Spa Red Hill
Alba Thermal Springs & Spa
890 Mornington-Flinders Rd, Fingal VIC 3939 · $$$
The Peninsula's second-generation thermal springs complex, cleaner architecture, smaller crowds, better pacing than the original.
Red Hill Hinterland Cycling
The rolling hills of the Red Hill hinterland are some of the most rewarding cycling terrain in Victoria. Dedicated bike routes, quiet back roads, and the natural ridge geography combine to link wineries, farms, and viewpoints through some of the most beautiful farmland on the Peninsula. A half-day loop threading together three or four cellar doors - with lunch somewhere in the middle - is one of the Peninsula's most civilised ways to spend a sunny Saturday.
Bike hire is available from a handful of operators in Red Hill itself, and the routes can be self-guided or booked as a supported day tour with a driver picking you up at the finish. Either way, the scale of the ridge makes it the ideal bike country: the climbs are real but never punishing, the views open up constantly, and the cellar door schedule writes itself.
Best in autumn when the vineyards change colour and the traffic on the ridge roads is minimal.
Pair it with a booking
Where to eat, drink, or stay nearby
The best explore pages should lead somewhere next.
Winery Red Hill
Avani Wines
112 Shoreham Rd, Red Hill South VIC 3937 · $$
Shashi and Rohit Singh's biodynamic family estate, one of the Peninsula's only serious Syrah programs alongside the Amrit single-vineyard range.
Cottage Red Hill
Birch Creek
Red Hill VIC 3937 · $$
Two self-contained farm cottages on 40 acres near Red Hill, open fireplaces, outdoor tubs, dog-friendly, and goats.
Keep going
More ways to use this side of the Peninsula
Arthurs Seat Eagle
Arthurs Seat is the Peninsula's highest point and the Eagle is the gondola that runs people up it - twenty minutes each way, dangling over eucalypt canopy, with the bay widening out below until Melbourne appears on the northern horizon. As a first move on a Peninsula weekend it is surprisingly effective: you arrive, you go up, and the whole region orients itself around you in a way that makes the rest of the trip easier to plan. The summit has a cafe, a lookout deck, and short walking trails through the scrub. Come at the start of a clear day for the view north across the bay; come at the end of a clear day for the light spreading over the ridge. Go midweek if you can - weekends in school holidays can be busy. Book tickets online if visiting in summer.
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Balnarring Beach
Balnarring Beach is Western Port's quiet argument against the bay-side beaches most visitors default to. The sand is paler, the water flatter, and the crowd is almost entirely local - a few families on summer weekends, a scattering of walkers the rest of the year. The beach itself runs for kilometres, with ti-tree scrub backing the dunes and almost no built infrastructure. This is the Peninsula beach people come to when they want to swim without any of the theatre. Good for a slow afternoon between a Merricks lunch and a Balnarring produce stop. Very good for dusk walks in autumn when the light turns mauve across the water. Go through the Balnarring Beach hamlet for the easiest access point. Bring your own chair. Don't expect a kiosk.
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Montalto Sculpture Trail
Montalto's sculpture trail is the quieter, gentler sibling of the Pt. Leo Sculpture Park - a curated walk through the vineyard and gardens with a rotating collection of contemporary Australian work, small enough to browse in under an hour but carefully enough placed that each piece earns its spot in the landscape. The trail is designed to be walked before or after a meal at the Montalto restaurant, and that is exactly how to use it. Arrive for a late-morning cellar door tasting, walk the trail, then move into the dining room for a long lunch. The afternoon disappears and the pace is right. Ask the cellar door team what is new when you arrive; the collection changes periodically and the permanent and rotating works are labelled differently.
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Journal pieces that deepen this stop
Editor's Letter 8 min
A Winter Peninsula Weekend: The Case for Coming in July
13 April 2026
Short days, cheap rooms, empty dining rooms, a fire in every cellar door with a hearth, and a coast that looks like a different country in a southerly. Winter is the Peninsula's most underrated season and the one that gives the region back to the people who actually live here.
Hub Guide 8 min
Red Hill: The Peninsula Insider Guide
2 May 2026
Red Hill is the Peninsula's food-and-wine centre of gravity, but the best version of it is narrower than most visitors think. This is a place for one market morning, one properly chosen cellar door, and one lunch that gets the whole day.