Hopetoun Falls is one of the most spectacular waterfalls on the Great Ocean Road. The rainforest setting only adds to the beauty and it’s one of those spots that will leave you mesmerised. You can walk right the way to the bottom of the falls and even take a dip in the small plunge pool at the base.
Its majesty is no secret though, so you’ll want to visit early or late to avoid the crowds. If you opt for late, then you might even spot the little hidden glow worm colony!
Here’s everything you need to know about visiting Hopetoun Falls.
Top tips for visiting Hopetoun Falls
How to avoid the crowds - go early or late: We’ve visited Hopetoun Falls many times over the years, and each time it’s been progressively busier. On our most recent trip it was heaving. Unless you’re ok with crowds, and difficulty parking, we recommend going early or late. If you can’t visit midweek, go just before sunset or after sunrise, when you’re quite likely to have it to yourself.
Parking is limited: There are two car parks for Hopetoun Falls - the nearest one has room for about six cars, and the one further up the road can fit about 20-30. With the popularity of this spot, they both fill up quickly. The second car park also requires you to walk down a dirt road for 400m to get to the falls, which gets dusty if cars are driving by.
What to do if the car park is full: If you’ve arrived and there’s no space, fear not. Head off and plan to return a little later in the day. You may want to check out the nearby redwood forest or the coffee shop NouriSHED down the road, or waterfalls like Beauchamp or Triplet which are also very close by.
The night time: Hopetoun has a little secret that reveals itself at night - glow worms! You can read up about it later in this guide.
The Hopetoun Falls Walk
The stats
Distance: 400m each way (including to the very foot of the falls)
Elevation: 55m
Difficulty: Easy but not flat
The walk down to the bottom of Hopetoun Falls is all on a well maintained path. It’s stairs for most of the way, followed by boardwalk, which keeps the trail from getting muddy.
Although there is a lookout very close to the car park (just 10m away) it only offers a view of the very top of the falls (sadly not the whole waterfall), so you definitely want to walk to the base to get the full experience.
The track is gorgeous, with dense forest one side and plenty of ferns and mossy logs on the other. The well maintained staircases make getting down a breeze.
The stairs last for 200m and there’s around 200 of them, which you’ll probably only realise on the way back up! But even then, the climb is pretty easy and takes less than 10 minutes.
The last 100m of the trail is a flat easy stroll along the boardwalk. You’ll be walking beside the creek and then come to the main lookout.
It’s a great view of the waterfall, but it is at a little bit of a distance, so if you want to get up close and personal you’ll need to walk a little off track.
Walking to the base of Hopetoun Falls
To walk to the base of the falls you’ll leave the maintained path behind and therefore it can get a little muddy - especially as this is one of the wettest parts of Victoria! Every time we’ve visited Hopetoun, the whole area is wet and the section around the boardwalk is always muddy.
It’s not awful, but I was glad to have walking boots on. The easiest way to get to the base is to walk back from the lookout to the signpost mentioning platypus - it’s around 30 seconds from the viewpoint.
From there, walk behind the fencing and you’ll be in the forest. It’s only around 40m to reach the waterfall, but it requires walking over the odd rock and fallen tree.
Just go carefully as it can get a little slippery - although more so at the final rocks just in front of the falls than on the route to get there.
It only takes a couple of minutes and it’s well worth the effort to get that bit closer to the falls.
Swimming at Hopetoun Falls
i wouldn’t say you can swim at Hopetoun Falls as such, but you can definitely have a plunge pool experience. The pool is not large and there’s a log across it which makes it feel smaller, but there’s still plenty of room to get in and have a dip. It’s better when the flow is not too extreme or the water churns up a lot and it could be quite dodgy if you got too close to the force of the waterfall itself.
The water is pretty cold year round but it’s incredibly refreshing! Just be careful when entering the water as the rocks are really slippery when wet and there are quite a few to negotiate.
Hopetoun Falls by night
We’d spent a lot of time over the past couple of years looking for glow worms in the Blue Mountains and thought that the habitat at Hopetoun Falls looked quite similar. We decided to hang around after sunset and find out!
Happily we did discover a gorgeous little glow worm colony, but not in the numbers we’re used to finding in NSW. Although there were a smattering of glow worms along parts of the walking trail (particularly in rock crevices) the biggest cluster was only around 50.
Although we were hoping to find more, it’s always special to see any at all and especially in an area which isn’t known for glow worms.
It’s a fun little night adventure, but if you want to see glow worms in big numbers then you will really want to head to Melba Gully or Kennett River.
If you want to see this secret little colony, then the biggest cluster was right by the platypus sign just back from the main viewpoint (a little under a 700m return walk from the car park). They glistened like strings of fairy lights along the embankment.
There was also a sprinkling on the other side of the river underneath all the giant ferns - you could see them by bending down at the main lookout.
If it’s been really dry then I can imagine the numbers dwindling further and it wouldn’t be worth a visit. You need some good moisture for glow worms to thrive and as this is a small colony anyway, that’s even more important.
When visiting any glow worm colony, always allow a decent amount of time to pass after sunset in order for it to be dark enough to see them and turn off all light for at least five minutes to let your eyes adjust. Never shine light on glow worms as it can harm them and stop them being able to feed.
Getting to Hopetoun Falls
Hopetoun Falls are located in the Great Otway National Park just off the Great Ocean Road. It’s around a one hour drive from Apollo Bay and close to several other waterfalls which we detail here.
The falls popularity has far exceeded the parking space available. There is only room for around six cars beside the trail head but there’s a bigger parking area around 400m up the hill by the Hopetoun Falls signpost. Despite this bigger car park, on busy days you still won’t get in, so visit early or late if heading there during public holidays.
The final few kilometres to the car park are on gravel road. It’s well maintained, but narrow and windy. It’s suitable for any vehicle until the last 400m down to the true car park where they advise not to take campers.
There are no facilities at the falls at the moment and that includes lack of a toilet, so plan accordingly.
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