Top things to do in the Yarra Valley

Things to do in the Yarra Valley range from winery day tours and sunrise balloon flights to white water rafting, caving and a steam train ride through the Dandenong Ranges. The valley's boundaries start about 45 kilometres from Melbourne's CBD, so most of it works as a day trip, and the experiences below are grouped by what you want the day to look like.

Yarra Valley tours and day trips from Melbourne

Most visitors see the valley on a guided day, and Yarra Valley tours and day trips take care of the driving. The Yarra Valley Winery Tour with Lunch is an 8-hour day with a wine guide, an a la carte lunch at Balgownie Estate and tastings at wineries including Soumah and Greenstone, leaving from Melbourne's CBD. Wine-led options are gathered under Yarra Valley wine tours.

For something more food-driven, the Yarra Valley Foodies Tour & Kangaroo Safari leaves Melbourne at 11.30am and stops at a strawberry farm, Chandon Estate for a glass of sparkling wine, a dairy for cheese, Yering Station for a tasting and a chocolaterie, then finishes with wild kangaroos at sunset. If wildlife and a train ride are the draw, the Puffing Billy and Healesville Sanctuary Scenic Bus Tour combines the Puffing Billy steam train, a walk around Emerald Lake, Healesville Sanctuary and chocolate tasting in a single day.

Yarra Valley activities: balloons, rafting, tubing and caving

Yarra Valley activities start in the air. Sunrise hot air balloon flights lift off over the vineyards after a pre-dawn start, and the Yarra Valley Hot Air Balloon Flight, Breakfast & Transfers adds a Melbourne pick-up from Federation Square and breakfast at Rochford Wines after the 1-hour flight.

On the ground, the White Water Rafting on Melbourne's Yarra River trip runs 14 grade two rapids from Wonga Park through bushland where kangaroos, wombats and birdlife can be spotted from the raft. Further up the river at Warburton, a 75-minute trip from Melbourne, the Yarra Valley Self Guided River Tubing Adventure is a 2-hour, 3-kilometre float in your own tube, with a shuttle upstream to start. Underground, the granite caves around Yarra Junction and Britannia Creek hold glow worms, streams and tight squeezes.

Farms, orchards and long lunches

Summer is cherry season at CherryHill Orchards in Wandin East, where the Yarra Valley Cherry Picking Orchard Experience lets you pick all-you-can-eat cherries straight from the trees across a 100-acre orchard. The Yarra Valley Orchard Farm Tractor Tour at Rayners Orchard in Woori Yallock is a 1-hour guided ride with tastings of 8 to 12 varieties of fruit and a 1kg fruit box to take home.

At the cellar door end of the scale, De Bortoli at Dixons Creek hosts a wine tasting and three-course lunch for two, with a matched wine for every course.

How the Yarra Valley fits together

The valley is spread out, so it helps to group things by area. Balloon flights meet around Chirnside Park and Yarra Glen, and De Bortoli's cellar door is at Dixons Creek. Healesville is home to the wildlife sanctuary and a stop on several tours. Wandin East and Woori Yallock are orchard country, and Woori Yallock Station is where a guided bike ride along the Warburton Rail Trail begins.

The Upper Yarra around Warburton and Yarra Junction is the adventure end of the valley, with tubing and caving. Puffing Billy runs from Belgrave in the Dandenong Ranges, and Lake Mountain, a 2-hour trip from Melbourne via Marysville, gets its own winter snow play day tour.

When to go to the Yarra Valley

Cherry picking is a summer experience, and river tubing runs seasonally. In winter, the Lake Mountain Snow Play tour covers snow play, tobogganing and cross-country skiing, subject to natural snowfall, and balloon flight operators recommend gloves for the cold mornings. Balloon flights depend on weather and can be postponed or cancelled if conditions are unsafe.