Visiting the Yarra Valley: Cellar Door Hours, the Drinking Age and Where to Start
There is no gate and no ticket for the valley. You pay for what you taste, and you choose who drives. Weighing up Yarra Valley day tours? Settle lunch and your starting point first, and the rest follows.
A wine region, not a site
The Yarra Valley is a cool-climate wine region about an hour's drive from the centre of Melbourne. It covers 3,130 km² and holds over eighty wineries, spread between Lilydale, Coldstream, Yarra Glen, Healesville and Warburton under the ranges. Victoria's first vineyard was planted here, at Yering Station, in 1838. Every cellar door sets its own hours and its own tastings, so there is nothing to buy at the valley's edge.
What you pay for instead of a ticket
On your own, you pay each cellar door for its tastings and whoever drives you stays sober. On a tour, the fare covers the transport, a guide or driver and the tastings the listing names. The cost that really changes your day is lunch. Some fares include a winery lunch; on the rest you buy it on the day, and the operators put that at about A$25 to A$45.
Which tours put lunch in the fare
The four-winery day with lunch at Balgownie Estate or a similar winery, the full-day tour with a one-course winery lunch, the two-course lunch tour with a gin or beer option, the bike tour and the private brunch day all include a meal. The wine, gin and chocolate days, the half days and the Chandon and kangaroo tour leave lunch to you. How each of those days went for the travellers who booked them is in Yarra Valley tour reviews.
Know your date? Compare the day tours by lunch and start time.
Each card says whether lunch is in the fare, and whether your day starts in Melbourne, at Lilydale or with a hotel pick-up.
Opening hours at the stops the tours make
These are the hours each place publishes. On a tour the operator times the visits for you; on your own, plan around the latest opening and the earliest closing. Chandon opens at 11am, later than most, and Four Pillars stays open into the evening on Fridays and Saturdays.
| Stop | Where | Open | Entry |
|---|---|---|---|
| Yering Station | The Old Winery, built in 1859 | 10am–5pm daily | Tastings at the cellar door |
| Chandon | 727 Maroondah Highway, Coldstream | 11am–4:30pm daily, closed 25 and 26 December | Tasting price not published |
| Yarra Valley Chocolaterie | 35 Old Healesville Road, Yarra Glen | 9am–5pm daily, closed Christmas Day | Free |
| Four Pillars Gin | 2 Lilydale Road, Healesville | 10:30am–5:30pm Sun–Thu, 10:30am–9pm Fri–Sat | Tasting price not published |
| Healesville Sanctuary | Healesville | 9am–5pm, 365 days | Adult A$58 · child 4–15 A$29 on weekdays |
At Healesville Sanctuary, children aged 4 to 15 enter free on weekends and holidays, and concession tickets cost A$44. Where a stop shows no tasting price, ask at the counter before you taste.
Where your day starts
Central Melbourne
Most tours meet at a kerb in the centre between 8:00 and 9:30: Federation Square, the Ian Potter Centre on Flinders Street, Arts Centre Melbourne, Spring Street or the Immigration Museum. The Chandon and kangaroo tour leaves at 11:30.
Lilydale
The Metro line ends here, at the valley's edge. The half-day tours board at Lilydale by option, and the bike tour picks up free at Lilydale railway station.
Your hotel
The grazing tour collects from six CBD hotels between 8:00 and 9:00, and the private day picks you up from your accommodation in Melbourne or the valley at 9:30.
Every meeting point, and how to reach the valley by car or train, is on how to get to the Yarra Valley. Where the wineries sit in relation to each other is on the Yarra Valley map.
The drinking age, and why you need ID
The legal drinking age in Victoria is 18, and supplying alcohol to anyone younger is illegal. Under-18s may be on licensed premises with a responsible adult or when they are having a meal, so some tours take children from 3, 5 or 7. Staff check ID for anyone who looks under 25, so carry photo ID on the day even if you are well past it.
Visitor information in the valley
The region does not run traditional visitor centres. There are community-run centres, including the Warburton Waterwheel Visitor Information Centre at 3400 Warburton Highway, and digital information kiosks at Healesville Sanctuary, the Yarra Valley Chocolaterie and Yarra Glen.
What makes a day go well
- Be early for a 9:00 start. The Flinders Street and Spring Street departures leave on the minute and ask you to arrive by 8:35 or 8:45.
- Eat before the first tasting. On a day without lunch in the fare, the first pour can come well before noon.
- Dress in layers. Valley mornings are cool even when the afternoon is warm, and one operator warns about flies in summer.
- Decide who drives before you go. Every stop pours, so a self-drive day needs a sober driver.
How the months change a day in the vineyards is on Yarra Valley weather.
Frequently asked before you go
Do you need tickets to visit the Yarra Valley?
Which Yarra Valley tours include lunch?
How old do you have to be to drink on a tour?
What time do the full-day tours leave?
Is there a visitor centre in the Yarra Valley?
How do I get to the Yarra Valley without a car?
Next: compare every fare on Yarra Valley Tours, check the FAQs, or read about the Yarra Valley wineries one by one.