Start from 19 curated places around Lorne, AU, then choose the recommendations that fit your guests.
Restaurants & cafés
Ipsos Restaurant and Bar
Lorne's only hatted restaurant runs a modern Greek menu using fresh local produce: grilled squid, octopus, charred lamb shoulder, and mezze designed for sharing. Family-owned, in the town centre, and the most considered cooking on the Great Ocean Road in terms of technique and sourcing. Rated 4.5 on Restaurant Guru from 1,415 reviews.
Almyra Restaurant & Bar
Family-owned and positioned metres from the sand at Lorne Sea Baths with front-row ocean views through panoramic windows, Almyra runs a Mediterranean menu of chargrilled and woodfire cooking — wood-fired saganaki, prawn and chorizo pizza, and local seafood in a room that catches the daylight through to late evening. A Readers' Choice award winner in the Mediterranean category. Open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
Trails & outdoors
The Canyon (Lorne Waterfalls Circuit)
The most dramatic single walk in the Lorne area — an 8km loop through Great Otway National Park that descends into The Canyon, where vertical rock walls close in around the Erskine River gorge. Rated 4.6 stars on AllTrails from 940 reviews; described by visitors as looking like Jurassic Park. Parts of this route have had partial closures following storm damage — check AllTrails before setting out.
Teddy's and Otway Ranges Lookout Loop
A 3.7km moderate loop starting from the end of George Street in Lorne through classic Otway bushland to Teddy's Lookout and the Otway Ranges viewpoint — sweeping views of the St George River mouth, the coast, and the hinterland. AllTrails rates this 4.4 stars from 220 reviews. The most rewarding trail that starts directly from the Lorne town edge.
Things to do
Pier to Pub Open Water Swim
The world's largest open water swim — 5,200+ swimmers race 1.2km from the Lorne Pier to the pub across Louttit Bay each January — a Surf Coast summer fixture that routinely draws Olympic-level swimmers to the front of the field. Spectating from the beach is free; participating requires registration months in advance.
Lorne Sculpture Biennale
Victoria's most prestigious free outdoor sculpture exhibition — a month-long event every two years along Lorne's foreshore. Each edition features site-responsive artworks responding to the landscape of Gadubanud Country, with sound, light, and architectural installations spread across the beach and foreshore.
Landmarks & sights
Erskine Falls
One of Victoria's most photographed waterfalls — a 30-metre drop into a fern-gully pool in Great Otway National Park, 10km from Lorne. Access is currently limited to the upper viewing platform; the lower base lookout and river track remain closed following storm damage. The upper platform gives a clear view of the full waterfall height from above.
Teddy's Lookout
Two kilometres from the Lorne town centre at the end of George Street, Teddy's Lookout is perched above the St George River mouth with sweeping views of the Great Ocean Road, the rugged coastline, and the Southern Ocean. Free to visit, always open. The best elevated coastal panorama from Lorne without a multi-hour hike.