The grand dame of bathingĪ 90-minute drive north-west of Melbourne’s CBD lands you at Australia’s self-declared spa capital. And the rugged, wind-whipped littoral landscape fronting the Bass Strait was built for breathy hikes. Tranquil bayside beaches are lapped by sparkling turquoise waters. Cool-climate wineries hug the gently undulating contours, many boasting dramatic coastal views and award-winning paddock to plate restaurants. The lure of Peninsula Hot Springs is buttressed by the region’s bucolic surroundings, which afford visitors a masterclass in relaxation. Not only can you bathe in the warm waters here as dawn breaks, but with the opening hours stretching from 5am to 2am you can also soak under a canopy of stars.īeyond bathing in mineral pools, guests at Peninsula Hot Springs have access to an encyclopaedic selection of hydrotherapy experiences: Turkish hammams, Nepalese massaging mineral showers, saunas, cold plunge pools, reflexology pools and cave pools, not to mention a day spa, glamping, and even an amphitheatre replete with terraced viewing pools that hosts live music and film screenings. Pools cascade down the hillside, tucked in among native trees and grasses, supplying panoramic views over the peninsula’s patchwork of greenery. A sprawling shrine to the restorative power of nature, these geothermal mineral springs are only a 90-minute drive south-east of Melbourne’s CBD (that’s Central Business District by the way) but feel light years away. The super spa Peninsula hot springs is surrounded by nature (Photo: Tourism Australia)Ī Disneyland of bathhouses, Peninsula Hot Springs is easily the country’s most iconic establishment. And a newly christened 900-kilometre-long trail, which traces the coastline of Victoria, seeks to cement its status as a bathing heavyweight.įrom the so-called Garden State’s richly historic goldfields in its north to its blustery Shipwreck Coast in the west the verdant, winery-speckled Mornington Peninsula in its south and the nation’s largest inland waterways in the east, The Great Victorian Bathing Trail knits together nearly a dozen of the state’s most wondrous bathhouses. While it might be better known for “the rock”, the reef and the rainforest, Australia is also home to a glut of bathing experiences that span the holy trifecta of freshwater, saltwater and geothermal waters. Such is the draw of thermal waters, they’ve served as a building block for tourism across the globe: from Budapest, the self-declared “spa capital of the world”, to Britain’s clutch of fetching Georgian spa towns, Japan’s pervasive onsen culture, and Switzerland’s curiously niche medical spas. Even Hippocrates and Plato have eulogised the powers of hydrotherapy. Recognised as places of healing, worship and relaxation since antiquity, mineral-rich hot springs have long magnetised travellers and pilgrims.
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