Best time to visit Victoria

2 min summary Best time to visit Map & highlights Melbourne Nature & wildlife Great Ocean Road

Best time to visit Victoria

Conditions vary greatly depending on where you are, with ocean winds keeping winters warm and summers cool. But in general the best time to visit Victoria is late summer (March-April) as the weather is still warm (hovering around 28°C plus) and more settled. September is a great time to witness the return of short-tailed shearwaters and from May to September southern right whales arrive to give birth in the warm waters before returning to Antarctica.

If you're interested in visiting the Twelve Apostles, then peak summer is best avoided – it's brutally hot and convoys of cars and coaches make getting there extremely unpleasant. If you do go then, it’s best attempted as early or as late in the day as possible to avoid crowds.

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Melbourne Weather Chart

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Visiting Victoria, month by month guide

The summer months of December, January and February are when Melbournites party hardest, with a carnival atmosphere taking hold on the city and people in an even sunnier mood than usual. It kicks off with the Boxing Day test match – possibly the biggest event on the Melbourne sporting calendar – which sees 160,000 cricket-besotted fans fill "the G" to bursting to cheer on their national heroes. This is an extremely hot and busy time, however, so it’s best avoided if you don’t like crowds – particularly on the Great Ocean Road, which becomes unbearably traffic-clogged. March and April offer a much better option as weather conditions are settled and you won’t experience quite as many crowds as you will in midsummer. March is also big news on the events scene in Melbourne with the Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix, the Melbourne International Comedy Festival and the Melbourne Food and Drink Festival all on the agenda. Surf’s up at Easter with the annual Bells Beach international surfing tournament held to coincide with the best possible swells and sea conditions. Expect crowds on Bells Beach as well as lots of Aussies and visitors surfing the waves along every available stretch from Torquay to Aireys Inlet. May is when the southern right whales return to the Victorian coast. The viewing platform on Logan’s Beach in Warrnambool is the best place to watch whales calving, feeding and getting ready for the return journey to subantarctic oceans around October. June, July and August are some of the best months to visit Victoria if you like things wild and windswept. Weather conditions are much cooler and you’ll also find fewer cars and crowds out on the coast and in the National Parks. The wet weather doesn’t dampen Melbourne’s cultural scene, thanks to a major jazz festival and the Melbourne International Film Festival. From September to November, spring flowers and foliage brighten horizons, while waterfalls are at the peak of their powers and Melbournites come out for Fashion Week, the Melbourne Marathon and the AFL Grand Final.

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Festivals & events in Victoria

The world’s top tennis players and huge crowds descend on Melbourne Park in January for the Australian Open tennis championship.

Melbourne Spring Racing Carnival, held in November, is the city’s answer to Ascot, when Melbournites don their finest threads and head out to watch the horse races – including the Melbourne Cup, a public holiday here.