Victoria (state)

Victoria keeps the time as New South Wales, Australian Capital Territory and Tasmania (AEST), and is always half an hour ahead of South Australia. During winter, Victoria follows the same time as Queensland but is an hour ahead during summer.

Standard time is 10 hours ahead of GMT and summer time (from the first Sunday of October to the first Sunday of April) is 11 hours ahead.

On 1 July 1851, Victoria was established as a new colony from New South Wales. Days later, gold was discovered near Ballarat and Bendigo.

• Visit Victoria website

Victoria has good cross border road connections into its neighbouring states. The main routes from the north are the Princes Highway following the coast and entering the state near Genoa, the Hume Freway from Sydney entering the state at Wodonga, the Newell Highway entering the state near Shepparton and being the main route from Brisbane, and the Sturt and Silver City Highways entering at Mildura. From the west, the Princes Highway is again the coastal route, and the Western Highway the more direct route.

It is around 5 hours from Sydney to the Victorian border along the Hume Highway, and another 3 hours from there into Melbourne.

Melbourne (MEL ^IATA) is the main entry point to Victoria by air and Tullamarine airport 24km to the north of Melbourne City has direct flights from all Australian capital cities, and many international destinations.

Avalon airport is close to Geelong, around 57 km south-west of Melbourne. Jetstar and Bonza fly from there to Sydney, the Gold Coast and the Sunshine Coast (Maroochydore). Useful to access Melbourne on the cheap, and for better access to Geelong and the Great Ocean Road.

Rex, Qantas, and Bonza fly to Mildura from Melbourne, Sydney, the Gold Coast and the Sunshine Coast. The airport in neighbouring Albury has flights from Sydney, Brisbane and the Gold Coast, giving easier access to the north and the north-west of the state.

Victoria is serviced regularly by one boat route, which travels between Victoria and the island state of Tasmania. The Spirit of Tasmania arrives daily (twice daily during peak season) at the Spirit of Tasmania Quay in Geelong. To encourage tourism, the Tasmanian state government subsidises fares and it can be a relatively inexpensive way to get to Victoria, especially if you are taking a vehicle. If travelling without a vehicle, it is usually cheaper and more convenient to arrive by air. The boat offers deck travel or for a higher price cabins are available. Most people travel by boat overnight, with it being an approximately 10-hour trip.

Melbourne is connected to Sydney in New South Wales via NSW Trainlinks's Melbourne XPT, and to Adelaide in South Australia via Journey Beyond's The Overland

Touring Victoria by car is a straightforward and practical way of seeing the state. Distances between towns tend not to be as great as in other states, and it is unusual to drive for more than a short while without passing through a small town unless in the Victorian Alps, and in rare cases, the remote northwest.

Victoria has the most developed road network of any state in Australia, and most towns are accessible without using dirt or gravel roads. With a freeway network of over 1,100 km (680 mi), most important cities, namely Geelong, Ballarat, Ararat, Bendigo, Seymour, Shepparton, Wodonga, and Trafalgar are all connected to Melbourne via freeways. The only major exception is Mildura, which, in many ways, acts like it's in NSW.

Roads are indicated as freeways are called M-roads (why "M" when the favoured term for a controlled-access highway is freeway? No-one knows), A-roads for important roads connecting major cities but isn't a freeway, B-roads for roads connecting important regional towns, or C-roads, roads that connect minor regional towns together, but in general, there is no need to avoid a C-road if it clearly provides the quickest trip to where you want to go. Although small compared to the freeway networks found in many US states or Quebec, the major freeways are as follows:

• M1 Princes Freeway (east). This freeway starts from the Princes Hwy (C101) interchange as a southeasterly continuation of the Monash Freeway and continues until Traralgon. Unlike many other freeways, the Princes Freeway (east) becomes a dual carriageway between Nar Nar Goon (after exit 32) and Longwarry (west of the C421 exit), and again from Darnum to Moe.
• M1 Princes Freeway (west). Starting from the interchange between the Western Ring Road (M80) and the West Gate Freeway (M1), this freeway connects Melbourne and Geelong, heading in a southwesterly direction. After exit 37, the road continues as the Princes Freeway, but is only a dual carriageway up to Colac; after Colac, it continues as a single carriageway. The Winchelsea Bypass has also yet to be constructed.
• M8 Western Freeway. Connecting Melbourne and Ballarat together, this freeway forms a core part of an eventual Melbourne–Adelaide dual carriageway. Starting from the M80 Ring Road, the road heads west as a full freeway until Ballarat, where a short 1–2-km section drops as a normal 4-lane highway. The freeway then continues on as the Ballarat Bypass, before continuing west as a dual carriageway until Ararat (with plans to extend this to Stawell in the short-term). This section is supposed to be a part of the Western Highway (as is signed on most signs), but some signs and sections may use the name "Western Freeway". However, the duplication project has been put on hold after an investigation was launched as the planned route cut through some sacred sites.
• M11 Mornington Peninsula Freeway. This freeway isn't truly an intrastate freeway, but it connects the Melbourne suburb of Dingley (near Dandenong) to Rosebud on the Mornington Peninsula. It connects with Eastlink/Frankston Freeway just before the freeway exits Melbourne metro.
• M31 Hume Freeway is by far the most significant rural freeway, and as it stands, it's the only Victorian freeway that connects with somewhere interstate, continuing north as the Hume Highway north of Albury towards Sydney. Although there is a 2-km section in Kalkallo that drops to a rural 4-lane highway, this is by far Victoria's longest freeway.
• M39 Goulburn Valley Freeway is a short 60-kilometre (37 mi) spur route braching off the Hume Freeway at Seymour towards Shepparton.
• M79 Calder Freeway links Melbourne to Bendigo. Starting at the Tullamrine Freeway/Citylink (M2) interchange, the freeway continues northwest for 112 km (70 mi). However, the freeway ends at Ravenswood and continues north as an arterial road towards Bendigo CBD. The Bendigo Bypass, that is, the Calder Alternative Highway (A790), is not a freeway.

Unlike many other states, there are still many level rail crossings throughout the state. While the state government is on a long-term project to eventually remove all level crossings, these are still prevalent (even within Metropolitan Melbourne), often in the most unexpected places.

Victoria has the most comprehensive rail passenger service in regional Australia. The state's passenger rail service, V/Line provides rail services within the state. Connecting V/Line coach (i.e. bus) services extend to some towns that passenger trains no longer service, such as Mildura. From 2023, all V/Line fares are capped at the current Metropolitan Melbourne daily fare, which is $10.60 as of 2024. This represents up to 90% reductions in fares so travelling around Victoria by train is very affordable. That Myki card you bought to get around Melbourne can be used on V/Line as far as Geelong, Ballarat, Bendigo, Epsom, Eaglehawk, Traralgon and Seymour. Travel to areas beyond these stations will require a paper ticket.

V/Line train services operate in five regions:

• Northern Victoria – to Bendigo and from there on to Swan Hill and Echuca
• North Eastern Victoria – to Seymour, Shepparton, Wangaratta, Wodonga and Albury
• Eastern Victoria – to Traralgon and Bairnsdale in Gippsland
• South Western Victoria – to Geelong, Colac and Warrnambool
• Western Victoria – to Ballarat and from there on to Ararat and Maryborough 

Many services outside of those between Melbourne and the main centres of Geelong, Ballarat, Bendigo, Seymour and Traralgon can be very infrequent, sometimes running only a few times a day.

The train service to Adelaide, The Overland, accepts travellers to destinations within Victoria. This enables travellers to go by rail to towns in western Victoria beyond Ararat such as Stawell, Nhill, Horsham and Dimboola.

Travellers can also take the NSW Trainlink XPT train to Sydney twice daily.

In addition to Google Maps, the Public Transport Victoria (PTV) app will assist with planning.

Outside of the rail corridors V/Line runs coach services to some towns. These often extend from train stations in towns with rail services.

Many other larger towns have local bus services servicing their suburbs or outlying towns. See the local guides.

Victoria has a number of rail trails, some of which can be reached by towns which have rail services. Bus coaches will sometimes take bikes if space is available in their storage areas. Wangaratta is one such destination easily accessible with your bike on a train, and you can easily reach Beechworth.