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The Best Country Pubs in Victoria Worth the Drive
From goldfields pubs with roaring fires to High Country locals and serious regional kitchens, these are the Victorian country pubs worth planning a trip around.
The Royal Mail Hotel in Dunkeld has a 30,000-bottle cellar, Macedon Village Hotel in Macedon won Victoria’s 2026 Regional Hotel of the Year, and Tanswell’s Commercial Hotel in Beechworth still puts on free gigs. Victoria does the country pub exceptionally well: goldfields front bars backed by serious kitchens, High Country beer gardens, coastal inns made for fish and chips after a wild walk. These are the best country pubs in Victoria worth plotting a weekend around.
In This Guide
- Best Country Pubs in Western Victoria and the Grampians
- Best Country Pubs in Daylesford and the Macedon Ranges
- Best Country Pubs in Victoria’s High Country and North East
- Best Country Pubs in the Goldfields and Along the Murray
- Best Country Pubs Along the Great Ocean Road and Around Geelong
- Best Country Pubs in Gippsland and the Mornington Peninsula
- Best Country Pubs in Victoria: FAQs
Best Country Pubs in Western Victoria and the Grampians
Royal Mail Hotel, Dunkeld
At the foot of the Grampians, the Royal Mail Hotel turns Dunkeld into a two-dinner proposition. The first evening belongs to Parker Street Project, preferably near the fire, with something local in the glass and a warm herb-and-garlic Parker loaf served with aged cheddar and Vegemite butter. Rich, salty and likely to be the thing you’re still talking about halfway home.
Save the following evening for Wickens. Robin Wickens’ tasting menu runs for more than three hours, changing with the day’s harvest from the hotel’s 1.2-hectare kitchen garden. Beyond the timber-and-sandstone dining room, southern Gariwerd provides an extraordinary backdrop. Then there’s the cellar: 30,000 bottles and a 4,200-label wine list, including an exceptional collection of Bordeaux and Burgundy.
Book a room, wake beneath Mount Sturgeon and give Dunkeld the time it deserves.
Sitchu Tip: Book Parker Street Project and Wickens on consecutive nights. You’ll want the full Royal Mail experience, and preferably no driving afterwards.
98 Parker Street, Dunkeld
Price Guide: $$$
Cuisine: Modern Australian
Best For: Special occasion, Wine lovers, Date night
Need To Know: On-site accommodation and two distinct dining experiences; book Wickens ahead.
The Victoria Hotel, Dimboola
There’s a staircase covered in silver serving platters at Dimboola’s Victoria Hotel, which tells you quite a bit about its decorating philosophy.
The rest of the 1924 building is just as wonderfully individual, with local art, old timber and an Elbow Room furnished with books and an open fire. In the bistro, scotch fillet, barramundi and gnocchi share the menu with country-pub favourites, while regional wines and craft beer keep the bar interesting.
Publicans Meran and Stoph Pilmore have fed local fire crews during emergencies and rallied behind community fundraisers, which tells you more about a pub than any trophy could. Still, winning Bush Pub of the Year at the 2026 AHA Victoria Awards is a rather nice addition to the mantelpiece. Dimboola, naturally, had already made up its mind.
32 Wimmera Street, Dimboola
Price Guide: $$
Cuisine: Pub fare, Modern Australian
Best For: Locals, Weekend plans, Group dining
Need To Know: Winner of the 2026 AHA Victoria Bush Pub of the Year; traditional accommodation upstairs.
The Caledonian Inn, Port Fairy
The Caledonian Inn has seen a few things since 1844: horse auctions, town balls, even the occasional inquest. There’s also the marvellous story of the upstairs rooms, reportedly left unfinished when the builders abandoned their tools for the Ballarat goldfields. More than 170 years later, nobody has quite finished the job.
Known affectionately as The Stump, this old Port Fairy institution has whitewashed walls, handsome stonework and generations of local history behind its bar. The menu has its own considerable attractions: beer-battered Portland gummy, roasts with duck-fat potatoes and a frankly heroic 900g Stump Rump. Have a pint, stay for dinner and, should the evening get away from you, there’s motel accommodation next door.
41 Bank Street, Port Fairy
Price Guide: $$
Cuisine: Pub fare
Best For: Locals, Weekend plans, Late night
Need To Know: Motel accommodation next door; confirm current late-night trading hours.
Best Country Pubs in Daylesford and the Macedon Ranges
Macedon Village Hotel, Macedon
During the 1983 Ash Wednesday bushfires, Macedon Village Hotel sheltered local residents. In 2026, it made headlines for a happier reason: winning Overall Hotel of the Year – Regional at the AHA Victoria Awards.
The refurbishment has treated the surrounding landscape with the attention it deserves. Five enormous bistro windows look towards Mount Macedon, while the broad deck and dog-friendly beer garden make a compelling case for the first mild afternoon after winter.
The kitchen is equally appealing, with beef bourguignon pie beneath an in-house crust, duck breast curry with lychee and Thai basil, and 30-day-aged scotch fillet. Local beer and cool-climate wine do the rest.
The trophy is new; the pub’s place in Macedon isn’t.
33 Smith Street, Macedon
Price Guide: $$
Cuisine: Gastropub
Best For: Dog-friendly, Outdoor dining, Locals, Special occasion
Need To Know: Winner of the 2026 AHA Victoria Overall Hotel of the Year – Regional.
The Cosmopolitan Hotel, Trentham
The Cosmopolitan Hotel’s best room might be outdoors. An acre of gardens stretches beneath Trentham’s century-old elms, with plenty of space for an entire Saturday to get pleasantly out of hand.
Beyond the restored 1866 weatherboard façade are ochre-toned rooms, bentwood chairs, brick hearths and old photographs. Fire and years of neglect have tested this pub, but you’d never accuse it of having lost its character.
The kitchen has an excellent understanding of cold-weather appetites. Think crackling Istra pork belly with swede and carrot mash, braised red cabbage, caramelised apple and sherry jus; wood-fired pizzas; and warm local quince crumble with rum-and-raisin ice cream.
Free Saturday afternoon live music provides further encouragement to remain exactly where you are.
21 High Street, Trentham
Price Guide: $$$
Cuisine: Gastropub
Best For: Long lunch, Outdoor dining, Weekend plans, Date night
Need To Know: Extensive garden seating and Saturday afternoon live music.
The Farmers Arms, Daylesford
The Farmers Arms has occupied its Daylesford corner since 1857, and there’s still a reassuring distinction between the front bar and the dining room. Near the taps, a community noticeboard keeps everyone abreast of local affairs. Further in, chandeliers and white tablecloths suggest lunch might deserve a little more attention.
Venison pot pie arrives with lardons and red-wine gravy, duck sausages meet smoked mash and pickled fennel, and pork belly comes with broccolini. There’s plenty of generosity on the plate, and nothing remotely careless about the cooking.
Order a Daylesford Brewing Co pale ale and reconsider anything else you had planned for the afternoon.
1 East Street, Daylesford
Price Guide: $$$
Cuisine: Gastropub
Best For: Date night, Locals, Weekend plans
Need To Know: Daylesford’s oldest pub; open for lunch and dinner seven days.
The Victoria Hotel, Woodend
Gold-seekers once clogged the road through Woodend. The Victoria Hotel opened in 1861 and has kept the town fed and watered ever since, with considerably better dining arrangements than its earliest customers would have enjoyed.
Its original bar is now the Rock & Wombat, furnished with deep lounges and stocked with local gin. Saturday nights bring live bands, while the soaring timber bistro gathers around a magnificent double-sided fire.
Woodend winters are not subtle, and neither is the seafood pot pie: white-wine-and-saffron sauce beneath a potato-and-cheese crust. The two-week dry-aged steak is another serious contender, made better with a glass from Hanging Rock or Mount Towrong.
67 High Street, Woodend
Price Guide: $$
Cuisine: Gastropub
Best For: Group dining, Weekend plans, Locals
Need To Know: Saturday-night bands at the Rock & Wombat bar.
The Blackwood Hotel, Blackwood
Surrounded by Wombat State Forest, the Blackwood Hotel has been a very good reason to interrupt a country drive since 1868. A handsome 2025 refurbishment brought a bright dining room and forest-facing deck to the old weatherboard pub, while leaving the open fireplaces exactly where they belong.
The kitchen makes a strong opening argument with house-made potato cakes and vinegar salt. There’s whipped feta with hot honey, Greek-style lamb shoulder and Sher Wagyu rump for those prepared to tackle something more substantial.
A wet day in Blackwood is no great hardship when the pub has an open fire and a kitchen willing to send out another round of potato cakes.
1 Golden Point Road, Blackwood
Price Guide: $$$
Cuisine: Gastropub
Best For: Long lunch, Outdoor dining, Weekend plans
Need To Know: Refurbished in 2025, with a forest-facing deck.
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Tanswell’s Commercial Hotel, Beechworth
Tanswell’s has watched Beechworth move from gold-rush boomtown to regional weekender, and appears determined not to become too respectable in the process.
Rebuilt in 1873, the grand brick hotel still wears its iron-lace balcony. Inside, the front bar and bandroom host free gigs spanning bluegrass, punk and rock, often with a crowd that looks as though it’s been coming here forever.
The menu is wonderfully difficult to predict. Wild boar dim sims arrive slicked with chilli oil, braised goat finds its way into pasta, and venison schnitzel shares billing with Angus scotch fillet.
Bridge Road Brewers is next door, but once the band starts, changing venues becomes a rather ambitious proposition.
50 Ford Street, Beechworth
Price Guide: $$
Cuisine: Gastropub
Best For: Late night, Locals, Group dining, Weekend plans
Need To Know: Regular free live music in the front bar and bandroom.
The Stanley Pub, Stanley
Ten minutes beyond Beechworth, Stanley appears among chestnut groves and apple and cherry orchards, with an 1854 pub at its centre.
Inside, the bar is fashioned from apple boxes and stocked with local wine, beer, cider and spirits. Winter calls for a table beside the open fire; warmer afternoons are for the sunroom and broad leafy garden, preferably with a band playing.
Anyone who thinks they know what an 1854 pub in an orchard village will be cooking should inspect the menu. Thai red duck curry, whole fried fish, banh mi and crunchy pork tonkatsu. Not a bad selection for a tiny village in the hills above Beechworth.
Sitchu Tip: Pop into the adjoining general store before leaving. There’s coffee, cake, local bottles and take-home dishes from the pub kitchen. An excellent way to organise tomorrow’s dinner while you’re still thinking about today’s lunch.
6–12 Myrtleford-Stanley Road, Stanley
Price Guide: $$
Cuisine: Asian-influenced pub dining
Best For: Outdoor dining, Long lunch, Wine lovers, Weekend plans
Need To Know: Adjoining general store; approximately ten minutes from Beechworth.
Star Hotel, Yackandandah
In Yackandandah, the Star Hotel is simply the Top Pub, a nickname that has endured through more than 160 years of town life. These days, the scent of river red gum smoke gives you a fairly good idea of what to order.
The Star’s smokehouse has distinctly American ambitions. River red gum-smoked beef ribs, Texas-style brisket and bourbon-glazed pork ribs arrive on generous share trays, though the brisket may test everyone’s commitment to sharing.
Outside, the leafy beer garden has its own stage, with live bands and local beer making an afternoon disappear agreeably.
30 High Street, Yackandandah
Price Guide: $$
Cuisine: American barbecue, Pub fare
Best For: Group dining, Outdoor dining, Locals, Weekend plans
Need To Know: On-site smokehouse and outdoor live-music stage.
The Victoria Hotel, Rutherglen
The Victoria has occupied Rutherglen’s Main Street since 1868, though its grand brick form arrived in 1893, complete with an original mortuary beyond the carriage gates. It’s the sort of historical detail that rather wonderfully complicates the usual pub renovation narrative.
Porter Architects’ restoration carries arched brickwork, black-and-white tiles and a curved bar into a vaulted glass pavilion and gravel beer garden.
In the kitchen, Brendan Anderson works with a custom parrilla and Italian wood-fired oven, turning out wood-roasted pork cutlet, grilled market fish, regional steaks and pepperoni pizza with chilli-quince glaze.
The Victoria won Best Pub Restaurant – Regional at the 2026 AHA Victoria Awards. In a town famous for wine, dinner at the pub now warrants a booking in its own right.
Sitchu Tip: Finish with a Rutherglen Muscat tasting paddle, then head upstairs to one of the hotel’s 14 suites.
90 Main Street, Rutherglen
Price Guide: $$
Cuisine: Modern Australian, Wood-fired
Best For: Wine lovers, Special occasion, Group dining, Weekend plans
Need To Know: Fourteen accommodation suites; 2026 AHA Victoria Best Pub Restaurant – Regional winner.
The Wandi Pub, Wandiligong
Wandiligong once had 12 pubs. The Wandi Pub is the last one standing, a weatherboard survivor from 1864, six kilometres beyond Bright. Old gold-rush photographs line the walls, fireplaces attend to alpine winters and the wraparound veranda must have overheard some extraordinary conversations in its time.
The sprawling beer garden has its own stage, with live music and local beer from the likes of Bridge Road and King River. The kitchen offers pea, pesto and spinach arancini with chilli jam, beer-battered barramundi and a formidable 500g Black Angus rump with Café de Paris butter. There is, of course, a chicken parma. Some traditions are worth preserving.
One small concession to the 21st century: bring a card. The pub no longer accepts cash.
580 Morses Creek Road, Wandiligong
Price Guide: $$
Cuisine: Pub fare
Best For: Outdoor dining, Locals, Families, Weekend plans
Need To Know: Card-only venue; check seasonal opening hours before visiting.
Best Country Pubs in the Goldfields and Along the Murray
Five Flags Hotel, Campbells Creek
Just south of Castlemaine, the Five Flags has fed Campbells Creek since 1855, surviving the fire that tore through the township in 1875 and, mercifully, every passing urge to become fashionable. The front bar is lived-in, the dining room gathers around an open fire and lunch stretches into the garden.
Rory Brown’s kitchen gives the classics unusual care. Chicken is filleted and crumbed in-house, burger mince comes from the local butcher, and daily specials present a credible alternative to ordering your usual parma. Shedshaker ale and Harcourt cider keep things close to home.
155 Main Road, Campbells Creek
Price Guide: $$
Cuisine: Pub fare
Best For: Locals, Long lunch, Outdoor dining
Need To Know: Joint 2026 AHA Victoria Best Casual Dining – Regional winner.
The Bridge Hotel, Castlemaine
Opposite the Castlemaine Botanical Gardens and a few steps from The Mill, the Bridge Hotel catches Castlemaine at its most sociable.
Touring musicians and local songwriters take over the bandroom, the dark front bar fills early and, outside, families, dogs and afternoon drinkers spread across a rambling beer garden with pallet booths, shade cloth and a fire pit.
The menu has a reassuring allegiance to pub food: sourdough-battered potato cakes with vinegar salt, Mornington Peninsula calamari, beer-battered rockling, schnitzel and wagyu burgers.
Love Shack pale ale pours beside rotating Australian craft taps, while the wine list gives Castlemaine, Harcourt and the wider Goldfields their due.
Sitchu Tip: Check the gig calendar before booking your Castlemaine weekend. The Bridge has a habit of attracting musicians worth rearranging plans for.
21 Walker Street, Castlemaine
Price Guide: $$
Cuisine: Pub fare
Best For: Families, Dog-friendly, Outdoor dining, Locals
Need To Know: Live-music venue with a dog-friendly beer garden, Wednesday trivia and Sunday roast.
Gold Mines Hotel, Bendigo
The Gold Mines Hotel has been pouring drinks in Bendigo since 1861, its ornate, iron-laced building rising from the ashes of an 1872 fire.
There are two ways to spend an afternoon here: in the old dining rooms, admiring the building, or out in the sprawling leafy garden, entirely forgetting about it.
The kitchen understands the distinction between a good pub dinner and a genuinely interesting one. Oysters and wagyu tataki sit alongside Sichuan brisket, market fish with miso beurre blanc and steaks served with Hasselback potatoes.
It’s Bendigo history with a full dining room and absolutely no intention of becoming a museum piece.
49–57 Marong Road, Golden Square, Bendigo
Price Guide: $$
Cuisine: Gastropub
Best For: Outdoor dining, Long lunch, Group dining
Need To Know: Historic dining rooms and an extensive garden.
Western Hotel, Ballarat
Ballarat winters are not interested in your outdoor dining plans. The Western Hotel has sensibly covered and heated its beer garden, then given it a bar of its own.
Inside, the sports bar takes care of the footy crowd, while the Sturt Street bistro handles local appetites with sausages from butcher John Harbour, chicken parmas, calamari and seasonal specials. Eight simple rooms upstairs mean a weekend here needn’t involve much logistical planning.
The Western shared the 2026 AHA Victoria Best Casual Dining – Regional award. It hasn’t reinvented the country pub; Ballarat probably wouldn’t thank it if it did.
1221 Sturt Street, Ballarat
Price Guide: $$
Cuisine: Pub fare
Best For: Group dining, Locals, Outdoor dining
Need To Know: Eight accommodation rooms; joint winner of 2026 Best Casual Dining – Regional.
American Hotel, Echuca
Echuca’s American Hotel has occupied its Hare Street corner since 1865, but it’s showing little interest in behaving its age. Reclaimed timber from the town’s original wharf has found its way into the bar, while the rooftop is a fine place to spend a warm Murray River evening with something cold in hand.
At Harry O’s BBQ, named for a butcher, farmer and enthusiastic punter who sounds like excellent company, ironbark, redgum and mallee root feed the smoker. Order pepper-crusted brisket with caramelised onion jam or dry-rubbed pork ribs with grilled tortillas. Upstairs, Thelma’s handles the cocktails, including a very welcome Negroni. Happy hour runs daily from 4pm to 6pm, and Fridays and Saturdays carry on until 2am. Evidently, 160 years has done little to dampen this pub’s enthusiasm for a night out.
239–249 Hare Street, Echuca
Price Guide: $$
Cuisine: American barbecue, Pub fare
Best For: Late night, Group dining, Weekend plans
Need To Know: Rooftop bar, Harry O’s BBQ and late Friday and Saturday trading.
Best Country Pubs Along the Great Ocean Road and Around Geelong
Aireys Pub, Aireys Inlet
The Aireys Pub has survived a bushfire and a close encounter with property developers. When the Ash Wednesday fires destroyed it in 1983, beer was pouring from a makeshift bar in the back shed within a week. When it closed in 2011, locals pooled their money and bought the place rather than see it become a housing estate. You have to admire a town with its priorities in order.
Today, the 1904 institution has roaring winter fires, free Saturday-night bands and a grassy beer garden made for long coastal afternoons. The owners even installed their own brewery, Salt Brewing Co, after deciding they’d rather make their beer than have someone dictate what went on tap. Order a chicken parma and a paddle of house brews. After everything this pub has survived, the least you can do is stay for lunch.
45 Great Ocean Road, Aireys Inlet
Price Guide: $$
Cuisine: Pub fare
Best For: Outdoor dining, Locals, Group dining, Weekend plans
Need To Know: On-site Salt Brewing brewery and regular live music.
The Petrel Hotel, Geelong West
Renovating Geelong’s oldest pub without making it look as though it opened last Tuesday is a delicate business. The Petrel Hotel, serving Pakington Street since 1849, managed it rather well in 2024.
The front bar is reassuringly familiar; further in, warm timber, a freestanding fireplace, bentwood chairs and collected paintings lead to a light-filled dining room and its handsome wooden bar.
The menu has one foot in the sea: Sydney rock oysters, Portarlington mussels in tomato and red pepper sugo, and lemon-herb crumbed rockling. Then there’s the chicken schnitzel with garlic butter, because a pub can have beautiful bentwood chairs and a serious seafood menu without forgetting its responsibilities.
Smaller Australian winemakers get plenty of attention on the wine list, while cold beer and classic cocktails take care of everyone else.
81 Pakington Street, Geelong West
Price Guide: $$$
Cuisine: Gastropub
Best For: Wine lovers, Long lunch, Locals, Date night
Need To Know: Geelong’s oldest pub, refurbished in 2024.
Best Country Pubs in Gippsland and the Mornington Peninsula
Tinamba Hotel, Tinamba
Tinamba’s last stationmaster was Ern Durrant. His granddaughter, Tania Johnson, now runs the Tinamba Hotel with husband Simon. Evidently, the family has a talent for giving travellers a reason to stop.
Dating to 1874, the handsome old pub stands beneath enormous oak trees, with a deep veranda, bentwood chairs and a conservatory that feels rather grand for a village of 500 people. The kitchen has earned four consecutive Australian Good Food Guide chef hats, and the menu makes excellent use of its Gippsland neighbours. Flooding Creek mushrooms find their way into farfalle, pork loin comes with Dijon and tarragon, and Savage Farm carrots are dressed with cumin and crème fraîche.
Herbs grow in the hotel garden, Gippsland Pinot fills the glasses and the adjoining Amba Bar has a chicken parma for anyone determined to keep things traditional. Personally, I’d leave room for the Maffra cheese.
4–6 Tinamba-Seaton Road, Tinamba
Price Guide: $$$
Cuisine: Gastropub
Best For: Long lunch, Wine lovers, Special occasion
Need To Know: Produce-led dining with an adjoining bar.
Traveller’s Rest Hotel & Distillery, Thorpdale
Thorpdale’s handsome 1937 pub has a secret below stairs. Descend into the former keg room at Traveller’s Rest Hotel & Distillery and you’ll find a subterranean distillery producing gin, vodka and limoncello with a distinctly Gippsland bent.
Potato-country pride runs through the kitchen, too. Local spuds aren’t relegated to the chip basket, with Mediterranean gnocchi and the celebrated ‘Thorpy’ mash appearing among the pub’s dishes. The owners have even experimented with Thorpdale potato vodka, which feels rather appropriate given the postcode.
The beer garden looks across the surrounding farmland, and five rooms upstairs mean a distillery tasting needn’t involve a drive home.
Station Street, Thorpdale
Suburb: Thorpdale
Price Guide: $$
Cuisine: Pub fare
Best For: Long lunch, Outdoor dining, Weekend plans
Need To Know: Underground distillery and five accommodation rooms.
Meeniyan Hotel, Meeniyan
In the 1950s, Meeniyan publican Stan Cochrane visited America, took a liking to the motel concept and built one beside his hotel. It was among the first in Gippsland. A man who understood his customers, evidently.
The Meeniyan Hotel has been part of town life since the 1890s, with its red-trimmed, two-storey building dating to 1933. These days, the front bar accommodates South Gippsland regulars, cyclists fresh from the Great Southern Rail Trail and travellers bound for Wilsons Prom. There’s deep-fried house-made pickles with sweet chilli-lime dip, Lancashire hotpot pie beneath a sliced-potato lid and Southern Ranges scotch fillet for serious appetites. Mondays mean $25 parmas, Tuesdays bring $30 steak, and the kitchen now serves all day on weekends.
If you’re heading to the Prom, leave yourself time. A hurried lunch would be a terrible waste of a perfectly good pub.
117 Whitelaw Street, Meeniyan
Suburb: Meeniyan
Price Guide: $$
Cuisine: Pub fare
Best For: Budget-friendly, Locals, Quick bite, Weekend plans
Need To Know: Weekly dining specials; confirm current pricing before visiting.
The Bay Hotel, Mornington
The Bay Hotel gives Mornington’s former 1889 Commercial Bank a lively second life.
Beyond the ornate Main Street façade, tessellated tiles, leadlight windows, gold-leaf signage, timber booths and open fires borrow from old Irish drinking rooms without turning the place into a theme.
The front bar is a fine address for its award-winning chicken parma, while street-side tables take advantage of Mornington’s passing parade. Upstairs, live sport and local bands keep things moving across the weekend.
Somewhere between Monday trivia and Friday’s band, it’s become the sort of pub Mornington residents actually use, not just recommend to visitors.
62 Main Street, Mornington
Price Guide: $$
Cuisine: Pub fare
Best For: Locals, Group dining, Late night, Outdoor dining
Need To Know: Award-winning chicken parma, Monday trivia and weekend entertainment.
Best Country Pubs in Victoria: FAQs
Some of the best country pubs in Victoria include the Royal Mail Hotel in Dunkeld for destination dining, Macedon Village Hotel for award-winning hospitality, and Tanswell’s Commercial Hotel in Beechworth for live music and inventive pub food. The Cosmopolitan Hotel in Trentham is a favourite for garden lunches, while The Victoria in Rutherglen, Tinamba Hotel and Five Flags Hotel offer excellent reasons to explore regional Victoria’s food scene.
Several country pubs in Victoria offer accommodation. The Victoria Hotel in Rutherglen has 14 suites, Traveller’s Rest Hotel & Distillery in Thorpdale has five rooms, and the Western Hotel in Ballarat offers eight rooms. The Royal Mail Hotel in Dunkeld also offers accommodation alongside its two restaurants, while the Caledonian Inn in Port Fairy has motel rooms next door.
The Caledonian Inn in Port Fairy dates to 1844 and is widely recognised as one of Victoria’s oldest pubs. It has traditionally claimed the title of the state’s oldest continuously licensed hotel, although Portland’s Gordon Hotel traces its history to 1842 and makes a competing claim. The exact distinction depends on historical licensing records and continuity of operation.
The Farmers Arms in Daylesford is an excellent choice for seasonal country dining, while The Cosmopolitan Hotel in Trentham is celebrated for its historic interiors and elm-shaded garden. Macedon Village Hotel was named Victoria’s Overall Regional Hotel of the Year in 2026, and The Victoria Hotel in Woodend is particularly appealing for winter dining beside the fire. The Blackwood Hotel is another worthwhile stop amid Wombat State Forest.
Tanswell’s Commercial Hotel in Beechworth is known for free gigs, while The Bridge Hotel in Castlemaine regularly hosts touring musicians and local songwriters. The Star Hotel in Yackandandah has an outdoor stage, The Cosmopolitan Hotel in Trentham offers Saturday afternoon performances, and Aireys Pub on the Great Ocean Road hosts live bands. The Wandi Pub in Wandiligong is another popular choice for garden music during warmer weather.
These pubs were built for travellers with somewhere else to be. A century or two later, the best of them are still remarkably good at changing people’s plans. Lunch runs late, someone orders dessert and the possibility of staying the night suddenly requires serious discussion. Not a bad outcome for a quick stop on the way through.
For more reasons to pack the car, explore our guides to Daylesford, Beechworth and Victoria’s best road trips.
