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The Best Waterfalls in Victoria for Your Next Adventure
Spend a rainy day or four exploring some of the best waterfalls in Victoria.
Victoria’s best waterfalls include MacKenzie Falls in the Grampians for sheer scale, Hopetoun and Beauchamp Falls for deep Otways rainforest, Steavenson Falls near Marysville for its 84-metre drop, and Woolshed Falls for a beautiful detour from Beechworth. From short lookout walks to ferny forest trails, the best waterfalls in Victoria give almost every corner of the state a reason to pull on decent shoes and disappear for a while.
And disappearing has acquired a certain appeal. A waterfall is refreshingly indifferent to an unread inbox. Phone reception falters, notifications lose their jurisdiction and, somewhere between the first muddy step and the sound of water getting louder through the trees, the city begins to feel very far away. The bush works on another clock entirely: rain gathering in gullies, moss taking its time over stone, rivers continuing the old business of finding their way downhill.
Perhaps this is why chasing waterfalls feels particularly good now. Not because nature has suddenly become fashionable, but because exhaustion has. There is relief in standing before something enormous that requires absolutely nothing from you except attention. Pack a thermos, leave some room in the day and follow the water. TLC can forgive us this once.
In This Guide
Best Great Ocean Road & Otways Waterfalls
Beauchamp Falls
Wander through Mountain Ash, Myrtle Beech and Blackwood, ferns curling at the edges of the track, until the forest opens onto Beauchamp Falls. Water drops 20 metres into the pool below, framed by dense green in the heart of Great Otway National Park. It’s a beautiful reward for the walk in, especially after rain, when the whole scene feels fuller, louder and a little more alive.
Aire Valley Road, Beech Forrest
Hopetoun Falls
Descend through tree ferns to Hopetoun Falls, the forest growing cooler and damper with every step. From the lower viewing platform, water drops 30 metres into the Aire River, disappearing into a landscape of moss, fern and towering green. There is something almost primeval about it after rain, when the falls are full and their sound carries back up through the trees. Take the stairs slowly; this is one of those Otways places worth noticing on the way down as much as at the end.
Aire Valley Road, Beech Forest
Erskine Falls
Erskine Falls has the advantage of making an impression before anyone has walked very far. A short descent from the car park leads to the upper lookout, with another set of stairs dropping closer to the base as the water falls through the ferny gorge below. Those with more time can continue along the river on the longer trail, where the forest closes in and the Great Ocean Road feels suddenly elsewhere. After decent rain, the whole place seems to gather itself around the sound of water.
Great Otway National Park
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Triplet Falls
Triplet Falls earns its name slowly. The one-hour loop moves through old-growth rainforest on raised walkways, past Mountain Ash, Myrtle Beech and the damp green hush of the Otways, before the sound of water begins to take over. Then the three cascades appear, dropping through the forest in stages and revealing themselves from elevated platforms along the track. It’s one of the more rewarding walks in Great Otway National Park, especially after rain.
Phillips Track, Wyelangta
Stevensons Falls
The road to Stevensons Falls leads into one of the Otways’ lovelier surprises. Follow the Gellibrand River beneath towering Californian redwoods, their trunks disappearing upwards, before the forest gives way to the falls. The full walk runs 3.4 kilometres return, though a shorter accessible path reaches the viewing platform for prams and wheelchairs. It is an easy place to lose track of the afternoon, particularly after rain when the river is high and the forest smells freshly washed.
Stevensons Falls Walk, Barramunga
Best Waterfalls in the Grampians
MacKenzie Falls
MacKenzie Falls does not require much introduction. One of the largest waterfalls in Victoria, it runs year-round through Grampians (Gariwerd) National Park, with water dropping into the gorge below in a broad, thundering sheet. Take it in from the lookout, or descend 260 narrow steps on the steep two-kilometre return walk to the base for the full sense of scale. The climb back is substantial; the mist and roar at the bottom make a convincing reward. Swimming is not permitted.
Grampians (Gariwerd) National Park
Fish Falls
Fish Falls rewards the walk in. From Zumsteins Picnic Area, the Grade 3 track follows the Mackenzie River through eucalypt forest and over rocky, uneven ground before the water begins stepping down a broad run of terraced rock. Allow around 1.5 to two hours return and expect a few steeper sections along the way. It feels less monumental than MacKenzie Falls, but more intimate; a lovely place to sit for a while and listen to the river doing its thing.
Zumsteins Picnic Area, Mt Victory Road, Zumsteins
Wannon Falls
Wannon Falls has geology doing most of the showing off. Around 20 kilometres west of Hamilton, the river drops 30 metres over a sheer wall of hardened basalt, the legacy of ancient lava flows that once pushed upstream through the landscape. Below, a deep plunge pool continues to wear away the softer rock, slowly changing the falls even now. After winter or spring rain, it can look faintly Icelandic: dark basalt, white water and an elemental scale that feels wonderfully out of place in western Victoria.
Sitchu Tip: Pair it with nearby Nigretta Falls; the two are linked by a scenic road.
Glenelg Highway, Wannon
Best Waterfalls in Gippsland
Toorongo Falls
Toorongo Falls earns extra points for giving you two waterfalls in one easy loop. The 2.2-kilometre track winds through Mountain Ash, tree ferns and mossy riverbanks before reaching the tiered falls, then continues on to neighbouring Amphitheatre Falls. Allow around an hour and wear shoes with decent grip; the track can stay damp underfoot. In warmer weather, the swimming hole above Amphitheatre Falls is a particularly persuasive reason to keep walking.
Toorongo Falls Reserve, Noojee
Agnes Falls
Agnes Falls drops 59 metres through the Strzelecki Ranges, where rolling farmland gives way to tall eucalypts and a deep green gorge. Picnic tables sit beneath the trees, Grey Fantails and Crimson Rosellas flick through the canopy, and wallabies sometimes appear at the edges. After rain, the falls gather serious force, turning what is already a beautiful detour into something far more elemental.
125 Agnes Falls Road, Hazel Park
Morwell River Falls
The road to Morwell River Falls is half the pleasure. Past Boolarra, the bitumen gives way to gravel and the countryside narrows into forested gullies before the Morwell River begins appearing between the trees. Three cascades follow, the first framed by an overhanging branch and an old swing that makes the whole place feel wonderfully discovered rather than designed. There are picnic tables nearby, very little ceremony and, on a quiet day, almost nobody else around. This is Gippsland at its most generous.
Morwell River Road, Grand Ridge
Best Waterfalls in the Goldfields & Central Victoria
Trentham Falls
Trentham Falls drops 32 metres over ancient basalt columns, the water cutting through a landscape shaped by volcanic activity millions of years ago. The viewing platform is only a short walk from the car park, which makes this one of Central Victoria’s easiest big-payoff waterfall stops. Access to the top of the falls is closed, but the lookout gives you the full drop framed by bushland below. Just over an hour from Melbourne, it works beautifully as a picnic-and-drive kind of day.
Trentham Scenic Reserve Road, Trentham
The Blowhole
The Blowhole is less natural wonder than ingenious gold-rush intervention. In the 1870s, miners cut a tunnel through the hillside beside Sailors Creek to divert the water and expose the creek bed below. The gold fever has long passed, but the water still rushes through the rock, turning a piece of mining infrastructure into one of Hepburn Regional Park’s stranger little landmarks. It’s an easy detour from Hepburn Springs, especially after rain when the flow picks up.
Hepburn Regional Park, Blowhole Road, Hepburn Springs
La La Falls
Lal Lal Falls makes an easy escape from Ballarat, dropping into a rocky gorge beyond open farmland and gums. The reserve is well set up for a slow afternoon, with picnic tables, barbecues, toilets and plenty of grass, while the main viewing platform is only a short walk away. If there’s more time, the Von Guerard View Track continues along the gorge for broader views across the landscape. After rain, the falls have far more presence than the gentle walk in suggests.
Lal Lal Falls Road, Lal Lal
Best Waterfalls Near Melbourne
Dights Falls
Dights Falls is Melbourne’s odd little meeting point of river, industry and bush. Built across a natural rock bar on the Yarra in the 1840s, the weir once diverted water to one of Victoria’s earliest flour mills; today, the old mill site sits near the meeting of the Yarra and Merri Creek, with cyclists and walkers streaming past on the Main Yarra Trail. It is not Victoria’s wildest waterfall, but few come with this much Melbourne history attached.
142 Trenerry Crescent, Abbotsford
Wombelano Falls
Wombelano Falls saves the drama for the lookout. A 1.5-kilometre circuit threads through tall eucalypts and ferny gullies before the forest drops away and the falls plunge 90 metres into the gully below. Most of the track is fairly easy underfoot, with a steeper final section, so the payoff feels almost suspiciously generous. On a wet Kinglake day, mist hanging low between the trees, it has that very particular Victorian bush mood: green, cool and gloriously removed from Melbourne.
Captains Creek Road, Kinglake West
Olinda Falls
Olinda Falls asks very little of the legs. A 10 to 15-minute walk through the Dandenong Ranges forest leads to the viewing platform, with tree ferns, mountain ash and the occasional lyrebird call filling the way in. The nearby picnic area makes it easy to stay longer, especially on a warm day when the canopy keeps things noticeably cooler. It may not have the scale of Victoria’s bigger falls, but its closeness to Melbourne is part of the charm.
Olinda Falls Reserve, Dandenong Ranges
La La Falls
La La Falls provides you with a stroll that earns its reveal. The track leaves Warburton behind and slips into ferny forest, crossing old stone bridges and following the creek as the air turns cooler under the canopy. The waterfall waits at the end, framed tightly by rock and green rather than grand open views. It is not Victoria’s biggest cascade, but that almost misses the point; the pleasure here is in the walk, the water and how quickly town disappears.
Irruka Road, Warburton
Steavenson Falls
Steavenson Falls has been stopping travellers in their tracks since the 1860s, and at 84 metres, the scale still lands. Walk the 3.4-kilometre Tree Fern Gully Trail from Marysville, following the river beneath mountain ash and tree ferns until the forest opens and the water drops in stages through the gorge. Stay after dark and the mood changes again: the falls are floodlit until midnight, turning all that white water and black forest into something wonderfully otherworldly.
Falls Road, Marysville
Buckley Falls
Buckley Falls feels curiously wild for somewhere so close to Geelong. The Barwon River breaks into rocky cascades below the lookout, while River Red Gums hold tawny frogmouths, gang-gang cockatoos and the occasional swamp wallaby along the banks. This is Wadawurrung Country, with the river landscape carrying deep cultural significance long before nearby Fyansford became an industrial hub. Follow the River Red Gum Walk downstream and the old paper mill eventually appears, making this a lovely collision of water, history and city-edge bush.
Highton, Victoria
Best Waterfalls in North East Victoria & the High Country
Dandongadale Falls
Dandongadale Falls has the statistics to stop you mid-sentence: 255 metres, making it Victoria’s tallest waterfall. Water spills from the Cobbler Plateau in one enormous drop before disappearing into the Ross River below, with the cliffs around it also known to shelter peregrine falcons. Reaching it is half the story, via the rough road towards Lake Cobbler and deep into Alpine National Park. This is not a roadside pretty thing. It feels remote, huge and gloriously indifferent to whoever has made the journey in.
Lake Cobbler Road, Alpine National Park
Fainter Falls
Fainter Falls catches you somewhere between mountain road and alpine forest, which is part of its charm. The 1.4-kilometre return walk follows the Pretty Valley branch of the East Kiewa River to two lookouts, the water slipping through steep High Country terrain below. Another 200 metres drops closer to the base if the legs are willing. It is brief, beautiful and very much worth pulling over for on the road between Falls Creek and Mount Beauty.
Bogong High Plains Road, near Bogong Village
Snobs Creek Falls
Snobs Creek Falls barely makes you earn the view. From the car park, a 150-metre walk slips through damp eucalypt forest to a platform pushed right out above the gorge, close enough to catch the spray when the creek is running well. Water drops around 20 metres over stepped rock below, while moss, ferns and tiny fungi colonise almost every wet surface nearby. It is a spectacular amount of waterfall for such a small investment of walking.
Snobs Creek Falls Walk, Eildon, Victoria
Woolshed Falls & Beechworth Gorge Cascades
Just north of Beechworth, Woolshed Falls carries the scars of gold fever unusually well. Thousands of prospectors once crowded Spring Creek, and the alluvial workings they left behind still sit among the granite, bush and rushing water. The falls are only a ten-minute drive from town, with lookouts and walking tracks threading through Chiltern-Mt Pilot National Park; a six-kilometre trail also links them back to Beechworth via the Cascades and Gorge Scenic Drive. History does not sit politely in the background here. It runs right through the landscape.
Woolshed Falls, Woolshed Falls Road, Beechworth
Beechworth Cascades, Gorge Road, Beechworth
Ladies Bath & Eurobin Falls
Three waterfalls in one short walk is a rather good return on effort. Ladies Bath comes first, Crystal Creek spilling into a clear pool between great slabs of Mount Buffalo granite, before the track continues to Lower and Upper Eurobin Falls. Higher up, the creek has carved a deep channel through the rock, with views stretching towards the Ovens Valley beyond. The falls themselves are modest; the granite landscape around them is anything but.
Sitchu Tip: Take care around the water. The rocks can become extremely slippery.
Mount Buffalo Road, Bright
Paradise Falls
Paradise Falls sits beyond Cheshunt in the King Valley, reached via 11 kilometres of gravel road before a stepped track drops towards the gorge. The falls spill 31 metres over a great wall of conglomerate rock, giving the whole scene a rugged, almost prehistoric feel. Stay for a picnic, or continue towards Wobonga Plateau, with McMillan’s Track Lookout opening across the Upper King River, Lake William Hovell and the distant forms of Mount Stirling and Mount Buller.
Paradise Falls Road, Cheshunt
FAQs
Victoria’s best waterfalls include MacKenzie Falls in the Grampians (Gariwerd), Hopetoun and Beauchamp Falls in the Otways, Steavenson Falls near Marysville, Wannon Falls in the Southern Grampians and Woolshed Falls near Beechworth. For something closer to Melbourne, Trentham Falls delivers a 32-metre drop with very little walking required.
Some of the best waterfalls near Melbourne are Steavenson Falls in Marysville, Olinda Falls in the Dandenong Ranges, Wombelano Falls in Kinglake National Park and Trentham Falls near Daylesford. Steavenson can be reached on an easy 700-metre return walk, while Olinda Falls is around an hour from the CBD and reached via a short forest trail.
Steavenson Falls, Olinda Falls, Trentham Falls and Stevensons Falls are among Victoria’s easiest waterfalls to reach. Steavenson has a 700-metre return trail, Olinda’s viewing platform is about 350 metres from the picnic area, and Trentham Falls is a short walk from the car park. In the Otways, Stevensons Falls has wheelchair- and pram-friendly paths and an accessible viewing platform.
Winter and spring are generally the best times to see waterfalls in Victoria, when regular rain gives the rivers and cascades their strongest flow. Many waterfalls run year-round, but they are often at their most impressive after sustained rainfall. Conditions can change quickly, so check park alerts and weather before heading into the bush, particularly during summer and periods of high fire danger.
Swimming under or near waterfalls in Victoria is not considered safe. Parks Victoria warns that deep cold water, strong currents, submerged hazards and the force of falling water can put even strong swimmers at risk, while wet rocks around waterfalls are often extremely slippery. Some sites, including MacKenzie Falls and Trentham Falls, explicitly prohibit swimming, so always follow local signage and stay behind barriers.
Has this round-up got you falling head-over-heels to see Victoria’s best waterfalls? If you’re interested in exploring more of regional Victoria check out our guide to the must see wonders in Victoria and explore the best caravan parks in Victoria for weekend road tripping. Adventure awaits!
