Yarra Valley Wine Tours from Melbourne (2026): Nine Compared and Ranked

The grazing day: one winery and four producers, with everything you taste in the fare. Rochford Wines for the wine tasting, a cheese platter at Coldstream Dairy, a gin and tonic tasting with wood-fired pizza at Stag Lane Farm Distillery, free time in Healesville, and an exclusive chocolate tasting at the Yarra Valley Chocolaterie, with a Montesanto coffee along the way. The pizza is lunch; the operator suggests breakfast first and says more food is available in Healesville. Pickups are from a list of city hotels and there is a multilingual audio guide app.

It only runs three days a week, Monday, Thursday and Saturday, and the platform's schedule has gaps on some of those dates, so check your date early. Go West publishes a lower phone price than its online one, and our link matches the phone price. Go West Tours (Vic) Pty Ltd also trades as Bunyip Tours, which we confirmed on the Australian Business Register for our Great Ocean Road ranking.

Best for: Groups with non-wine-drinkers, and anyone who would rather graze all day than sit through four tastings.

A close cousin of the Teepee day, and the second most reviewed tour here. Soumah at 10:15am, four wines at the St Huberts cellar door at 11:30am (a beer or cider if you would rather, and a gin or whisky tasting for a small fee), then lunch at Quarters at Hubert Estate where the group sits together and everyone pays for their own. If you book your own table at Chandon instead, you skip the St Huberts tasting. The afternoon is a guided tasting of ten chocolates at the Yarra Valley Chocolaterie, or Yarrawood Estate at your own cost, then Balgownie Estate's tasting with a view before the 3:30pm drive back.

It is a coach rather than a van, and the operator says it often runs two vehicles a day. The price promise on its booking site is that it will beat any cheaper online price by 5 to 10 percent, and its own weekday fare of A$109 is already A$20 under A$129 at our link. The operator's terms make the public tour adults only, even though its booking engine sells a fare for anyone over 6.

Best for: Travellers who want the most-reviewed style of day at the lowest fare and are happy to buy lunch.

The most reviewed Yarra Valley tour on any platform we read, and the one built most openly for a social day. Teepee's guides run a shared Spotify playlist, split the group when people want different stops and describe the day as a road trip with mates. The spine is fixed: wine and cider at Yering Farm at 10am, Tokar Estate at 11am, then a choice of Hubert Estate or Domaine Chandon for a lunch you pay for yourself. After lunch you choose a gin paddle at Four Pillars (the dearer option), five wines at Payten and Jones or beers at Watts River Brewery, which the operator notes is closed Monday to Wednesday. The day ends with a private chocolate tasting, or drinks at Yarrawood Estate at your own cost.

The bus is a 24-seat Mitsubishi Rosa or 21-seat Coaster, with smaller Toyota Commuters on quieter days; the booking engine caps a departure at 23 and the operator says to expect about 22. Booked direct it is A$110.73 with fees against A$129 at our link, an A$18 gap that widens to A$29 at weekends. Teepee Tours Pty Ltd says it has been in business for more than 12 years and is an accredited tour operator.

Best for: Solo travellers and groups of friends who want a social day with choices, and do not need lunch included.

The best-reviewed lunch-included tour on this page. Yering Station first, then a two-course lunch (shared antipasto, then your own main, with a glass of wine) at Soumah or occasionally Tokar Estate, a third tasting at the boutique Helen and Joey Estate, and a fourth stop of your choosing: a small winery such as Payten and Jones, or for A$10 more a Four Pillars gin tasting or Watts River Brewing (Thursday to Monday). The Chocolaterie closes the day, with entry included and the chocolate at your own cost. Groups are capped at 20 and one host drives and guides all day.

Dancing Kangaroo has been Melbourne owned and operated since 2015, run by its founder Sean from an office on A'Beckett Street. The price at our link matches the operator's own, but its site publishes a code worth A$10, and from 1 November both go up by A$10. Its direct cancellation terms are the strictest on this page outside Chillout's standard fare.

Best for: Couples and small groups who want lunch and all tastings in one price without a big coach.

The premium day, at nearly twice the price of the next tour here, and the only one in Mercedes vehicles sized to the group, from a sedan to a Sprinter, with a maximum of 11. The standard itinerary is De Bortoli with a wine and cheese flight, Yering Station for the tasting and a restaurant main course with a glass of wine and coffee, then Coldstream Hills and Medhurst. On Tuesdays and Wednesdays, when some of those are closed, the operator substitutes Punt Road, Oakridge, Helen and Joey or Dominique Portet. Hotel pickup is included, with the route set the afternoon before.

Vinetrekker has run from South Melbourne since 2004. What you are paying for over the A$185 to A$216 lunch-included tours is the smaller vehicle, the restaurant rather than a shared platter, and the choice of cellar doors, two of which (Coldstream Hills and Medhurst) no other tour on this page visits. The price is identical at our link and direct, and Sundays cost A$20 more either way.

Best for: Couples who want the restaurant lunch, a small vehicle and serious cellar doors, and will pay for it.

The only afternoon departure on this page, and the only tour built around something other than the wine: a sunset kangaroo safari in the lower valley that the operator backs with a 100 percent money-back guarantee if you do not see wild kangaroos. Before that, strawberries at a farm gate, cheese at Coldstream Dairy, a glass of sparkling at Chandon with time to buy lunch from the lounge menu, a tasting at Yering Station and a private chocolate tasting at the Chocolaterie. Groups are capped at 12, which the operator says is why it can get a Chandon booking that big-bus tours cannot.

The Yarra Valley Touring Company is owned by Craig Cooney, based in Lilydale, who the site says has guided in the valley for more than 15 years. The price is the same at our link and direct until 30 November, when ours rises to A$210, and the operator's site advertises a A$20 code. Autopia sells a tour that matches this one stop for stop; see the FAQ.

Best for: Visitors who want the kangaroos as much as the wine, families with children, and anyone who hates early starts.

Not a guided tour at all, and the cheapest way on this page to spend a day in the valley without driving. Hop It's bus loops the Red Route every hour from 11:05am, calling at Coombe Estate, Helen and Joey, St Huberts, Meletos and Punt Road, Domaine Chandon, Oakridge, Tokar, Dominique Portet, Rochford and Levantine Hill, Pimpernel, Riverstone, Soumah, Giant Steps and the Four Pillars and Payten and Jones stop, with Yarra Yering by request. You plan your own day, four stops at most, and the operator's own timetable marks most venues as booking required, so you ring ahead. Nothing is included beyond the seat, commentary, water and a storage box for your purchases. The Green Route (Yering Station, Yarra Valley Dairy, the Chocolaterie, Balgownie, De Bortoli and others) is the same price.

It is the one product here cheaper at our link than direct: A$93 against A$98.02 with fees on the operator's booking engine. Hop It Pty Ltd won gold at the 2024 Victorian Tourism Awards and is the only hop-on hop-off service in Victoria. It has no Google Business profile we could find, so it is scored on Tripadvisor and Viator only.

Best for: Independent travellers who know which cellar doors they want and would rather pay per tasting than for a guide.

The one tour here that starts at Domaine Chandon with a sparkling tasting, which the operator's page says it can book because it keeps its groups small: a maximum of 11 guests, and at most six seats per booking so no single party dominates. Then Soumah for a shared two-course antipasti-style lunch with a glass of wine, Squitchy Lane, and Yering Farm for wine and cider. Everything you taste and eat is in the fare, and the operator's platform listing has no exclusions at all.

It is also the tour where our link costs you most. Chillout's own site sells the same day for A$169, A$47 under A$216 here. The catch is the terms: the direct standard fare must be paid in full and the site publishes no refund right for it, so a 24-hour free cancellation costs A$50 more direct, which still leaves it A$3 ahead of our link with better pickups. Chillout Travel Tours Pty Ltd runs from Clarendon Street, South Melbourne.

Best for: Travellers who want Chandon and a proper lunch included, and will book direct for the saving.

The longest-running operator here, founded in 1998 by Matthew Noble and a Victorian Tourism Award winner in 2004, with the most straightforward product: four wineries, four tastings, an a la carte lunch at Balgownie Estate with a glass of wine, tea or coffee, and nothing to pay on the day. The four come from a list of six (Yering Farm, Soumah, Greenstone, Rochford, Tokar and Balgownie) and the line-up varies by date; the platform listing names Greenstone, Balgownie, Yering Farm and Soumah. There is no gin, chocolate or cheese stop, which some will count as a plus.

The pickups are the most convenient here: four fixed city points rather than one meeting place. On group size the operator's own pages disagree, the tour page saying numbers are limited to 24 with a typical 12 to 20 aboard and the FAQ saying a maximum of 8 on daily public tours; at our link you can book up to 8 seats. The price is the same at our link and direct, and the same every day of the week, which only three tours here can say.

Best for: First-time visitors who want a classic winery day with lunch and a pickup near their hotel, at a fixed price.