Bendigo lies 153 kilometres northwest of Melbourne, a two-and-a-half-hour drive into the heart of Victoria’s Goldfields region. Originally a gold rush boom town, Bendigo has some of Australia’s most majestic architecture and public sculptures along with impressive fountains and beautiful gardens. Amid the historic landmarks and gold-rush history are modern shops, a thriving arts and entertainment scene, and incredible cuisine.
The UNESCO Creative Cities Network has recognised Bendigo and the region as a City of Gastronomy, joining 245 other creative cities around the world. The city has come a long way, from the birthplace in 1951 of the iconic Chiko Roll, invented by three brothers, to a diverse food culture with a commitment to local, delicious, sustainable, and creative produce.
There are many reasons Bendigo was awarded as one of Australia’s most liveable regional cities. Just two hours from Melbourne, Bendigo enjoys a laid-back lifestyle, excellent food, and a rich arts culture including festivals, events, local art spaces, and galleries.
Visit Bendigo Pottery, Australia’s oldest working pottery, started by a Scottish settler in 1858, and The Golden Dragon Museum which celebrates Bendigo’s Chinese heritage through some fascinating displays. A Bendigo tour on the Vintage Talking Trams gives visitors an interesting audio commentary on the area’s gold mining history while traversing the historic city streets.
Bendigo tours are available through the Central Deborah Gold Mine. Operating during the gold rush boom of the 1900s, the gold mine enables visitors to explore the underground tunnels of a real gold mine and learn how Bendigo became the richest city in the world in the 1880s due to the volume of gold mined there.
Situated at the heart of Victoria’s Goldfields, Bendigo is an ideal base to explore the nearby attractions. Bendigo holidays take visitors on a paddle steamer up the Murray River, to a recreated goldrush town, or the awe-inspiring Grampians Ranges.
Just an hour and a half away is another boom town, Ballarat. Explore Sovereign Hill, which feels like you’re on an 1850s Australian movie set! The site covers 30,000 square metres where you can walk the dusty streets past Victorian homes, old-fashioned shops like the apothecary, sweet shop, or candle works, or pan for gold next to local characters dressed in period costumes.
The port town of Echuca is a place where you can relive the Victorian riverboat days with a nostalgic cruise aboard the PS Emmylou Paddle steamer meandering along the mighty Murray River. A little further afield are the magnificent Grampians Mountain Range and its abundance of wildlife and natural beauty.
Yes! In the 1880s, Bendigo was considered the richest city in the world due to the amount of gold that was mined there.
Bendigo has an average temperature in summer of 28°C and gets down to around 13°C in winter. The northern half of Victoria is usually freer from cloud cover than Melbourne due to moisture being caught on the Great Dividing Range. The highest rainfall in Bendigo is in winter, though not as rainy as in Melbourne.
Bendigo has a population of just over 103,000, making it the 19th-largest city by population in Australia. Bendigo is the fourth-most populated city in Victoria and the fourth-largest inland city in Australia.
Bendigo is an easy city to get around. The greater area is linked by on-road and off-road walking and cycling routes, connecting the suburbs, and outlying townships and open spaces.
Bendigo has the interesting honour of being the only Australian town named after a boxer. Originally settled as a sheep run in 1840, the city's official name was Sandhurst. In the 1850s there was a world-famous English boxer named Abednego William Thompson whose nickname was Bendigo. Bendigo became a city in 1871 and in 1891 the name was changed to Bendigo to honour the local prize-fighter.
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We are a Green Travel Leader. This is awarded to businesses which have consistently proven their commitment to sustainable tourism management over ten years.
As a Sustianable Tourism accredited business, we are proud to offer engaging tourism experiences that follow sound sustainability practices and environmental appreciation.
Quality Tourism accredited businesses like Fun Over 50 lead the way by offering the highest industry standards of customer service, satisfaction, reliability, and ethical practices.
We are committed to operating in ways that respect and reinforce Indigenous cultural heritage and the authenticity and integrity of living cultures of Indigenous communities.
We have incorporated strategic climate change responses across all relevant levels of our planning and operations. We are working towards becoming carbon neutral.
With Advanced Ecotourism certification, we offer outstanding experiences which let you get back to nature, help conservation, and minimise environmental impact.
We are a credible, well trained, and professional business. We conduct business in compliance with Australian Consumer Law and in accordance with ATAS Charter and Code of Conduct.
The Council of Australian Tour Operators represents tour operators and wholesalers. As a full CATO member, we provide authentic and original holidays with sustainable travel.
We acknowledge the traditional owners of country throughout Australia and their continuing connection to land, sea and community. We pay our respects to them, their cultures, and to the elders both past and present.
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