Yarra Valley Activities: The Rail Trail, the Redwoods, Balloons and Black Spur

Between the cellar doors, the valley has a 40 km rail trail, a planted redwood forest and dawn balloon flights. Weighing up Yarra Valley day tours? Decide how active you want the day to be first.

Cycling the Lilydale to Warburton Rail Trail

The Lilydale to Warburton Rail Trail runs 40 km along the former Warburton railway line. Yarra Ranges Council describes an unpaved trail shared by walkers, cyclists and horse riders. It starts in Lilydale, where the Metro train line ends, and finishes in Warburton.

You do not have to ride the whole 40 km. Pick a stretch that fits your morning, and plan how you get back. Carry water and a layer: at Coldstream, even January nights average 12 °C.

The guided bike day and what it covers

The bike tour is the only day that puts you on the trail. You meet at the Woori Yallock station car park at 10:00, or take the free pickup from Lilydale station. Then you ride for about two hours.

After the ride comes a vineyard tasting with a wood-fired pizza lunch. The day continues to Soumah for 30 minutes, Yarra Valley Dairy for 30 minutes and Yering Station for 45. Groups are capped at eight. A pickup from accommodation in the valley costs A$30 a person on top.

Walking under the Cement Creek redwoods

The Cement Creek Redwood Forest is inside Yarra Ranges National Park, managed by Parks Victoria. Californian redwoods were planted here in the 1930s. There are over 1,470 trees in two plantations, and some are taller than 55 metres.

You reach it on Cement Creek Road, off Woods Point Road, about 15 minutes' drive from Warburton. The car parks are small and fill by about 10am on busy days. Parks Victoria lists accessible parking, an accessible toilet and trails, a viewing platform and picnic lawns.

The redwoods tour walks the forest for 45 minutes after free time in Warburton. Then you choose: lunch and a tasting at Soumah, or two hours at Healesville Sanctuary.

Ballooning at sunrise

Balloons fly over the valley at sunrise, when the air is calm. Global Ballooning asks its passengers to meet about an hour and a half before dawn at Balgownie Estate. It confirms the exact meeting time the night before, once it knows the sunrise and the weather.

• Plan for an early night. Depending on the season, you meet between about 4am and 6am.
• Expect a weather call. The operator decides the night before whether you fly.
• Stay in the valley. A pre-dawn meeting is hard to reach from Melbourne.
• Book it separately. None of the day tours here includes a flight.

Driving Black Spur

Black Spur Drive is the stretch of the Maroondah Highway between Healesville and Narbethong. It climbs through mountain ash forest and tree ferns, over the Great Dividing Range. You drive it in your own car; none of the tour listings names it as a stop.

Leave it for a day when nobody in the car is tasting. The road winds through the forest, and the driver needs full attention. Start from Healesville, where the town ends and the forest begins.

Activities compared

Pick by how much time you have and whether you want to taste as well. The sanctuary appears here because the redwoods tour pairs it with the forest.

Activity questions