Apollo Bay, AU

Open since 1979 on Skenes Creek Road above Apollo Bay, Chris's is a clifftop fine-dining institution with sweeping views across the Southern Ocean from every table. Founder Chris Talihmanidis ran it as a Great Ocean Road legend for 45 years before handing it to new owners in 2024; it now serves a contemporary seafood menu with Southern European and Middle Eastern influences, still built around freshly caught local fish.

Apollo Bay's fishing cooperative lands Southern Rock Lobster, fresh flake, and seasonal catch straight from the Bass Strait fleet — the town's freshest seafood, sold as takeaway. Note: the Co-op's harbour building closed in October 2025 for the Apollo Bay Harbour redevelopment; through 2026 its fish and chips trade from Pascoe Street and a pop-up wet-fish outlet runs on the main street (Great Ocean Road) beside Little Crumb bakery. The harbour outlet is set to return in an upgraded building once the works finish.

The town's consistent Italian on Moore Street runs hand-rolled pasta, stone-oven pizza, and mains using fresh local seafood and organic produce from a small dining room that books solid most weekends. The kitchen doesn't overcomplicate — good pasta, honest sauce, local fish — which is why it's been the go-to for dinner in Apollo Bay for years. Rated 4.2 on Google.

On Great Ocean Road in the centre of town, The Bayleaf opens from 7:45am seven days and runs a solid breakfast through to 3pm — corn fritters, well-executed eggs, chia pudding, and coffee that's consistently praised in a town where café quality varies. Small room, fills quickly. The morning stop most regulars use before heading into the Otways.

A family-run wholefoods café inside one of Apollo Bay's oldest timber homes on Hardy Street — organic brunch by day (7am to 4pm), organic pizza and natural wine bar Friday to Sunday evenings. The building gives the place a genuinely different atmosphere from the strip cafés on Great Ocean Road, and the natural wine list is more considered than the town's size would suggest.

The Great Ocean Road's most famous scallop pie — Apollo Bay Bakery on the main road has been baking everything in-house since it opened, and the scallop pie has become the definitive coastal road-trip food on this stretch of Victoria. Opens at 6am seven days. The cream croissant is the backup if the pies are gone.

Apollo Bay's craft beer anchor on the main strip pours the Prickly Moses and Otway Brewing lineup alongside 100+ rotating taps, with pub food and a foreshore beer garden that's the best place to be on a warm afternoon. Live music and themed events run through the year. Dog-friendly in the outdoor section, which makes it practically the standard stop on a Great Ocean Road road trip with a dog.

The historic main-street pub has been the social centre of Apollo Bay for generations — a bistro running seasonal pub classics with fresh seafood, a deck overlooking the street and ocean, and live music on Friday and Saturday evenings. The most reliable walk-in option when specialist restaurants are booked out, and the most practical option for a late-night meal.

The opening section of the 104km Great Ocean Walk starts in Apollo Bay and runs west through coastal heath and cliff-edge scrub — the first 10km to Marengo is accessible as a day walk out-and-back, giving a taste of the multi-day trail without logistics. Rated 4.6 stars on AllTrails with 267 reviews. Southern Ocean views improve the further you get from the road.

A 2.5km return trail from the end of Marriner's Lookout Road to the lookout above Apollo Bay — steep in sections but short, and the 360-degree view at the top is the best elevated perspective accessible from the town itself. AllTrails lists 61 reviews on this section. A good 45-minute addition to any morning in Apollo Bay before the cafes get busy.

The 800-metre boardwalk through old-growth Otway rainforest is the shortest walk on this list and the most visually dramatic — giant myrtle beech, ancient tree ferns, and glow-worms at night. Flat and fully accessible. Takes 20 to 30 minutes at a relaxed pace. An ideal rest stop on the drive to Cape Otway or on the return from Aire River.

A 3.5km return walk (1.5 hours) from the Aire River campground through forest to an escarpment lookout with coastal and forested views above the Aire River estuary. Gentle and steep sections mix in a route that's more demanding than the coastal walks but delivers a different perspective — the forest interior rather than the cliff edge.

The longest and tallest steel treetop canopy walkway of its type in the world — a 600-metre elevated walkway running through Otway rainforest up to 25-30 metres above the forest floor, with a spiral tower reaching 47 metres at the far end. Located near Weeaproinah, 40 minutes from Apollo Bay. The optional guided zipline tour soars up to 30 metres above the canopy on the same site. Rated consistently well on AllTrails and TripAdvisor.

The 12km access road to Cape Otway Lighthouse passes through manna gum forest with one of the highest observable wild koala densities in Australia — estimated 20,000 in the broader Otways. No tour, no fee: drive slowly at 20–30km/h, watch for cars stopped ahead, and look 8–15 metres up into the tree forks. Late afternoon is most active. Near-guaranteed sighting if you take it slowly.

The Apollo Bay foreshore is the town's social corridor — a grassy reserve running between the main street and the beach, taking in the breakwater walk, the working fishing port, and the best sunset position in town. The Apollo Bay Community Market sets up here one Saturday most months (usually the third, 8:30am to 1pm) with local produce and makers. Note: the harbour end is being redeveloped through 2026, so expect construction fencing around parts of the foreshore.

The beach break in front of the harbour is one of the more learner-friendly on the Great Ocean Road — sheltered enough for beginners to stand up, consistent enough for multiple waves per session. Local operators run two-hour beginner lessons year-round from the beach. No prior experience required and wetsuits are provided.

Apollo Bay's annual February seafood festival — fresh crayfish, abalone, scallops, and flake alongside cooking demonstrations, live entertainment, and market stalls at the harbour foreshore. Note: the festival is on hiatus while the harbour festival site is redeveloped, with no confirmed return date; check the official website before planning a trip around it.

A multi-award-winning ice creamery on the main street that has been making everything on-site since opening in 2000 — house-churned premium ice cream with a rotating roster of flavours, from honey-roasted macadamia to local-berry sorbets. The single most consistent sweet stop on the Apollo Bay strip, and the obligatory post-harbour walk treat.

A 75-minute guided wildlife sanctuary walk through a predator-proof fenced reserve in Marengo, run by the Conservation Ecology Centre with all profits funding tiger quoll and koala conservation. Eastern grey kangaroos, koalas, potoroos, and bandicoots are reliably observed in their natural environment, and the guides know the resident animals individually. Booking essential.

Built in 1848 and still operational, Cape Otway is Australia's oldest surviving lighthouse on the mainland — sitting on a cliff 90 metres above Bass Strait. The precinct includes heritage keeper's cottages, a telegraph station, and ocean lookouts. Note: the lighthouse tower interior is closed for heritage restoration, with the wider precinct open at a discounted entry price. The 12km lighthouse road through manna gum forest has wild koala sightings almost guaranteed.

A steep 10-minute walk from the end of Marriner's Lookout Road delivers 360-degree views of Apollo Bay, the Otway Ranges, and the Southern Ocean — the most complete aerial perspective of the town from the ground. Koalas have been spotted along the track. The property is private so follow all signage, close gates, and keep dogs on a lead.

The working fishing harbour is the most genuinely local place in Apollo Bay — crayfish boats unload at the dock and the breakwater walk gives unobstructed views of the coast in both directions. An hour here in early morning, when the fleet returns, shows a side of the town that the main-road café strip doesn't. Note: the harbour precinct is being redeveloped through 2026, so parts of the foreshore and the Fishermen's Co-op building are fenced off for construction.

Housed in the 1936 cable station building at the northern edge of town, this small community museum holds the mainland terminal of the first undersea telephone link to Tasmania. Local memorabilia, historical photographs, and telecommunications artefacts fill the rooms of the original timber building. Open weekends only and run entirely by volunteers — a quietly unusual slice of coastal history that most Great Ocean Road visitors drive straight past.

About 30km west of Apollo Bay, the Aire River meets the Southern Ocean through a sheltered estuary flanked by Great Otway National Park. Wedge-tailed eagles, herons, cormorants, and lyrebirds are common. The Aire River Escarpment Lookout Walk (3.5km, 1.5 hours) starts from the campground with coastal and forested views above. The campgrounds on both banks are an option for overnight stays.