The Best Scenic Drives From Melbourne (in a Supercar)

A great road is wasted on the wrong car, and a great car is wasted on the wrong road. Melbourne is lucky enough to sit within reach of both. Within a couple of hours of the city you can be carving a coastal cliff road, threading a mountain forest or rolling through wine country, and each one rewards a proper drive. Here are three of the best, and the sort of car that does each one justice.

The Great Ocean Road

If you only drive one road from Melbourne, drive this one. The Great Ocean Road begins near Torquay, a little over an hour from the city, and unspools along the coast through Anglesea, Lorne and Apollo Bay before the land opens out to the Twelve Apostles near Port Campbell. It is one of the world's genuinely great coastal drives, and it earns the reputation.

The road itself is the attraction. Long sweeping curves hug the cliffs, the ocean sits just off your shoulder, and there are pull-offs every few minutes that ask you to stop and look. A convertible is the romantic pick here for the sea air, though a sharp coupe with a good engine is just as happy on the bends. Give it a full day. The round trip runs well over five hundred kilometres, and the point is to take your time, not to set a record.

The Black Spur

Closer to home and utterly different in character, the Black Spur is a driver's road in the truest sense. It runs through the Yarra Ranges between Healesville and Narbethong on the Maroondah Highway, a tight, shaded ribbon of tarmac winding up through towering Mountain Ash and fern gullies. The light comes through the canopy in shafts. The corners come one after another. It is only around thirty kilometres, but you will want to drive it twice.

This is a road for a car that likes to be worked, so a sharp-steering Porsche or a mid-engined supercar is in its element. Take it at a measured pace. The surface can be damp under the trees, wildlife is genuinely about, and the pleasure here is in precision, not speed. Combine it with lunch in the Yarra Valley and you have a perfect day. If you would rather not drive so you can enjoy the cellar doors, our winery tours cover the same country with someone else at the wheel.

The Mornington Peninsula

The third is the most relaxed of the three, and the easiest to reach. The Mornington Peninsula runs south of the city towards Portsea and Sorrento, and the drive is a gentle roll through rolling hills, coastal towns and some of the state's best vineyards around Red Hill and Main Ridge. Climb Arthurs Seat for the view back over Port Phillip, then drop down to the water at Sorrento or Flinders.

The Peninsula is grand touring country. It suits a comfortable, powerful car you can cover ground in without fuss, a big prestige coupe or a luxury SUV that eats the miles between stops. The distances are short, the stops are the point, and there is no reason to rush a thing.

One more, close to home: the Dandenong Ranges

If your time is short, the Dandenong Ranges sit barely an hour east of the city and pack a lot into a morning. The Mount Dandenong Tourist Road climbs through towering mountain ash and fern-lined bends, linking villages like Olinda and Sassafras where you can stop for coffee and a look back over the valley. It is gentler than the Black Spur and busier on weekends, so go early. A responsive coupe or a sharp hot hatch suits the tighter corners, and the whole loop pairs neatly with breakfast before the tourists arrive.

Before you set out

A few notes that make any of these drives better:

• Give yourself the whole day. The stops are half the reward, so do not compress them.
• Check the weather. A convertible is glorious in the sun and less so in Peninsula drizzle.
• Mind the surface. Damp, shaded and coastal roads all ask for a little more respect.
• Fuel and go. We deliver every car clean and full, so you can point it at the horizon.

Pick the road, then pick the car. Browse sports and supercar hire, sort out a self-drive day, and tell us where you are headed. We will have the right machine waiting.