Hot spring spas in Australia? A 900km bathing trail in Victoria will soon connect them

A 1992 visit to Japan was the inspiration for the Great Victorian Bathing Trail – a 900km route connecting hot springs and sea baths

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Peninsula Hot Springs is one of the first stops on a 900km tourist route of hot springs, mineral springs and sea baths being devised in Australia’s Victoria state. Photo: Peninsula Hot Springs

Published: 11:15am, 1 Jul 2024Updated: 11:53am, 11 Jul 2024

When picturing hot springs, you will probably think of Japan – after all, around 55 per cent of the world’s thermal and mineral springs are found in the Asian nation.

However, according to the latest data from the US-based non-profit organisation Global Wellness Institute, while bathing tourism in Japan has been slow to pick up post-pandemic, some establishments in Australia have reported growth of 20 per cent or more since 2020.

Indigenous Australians have used thermal water for rituals, socialising and healing for centuries. But Melbourne has emerged as the leader of the current boom, thanks in no small part to the Great Victorian Bathing Trail, a new 900km (560-mile) tourist route connecting hot springs, mineral springs and sea baths created by an alliance of wellness-bathing operators.

Extending from the city’s central business district north to Hepburn, west to Portland and east to Gippsland and Mount Hotham, it will take in some of the most scenic corners of the state of Victoria once it is completed in 2030.

Peninsula Hot Springs has more than 70 globally inspired bathing and wellness experiences. Photo: Peninsula Hot Springs

Already open to visitors is the stretch that dips down into the Mornington Peninsula, a coastal enclave an hour and a half’s drive south of Melbourne.