Great Ocean Walk: stages, hike-in camps, tides and transport

The Great Ocean Walk is a one-way, roughly 100 km track along the Victorian coast from Apollo Bay to the Twelve Apostles, through Great Otway and Port Campbell national parks. The classic version takes eight days, walked east to west, with a night at each of seven small hike-in campgrounds (Great Ocean Road Coast and Parks Authority). In short: book every campground night online before you set out, plan around tides and surf on the beach sections, carry a way to treat water, and sort out the return trip from the Twelve Apostles before day one, because the walk does not loop back.

The walk's land manager has changed. From 1 July 2026 the Great Ocean Road Coast and Parks Authority (GORCAPA) took over primary management of parts of Great Otway National Park and all of Port Campbell National Park from Parks Victoria (Parks Victoria). The Great Ocean Walk campgrounds are now listed and booked on GORCAPA's site, and the old Parks Victoria booking page for the walk redirects there. Older guides that send you to Parks Victoria for bookings are out of date.

The eight stages#

The official campground pages give a distance, a walking time and a grade for the leg that ends at each camp. They add up to 97.1 km and about 35 hours of walking to Gibson Steps, just before the Twelve Apostles:

Sources for each row: Elliot Ridge, Blanket Bay, Cape Otway, Aire River, Johanna Beach, Ryans Den and Devils Kitchen, which also describes the final leg.

The total is quoted differently depending on where you look: "more than 100 kilometres" on GORCAPA's main page, "just over 110 kilometres" from the regional tourism board (Visit Great Ocean Road) and 104 km on Wikipedia. Plan on the stage figures, and allow extra for side trips such as the Cape Otway lighthouse, which is about 600 m from its campground.

The times read short, but the shape of the walk matters more than the totals. The first four days are the gentler half: 12 km or less a day, mostly forest and sheltered coast, and the leg to Blanket Bay is graded easy. The hard work comes in the west. Days 6 and 7 are the only legs graded medium to hard, and GORCAPA says they suit prepared walkers with suitable gear and a clear plan. Expect stairs, sustained climbs and descents, and wet, muddy or slippery stretches (GORCAPA).

East to west is the recommended direction: GORCAPA cites better views, more manageable gradients and less congestion on the track and at the campgrounds. You do not have to walk all eight days. Shorter overnight hikes, day walks and single sections are also possible (GORCAPA), and car-based campgrounds near Blanket Bay, Aire River and Johanna Beach make natural break points (Wikipedia).

Booking the hike-in campgrounds#

The seven walkers' campgrounds are Elliot Ridge, Blanket Bay, Cape Otway, Aire River, Johanna Beach, Ryans Den and Devils Kitchen. They are small, and you must book them before you walk. The booking is your permit to camp. Each pitch is an unpowered site for up to three people. In the online booking system, each night and each campground goes into the cart separately before checkout. Camping without a valid booking can lead to an infringement notice or a fine (GORCAPA).

Two details matter when you book:

• Party size. A site holds three people, so a group of four or more needs two or more sites on every night.
• Group areas only in the east. Elliot Ridge, Blanket Bay, Cape Otway and Aire River each have a separate group area of six sites for groups of up to 18. Johanna Beach, Ryans Den and Devils Kitchen have individual sites only, eight at each (campground pages).

The official pages do not publish a nightly fee. You see the price in the booking system at checkout. Figures in older blogs date from when Parks Victoria ran the bookings, so do not rely on them. Read the cancellation terms before you pay. GORCAPA also encourages long-distance walkers, groups and tour operators to register their itinerary at least 14 days before they start, particularly if they are not booking campgrounds, through a form linked from the walk page (GORCAPA).

What the campgrounds have#

Every hike-in campground has a three-sided shelter with a table and seating, and untreated rainwater tanks. Toilets vary:

Sources: the seven campground pages linked in the stage table above. Sites are about 3.5 m by 3.5 m, so a large tent may not fit.

The water is untreated. The campground pages give no advice on treatment, but on a multi-day walk it is sensible to filter, boil or chemically treat tank water and to start each day with enough for the leg. None of the campground pages lists a fireplace, and in Victoria's national parks a campfire may be lit only in a purpose-built fireplace provided by the park, never on a Total Fire Ban day (Parks Victoria). Firewood collection is not allowed in national parks either (Parks Victoria), so plan to cook on a stove. Check the Fire Danger Rating and any Total Fire Ban on VicEmergency before and during the walk (Visit Great Ocean Road). Dogs are generally not allowed in national parks such as Great Otway, but assistance dogs are (Parks Victoria). Carry all your rubbish out (Visit Great Ocean Road).

Tides, surf and river mouths#

The walk crosses beaches and river mouths. GORCAPA says some of these sections may become unsafe at high tide or in rough surf. Inland alternatives exist in many places, but not all, so check tide times and local conditions before setting out each day (GORCAPA). Creeks are crossed on stepping stones and small rock bridges, and in one place on a timber bridge (Wikipedia).

GORCAPA does not publish section-by-section tide guidance. Our suggestions:

• Before the trip, get tide predictions for every day you will be on the coast, and note which days' low tides fall in walking hours.
• GORCAPA describes the Aire River to Johanna Beach leg as open coast and beach country that "can feel more exposed", and asks walkers to check conditions before setting out (Johanna Beach). Look at the swell forecast as well as the tide before that day.
• Where an inland alternative exists, take it in big swell or on a rising tide. A wave across a narrow beach under cliffs is a more serious risk than a longer climb.

The track also runs along high clifftops, and tiger, brown and copperhead snakes occur along the route (Wikipedia).

Getting to Apollo Bay and back from the Twelve Apostles#

Because the walk is one way, arrange your transport at both ends before you start.

By public transport. V/Line runs a train and coach service from Melbourne's Southern Cross station via Geelong to the Apollo Bay Information Centre every day. For example, the 09:10 train connects with a coach that reaches Apollo Bay at 13:12. Day 1 starts at the Apollo Bay Visitor Centre. The coach along the Great Ocean Road past the walk's end runs only on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Heading east, it leaves the Twelve Apostles at 10:40 and reaches Apollo Bay at 12:00. From there the 14:41 coach connects at Geelong with a train that reaches Southern Cross at 18:56. Heading west, it leaves the Twelve Apostles at 15:05 for Port Campbell and Warrnambool, arriving at 16:50 in time for a train to Melbourne (V/Line timetable, effective 23 August 2026). If you finish on a Tuesday, Thursday or at the weekend, either spend a night nearby or book a private transfer. V/Line warns that coaches may not run while a Catastrophic fire danger declaration covers any district on the route. A separate summer holiday timetable from 14 December 2026 to 27 January 2027 adds Melbourne to Apollo Bay services but does not cover the Twelve Apostles (V/Line summer timetable). Recheck the times close to your trip, as timetables change.

By car. If you leave a car at the Twelve Apostles end, book Great Ocean Walk parking at the Keerray Woorroong Visitor Centre. The booking page says it is bookable 30 days in advance and that you collect the parking pass at the information desk when you arrive (booking page). The car park is reached through a boom gate on Booringa Road. It is open 06:00 to 21:00, and you can drive out at any time (Twelve Apostles). The new visitor precinct opened to visitors on 16 October 2026, and the visitor centre building is due to open in late 2026. Visits are booked as timed entries. They are free until April 2027, when a fee is introduced (GORCAPA). GORCAPA's walk page adds that general admission, including the Twelve Apostles viewing areas, must also be booked ahead; it does not say whether walkers arriving on foot are exempt (GORCAPA).

By shuttle. Licensed tour operators offer pick-ups and drop-offs (Visit Great Ocean Road). One is the Apollo Bay-based Great Ocean Road Shuttle, which can meet you at your vehicle and drive you to the start, quotes one-off shuttles by email, and also offers food and water drops, luggage transfers and gear hire (listing). Combined with a parking booking at the finish, that lets you leave the car where the walk ends.

For a bed before or after the walk, GORCAPA suggests the Apollo Bay Recreation Reserve or Marengo, just west of Apollo Bay, at the start, and the Port Campbell Recreation Reserve at the finish (GORCAPA).

Before you go#

On 27 October 2026, none of the walk's campground pages listed a closure, while several other walks in the park were marked temporarily closed (GORCAPA), so check the pages again before you go. Park notices also ask you not to touch sick or dead birds or other wildlife because of H5 bird flu. Report them to the Emergency Animal Disease Hotline on 1800 675 888. For walk conditions, GORCAPA's number is 1300 736 533 (GORCAPA).

If this is your first multi-day walk with camping, the guides to sleeping bag temperature ratings and packing out food scraps cover two things that matter on this coast, where nights are cool and every camp is in a national park.

The stage data, campground facilities, booking and fire rules, coach times and parking arrangements were checked against GORCAPA, Parks Victoria, V/Line and Twelve Apostles visitor centre pages on 27 October 2026. This is a source check, not a walk of the route.