USD
Striking Gold: A Weekend Itinerary in Ballarat
Written by Stephanie Mikkelsen
Historic stays, hatted restaurants and truffle hunting: the perfect guide on where to stay, where to eat and where to go on a weekend escape to Ballarat.
Ballarat, once known as Victoria’s ‘Richest City’ is more than Sovereign Hill. Mine beneath its Gold Rush history to strike a destination rich in culture, cuisine and community. This a city where you can amble through heritage galleries, hunt for truffles on the city outskirts or sip locally crafted gin while soaking up live music. Ballarat isn’t just another historic town; whether you come for the art, the food or the unexpected, this is a destination worth its weight in gold.
How to Get to Ballarat from Melbourne
Follow the Western Freeway out of Melbourne and it’s an easy 90 minutes or so until you reach the outskirts of Ballarat, passing Bacchus Marsh and Ballan along the way. V Line trains run to Ballarat too, departing Southern Cross Station regularly and including late night return trips back to Melbourne. It’s less than a 5-minute walk from Ballarat Railway Station to the restaurants, bars, pubs and boutiques lining Sturt Street, one of the city’s main thoroughfares.
Where To Stay in Ballarat
Living in the bones of a 19th-century mansion, Hotel Vera is a boutique break that also happens to be one of Ballarat’s most stylish stays. The immaculate brainchild of David Cook-Doulton and Martin Shew – the duo behind Hotel Ernest in Bendigo – is an ode to David’s grandmother. Each of the hotel’s seven suites is named after a Goldfields township and uniquely themed, inspired by local landscapes, and featuring original Australian art, soaring ceilings and textural furnishings. My suite, Ercildoune, is all blush and greys, giving an updated Marilyn Monroe-esque mood: ecru boucle bed frame, gold accents and come-hither freestanding Rogerseller claybrook bathtub. The design is sharp, the eye for detail immaculate, from 16 available lighting concepts and dark face washers for makeup removal to pour-over coffee bags and wireless charging station. Everything is considered, thoughtful and intentional. Travelling with a pooch? Hotel Vera is pet-friendly – ask for the Lonarch room.
Where To Eat & Drink in Ballarat
Babae is the name in approachable fine-dining in Ballarat, newly-minted with its first Good Food Guide Chef Hat in November. The seasonal onsite restaurant at Hotel Vera only has 26 seats and is more akin to dining at a friend’s house than at one of Victoria’s newest culinary stars. From the kitchen, Culinary Director Tim Foster pushes a hyper-local menu that strikes a balance between finessed and familiar: mushroom parfait and onion marmalade, buttermilk-poached pork loin with cherries, walnut and black garlic, orange and almond cake with yoghurt. Whole mini loaves of stone-milled flour sourdough are even better when slathered with cultured Inglenook butter and dehydrated Vegemite. Open for four-course lunch (Friday to Sunday) or nine-course dinner (Thursday to Saturday).
Around the corner from Babae is Johnny Alloo, an excellent option for all-day breakfast and lunch, St Ali coffee or even aperitivi. Other options for breakfast are Eclectic Tastes Cafe and Pantry, situated near Lake Wendouree; Websters Market & Cafe, in a renovated heritage cornerstore; Cobb’s Coffee for a rotating selection of sandwiches; and The Stables Cafe and Bar, part of Hotel Canberra.
Try Mr Jones for modern Asian from Damien Jones, the brains behind the now-closed Catfish. Menus change weekly with banquet offerings Thursday to Saturday nights. The seasonal menus at Underbar promise another taste of the Central Goldfields. With a two-year stint at New York City institution Per Se under his belt, chef Derek Boath cooks for just 14 guests at a time on Friday and Saturdays. Head a little out of Ballarat to Black Cat Truffles by Liam Downes for a long lunch, Mimosa brunch or springtime picnic. Join Dot and Hugo, the farm’s resident truffle dogs, on a hunt (bookings required) to find a precious Perigord or summer truffle. Also a short drive out of Ballarat in Bunninyong is The Shared Table, an all-are-welcome diner dishing up country pub classics plus innovative large and small plates.
A new wave of distilleries, breweries and watering-holes means Ballarat has libations for all tastes. Itinerant Spirits, located in The Goods Shed Ballarat, is one such standout, having recently celebrated its one-year birthday, and specialises in small-batch gins and vodkas with an emphasis on regional ingredients – foraged botanicals from the Grampians, Mallee-harvested grains, local volcanic spring water. Visit to work through the seasonal cocktail menu (each the work of one of the bar staff) or serious sippers can sign up for a Spirits Explorer Session.
What To See & Do in Ballarat
Discover the city’s street art on a self-guided tour through its tucked-away laneways, like Hop Lane and Police Lane, taking in large-scale murals and installations by local and international artists. Occupying a stately heritage pile just off Sturt Street, The Art Gallery of Ballarat is Victoria’s oldest and largest regional gallery, is an excellent way to spend a few hours. Entry to the permanent collection is free and visiting exhibitions are ticketed, plus guided tours also run every day at 11am (first in, best dressed). Two of the city’s other museums – The Gold Museum and Ballarat Tramway Museum – are worth a stop too, or take your gallery-gazing outdoors at Ballarat Observatory, which regularly runs special events that coincide with celestial phenomena.
Take a lap about Lake Wendouree (do not feed the famous feathery residents) and wander the botanic garden on the lake’s western shores. Ballarat Farmers Market also takes place near the lake – Windmill Drive in the winter months, North Garden Reserve all other times – on the second and fourth Saturdays of the month. Use the sprawl of stalls and vendors to stock up on local preserves, fresh fruit and vegetables, and goodies to take back to Melbourne. If pages, not produce, are your ideal souvenir then set aside some time to peruse the shelves at Collins Booksellers Ballarat on Lydiard, a destination bookstore in a beautiful heritage build. Everybody Knows Books is a good secondhand bookstore.
Explore Victoria
Babae image credit: Emma Duzhnikov. Hotel Vera image credit: Leon Schoots. Supplied.
