectares of forest centred on a 150-year-old Algerian Oak. Over 100 obstacles across nine courses, including 23 ziplines up to 120 metres long, at heights between 2 and 15 metres. Sessions run for two hours including training. Courses are colour-coded from beginner to extreme — the black diamond features a 100-metre flying fox. Around $48 for adults, $38 for kids 8 to 17, $25 for ages 4 to 7. Bookings essential.
Sassafras and Olinda villages
No Dandenongs trip is complete without a wander through these two hilltop villages on the Mount Dandenong Tourist Road. Galleries, antique shops, bookshops, homewares and craft workshops packed into shaded laneways that feel more like an English countryside town than suburban Melbourne. Olinda sits higher up the mountain near the gardens; Sassafras has a more concentrated strip. Both are compact and walkable.
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