Bendigo
Historic · Lively
One of Australia's grandest gold-rush cities - ornate Victorian architecture, a regional gallery with a reputation well beyond the town, and a food scene that has grown well past its heritage-town reputation. Enough here to comfortably fill a full weekend.
A weekend here might look like
- Morning: Bendigo Art Gallery - One of the oldest and largest regional galleries in Australia, founded in 1887, with a strong Australian collection and a long record of major touring exhibitions.
- Lunch: The Woodhouse Bar & Grill - Bendigo's only dedicated steakhouse, where everything comes off a wood grill fired with local redgum. Dry-aged rib eye, wagyu scotch fillet, eye fillet and porterhouse are the stars, with roasted pumpkin, butter beans and golden chips alongside, plus seafood, pasta and wood-fired vegetarian dishes for the rest of the table. Take a sharp left as you come in for the bar, where there's a fire in winter, 28 wines by the glass and a seasonal cocktail list. A chef-hatted room that's still warm and easy. Worth booking ahead.
- Afternoon: Central Deborah Gold Mine - A real quartz gold mine in the middle of town, still standing with its poppet head and winding gear. The underground tour hands you a hard hat and lamp and takes you 61 metres down to Level 2 for about 75 minutes, and the surface buildings are worth another half hour.
More to explore
- Golden Dragon Museum - The museum of Bendigo's Chinese community, built around the processional dragons that have led the Easter parade for more than a century, among them Loong from 1892 and the 125-metre Dai Gum Loong. The Yi Yuan gardens and Guan Yin temple are alongside.
- Rosalind Park - Sixty acres of lawns and old trees right beside the city centre, with an 1897 conservatory, a rose garden and a shaded fernery of palms, bridges and gravel paths. Climb the poppet head lookout, moved here from the Garden Gully mine in 1931, for a view over the rooftops.
- Bendigo Tramways - Restored vintage trams running a commentated loop past Central Deborah Gold Mine, the Alexandra Fountain, the Joss House Temple and Lake Weeroona. The full circuit is about an hour if you stay aboard, or you can hop off at a stop and pick up a later tram.
- The Social Bar & Eating House Bendigo - Right on Pall Mall in the middle of town, The Social does share plates and steakhouse grills with a bar that's the real drawcard: over 400 spirits, 12 beers on tap and local wine by the glass. Sit alfresco with a cocktail and watch the street, or take a stool and watch the chefs through the kitchen window. There's live music Friday and Saturday nights, trivia midweek, and a bottomless brunch on Saturdays. Good for a long catch-up with friends.
- Percy and Percy - A corner shop on Hargreaves Street that was a grocer and then a milk bar under two men named Percy, and has been a cafe since 2012. Breakfast and seasonal lunches, with coffee roasted by Coffee Basics down the road in Castlemaine.
- Brewhouse Cafe & Coffee Roasters - A roastery and cafe in an old brewhouse building on Hargreaves Street, where the beans are roasted on site. There is a short breakfast and sandwich menu built around the coffee.