Great Ocean Road Events and Festivals

The Great Ocean Road calendar is built around surf, seafood and whales, and most events are free to watch. The two biggest dates are the Rip Curl Pro at Bells Beach over Easter and the Lorne Pier to Pub swim in January, both of which fill the coast for a long weekend. Southern Right Whales arrive off Warrnambool in winter, and autumn brings the food and music festivals. Here is the full year, season by season, so you can time the trip. Pair this with best time to visit guide to pick the best month, and see our Great Ocean Road guide for the full route.

Great Ocean Road Events and Festivals: Summer (December to February)

• Lorne Pier to Pub (second Saturday of January): about 5,000 swimmers race 1.2 km from Lorne Pier to the beach at Louttit Bay in the world’s largest open water swim. Entries open months in advance and sell out fast, but the town festival atmosphere, live music and foreshore crowds are free to join. The men’s race starts mid morning and the women’s field follows.
• Apollo Bay Seafood Festival (third weekend of February): the working harbour turns into a food festival with local crayfish, abalone and Southern Rock Lobster cooked over coals, plus live music and a bar on the foreshore. Entry is free, tasting plates cost AUD 10 to AUD 20, and the harbour is a 10 minute walk from the Apollo Bay shops.
• Falls Festival (late December to early January): the music festival that ran in Lorne for decades now runs near Birregurra, 45 minutes north of the Surf Coast, with three nights of Australian and international acts over New Year. Tickets run from about AUD 200, and the Surf Coast towns stay busy as festival traffic passes through.

Great Ocean Road Events and Festivals: Autumn (March to May)

• Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach (Easter, late March or April): the world’s longest running professional surfing contest has run at Bells Beach since 1962. The best 36 surfers on the World Surf League circuit compete over about 10 days, with the window opening Easter weekend. Watching from the clifftop is free, but parking is heavily restricted, so catch the shuttle bus from Torquay. See our things to do guide for the Bells Beach lookout details, and our weather by month guide for the surf season conditions.
• Port Fairy Folk Festival (Labour Day long weekend in March): Australia’s biggest folk festival runs over four days in Port Fairy, 25 minutes west of Warrnambool, with more than 100 acts across 20 stages. A full weekend pass costs around AUD 250, and the town’s 19th century streets fill with buskers and food stalls.
• Warrnambool May Racing Carnival (first week of May): three days of thoroughbred racing at the Warrnambool Racecourse, headlined by the Grand Annual Steeplechase, a 5,500 m jumps race that has run since 1872. General entry costs about AUD 25, and the carnival is one of the biggest events on the regional Victorian calendar.

Great Ocean Road Events and Festivals: Winter (June to August)

• Southern Right Whale season (June to September): around 20 to 30 Southern Right Whales migrate to the Warrnambool coast each winter to calve, and Logan’s Beach is the best land based viewing spot. A volunteer team staffs the viewing platform during the season and the Warrnambool Whale Watching program runs a festival weekend in late June. Watching is free. See town by town guide for where to base yourself.
• WinterWild Apollo Bay (August): the Otway coast’s winter festival runs through August with a lantern parade on the harbour, long table seafood dinners, live music in local halls and guided Otway forest walks. Most events are ticketed at AUD 20 to AUD 60, and it is the main reason to visit the coast in the off season, so book an Apollo Bay room early via our where to stay guide.

Great Ocean Road Events and Festivals: Spring (September to November)

• Otway Harvest Trail (September to November): a loose collection of cellar doors, berry farms, cheesemakers and cideries across the Otway hinterland open for tastings through spring. Highlights include Timboon Railway Shed Distillery, where single malt whisky tastings cost about AUD 15, and the GORGE chocolaterie at Lavers Hill. Most venues are free to visit.
• Torquay Danger 1000 and surf events (November): Torquay, the Surf Coast’s unofficial capital, hosts club surf competitions and the Danger 1000 ocean swim at Torquay Surf Beach as the season warms up. The town’s surf shops and the Australian National Surfing Museum are busy every weekend through spring, and our travel tips guide covers getting there.