New cycling packages help travellers explore Australia's Victoria High Country 250km Rail Trail.
Victoria’s High Country has a range of new cycling tour packages to help visitors explore more than 250km of safe, off-road Rail Trail network and quiet country roads, against a backdrop of panoramic landscapes.
The High Country offers the ultimate cycling holiday, with three unique legs of the Rail Trail network boasting views to the mountains as they meander through fertile valleys of natural bushland and farmland, alongside clear rivers and over majestic lakes, and past vineyards, hops,orchards and groves. Rewards await cyclists in unique villages such as Mansfield, Milawa, Beechworth, Rutherglen, Bright, Myrtleford and Tallangatta. Pedal into cellar doors and farm gates, top restaurants and quirky cafés, or pause for a gourmet picnic of regional produce collected along the way.
Three local tour operators service North East Victoria’s Rail Trail network, providing transfers and itineraries to suit each group’s cycling interest. New operators Riding High Cycling Tours, based in Tarrawingee, facilitate tours that take in picturesque mountain and valley vistas along the Murray to Mountains Rail Trail, with stops in culinary villages such as Bright, Beechworth, Milawa and Rutherglen showcasing the region’s bountiful food and wine offering. Riding High also offers a special tour on the High Country Rail Trail hugging the shoreline of the majestic Lake Hume in the region’s north. Day tours are priced from $150pp and multi-day tours from $660pp (self-guided, incl. accommodation, bike hire, transfers and some meals).
Milawa-based High Country Bike Adventures offer 2, 3, 4 and 5-day bike tour and accommodation packages along the panoramic Murray to Mountains Rail Trail via culinary villages as well as the King Valley, including gourmet tours featuring a special experience discovering Prosecco Road and a private cooking class at Pizzini’s A Tavola! Cooking School. Tours are priced from $700pp (selfguided, incl. accommodation, bike hire, transfers and some meals).
Mansfield-based All Terrain Cycles facilitates bike hire and transfers for the new Goulburn River High Country Rail Trail from Mansfield via Bonnie Doon and Yea to Tallarook, through rolling hills, across open fields and alongside abundant wetlands. Great for families is the gentle 22km cycle from Mansfield to Bonnie Doon, with rewarding views of Lake Eildon in all her glory and a gourmet picnic lunch and transfers ($98pp, $85pp for groups of 6 - 10, 10% discount for families). All Terrain Cycles can also provide transfers to/from any destination along the rail trail.
Further north, Rutherglen’s Victoria Hotel caters for cycling groups with their unique accommodation package created especially for women and another for men. By popular demand, The Vic has introduced "Big Reds, Big Rides" for the boys, a two-night package including cycle maps, an exclusive premium tasting of red wines at Cofield Wines and lunch at Pickled Sisters café, local craft beer tasting and pool competition, extravagant steak dinner, and more ($295pp). For the ladies, “Belles, Bikes and Bubbles” is a two-night package including cycle maps, a flight of three sparkling wines at Cofield Wines and lunch at Pickled Sisters Café, a relaxation massage, sunset bubbles on the balcony, two-course bistro dinner and more ($295pp).
