Philip Island is an island about 2 hours’ drive from Melbourne. Though it’s just a tiny island, there are many things you can do there that you may need a few days to complete them.

There are a number of ways to get to Philip Island.

  1. Self Drive with a car or Campervan – Philip Island is connected to Melbourne via a bridge. Take a leisure drive towards San Remo using M420 then B420 and cross the bridge at the western end. Don’t forget to take some videos and pictures while you are crossing.
  2. Western Port Ferries – The ferry runs between Stony Point on the Mornington Peninsula, Tankerton on French Island, and Cowes on Phillip Island.
  3. V/Line coach – The coach runs to & from Melbourne and stops at Grantville, Corinella, Bass, San Remo, Newhaven, and Cowes daily.
  4. Taxi.

Here are some of the things you can do on Philip Island.

  1. Penguin Parade – Watch Penguin return to their nest from the sea.
  2. Grand Prix Circuit – Watch races or drive a Go Kart. You can also hire a professional racing driver to drive you around the circuit.
  3. Hiking – There are many beautiful tracks and trails on Philip Island.
  4. The Nobbies – Go visit The Nobbies and check out the seals resting on Seal Rocks. There are also cruises that bring you close to the sites.
  5. Whale watching – Hire a boat during whale sessions and get close to the largest mammals on earth.
  6. Helicopter ride – Book a helicopter and get a bird’s eye view of the island.

After checking out from our Apollo Bay apartment, we headed toward Philip Island early in the morning. The duration non-stop will be about 4 hours or so. As we do not intend to rush, so we catered a lunch break in the afternoon at Camberwell.

After all the fish and chips for the past few days, we decided to go Italian and selected this restaurant called Con Noi Italian Trattoria. The service was good and the food was delicious.

After another 2 hours of driving, we arrived at our Airbnb in Philip Island.

Our Living Room

Dining Area with outdoor Patio

Master Room

2nd Bedroom

This bathroom has a bathtub.

After settling our luggage, we quickly head towards the reason why we came to Philip Island – The Penguin Parade.

We bought the tickets in advance. So as we arrived, we went to the ticketing counter to collect our physical tickets.

After entering the gantry, we must walk about 10 minutes to the seating area. Along the way, you will be able to see the nests of the penguin.

The penguin will return to land just as the sunset. The park attendance will brief us on the do’s and don’t during the wait. We recommend that you choose the seats in the middle. The penguin will come in groups from many entry points. The view from the middle is best. Afterward, you can go back to the walkway and follow the penguins as they progress to their nests.

This is what you get to see. Forgive me for the quality of the video as it was taken in a dark environment. If you want to see a nicer version, check out this site.

It was a nice experience as you can get close to the penguins. You can still stay around but there is nothing much to do as it was getting really dark. After checking out the Gifts shop, we proceed to our dinner.

We found this restaurant call Isola Di Capri after driving around The Esplanade. Many of them were already closed. So we settled on this one. They are an Italian joint famous for their pizzas.

We called it a night after dinner.

Here are some of the things you can do in Philip Island.

Penguin Parade