Great Ocean Walk hiking guide: route map, stages & where to stay

The Great Ocean Walk is Victoria's best-known long-distance coastal hike. It runs for about 100 km along the Otway coast, from Apollo Bay to the Twelve Apostles, through Great Otway National Park and Port Campbell National Park on Eastern Maar Country. Most walkers take 8 days and camp at seven small hike-in campgrounds that must be booked in advance. You can also walk it in sections and sleep in lodges, cottages and holiday parks near the trail, with daily shuttles.

The route

The walk is one way, east to west. It leaves Apollo Bay along the foreshore, passes the seal colony at the Marengo Reefs and Shelly Beach, and climbs into tall eucalypt forest to Elliot Ridge. The second day winds through forest and gullies to the sheltered cove at Blanket Bay. From there the track follows clifftops and creek mouths past Parker Inlet to the Cape Otway Lightstation, where koalas live in the manna gums around the campsite. West of the cape it crosses heath and dunes to the Aire River, then reaches Castle Cove and the long surf beach at Johanna. The wild western half climbs over high headlands to Ryans Den, Moonlight Head and Wreck Beach, then runs past Devils Kitchen and Princetown to Gibson Steps and the Twelve Apostles.

This guide follows the route mapped on OpenStreetMap (96 km from Apollo Bay to the Twelve Apostles viewing area) and splits it into 8 stages, about 12.1 km each. They match the official eight-day plan from campground to campground. The track stays below 300 m, but it climbs and drops often, with about 2,100 m of ascent in total.

Highlights

• Marengo Reefs and Shelly Beach: an Australian fur seal colony offshore and the first quiet coves of the walk
• Cape Otway Lightstation: heritage lightkeepers' cottages, a café and koalas near the campground
• Aire River and Castle Cove: a quiet river estuary, coastal heath and a famous clifftop lookout
• Johanna and Milanesia beaches: long, empty beaches that you cross on foot at low tide
• Moonlight Head and Wreck Beach: some of the highest coastal cliffs in Australia, and old shipwreck anchors on the shore platform
• Gibson Steps and the Twelve Apostles: the limestone stacks at the end of the walk

When to walk the Great Ocean Walk

The walk is open all year. Spring (September to November) and autumn (March to May) usually bring the best mix of mild weather and quieter campsites. Summer is warm and busy, campsites book out in the school holidays, and fire danger can close parts of the park. Winter is cool, wet and windy, with higher rivers and muddy tracks, but it is whale season: southern right and humpback whales are most often seen from July to September.

How hard is it?

The official grades run from easy to medium-hard. The days are short, 10 to 16 km, but slower than the distance suggests: there are stairs, steep climbs out of gullies, wet and slippery clay, soft sand and rock platforms. The western half from Johanna to the Twelve Apostles is the most remote and the hardest. Allow 3.5 to 5.5 hours of walking a day with a full camping pack. Reasonable fitness and some multi-day experience are enough.

Permits, booking and fees

The walk is managed by the Great Ocean Road Coast and Parks Authority (GORCAPA), which took over from Parks Victoria; old Parks Victoria links now redirect to its site. Every night at a hike-in campground must be booked online before you walk, and the booking is your camping permit. Each campground has six to eight tent sites for up to 3 people, plus group areas at four of them; book each night separately and check the current fee in the booking engine. Book early for spring and summer. Walkers are asked to register their itinerary at least 14 days ahead.

The new Keerray Woorroong Visitor Centre at the Twelve Apostles opens on 16 October 2026. From then, visits to the viewing areas and all parking must be booked ahead. Booking is free until April 2027, when a fee starts. If you leave a car at the finish, book a Great Ocean Walk pass parking space.

Getting there and away

Apollo Bay is 2.5 to 3 hours by car from Melbourne. By public transport, take the V/Line train to Geelong and the connecting coach to Apollo Bay; book at the Apollo Bay visitor centre or online. Getting back from the Twelve Apostles is harder: a V/Line coach runs to Apollo Bay only a few days a week, so check the timetable or book a private shuttle. Walk 91 in Apollo Bay and Ride With Us in Cobden run walker shuttles and luggage transfers, and some lodges near the trail collect walkers by arrangement. Princetown, 7 km before the end, and Port Campbell, 11 km beyond it, have the nearest beds to the finish.

Money and phone signal

Cards are accepted almost everywhere; carry a little cash for small places. Apollo Bay has supermarkets, a pharmacy and cafés. After that, the only food on or near the trail is the café at the Cape Otway Lightstation, the small store and tavern at Princetown and the shops in Port Campbell, so carry all your food or arrange a food drop with a shuttle company. Mobile coverage is reliable in Apollo Bay and Port Campbell but patchy on the cliffs and absent in many valleys and campsites.

What to pack

• A tent, sleeping mat and a fuel stove: the hike-in campsites have only tent pads, a shelter, toilets and rainwater tanks
• Water treatment and capacity for 3 litres or more a day; the tanks are untreated and can run low in summer
• Waterproof jacket, warm layers and a sun hat, sunscreen and sunglasses
• Tide times for Apollo Bay and Port Campbell, a map and a charged phone with the Emergency+ app
• A personal locator beacon (PLB) and a small first aid kit

Safety

Tides are the main hazard. Some beach sections and river mouths become unsafe at high tide or in big surf. Inland alternatives exist in many places but not all: Johanna Beach, about 2 km, and a short stretch of Milanesia Beach have none. Check the tide times every day and cross at low tide; after heavy rain the Elliot River, Parker Inlet and the Johanna River can be deep. The beaches are unpatrolled with strong rips, so do not swim. Keep back from cliff edges and watch for snakes in warm weather. In an emergency call 000 and give the code on the nearest yellow emergency marker; check VicEmergency for fire danger and closures before you start.

History

West of Cape Otway lies the Shipwreck Coast, where many sailing ships were lost. Part of the walk follows the track blazed by Superintendent Charles La Trobe in March 1846, when he searched for a lighthouse site after almost 400 people died in the wreck of the Cataraqui; the lightkeepers' sandstone cottages from 1859 still stand at Cape Otway. This is Eastern Maar Country, and their language gave the new Twelve Apostles centre its name.