If you’re driving to Sydney from Melbourne, the quickest way to get between these capital cities is driving straight up the Hume Highway, without detouring into any towns along the route.
But that doesn’t mean you should drive the whole route without stopping. Traffic authorities recommend stopping every two hours so you can get out of the car and stretch your legs.
We’ve picked the top five rest areas along the Hume Highway from Paul Smedley’s Budget Rest Areas around Australia – you can even stay at some sites overnight (and most are free) if you want to split the roughly 10–12 hour trip over two days.
This fantastic rest area is on the highway between Mittagong and Goulburn (on the southbound side of the highway). It has toilets, mobile reception, picnic tables, and is dog friendly. For those of you with caravans and motorhomes, this rest area has space for your vehicle, and is suitable for overnight stays.
This park area is one of the best along the highway. You should stop here while the highway still passes through Holbrook, as the bypass around the town is scheduled to open in October. Holbrook is well known for its display of an old submarine that was purchased from the Australian Navy. The park area is near the submarine, and has a great range of facilities, including a playground, picnic benches, toilets, drinking water and mobile reception. It’s also dog friendly. This is a day stop only – you can’t stay here overnight.
Only a short detour off the highway, Chiltern rest area has a good range of facilities. It’s around 30 kilometres south of Wodonga, and can only be used by southbound cars. Northbound cars should use Ironbark rest area, which is 38 kilometres north of Wangaratta. These rest areas have similar facilities. There are toilets, drinking water, picnic tables, mobile reception, disabled access, campfires and space for motorhomes. They are both also dog friendly.
Just off the Hume Highway in the charming country town of Wangaratta, this park area is for day use only and is not suitable for large motorhomes. With a position right next to the Ovens River, you might want to mosey along the riverbank to stretch your legs or walk into town, as the rest area is just off the main road. But with a playground, picnic tables, shade, toilets and mobile reception, the facilities at the park area are such that you won’t need to go scouting for amenities in town.
The town of Seymour is a traditional stop for many people driving along the Hume Highway. Coach Road rest area, for southbound cars, and Grass Tree rest areas, for northbound cars, are around 11 kilometres to the north of Seymour and have great facilities including drinking water, campfires, toilets, picnic tables, space for large caravans and disabled access.
Find more rest areas in Budget Rest Areas around Australia.
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