Skip to content
Mixroutes
Geelong
Port city in Victoria, Australia

Geelong

Geelong is a port city in Victoria, Australia, located at the western end of Corio Bay and the left bank of Barwon River, about 75 km (47 mi) southwest of Melbourne.

Plan a trip to Geelong→From Melbourne

With an estimated population of 282,809 in 2023, Geelong is the second-largest city in the state of Victoria. It is the administrative centre for the City of Greater Geelong municipality, which is Port Phillip's only regional metropolitan area, and covers all the urban, rural, and coastal reserves around the city including the entire Bellarine Peninsula and from the plains of Lara in the north to the rolling hills of Waurn Ponds to the south, with Corio Bay to the east and the Barrabool Hills to the west.

Get in

Getting to Geelong

Avalon Airport (AVV IATA) is Geelong's international airport, doubling as Melbourne's second airport. From there, Jetstar operates domestic flights to Sydney, the Gold Coast and Adelaide. AirAsia X operate twice-daily flights to Kuala Lumpur, connecting to a plethora of other destinations in Asia or further afield. Fares are often cheaper than Melbourne Airport due to the airport's smaller size.

  1. 01
    Geelong
  2. 02
    South Geelong
  3. 03
    North Shore

    Geelong is on the Princes Freeway (M1), which to the east connects the city to Melbourne and Gippsland via a freeway connection, and onward on the longer, coastal highway route to Sydney and beyond.

See

Worth seeing

  1. 01
    Geelong Waterfront

    A working maritime area, incorporating cafes, a carousel and botanical gardens.

  2. 02
    Geelong Maritime Museum
  3. 03
    National Wool Museum

    26 Moorabool St (cnr Brougham St).

  4. 04
    You Yangs Regional Park

    Branch Rd, Little River (55 km south-west of Melbourne and 22 km north of Geelong.

  5. 05
    Geelong Library and Heritage Centre
  6. 06
    Marine Sanctuaries
Do

Things to do

See an Aussie rules football match Kardinia Park, located on Moorabool Street is the home of the Geelong Cats, the local Australian Football League team. They are somewhat of a local institution. There are about half a dozen home games per year from April to August; the rest of Geelong's home games are played in Melbourne. Expect to pay about $20 for an adult, $12 concession and $5 for a child.

  1. 01
    Australian International Airshow

    Described by the organizers as the biggest airshow in the Southern Hemisphere (and the 2017 show had more than 200,000 visitors), it takes place biannually in odd years.

Eat

Where to eat

  1. 01
    Sailor's Rest

    3 Moorabool St, enquiry@sailorsrestgeelong.com.au.

  2. 02
    Elephant and Castle Hotel
  3. 03
    Geelong Boat House

    Western Foreshore Rd (Turn off the Esplanade at Cunningham Pier and turn hard left past the Skate Park.), thegeelongboathouse@aussiebb.com.au.

How locals move

Getting around Geelong the local way

  • Get inThe popular Spirit of Tasmania car ferry service to Devonport relocated to in Geelong from Station Pier in Melbourne since October 23, 2022.
  • Get inCar and passenger ferries cross the mouth of Port Phillip Bay between Queenscliff on the Bellarine Peninsula and Sorrento on Mornington Peninsula.
  • Get inPort Phillip Ferries operates regular passenger services from Geelong to the Bellarine Peninsula town of Portarlington to Melbourne's Docklands and vice versa.
  • Get inPort Phillip Ferries opened a Cunningham Pier ferry in 2019, operating services from Cunningham Pier, to the suburb of Docklands in Melbourne.
  • Get inThe ferry takes a little longer than the Princes Highway, taking an extra half hour.

From Wikivoyage: Geelong, CC BY-SA. Not yet checked by us. Last edited 2026-09.

Text adapted from Wikipedia and Wikivoyage, CC BY-SA 4.0. Photograph: Wikimedia Commons (see Commons), Wikimedia Commons.