The Great Ocean Road begins at Torquay and runs west for 240 kilometres past Anglesea, Aireys Inlet, Lorne, Wye River and Kennett River before reaching Apollo Bay — Australia's most-driven coastal road and one of the busiest tourist routes in the country. For pub visitors it offers something the Bellarine Peninsula does not: distance. The Surf Coast pubs are spread along the road in a long ribbon, four towns over 90 kilometres, each one a natural rest stop and each one a destination in its own right.
Torquay is the start of the road and Australia's surf capital — two solid pub options here, including Blackman's Brewery, the original local craft brewer. Anglesea sits 20km further down the coast on the river mouth: one community pub at the centre of town. Aireys Inlet, 10km on from Anglesea, has the heritage Aireys Pub right on the Great Ocean Road — established 1904, brewing its own Salt Brewing Co. beers on-site. Lorne is the historic resort town an hour from Geelong, with one waterfront hotel that has been the social heart of the town for over a century. And Apollo Bay marks the end of the most-driven section of the road — a fishing town with a hotel right on the Great Ocean Road, the natural overnight stop.
Seven venues are covered below — all verified for 2026. The drive from Geelong to Apollo Bay is roughly 1 hour 45 minutes one-way (no traffic), which makes the full Surf Coast pub trail a weekend rather than a day trip. We've included three planning itineraries below — a one-day Geelong-to-Lorne loop, a two-day Apollo Bay overnighter (with both the Apollo Bay Hotel and the Great Ocean Road Brewhouse — the local Top Pub / Bottom Pub pair), and a Melbourne-via-V/Line option that uses the Geelong–Apollo Bay coach service.
At a Glance — Surf Coast Pubs
| Venue | Town | Drive from Geelong | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|
| Blackman's Brewery | Torquay | 25 min | Craft beer from the tank, wood-fired pizza |
| Torquay Hotel | Torquay | 25 min | Bistro, sports bar, accommodation, 7 days late |
| Klein's Anglesea Hotel | Anglesea | 35 min | River-mouth bistro, beer garden, weekend live music |
| Aireys Pub | Aireys Inlet | 45 min | Heritage 1904, Salt Brewing house beers, marquee garden |
| Lorne Hotel | Lorne | 1 hr | Ocean-view bistro, accommodation, summer crowd |
| Apollo Bay Hotel | Apollo Bay (Bottom Pub) | 1 hr 45 | Bay views, fresh seafood, accommodation, end of the road |
| Great Ocean Road Brewhouse | Apollo Bay (Top Pub) | 1 hr 45 | Prickly Moses on-site brewery, 100+ beers, dog-friendly gardens, accommodation |
Torquay: The Start of the Road
Torquay marks the official start of the Great Ocean Road — the formal Memorial Arch sits just past town at Eastern View — and it's also the home of the Australian surfing industry, with Bells Beach a short drive south. Two pubs in town, both on Bell Street, both within 200 metres of each other. Blackman's Brewery is the destination craft brewery and the more-celebrated of the two; the Torquay Hotel is the seven-days-a-week local with full bistro, accommodation and a sports bar.
Blackman's Brewery
Blackman's has been brewing on Bell Street for nearly a decade — Torquay's original craft brewery, pouring their full range straight from the serving tanks for maximum freshness. The venue pairs on-site brews with wood-fired pizzas, craft spirits and local wines in a relaxed beach-town setting just 500 metres from the surf at Front Beach. Open seven days from 12pm. Rated 4.3 stars from 480 reviews.
In summer the outdoor area transforms into "Spritzville & the Euro Beer Garden" — a Mediterranean-styled outdoor drinking concept with spritzes, local wines and Blackman's on tap. The brewery is dog-friendly in the outdoor area and a regular stop for Surf Coast cyclists riding the Great Ocean Road. More Torquay pubs →
Craft-beer-led visitors: Blackman's is also Stop 3 on our Geelong Brewery Tour — the Surf Coast finish that pairs with Stop 1 (Little Creatures Brewery, South Geelong) and Stop 2 (Malt Shovel Taphouse, Geelong CBD). If a brewery-tour day is the goal rather than a Great Ocean Road drive, the trail starts in the city and finishes here on Bell Street.
Torquay Hotel
The Torquay Hotel is the surf capital's all-rounder — a full bistro serving lunch and dinner seven days, a lively sports bar with multiple large screens and TAB, and on-site accommodation for visitors making Torquay their Great Ocean Road base. Pokies, live music on weekends and an outdoor area give the place enough range to suit any visit. Open 10am until late, every day. Rated 4.1 stars from 1,669 reviews — a high-volume, well-rated suburb pub.
The accommodation is the practical advantage over Blackman's — if you want to drink in Torquay rather than drive back to Geelong, this is the in-town option. The bistro is stronger than the brewery for a meal with kids: it's a full pub menu rather than pizza-and-beer-snacks, and the dining room is genuinely separated from the bar. More Torquay pubs →
Anglesea: The Surf Coast River Town
Anglesea sits 20km west of Torquay where the Anglesea River meets the ocean — a smaller coastal town with one community pub and a serious surf reputation. Klein's Anglesea Hotel is the social hub of the town, perched on Murch Crescent just back from the river mouth, and it fills fast on summer evenings.
Klein's Anglesea Hotel
Klein's is the social heart of the Anglesea surf community — a relaxed family-friendly bistro with live music on weekends and a beer garden that fills up fast on summer evenings. The hotel sits just back from the river mouth on Murch Crescent, walking distance from the foreshore caravan park and a short drive from the famous Anglesea kangaroo population on the local golf course. Open seven days from 11am. Rated 3.8 stars from 624 reviews.
Anglesea is a natural lunch stop on a Great Ocean Road drive — 35 minutes from Geelong, 25 minutes shy of Lorne, and the only pub of meaningful size in town. Open until late on Friday and Saturday (1am), making it the latest-running option between Torquay and Lorne. Live bands typically play summer Fridays and Saturdays. The next stop west is the heritage Aireys Pub at Aireys Inlet — 10km on, with house-brewed Salt Brewing Co. beers and a marquee garden. View listing →
Aireys Inlet: Heritage on the Great Ocean Road
Aireys Inlet sits 10km west of Anglesea — the lighthouse village made famous by the Split Point Lighthouse on the headland and one of the prettiest small stops between Torquay and Lorne. The Aireys Pub is the village heart: a heritage 1904 hotel right on the Great Ocean Road, refreshed inside but with the same surf-coast feel that's drawn travellers for over a century. It's the only pub on the trail that brews its own beers on-site, under the Salt Brewing Co. label.
Aireys Pub
Established 1904, the Aireys Pub is the heritage anchor of the Great Ocean Road — older than Lorne's licensed venues and built around a marquee-covered beer garden that becomes the destination on warm afternoons. The kitchen runs a full bistro built around local Victorian produce, and the beers are brewed on-site under the Salt Brewing Co. label — a rare combination on this stretch of coast where most pubs pour from contract brewers. Open 11:30am until late, every day.
Aireys Inlet is the natural mid-trip stop on a Geelong-to-Lorne drive: 45 minutes from Geelong, 15 minutes shy of Lorne, and a far quieter pace than either Anglesea or Lorne in summer. House-brewed beers and live music through the season make it more than a rest stop — it's a destination in its own right. Pair with a walk to the Split Point Lighthouse on the headland (a 10-minute drive west) before settling in for lunch. View listing →
Lorne: The Great Ocean Road's Resort Town
Lorne is the Great Ocean Road's grand old resort town — a one-hour drive from Geelong along the most spectacular section of coast, and the place that Melbourne families have been holidaying since the 1880s. The Lorne Hotel sits at the centre of Mountjoy Parade, the town's main strip, with ocean views over Loutit Bay. It's the social hub of the town from December through Easter.
Lorne Hotel
The Lorne Hotel is an institution on the Great Ocean Road — sitting on Mountjoy Parade with ocean views and a buzzing bistro that fills on every summer weekend. Acquired by the Merivale group in recent years and substantially refurbished, it now operates as a full bistro pub with accommodation, a popular beer garden and live music on weekends. Rated 3.7 stars from 1,850 reviews — a high-volume venue with mixed feedback (the summer crowd is famously busy).
Lorne is roughly the halfway point of the most-photographed section of the Great Ocean Road. The Lorne Hotel is the natural lunch or overnight stop if you're driving the road in a single day — the next solid pub option is the Apollo Bay Hotel, another 45 minutes west. Booking is essential for accommodation between Christmas and Easter and a smart move at any time of year. View listing →
Apollo Bay: End of the Most-Driven Road
Apollo Bay sits 1 hour 45 minutes west of Geelong — a working fishing town nestled between the ocean and the rainforest of the Otway Ranges. For drivers it marks the end of the most-photographed section of the Great Ocean Road; the road continues west through Cape Otway and on to the Twelve Apostles, but most day-trippers turn around here. Apollo Bay has two pubs and locals call them the Top Pub (Great Ocean Road Brewhouse) and the Bottom Pub (Apollo Bay Hotel) — both on the Great Ocean Road within 400 metres of each other, both serving lunch and dinner daily, both with on-site accommodation. Pair them as a Top Pub / Bottom Pub crawl, or pick one as your overnight base.
Apollo Bay Hotel
Perched right on the Great Ocean Road with views across the bay, the Apollo Bay Hotel is the perfect end-point for a Great Ocean Road drive. Cold beers, a bistro built around fresh local seafood, a lively beer garden and regular live music. Get there early on summer weekends — the bay-view dining tables fill fast. On-site accommodation makes it a natural overnight stop if you're going on to the Twelve Apostles the next day, or simply turning around for the drive back.
Apollo Bay is also the western end of the Geelong–Apollo Bay V/Line coach service, which makes the town reachable without a car for Melbourne visitors who travel via Geelong on V/Line then transfer to the coach. The pub is a five-minute walk from the coach stop. View listing →
Great Ocean Road Brewhouse
Apollo Bay's Top Pub is built around its in-house Prickly Moses brewery — the brewing tanks are visible from the bar, and the line-up runs to 100-plus craft beers across a rotating tap wall. Two beer gardens (front and back, both dog-friendly), a bistro running lunch every day from 11:30am and dinner every night, on-site accommodation upstairs, Sky Racing TAB, regular live music, and a 4:30–6pm weekday happy hour. The all-day kitchen runs on weekends, public holidays and school holidays.
For the brewery-trail traveller, this is the natural finish to the three-stop Geelong Brewery Tour (Little Creatures → Malt Shovel → Blackman's → Great Ocean Road Brewhouse) — though the 2.5-hour drive from Geelong CBD makes it a weekend extension rather than a same-day fourth stop. Brewery tour guide →
Planning Your Surf Coast Pub Trail
The seven venues span 90 kilometres of coastal road. The full trail is too much for a single day if you want to enjoy each stop properly — these three itineraries match different time budgets.
Leave Geelong mid-morning. Coffee and a brewery pour at Blackman's Brewery in Torquay (opens 12pm). Mid-afternoon at Klein's Anglesea Hotel on the river mouth — late lunch in the beer garden. Continue to Lorne for an early dinner at the Lorne Hotel with ocean views. Drive back to Geelong by sunset. About 3 hours of driving total — manageable as a single day. Torquay pubs →
Day 1: Lunch at Blackman's Brewery Torquay, drive on to Klein's Anglesea Hotel for an afternoon drink. Continue to Lorne for dinner at the Lorne Hotel. Push on to Apollo Bay (45 min from Lorne) and do the Top Pub / Bottom Pub crawl — drinks at the Great Ocean Road Brewhouse (Top Pub, Prickly Moses on-site brewery), then walk 400m down to the Apollo Bay Hotel (Bottom Pub) for dinner with bay views. Stay overnight at either. Day 2: Morning drive to Cape Otway lighthouse or Twelve Apostles, lunch back at one of the Apollo Bay pubs before the drive home. The accommodation step is what makes this work — Lorne and Apollo Bay both have on-site rooms. Pubs with accommodation →
V/Line train from Southern Cross to Geelong (1 hour). Transfer at Geelong Station to the V/Line Apollo Bay coach service — coaches run 3 times daily and stop at Torquay, Anglesea, Lorne and Apollo Bay along the way. Plan it as either a full day to Apollo Bay (overnight at the Apollo Bay Hotel) or a half-day Lorne return. Great Ocean Road tour buses also depart from Melbourne if a guided option suits better. Melbourne day trip guide →
Surf Coast Pub Tips
- Book accommodation well ahead in summer — Lorne and Apollo Bay both fill out from Christmas through Easter, and again on every long weekend. The Lorne Hotel and Apollo Bay Hotel both take direct bookings, but third-party sites usually have better availability data.
- The Great Ocean Road is slow — the section between Anglesea and Apollo Bay is winding coastal road with frequent caravans and tour buses. Allow 1 hour 45 minutes from Geelong to Apollo Bay even with no traffic, and substantially longer in summer school holidays. Don't try to push past Lorne in a single day if you want to enjoy any of the stops.
- Blackman's Brewery is the dedicated craft beer destination — if you only stop in Torquay for one venue and you want more than a standard beer selection, choose Blackman's. If you want a full pub bistro and a sports screen, choose the Torquay Hotel. Both are on Bell Street, 200m apart.
- Anglesea is the quietest stop on the trail — a smaller town, a single pub, and a slower pace than Torquay or Lorne. It's the natural rest stop on a Geelong-to-Lorne drive: 35 minutes from Geelong, 25 minutes shy of Lorne.
- The V/Line coach makes Apollo Bay car-free — Melbourne visitors can ride V/Line to Geelong and transfer to the Geelong–Apollo Bay coach. Three services daily, with stops in Torquay, Anglesea and Lorne. Useful if you want to drink without driving back.
- Coastal weather changes fast — summer days that start sunny in Torquay can be cool and overcast at Apollo Bay an hour later. The beer gardens at Klein's Anglesea, the Lorne Hotel and Apollo Bay Hotel are all exposed enough that a layer in the car is wise even on warm days.