Filled with wineries, dotted with hot springs & fringed by beaches and coastal hikes, the Mornington Peninsula is the perfect girls weekend destination, year-round.
This August, a group of girlfriends and I took our friend Erin away to the Mornington Peninsula for the weekend, to celebrate a milestone birthday. We rented a beautiful 4 bedroom house in Rye, and spent 24 hours visiting the new Alba Hot Springs, dining at Port Phillip Estate Restaurant and visiting a couple of new-to-us wineries. It was heaven!
We started our celebrations a night early, with a bubbles and some cheese in Melbourne, at Entrecote in Prahran. We were just having snacks so we hadn’t made a reservation, so we were seated outside, but after walking through the decadently decorated restaurant we all vowed to come back for dinner this year!
Eldridge Estate
Our first stop on Saturday was Eldridge Estate, which has to be one of the most charming cellar door on the Peninsula! Eldridge Estate is in Red Hill, which is the Mornington Peninsula’s primary spot for cellar doors.
It is a gorgeous cellar door, with beautiful vineyard views and marble-topped tables and Parisian bistro chairs, which give it a very European feel.
We sat at a table on their deck for our wine tasting, which was surprisingly cosy. It was lovely to be able to sit outside, and to have each tasting brought to us while we nibbled on a couple of grazing boards. The deck has beautiful views over the vineyards, which would be absolutely stunning in spring, summer or autumn when the vines are in leaf.
The Mornington Peninsula is famous for its chardonnays and pinot noirs, and we tried both here – I loved their chardonnay in particular, and we took some home with us.
Alba Hot Springs
Alba Thermal Springs & Spa is the new hot spring on the block, and opened in October last year. In contrast to the longstanding Mornington Peninsula Hot Springs, which is built in quite a naturalistic style, Alba is a dramatic and ultra modern. It really embodies the contemporary Australian architecture which is often found on luxurious properties in the Mornington Peninsula, such as Port Philip Estate and Point Leo Estate wineries.
Built across 15 acres, there are 31 different bathing pools, including a number of private pools and cold plunge pools, spa suites, a dry sauna and steam room. We had a day pass, so we could have stayed all day & taken a break at the on-site restaurant, Thyme, but we’d arrived in the afternoon so spent our time hopping between different pools. My favourite was The Hide, which had an entrance tucked away behind a concrete wall, via stairs straight into the water, with the rest of the pool hidden around a bend.
Alba advises guests to leave their phones in their locker, which I did, which makes it a much more relaxing experience for everyone. Unfortunately, it means I don’t have any photos of the pools, which were amazing! I’d love to go back and spend a longer day there, breaking up the hot springs with lunch at Thyme and a visit to the spa.
It was such a relaxing afternoon, we were all nearly silent in the car on the way home because we were so relaxed! Since visiting, I’ve also gifted a voucher for Alba to another friend for her 30th.
Port Phillip Estate Restaurant
Port Phillip Estate is one of my favourite Mornington Peninsula cellar doors, and I’ve visited at least three times over the last few years. We dined at their on-site restaurant, which would offer sweeping vineyard & bay views if you dined during the day. At night there’s not a view, but it was still one of the loveliest dining experiences I’ve had in a long time! Head Chef Stuart Deller’s menu is European-inspired, but laced with native Australian ingredients, including several grown on the estate.
Beyond the beautiful food and wine, the hospitality was second to none. The team was so warm and knowledgeable, and made the evening so much fun.
The only thing to note is that transport is very difficult, especially for your return journey home. Located inland in Red Hill, not many uber drivers want to venture 20 minutes there from their homes closer to the water. We got lucky in that the restaurant manager knew a guy who often drove guests back to their accommodation, and he was available, but I’d recommend either assigning an (unlucky) designated driver or seeing if you can pre-book a taxi.
Commonfolk Coffee
After we packed up at the house & checked out, we drove 30 minutes north to Mornington for breakfast. Mornington is one of the largest villages on the Mornington Peninsula, with the highest concentration of restaurants. We ate at Commonfolk Coffee, a cafe in the industrial backstreets of Mornington. It was just what the doctor ordered!
Moorooduc Estate
As our last stop of the trip, we drove 10 minutes inland from Mornington to Moorooduc Estate. Moorooduc is regarded as having one of the best pinot noirs on the Peninsula, and is awarded five stars in James Halliday’s Wine Companion. The small cellar door is very warm and inviting, and offers a more intimate tasting experience standing at the bar. We really enjoyed our tasting, which was very generous. Lots of wine was purchased!
We were back in the city by 1:30pm, which made the trip just over 24 hours. The perfect weekend away, with a bit of time to sort ourselves out before heading back to work on Monday.