Best Things to Do in the Dandenong Ranges: From Forest Trails to Village Finds

Drive an hour east from Melbourne to the Dandenong Ranges and you will see them rise from a sea of suburban roofs like a rolling swell of forest. Summer weather runs a few degrees cooler; in winter, mist threads the gullies and everything smells of wet eucalyptus.

A compact patchwork of national parks, fern-lined trails, postcard villages, and roadside produce stalls, you can leave your beautiful CBD hotel after breakfast and be wandering under towering gum and ash trees before noon.

Stay the day and you'll find quiet forest tracks, bakeries knocking out incredible pastries, and markets where a mug of mulled wine thaws your fingers while a bush band duets with the kookaburras. Here are the unmissable things to do in the Dandenong Ranges.

Driving takes about an hour from the CBD via the Monash Freeway or Eastlink. A car lets you stitch together out-of-the-way stops, chase a last-minute sunset at a lookout, and make emergency pie runs. Parking in Sassafras, Olinda and Belgrave is free in most spots. On weekends and in peak autumn colour and spring bloom it’s advisable to arrive early to secure parking and make the most of your day.

Public transport is pretty straightforward but will take more time out of your day. Take the Belgrave line from Flinders Street to Belgrave, about 70 minutes, then switch to local buses for Sassafras, Olinda, and Mount Dandenong Village.

If you plan to hop between lookouts and picnic grounds, a car is easily your best option, however there are Puffing Billy guided tours from the city that package up a ride on the century-old steam train with garden tours and a village lunch. Billy rolls from Belgrave through fern gully rainforest to Lakeside at Emerald Lake Park, with some services continuing to Gembrook.

Be sure to stop into the Puffing Billy Lakeside Visitor Centre at Emerald where you can explore nearby walking tracks, swim in the warmer months, hire a bike, browse steam artefacts, or simply relax among the scenic grounds while dining at the cafe.

When it comes to exploring the villages, you could stitch them all into a neat circle: Begin at Belgrave, drift through Sassafras and Olinda, take in the views at Mount Dandenong and Kalorama, slide to Monbulk and Emerald, tag Gembrook, then close the circle back to your starting point.

The park is a tangle of gullies and ridges, home to mountain ash that rank among the tallest flowering plants on Earth. The 1000 Steps Kokoda Track Memorial Walk is the marquee climb. Go early on a weekday for mossy silence and lyrebirds doing a surprisingly accurate DSLR impression. The steps are steep but the payoff is some of the crispest oxygen your lungs will ever breathe, however there are plenty of other beautiful walks and lookouts of note:

• Sherbrooke Falls return is a fern-tunnel wander with a proper payoff after rain.
• Lyrebird Walk is an easy loop under towering canopy, good for families and anyone who wants forest without the calf burn.
• Olinda Falls is a quick loop through damp fern glades to a two-tier cascade. (Pro tip: Check track status after storms.)
• Kyeema Track to Burke’s Lookout delivers city-to-bay views on clear days with spring wildflowers on the margins.
• SkyHigh Mount Dandenong is the set-and-forget viewpoint with coffee and gardens.
• Kalorama Park Lookout is quieter, perfect for a short stop between villages.

There are several spectacular cool-climate gardens worth building your day around, if you prefer gentle and green over glutes and glory, each with its own season, mood, and view.

• Dandenong Ranges Botanic Garden, Olinda. Spring is full colour. Winter pares it back to clean lines, quiet paths and long Yarra Valley views.

• Alfred Nicholas Memorial Gardens, Sherbrooke. Ornamental lake, stone bridges and storybook mood.

• Cloudehill Gardens, Olinda. Hedged rooms and terraces with a Diggers nursery and café. Paid entry and heavy on ideas.

• George Tindale Memorial Gardens, Sherbrooke. Intimate, layered and planted for the mountain’s acidic soils. Quieter when the big names are busy.

• Pirianda Garden, Olinda. Hillside lawns, specimen trees and big valley views. Pack a picnic if the weather plays nice.

• Karwarra Australian Native Botanic Garden, Kalorama. Compact native garden and nursery that shows how local plants shine in cool-climate settings.

• RJ Hamer Arboretum, Olinda. Technically an arboretum, not a garden, but the rolling meadows and sweeping views make it a standout. Sprawl with a book, then wander the surrounding trails.
  
  

The Dandenong Ranges sit on Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung and Bunurong Country and Mount Dandenong is also known as Corhanwarrabul. The ranges were an important seasonal hunting ground for Woi Wurrung and Bunurong peoples long before day-trippers discovered scones and antique stores.

Book a Bullen Bullen Cultural Tour with the Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung Cultural Heritage Aboriginal Corporation. Guided on Country in the Dandenong Ranges to learn about Wurundjeri lore, seasonal food, and the stories tied to local places around Sherbrooke, Belgrave, and the Puffing Billy corridor.

If you're following your taste-buds, start in Sassafras. Proserpina Bakehouse does serious sourdough and seasonal pastries using freshly milled heritage Victorian grain, so arrive hungry - and early on weekends when the queues form. If you've ever had or known a grandmother then you'll also have to stop by Miss Marple’s Tearoom. The super cute crowd-pleaser has been around for over four decades, and is famous for its English cottage fitout and Devonshire tea with scones the size of cricket balls.

Beyond the tearoom circuit, The Independent in Gembrook, brings a bit of cosmopolitan Melbourne polish to the hills with an Argentinian menu of wood-grilled meats and mouthy Malbecs.

Belgrave is the perfect post-walk refuel zone. Babajis Kerala Kitchen serves thalis and masala dosas that hit the spot after a morning in Sherbrooke Forest, while Earthly Pleasures Café does an excellent brunch inside a handsome heritage bluestone building that makes coffee taste better just by being inside it. For a classic pint in the mountains, the adorable Micawber Tavern sits right by the forest and leans into crackling-fire comfort.

Olinda Tea House has a beautiful, traditional Chinese restaurant, and high-tea spot in a contemporary, glass-walled pavilion with garden views, handy if you want a sit-down lunch near the beautiful Cloudehill gardens. Down the line at Clematis, Paradise Valley Hotel is a slick gastropub overlooking the Puffing Billy track that hosts an excellent wine festival every winter.

Speaking of wine, Cork at Cooks Corner In Kallista doubles as a bistro and cellar door pouring small-batch Victorian wines, a tidy find if you want a glass with dreamy forest views, or for pure pub comfort, The Pig & Whistle near Mount Dandenong pours 16 beers on tap and does the British-pub-of-old greatest hits. It’s exactly where you want to be when the fog rolls in.

Pro tip: Make sure to check opening hours before visiting as this can change seasonally.

Time your visit and the villages turn into sprawling weekend markets. Kallista Village Market runs on the first Saturday with everything handmade, homegrown and locally sourced.

Gembrook Market pops up on the fourth Sunday with growers, makers and gorgeous hot food that tastes even better in cold air. Belgrave Big Dreams Market lands on the second Sunday, heavy on artists and live music. The visually spectacular Tesselaar Tulip Festival in Silvan runs for weeks in spring, and comes with bulb carpeted hills, Yarra wines and live entertainment.

Between markets, go browsing. Olinda balances touristy with genuinely interesting. Mangana turns up vintage jewellery, furniture and curios that make you wish you had a bigger boot. The Olinda Collective gathers dozens of local makers under one roof, ideal if you prefer souvenirs with fingerprints.

Travelling with kids or just carrying a nostalgia habit, drop into Geppetto’s Workshop in Sassafras for handcrafted wooden toys and marionettes. The perfect storybook ending to a day in this magical part of Victoria.