Portarlington named Victoria's Top Small Tourism Town for 2026
Our town has just been named Victoria's Top Small Tourism Town for 2026.
The Victorian Top Tourism Town Awards, run by the Victoria Tourism Industry Council, judge entrants across the state and award the title to the highest-scoring town in each category. In the Small Tourism Town category for 2026, Portarlington took the top spot, ahead of Port Fairy (silver) and Camperdown (bronze), with Alexandra, Cape Woolamai, Rochester, Rutherglen and Warburton rounding out the finalists.
It's a lovely thing to read about your own town. In VTIC's own words:
Known as Australia's mussel capital, Portarlington is a charming seaside town that sits on the tip of the Bellarine Peninsula in Victoria. A hatted chef has elevated the food scene opening two restaurants by the water; a grand hotel is gleaming after a multi-million-dollar restoration; award-winning wineries are a stone's throw away and Australia's only boutique mussel tour cruises from Portarlington pier.
What the judges were looking at
VTIC also publishes a three-day self-drive itinerary for Portarlington, and it reads like a fair summary of an ordinary weekend here.
The food. Pier Street Café sits right on the foreshore under hatted chef Peter Roddy, with dishes built around local shellfish: smoked mussel chowder, Sri Lankan mussel curry, smoked bacon mussels. Arlo Wine Bar takes the deck overlooking the bay, with handmade pasta and squid ink risotto. Portarlington Bakehouse opens at 6.30am daily for the woodfired baked goods, and Pop's Wine Bar has quietly become the town's favourite nightcap, with Mark and Gary behind the bar.
The water. Australia's only boutique mussel tour cruises from the Portarlington pier, pulling blue mussels straight from the bay. Beyond that it's boating, fishing, swimming and the 17-kilometre Bellarine Coastal Trail running along the foreshore.
The wine. Jack Rabbit Vineyard for the bay views, Curlewis Winery for the cellar door. Award-winning wineries are minutes away, not a day trip.
The stay. The Portarlington Grand Hotel, built in 1888 and known as the jewel of the Bellarine, reopened in 2022 after a meticulous restoration, with 18 boutique rooms named after ships from the town's maritime history.
The setting. Fertile volcanic soils have made this stretch of the Bellarine a genuine food bowl, everything from seafood to blueberries, and the town itself was established back in the 1800s.
Why this matters if you're thinking about Panorama
We've always said the same thing about Panorama: you're not just buying a view, you're buying the life underneath it. Every one of the things above sits within a few minutes of the site, and now there's an independent panel of judges saying the same.
Portarlington is a 31-kilometre drive east of Geelong and 104 kilometres south-west of Melbourne, with Avalon Airport 25 minutes from Geelong and the Sorrento to Queenscliff ferry a 45-minute crossing plus a 20-minute drive. Close enough to keep your work and your people; far enough that the pace genuinely changes.
Panorama rises above all of it, in a natural amphitheatre in the hillside, with home sites looking out across Port Phillip Bay to the You Yangs and the Melbourne skyline.
Congratulations Portarlington. We're proud to be building here.
Come and see the view for yourself. Our Sales Studio is open Wednesdays 12pm to 2pm and Saturdays 11am to 4pm and Sunday 11am to 3pm at 56 Woolamai Rise, Portarlington.
Victorian Top Tourism Town Awards 2026 winners, Victoria Tourism Industry Council — vtic.com.au/toptourismtown/winners
