Yarra Valley Wineries and Puffing Billy Steam Train Day Tour from Melbourne

Melbourne, Australia

Travel through the scenic Yarra Valley and ride the Puffing Billy steam train on a big day trip from Melbourne. The Yarra Valley wine tour takes you through Melbourne to the scenic Dandenong Ranges, with spectacular views of Melbourne's skyline en route. After your ride on Puffing Billy, Australia's oldest steam train, you'll travel in comfort through the beautiful Yarra Valley to visit the region's premium wineries.

Your atmospheric ride on the restored Puffing Billy steam train takes you through the lush mountain ash rainforests and fern gullies of Sherbrooke Forest in the Dandenong Ranges. You'll pass picturesque mountain villages along the way and stop to feed the colorful native parrots, rosellas and cockatoos.

The Yarra Valley wine tour continues through the fertile Yarra Valley to enjoy a spit-roast lunch at Fergusson Winery. You'll sample a selection of local wines at Dominique Portet then travel to acclaimed Domaine Chandon, known for its award-winning sparkling wines. After your informative wine-making tour of Domaine Chandon, sample wines matched to local cheeses on the patio with beautiful Yarra Valley views.

Please click on "View Additional Info" for the hotel pickup list

USD $143.39

Traveler Reviews

Review by: JUDITH M	March 2012
Really enjoyed a lovely day. Billy tea was spot on, good commentary, picked up and returned.

Review by: Kurt R	December 2011
This was a good trip. However, the bus driver spent a significant amount of time talking about his personal and political beliefs. This wasn't the most comfortable situation since he continued to talk about the Chinese buying parts of Australia and there was a Chinese lady on the bus. He was knowledgable about the history and the region but should be counseled about expressing his beliefs.

Review by: LEONARDO T	December 2011
A great day the Puffing Billy was fun and the tour at Domaine Chandon was very interesting

Review by: DN	November 2011
trip

Review by: Sennan L	November 2011
This was my second time on this particular tour. Went to the Healesville Sanctuary instead of Domain Chandon. The Sanctuary is excellent! Especially the birds of prey show. Highly recommended if you aren't in the mood for a glass of bubbly.

Review by: Xiao dan H	October 2011
It was a stressful trip for our family. We will never choose this company again. Awful management, terrible coach, unprofessional guide/driver (non-stop talking with stupid jokes), feeling pushed most of the time, not enough time for lunch (no time to enjoy the view), the Billy train ride was far too short but the wait was tedious. To sum up, bad management, inconsiderable, stressful! We feel we had wasted our money.

Review by: Suzann E	August 2011
Special diet requested - available at lunch but only because what was offered to everyone was suitable. Not provided at cheese tatsing. Hotel pick up selected from drop down box on website - not available and very poor communication skills when arranging alternative

Review by: Peter J W	July 2011
The tour was enjoyable, but we were disappointed with lunch.

Review by: Ian W	June 2011
Had a lovely time the tour was great

Review by: ALLAN K	May 2011
VERY GOOD TOUR, GOOD WINERYS , VERY GOOD LUNCH

Review by: SIAK BOO GEORGE T	May 2011
My hubby and I truly enjoyed the day trip.It's was excellent.It's wonderful.We definitely would recommend to our friends when they visit Melbourne.Thanks!

Review by: Ray L	March 2011
What a great day to see Melbourne countryside. The Puffing Billy ride was enjoyable and fun. The drive through the Dandenongs was just beautiful. Our coach driver was courteous and very informative about the sights we were seeing, and he joked with us along the way. The Yarra Valley was great to see and the highlight was Chandon Winery - what a beautiful spot. And the tour at Chandon was so interesting. The only disappointment was lunch at Ferguson Valley winery - plain roast beef with boiled carrots and lettuce leaves - so unappetizing. Since when do wineries serve this sort of a meal!! If I had of known, I would have brought along my own lunch.

Review by: Daphne M	March 2011
My daughter and I did this tour and it was fabulous, The bus driver/tour guide/entertainer was great, he was a wealth of information which made the trip a total success.

Review by: Greenffrog	January 2011
This was a very entertaining tour, Puffing Billy is a must! and the wineries not to be missed. I highly recommend this tour!

Review by: Greenffrog	January 2011
This was a very entertaining tour, Puffing Billy is a must! and the wineries not to be missed. I highly recommend this tour!

Review by: Ken R	January 2011
Puffing Billy train ride was enjoyed by all and the wineries were interesting. It was a very busy day with lots of people at all places and very time limited. Still had a great day though.

Review by: Leif M	December 2010
Pick up worked and we found the right coach. The driver spoke a lot, but mainly about schools. It would have been good to hear more about Australia and Melbourne in particular. The train and the wineries were both interesting.

Review by: Kevin H	December 2010
Great Day Out and Enjoyed every Minute

Review by: Sharyn V	November 2010
Had a wonderful day out. Enjoyed the scenery of the dandenong ranges and the puffing billy train. Good service was given by the touring company. The lunch at the winery was delicious. We did not have the ordered lunch but did have a separate order whch was great. Recomend the meat pie. The morning tea was great dispite the birds trying to take the food from your hands if you were not watching. To sum up the day it was very relaxing just what you need if on holidays.

Review by: Sue V	October 2010
Bus Driver Garren was very informative and put humour in his commentary Well Done

Review by: Helen H	August 2010
What a great day into beautiful country. Puffing Billy was too short for us but lots of fun. Lunch at Fergusons delicious and plentiful and the winery visits very interesting. Our driverguide was entertaining and informative. Well worth doing.

Review by: Elizabeth G	August 2010
Had an excellent day. Plenty of time to enjoy each stop. Friendly, informative and entertaining driver.

Review by: Enrico N	August 2010
Very good. good Information allong the Way from the Driver... well done!

Review by: Jo K	April 2010
Lovely day out really nice driver guide. Beautiful countryside and lovely wines. Lunch was good and we really apreciated the stop in the morning for tea with added cockatoos!

Review by: Carmel B, Australia	March 2010
I can highly recommend this tour. My friend from Auckland and I had a wonderful day and were very well looked after. Our tour guide and driver was extremely capable and very friendly. His commentary was interesting and he obviously took pride in doing his job well. Our lunch was delicious and the train ride fascinating. Even the billy tea was great! I will definitely take all my visitors to Melbourne on this tour.

Review by: Mario C, Australia	January 2010
A fantastic trip, well worth it. The driver of the bus was exceptional and the places we went and saw were well worth seeing. I would recommend the trip to anyone.

Review by: Natasha B, New Zealand	November 2009
We absolutely enjoyed our day, the coach driver was fab and made the day lots of fun. Would highly recommend the Puffing Billy experience.

Review by: Elaine S, Australia	November 2009
We enjoyed our day on tour very much. It was well organised and tour guide/bus driver did an excellent job of looking after us and our comfort. His commentary during the day was interesting and we learnt a lot along the way.

Review by: Claire M	November 2009
Firstly, i enjoyed the tour. The coach driver was excellent. However, i was told that i needed to be ready to be picked up at 7.05am from my hotel. What i wasn't told was that the actual tour bus was leaving only a few hundred meters away in Federation Square after 8.00am. I could have walked straight there instead of sitting on a bus for over 45 mins picking up other people from hotels. Maybe i missed some instructions that told me this - i don't know. But when i phoned the day before to confirm the pick up time it would have been good to have been told this. I did not know where the tour left from and had assumed that it must be further away.

Review by: Robin H	November 2009
We had a great day out, lovely weather, the Buffing Billy could have been longer than one stop! Billy tea and Lamingtons a nice idea.

Review by: Anonymous	November 2009
Lunch was great. Wine tasting was boring.

Review by: Rachel M, Australia	October 2009
Although we were the youngest couple there, 23 and 26, everyone else was at least 50, and we still had a great day! The tour guide was fantastic with lots of little interesting facts and very polite. The wineries were beautiful and the tastings a new experience. At the beginning of the day I thought we had chosen the wrong tour, we were so young compared to everyone else and thought it might be boring and unadventurous for us. Boy, were we wrong! I will recommend it to all my friends. Thank you for a fun, new, and yummy experience!

Review by: Kenny Benedict J, Indonesia	October 2009
The tour was awesome and the guide very helpful!

Review by: Colin L, United Kingdom	October 2009
A great day out, but if you stay near the Square walk there and then you will not be bussed around Melbourne only to wait for 3-4 hours until the coach departs. Hotel pickup was a joke, we had to hunt for the coach as they parked around the corner and did not come to the concierge desk for us.

Review by: Kenny benedict J	October 2009
The tour was awesome and the guide very helpful!

Review by: Bruce P, Australia	August 2009
A great day out! Highly recommend!

Review by: Anonymous, Australia	August 2009
The day was fantastic, from the moment we were picked up we had a running commentary on Melbourne and the Yarra Valley. It was very informative and I must admit for me, very welcoming The lunch option was well worth the extra money and thoroughly enjoyable. Puffing Billy ride brought back memories and was great, but I really enjoyed the trips to the wineries!

Review by: Glenis W, Australia	August 2009
We had a fantastic time. Maybe could have been longer on Puffing Billy. Our coach driver did a wonderful job. Would recommend anyone going to Melbourne to do this tour.

Review by: Rhian V, Australia	July 2009
Great trip to the beautiful Yarra Valley, we liked breaking the day with the Puffing Billy train ride, fabulous day. Many thanks.

Review by: Anonymous	May 2009
Were picked up at our hotel by a shuttle at around 720am, only to be told that we would need to hang around at Federation Square till 820am. Although it was OK for us as we could grab some coffee, might be good if the agency told us earlier of such an arrangement. It could give travellers the choice whether they want to take the early shutter or make their own way to Federation Square. Would have preferred a longer stay at Domaine Chandon.

Review by: Anne C, Australia	April 2009
The highlight of the tour was definitely the Puffing Billy ride - we had a "wow" of a time. Lunch at Fergussons Winery was pretty good too - yummy roast, and a bottle of excellent wine - what more could you ask!

Review by: Anonymous	April 2009
Had a wonderful day! Interesting, informative and fun!

Review by: Isabel P	February 2009
Great trip doing several different things. Feeding the native birds was a lovely thing to do. The train ride allows for spectacular views. The winery trail was magic for someone who likes wine. My sister didn't do that bit but went to the animal park, which she found disappointing because of the long wait to see one of the shows.

Review by: Douglas K, Australia	November 2008
Great.

Review by: Mary W, United Kingdom	October 2008
Excellent day out even though it rained for part of the time. The company was great and the guide superb!

Review by: Owen S, Australia	July 2008
A TRIP NOT TO BE MISSED! Young or old there was so much to see and do. The feeding of the birds and our stop for billy tea was beautiful and tasty. The lunch at Fergusons Winery was delicious, sampling all the wines was made much easier knowing we had big comfortable coach ride home! Lets hope Puffing Billy is around for many years to come.

Review by: James W, New Zealand	May 2008
This tour was very well planned. We had an excellent tour guide who seemed genuinely thrilled to show us the sites and tell us a few yarns. We learned a lot and had a really fantastic day topped off with a beautiful lunch and great wine.

Review by: Dawne C, New Zealand	September 2007
We were really delighted with the whole experience. We had a great coach driver, and the train ride were great. The lunch was amazing, and we ended up buying some wine to bring home. The wine tasting was interesting and the champagne at Chardon was amazing. If we did it again, we would like to visit the animal park. We absolutely loved it and highly recommend it to everyone.

Review by: Bev R, Australia	September 2007
This tour was excellent. I really enjoyed it.

Review by: Gary M, United Kingdom	August 2007
The whole trip was amazing. The tour guide was excellent, and the train was wonderful. Lunch was excellent, and the wineries were interesting and welcoming. Even the pouring rain didn't take the shine off this trip.