Portsea Has Just Been Named Australia’s Best Tiny Tourism Town

Victoria has had a rather good morning in Canberra.

Portsea has officially been named Australia’s Top Tiny Tourism Town for 2026, taking gold at the national Top Tourism Town Awards at Parliament House on Tuesday. Victoria had more than one reason to leave Canberra feeling pleased with itself: Echuca took bronze in the Top Tourism Town category, while Portarlington claimed bronze among Australia’s best small tourism towns.

Which means all three Victorian towns sent to the national competition came home with a medal. A clean sweep, geographically speaking, from Port Phillip Bay to the Murray.

The result follows last month’s 2026 Victorian Top Tourism Town Awards, where Echuca, Portarlington and Portsea each took gold in their respective population categories. Thirty thousand public votes were cast at state level, alongside independent judging that considered visitor appeal, tourism excellence and the way destinations work with their local communities and businesses.

At national level, Portsea went all the way, taking gold ahead of Queensland’s Toogoolawah and Tasmania’s Port Arthur.

Anyone who knows Portsea solely as a January parade of linen shirts, cold rosé and suspiciously good tans is missing quite a lot. Beyond the foreshore, Point Nepean holds one of the most extraordinary corners of the Peninsula: old quarantine buildings, coastal scrub, military fortifications and tunnels running beneath Fort Nepean, right at the point where Port Phillip meets Bass Strait.

The better move is to go beyond the obvious. Take the 1.8-kilometre Range Area Walk through the former military training ground and climb partway up Monash Light for views across the bay, ocean and, on a clear day, back towards Melbourne. Further along, Cheviot Hill looks over the beach where Harold Holt disappeared in 1967, a beautiful and strangely haunting slice of Australian history.

Portsea may have won the tiny-town category. Its backstory is anything but.

Sitchu Tip: All that said, do still make time for a rosé on the grassy knoll at the Portsea Hotel. Some summer clichés have earned their place.

Echuca Took Bronze, And The River Still Runs The Show

Further north, Echuca finished third nationally, behind Queensland’s Stanthorpe and NSW’s Kiama.

The paddlesteamers remain the headline act, as they should. Echuca was once Australia’s largest inland port and today lays claim to the world’s largest fleet of operating riverboats, with the old red-gum wharf and river trade still written all over the centre of town.

But writing Echuca off as a heritage stop undersells it. The good version of a weekend here has a slower pulse: walk the red-gum boardwalks around the old port, take a paddlesteamer onto the Murray and then let the river set the pace for the rest of the afternoon. Food, wine, live music and a calendar that includes the Riverboats Music Festival and Winter Blues Festival have pushed the town well beyond school-excursion territory.

There is something wonderfully old-fashioned about travelling here by water once you arrive. Timber deck beneath your feet, gums sliding past the banks, steam overhead. Sometimes the obvious attraction earned its reputation for a reason.

Portarlington Is Having A Very Good Run

Over on the Bellarine, Portarlington also collected bronze, finishing behind Airlie Beach and NSW’s Gulgong in the Small Tourism Town category. The win suits a town that has built a very good case for taking the ferry rather than the freeway.

Port Phillip Ferries runs from Docklands to Portarlington in around 70 minutes, dropping you almost straight into the town’s greatest asset: the water. Portarlington produces around half of Australia’s mussels, and Portarlington Mussel Tours takes guests out to the farms before serving the catch onboard with Bellarine wine.

Back on land, the Bellarine’s basalt soils and maritime climate turn out excellent chardonnay, pinot noir and syrah. Circulus Wine | Coatsworth Farm is currently giving its cellar door a makeover, but keep it firmly on the list for reopening: the small-batch, minimal-intervention wines are magically delicious, and vineyard tastings here belong in the diary of anyone serious about their weekend vino plans.

Afterwards, head back to the foreshore for views across the bay to Melbourne and the You Yangs. And after a few glasses of very good Bellarine wine, the ferry home starts to look like exceptionally sound planning.

The awards ask more of a town than good looks. Public voting sits alongside independent judging, with visitor experience, tourism quality and local collaboration all part of the assessment.

For Victoria, the results speak for themselves: three state champions went to Canberra and all three made the national podium. Portarlington has mussels pulled from the bay and the ferry from Docklands. Echuca has the Murray, red gums and paddlesteamers still churning past the old wharf. And Portsea, long Melbourne’s summer drawing room of linen shirts, cold rosé and lawn tables, now has a national title to add to the social calendar.

Australia’s best tiny tourism town. Not bad for somewhere most people associate with January.

One final Victorian footnote: Jools De Loryn of Go West Tours also came home with silver in the national Top Tour Guide category, fresh from taking out the Victorian title last month. A very good trip to Canberra all round.

If this has you plotting a weekend beyond the city, start with our guide to Victoria’s best regional dining, then book one of these luxury country stays and make a proper escape of it.