Melbourne: Brighton Beach, Healesville & Puffing Billy Steam Train

★★★★★★★★★★ 3.50 (2 reviews)

Free cancellation

1/7

Duration10h–13h

GroupUp to 99

LanguagesEN

Mobile ticketAccepted

Four stops in one day: from beach huts to platypus tank to a 120-year-old steam train

You visit Brighton Beach's 82 colorful bathing boxes, spend time at Healesville Sanctuary spotting koalas and the world's only platypus tank, taste wine at Rochford in the Yarra Valley, and ride the historic Puffing Billy Steam Train through the Dandenong Ranges. Hotel pickup and drop-off are included, along with entry to the sanctuary and your train ticket; wine tasting is separate. The full day includes transport time between each stop.

10h–13h

Step-by-step itinerary

Melbourne beach, wildlife, wine, and train

Visit Brighton Beach bathing boxes
Explore Healesville Wildlife Sanctuary
Taste wines at Rochford Winery
Ride Puffing Billy Steam Train

The Experience

You're standing in front of 82 painted wooden boxes lined up along Brighton Beach, and the light is doing that thing where it bounces off the water and makes everything look like a postcard someone sent you years ago. The driver points out which ones are heritage-listed, which ones tourists always miss, and you're already thinking about which angle will work for a photo. This is how the day starts—not with a speech, but with something you can touch and frame and remember.

Then it's into the air-conditioned vehicle and out toward Healesville Sanctuary, where the platypus tank is the only one in the world and the koalas are close enough that you stop breathing for a second. The Birds of Prey show happens mid-morning, and an eagle actually lands near the crowd—not on cue, just because it does. You see kangaroos the way they actually move, not posed. The sanctuary takes up a solid chunk of the morning, and your guide knows which animals are active at which time, so you're not standing in front of empty enclosures wondering if you missed something.

Rochford Winery sits in the Yarra Valley, Victoria's oldest wine region, and you taste on your own dime—that's the trade-off for not being herded through a tasting menu. The vineyard itself is worth the stop; you can see why people stay in this region for a whole weekend. After that, the Puffing Billy Steam Train is waiting. It's narrow-gauge, 120 years old, and you dangle your feet out the side as it chugs through the Dandenong Ranges. The engine roars, the rainforest closes in, and the whole thing feels like you've stepped into a film from another era. The ride is one-way, so you're not doubling back—the day keeps moving forward.

The driver handles all the logistics: pickups, timing between stops, knowing which attractions are worth lingering at and which ones you can move through faster. If Puffing Billy gets cancelled due to extreme heat or fire restrictions, you get a refund for that portion and the rest of the tour continues. It's not ideal, but it's honest about what can happen in Australian summer. The whole day runs long—most of the time is actually transport between the four spots—but that's the only way you fit all four into one trip from Melbourne.

What’s included

Friendly driver/guide.
admission to Healesville Sanctuary.
one-way ticket for Puffing Billy Steam Train.
air-conditioned vehicle with transport between Brighton Beach, the sanctuary, Rochford Winery and the train station.
hotel pickup and drop-off.

Good to know

Easy physical levelPublic transport nearbyInfants must sit on laps

Operated by Extragreen Holidays

Is this one for you?Book this if you want Melbourne's main day-trip highlights—beach, wildlife, wine country and a heritage train—without arranging four separate bookings and working out the timing yourself. The fixed itinerary and included transport are what make it possible to see all four in one day.