The Great Ocean Road: A Guide for European Travellers (And Why Germans Keep Coming Back)
Every year, thousands of European travellers make the long flight to Australia. Most arrive with a plan – Sydney, the Red Centre, Queensland. Melbourne is often a starting or finishing point. The Great Ocean Road, if it makes the list at all, is frequently treated as a half-day add-on from the city.
Those who give it proper time come back talking about it for years.
The Great Ocean Road stretches 243 kilometres along the southern coast of Victoria. Built by returned soldiers after World War I as both a memorial and a public works project, it connects Torquay to Allansford through coastal cliffs, old-growth rainforest, farming land, and small towns that have been feeding and hosting travellers for over a century.
It is one of the world’s genuinely great coastal drives. For European visitors with an eye for landscape, history, and authentic local experience, it belongs near the top of the Australian itinerary.
What Makes It Worth the Detour From Melbourne
Europe has no shortage of dramatic coastlines. The Norwegian fjords, the Amalfi Coast, the Atlantic edge of Portugal – European travellers set a high bar for scenery. The Great Ocean Road clears it.
The Twelve Apostles are the most photographed site on the road, and for good reason. These limestone stacks rise from the Southern Ocean in a way that is hard to process standing in front of them – the noise, the scale, the deep blue of the water. The cliffs at Loch Ard Gorge and London Arch tell equally extraordinary stories. This stretch of coast has claimed hundreds of ships over the centuries, and the landscape reflects that history.
Away from the cliffs, the Otway Ranges offer something completely different – temperate rainforest, waterfalls, fern gullies. It is the kind of place that reminds you how ancient and varied this country is.
The wildlife, for most European visitors, is a genuine highlight. Wild koalas are regularly spotted in the trees along the Otway roadsides. Kangaroos graze in the paddocks. Echidnas cross the walking tracks. These are not managed encounters – this is simply what travelling through this part of Victoria looks like.
Why ANT Touring Suits European Travellers Particularly Well
German travellers in particular tend to travel with a strong sense of what they are looking for – quality over volume, genuine experience over box-ticking, and a real awareness of environmental impact. ANT Touring was built around exactly those values.
The company has been running Great Ocean Road tours since 2002. Groups are capped at eight people. The owners – Jeremy and Pierre along with our very experienced guide’s Eddie and Russell – take most tours personally, which means the experience you read about in reviews is the experience you actually get. The itineraries are deliberate and unhurried, giving guests time to be in a place rather than just pass through it.
ANT Touring operates as an eco-tourism company. Groups are kept small partly because it makes for a better experience, and partly because that is the right way to move through a sensitive natural environment. Their approach to environmental responsibility is outlined on the website. For European visitors who think carefully about how they travel, it is a company that shares those values.
Tour Options for European Visitors
Most European travellers in Melbourne have two to five days available. ANT Touring’s range fits well within that.
The 2 Day Great Ocean Road tour covers the key coastal highlights at a comfortable pace, with an overnight stay in Apollo Bay that includes dinner at a restaurant perched above the Southern Ocean. It is the most popular starting point for international visitors and consistently well-reviewed by European guests.
The 3 Day Great Ocean Road and Grampians tour adds the Grampians (Gariwerd) – an ancient sandstone mountain range with Aboriginal rock art dating back tens of thousands of years. The landscape here is genuinely unlike anything in Europe: wide, open, and remarkable. It rounds out the Victorian experience into something much more complete.
For those travelling between Melbourne and Adelaide, or the reverse, ANT Touring also runs a 3 Day Melbourne to Adelaide tour that follows the Great Ocean Road before heading through wine country and the Limestone Coast. It is an excellent option for European travellers doing a one-way itinerary between the two cities.
Private tours are available for any of these routes for couples, families, or groups who prefer a fully flexible itinerary.
When to Visit
For European travellers, the logistics of a long-haul trip often dictate timing. Australian summer (December to February) is the busiest period. Autumn (March to May) offers the best combination of good weather, manageable crowds, and excellent light along the coast.
Spring (September to November) is worth considering for the Grampians in particular, when the wildflowers are out and the national park is at its most striking. Winter brings dramatic ocean conditions, empty lookouts, and whale sightings offshore – a different experience, but a very good one.
Getting Here From Europe
Several airlines connect major European cities to Melbourne with one stop. Lufthansa, Emirates, Qatar Airways, and Singapore Airlines all serve this route well. Flight times from Frankfurt or Amsterdam are typically 20 to 23 hours including a stopover.
Citizens of most European Union countries, including Germany, can apply for an eVisitor visa before departure. It allows a 90-day stay per visit and is processed online.
Driving in Australia is on the left, which catches some European visitors off guard. A guided tour takes that entirely off the table – you look out the window rather than watching the road.
A Final Note
The Great Ocean Road is one of those places that earns its reputation. European travellers who have seen a lot of the world come back from it having genuinely enjoyed themselves – not just ticked a site, but spent time somewhere remarkable. View all tour options at ANT Touring, or contact Jeremy, Pierre, and Glenn directly to plan your trip.