{"id":4252,"date":"2024-01-17T06:07:10","date_gmt":"2024-01-17T06:07:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/everythingvictoria.com.au\/?p=4252"},"modified":"2025-01-20T04:22:40","modified_gmt":"2025-01-20T04:22:40","slug":"lilydale-warburton-rail-trail","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/everythingvictoria.com.au\/lilydale-warburton-rail-trail\/","title":{"rendered":"Hiking and Biking the Lilydale to Warburton Rail Trail"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
There are many things to love about Melbourne and Victoria, but for me, the number of walking and cycling routes is right near the top of the list. From the heart of the city to its outer suburbs, you’re never far from a quiet, car-free path.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Once you get even further out, the options for great hiking and biking trails increase even more. I’ve walked many of them over time, but one I keep coming back to year after year is the Lilydale to Warburton rail trail.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It’s the kind of track that’s easy to love, mind you: easily accessible from the city, well-maintained, manageable by all members of the family (including the four-legged ones), and with great eating and drinking options at both ends.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After another trip out there last weekend, I figured it was finally time to put together a proper guide to it. So here you have it!<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Let’s get a few quick questions out the way first, before diving into the detail.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As the name suggests, the trail runs between the towns of Lilydale and Warburton in the Yarra Ranges, 35-75km east of Melbourne.<\/p> <\/div>
The trail runs for just under 40km in total, with several places to break the journey along the way. You can find the full route marked on AllTrails<\/a>, the app I use on all my hiking and biking adventures.<\/p> <\/div> The track surface varies between asphalt, hard-packed dirt, and fine gravel. It’s all suitable for bikes with medium to wide tyres, and good hiking or all-terrain strollers should be fine as well.<\/p> <\/div> There’s no problem with taking dogs on the trail, subject to the usual requirements to keep them under control (it can get quite busy) and just like their human companions, make sure they’ve got plenty of food and water.<\/p> <\/div> Depending on the age of the child and how far you’re planning to go, absolutely. The path is mostly wide, flat (more on that below), and well-maintained, so even little legs should be able to pedal or walk some part of it. There are plenty of bail-out points along the way as well, if things don’t quite go to plan!<\/p> <\/div> Yes, you can rent a standard bike or pedal-assist e-bike from Cog Bikes<\/a>, with pickup and drop-off in Warburton, Lilydale, Seville, and Mt Evelyn.<\/p> <\/div> <\/div>\n\n\n\n Right, on with the show!<\/p>\n\n\n\n Back in 1965, the 37km stretch of railway between Lilydale and Warburton was officially closed, having operated as a branch of the Lilydale line since 1901. The tracks were ripped up a few years later, but the platforms and land remained, sitting idle until somebody figured out what to with them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The local government tried to sell off the land in the 1980s and again a decade later, but community opposition and volunteer efforts led to a far better outcome: the creation of a walking, cycling, and horse riding trail along the length of the old line instead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It’s been maintained and improved ever since, and is now a popular path with locals and weekenders from Melbourne alike. The track largely follows the line of the old railway, passing through or past towns and villages like Mount Evelyn, Seville, Woori Yallock, Launching Place, and Yarra Junction as it runs between Lilydale and Warburton.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you’re coming from Melbourne, it’s very easy to get to either end of the trail. Depending on whether you have the same aversion to paying tolls to multi-billion dollar companies that I do, it takes around 45-60 minutes to drive from the CBD to Lilydale, or 75-90 minutes to Warburton.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As with most driving times, it’ll be dependent on everything from roadworks to rush hour, but you’re at least going against most of the traffic once you leave the central city.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You’ve got a few options about where to park, depending on how much of the trail you’re doing. For those looking to tackle the entire trail, there’s free parking with no time limit on Thomas Ave<\/a> in Warburton, between the main road and the river. It does get busy, but I’ve always been able to find a park there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If it’s full and you don’t want to wait around, keep heading east and check out the side streets. Much of the parking on the Warburton Highway itself is metered and\/or has a two hour limit. At the Lilydale end, there’s free parking at the train station<\/a> and on some of the side streets near the start of the trail.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When walking (or only cycling part of the way), Seville is the most obvious place to start or end the day. It’s not exactly halfway, but it’s pretty close, and there’s a lovely cafe in an old railway carriage right beside the trail there for a coffee or something more substantial.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The parking for that cafe<\/a> is a few hundred metres down a paved side trail, and it’s a good place to leave a car: it’s free with no time limit. I’ve left mine there for several hours without issue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Finally, if you’re looking to do shorter sections, almost all of the trail hubs at the old train stations along the way have some sort of free parking available. There may not always be a huge number of spaces, but none of them have been full whenever I’ve checked them out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n One of the reasons for the popularity of the trail is just how accessible it is by public transport. The Lilydale line runs from Southern Cross in the CBD to (shockingly) Lilydale, with several stops in inner and outer eastern suburbs along the way. The standard adult Myki fare is $5.30, and the Lilydale end of the trail starts alongside the station.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you’re starting your walk from somewhere else, the 683 bus mentioned in the next section leaves from beside Lilydale station and services most of the towns and villages between there and Warburton. The main exception is Mount Evelyn: you can get between it and Lilydale on the 679 bus from\/to Lilydale instead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Assuming you’re not planning to just turn around and walk or ride back to where you started, you’ve got two choices about what you do when you’ve finished: do a car shuffle, or jump on the 683 bus that runs along the main road between Lilydale and Warburton and back again throughout the day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The bus has bike racks on the front, and drivers are very used to picking up cyclists (and walkers) along the route. It stops in almost all of the towns along the way: the trail is never more than a few hundred metres from the road, and often much closer. It’s a standard PTV bus, so you pay with a Myki card.<\/p>\n\n\n\nWhat Is the Lilydale to Warburton Rail Trail?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Getting There By Car<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Where to Park<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Getting There By Train and Bus<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
How to Get Back to the Start<\/h2>\n\n\n\n