Victorian Wineries With Caravan Camping, One of Them Free

Victoria has more wine regions than any other state, so we expected this list to be the longest of the series. It is not. What Victoria has instead is variety. Six venues made the cut, and no two of them work the same way. One is a winery and a brewery on the same block. One is a farm brewery on Phillip Island. One is a household name where the stay is free. Here they are, running from the Bellarine round to the Gippsland Lakes.

The Short Version

• Six Victorian venues where you can genuinely sleep on site
• One costs nothing, and another asks for a fifty dollar voucher per night that you spend on food and wine instead
• Facilities are better here than in the west, with three offering toilets, though one of those is limited to a single site
• Check who actually makes the wine, because several vineyards offer camping without holding a label

A note on that last point, because it shaped this list more than anything else. Victoria has a lot of beautiful vineyard campsites that are not wineries. They grow fruit under contract, or they simply own a paddock next to someone else's vines, and the camping is the business. Three well-reviewed properties came off our list for exactly that reason. They are lovely places to stay. They are just not cellar doors, and if you turn up expecting a tasting you will be disappointed.

1) The Shiraz Republic (Cornella), a winery and a brewery in one stop

Twenty five acres of vines fifteen minutes north of Heathcote, with a cellar door pouring estate Shiraz off the Cambrian soil the region is famous for, and Cornella Brewery making the beer on site alongside it. There is live music on weekends, pizza out of the kitchen, and a Rent-A-Row program if you want to follow a row of vines through to your own bottling. Four sites among the vines and the old gums, and the cheapest paid stay on this list. Officially unpowered, but power can be arranged if you ask. Water taps are close by. The listing says there is no toilet, and although guests often report the brewery one being left open, do not count on it. No campfires. Dogs and kids are fine, though there are sheep in the vineyard over winter. If you only do one stop in this list, make it this one.

2) Hounds of the Vine (Bellarine), the one for vans that are not self-contained

Eighty acres on Church Road on the Bellarine Peninsula, about ninety minutes from Melbourne, turning estate-grown fruit into small-batch wine under its own label. The cellar door runs Saturday and Sunday from 11 until 5, and bookings are advised. Six sites. They are unpowered, but this is the one place on the Victorian list with flush toilets, potable water and a hand basin, a short walk away at the cellar door, which if you are not fully self-contained changes everything. Campfires allowed, dogs welcome, and a 4WD is recommended for The Wood. Confirm your rig length with the winery when you book. The camping here is new, so there are only a handful of reviews so far.

3) Brown Brothers Winery (Milawa), free camping at a name you know

The outlier on this list, and the one most people will have heard of. Brown Brothers has been at Milawa since 1889, and the RV area sits across the road from the cellar door next to the local airstrip. It is free, first come, with no bookings taken. Self-contained vehicles only and no tents. Dogs on leads are permitted in the camping area, though not at the cellar door.

4) Sandhurst Ridge Winery (Myers Flat), three sites and a fire pit

Fifteen minutes from Bendigo on Forest Drive, a family winery where the vines have been worked for more than three decades and a new family took over in early 2025, still handcrafting Shiraz, Cabernet and Nebbiolo. The cellar door opens Friday to Sunday, midday until four, or by appointment. Three sites spread across the property: one at the top dam, one between the front dam and the original vineyard, one where the bushland meets the vines. All unpowered with no drinking water, so come self-contained. There is a toilet at the top dam site only, which is worth knowing when you pick. Campfires are allowed at all three, and dogs and kids are welcome. Confirm your rig length with the winery when you book.

5) Green Gully Brewing (Cowes), a brewery in a farm shed

In the middle of Phillip Island, where a brewing setup has grown over two decades from three converted hot water tanks into a proper rig in the farm shed, with a still alongside it now. Everything they pour is grown, brewed, distilled and crafted on the farm, spirits included. The Tap Shed is exactly what it sounds like: a bar built at the end of the shed with the roller door up. Three unpowered sites in the paddocks, the priciest here, with a flush toilet at the brewery. The tank water needs treating so bring your own drinking water, and showers mean a trip to the surf beach. Campfires at one site only. Read the rig limits carefully, because two of the three sites will not take a dual-axle caravan. Two things to check before you go: the Tap Shed closes for stretches while they brew and work on the farm, with the next open dates posted on their socials, and the Hipcamp listing is under the owner's name rather than the brewery's, so searching for Green Gully will not find it.

6) Wyanga Park Winery (Lakes Entrance), where the site fee comes back as dinner

A family-run winery going since 1970 on Baades Road outside Lakes Entrance. Cellar door daily from 10am, a cafe doing lunch every day and a Mexican dinner service on Friday and Saturday, when the doors stay open late. The camping model is unusual and rather good: there is no site fee, but you buy a fifty dollar voucher for each night you stay, fully redeemable against food, drinks and anything you take home from the cellar door. If you were going to have dinner and buy a couple of bottles anyway, the night is effectively free. Fully self-contained vans only, including your own toilet, and no tents or swags. Arrive before 4pm. Camping is for cellar door and restaurant customers. Dogs welcome. The vineyard and winemaking areas are off limits, and bookings are essential.

If None of These Suit

Three things worth knowing that did not make the list.

Two Victorian wineries used to advertise camping and no longer offer it. Montara Wines at Ararat in the Grampians still lists sixteen sites on its own website, but the Hipcamp listing has gone and the website is simply out of date. Alt Road Wines at Winchelsea South, inland from Lorne, is no longer listed either. Neither is taking campers, so do not build a route around them.

Then there are the vineyard campsites that are not wineries. Mt Hope Vineyard Estate at Dixons Creek, Summerhill Vineyard at Yarra Junction and a well-reviewed spot near Lilydale that trades on the Yarra Valley name are all working vineyards or vineyard-adjacent properties with good camping and no cellar door of their own. The Lilydale one is honest about it, describing itself as surrounded by a neighbouring winery's vines. If a quiet paddock among vines is what you actually want, they deliver that. Just do not plan your tasting around them.

Finally, Otway Estate at Barongarook West is a real brewery, cidery and distillery with a tasting outlet, and it comes up constantly in searches for this sort of thing. It has no camping at all. It is a good day stop on a Great Ocean Road run, nothing more.

The Cheat Code: How to Plan a Victorian Caravan Wine Trip

Victoria spreads out more than the other states we have covered. There is no cluster here like the Hunter or the Central West. Heathcote to Bendigo is the only pairing that works as a short hop, at about an hour. Everything else is a proper drive, so think of these as anchors on a longer loop rather than a circuit you can knock over in a weekend.

A straightforward approach that works:

• Come self-contained, because four of the six need your own toilet, and Brown Brothers and Wyanga Park will turn away anything that is not.
• Check the rig limits before you book, because Green Gully will not take a dual-axle van on two of its three sites
• Book early where you can, because Sandhurst Ridge and Green Gully have only three sites each

Consider these advantages:

• One of the six costs nothing, and another gives the fee straight back to you in food and wine
• Three have toilets, a better rate than Western Australia managed across nine venues, though one of those serves a single site only
• Campfires are allowed at Hounds of the Vine, at all three Sandhurst Ridge sites and at one site at Green Gully, so the cooler months are the better run

Download Jedhi free and turn a wishlist of Victorian wineries, breweries and distilleries into a route you can actually drive, van and all.

More in this series: Western Australia, New South Wales, South Australia and Queensland, Tasmania and the NT.