Music, wine and waterfalls: a local's guide to Beechworth

The Guardian

24-05-2025

Beechworth is on the traditional lands of the Wiradjuri, Wavereoo, Dhudhuroa, Min-jan-buttu and Ya-itma-thang people, who collectively make up the Pallanganmiddang nation. It's about three hours from Melbourne. People used to visit en route to the Victorian alpine region ski fields but it's become its own destination now, known for its well-preserved gold rush-era sandstone buildings.
Before they closed in 1995 and 2004, respectively, most residents worked at Beechworth Asylum (also known as Mayday Hills) and Beechworth Gaol. Later, Beechworth Bakery (which opened in 1984) got popular for its pies and cakes, more things opened and now tourism is the main industry.
Lots of people have tree-changed here so the area's gentrified a lot, but a plus side is the food scene has vastly improved. Bandit is part of the recent boom of sandwich places. It only does five or six fillings, and they're made to order. The Reuben is excellent.
Bridge Road Brewers opened 20 years ago. Its first beer, a pale ale, is usually the top-rated Victorian beer in the Gabs Hottest 100 countdown. It's in a gold rush-era coach house and serves the best pizza in town. There's a playground where adults can see their kids while they eat and drink, so it's a relaxed dinner spot for families.
Provenance is Beechworth's only fine dining restaurant. It's Japanese food by award-winning chef Michael Ryan. It's set in a grand old bank with high ceilings that still feels date-night intimate. The set menu of 18 small dishes is $170 so it's mainly for milestone birthdays or anniversaries.
We have about 20 coffee spots and only two main streets! I like Tiny. You run into people there and it's licensed after 11am. I DJ there some evenings, and they serve cocktails on weekends.
Coffee snobs rate Little Nev highly. It's open 6am until midday and serves out of a former horse float parked in an old service station. Project 49 is an Italian provedore selling local goods from small-scale producers: meat, wine, cheese, condiments and excellent coffee.
The traditional name for Beechworth is Baarmutha, or Barmootha, which translates to 'place of many creeks'. It's known for its excellent swimming holes.
To get to Beechworth Gorge, park at the historic gunpowder magazine, walk over Spring Creek Bridge and head down the trail down to Spring Creek to find a series of blissful rock holes carved out along the creek. The 3km walk is a real scene in summer with people lying around and swimming.
The jaw-droppingly beautiful Woolshed Falls is easier to get to, so it can be pretty crowded. You shouldn't get close to the falls but further up there are spots where you can soak in the cool water.
The loop walk around Lake Sambell is beautiful at sunset. There's plenty of trees for shade earlier, too, and fishing, kayaking and dragon boating. There's a cute beach called Sandy Beach, a playground and barbecues.
Mountain biking is huge here. The Indigo Epic is a rugged mountain bike trail going 56km to Yackandandah. The Rail Trail runs between towns like Bright and Wangaratta and is for long-distance leisure biking. The Bike Hire Company rents bikes and runs shuttle pick-ups for one-way trips.
Pub culture has always been big. The story goes that people worked tough jobs at the asylum and the gaol so they did a lot of drinking.
I book weekend gigs at Tanswell's Hotel. It's mostly free entry with a pretty rowdy vibe. Out-of-towners pop their heads into the front bar after hearing music when they're walking down Ford Street. When there's a stoner rock band from Sweden or an all-female punk band, it can seem pretty incongruous for a small country town. Country and bluegrass goes down well in Beechworth. We have amazing local bluegrass players doing afternoon sessions.
Hotel Nicholas has Guinness on tap and decent pub food and curries. It does a monthly Irish jam with traditional instruments. It's more of a sports pub; there are lots of televisions showing AFL and NRL.
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Old Stone Hall does sporadic live shows, skewed towards female performers. They're seated, intimate gigs where you drink local wine and, between songs, you can hear a pin drop.
This is cool climate wine country and all the pop-up events, pubs and most restaurants serve local wines. You can sample them at Cellar Door Wine Store and Vino Bar. Eldorado Road winery has a cellar door in town.
Michael Ryan of Provenance makes his own amaro and recently opened a vintage-style bar, The Parlour, upstairs at the restaurant. It's open on weekends from 5.30pm, but if you can see the red light on from the roundabout between Camp and Ford streets, it's open and Ryan's there pouring amaro-based cocktails and playing records.
The Beechworth region has lots of festivals. They're big things on the cultural calendar here; everyone goes and parents take their kids. On festival weekends there's an influx of out-of-towners, which really transforms the vibe.
At the High Country Hop (27-29 March 2026) at Bridge Road Brewery you can taste beers from visiting brewers from the US or New Zealand. The Japanese band the 5.6.7.8s and Australian singer-songwriter Darren Hanlon played last time. The super kid-friendly Spring Ditch! (March) is in Stanley, 10 minutes from Beechworth. There's music but also old-school games like sack races.
Wonder Mountain (5-7 September) at Tanswell's Hotel is curated by the Strawberry Fields team. It's a huge pull for young out-of-towners who wear flamboyant western wear to dance to DJs. Yackandandah folk festival (20-22 March 2026) runs in venues across town; it's been going for decades.
Metal in the Mountains (November) pulls a completely different crowd. It's not strictly metal, there's hard rock and pub rock too. If the weather's good it's in the village green, otherwise it's in the memorial hall. Drag'd Out (back in 2026) celebrates queer culture with drag artists doing shows and kids' workshops.
Beechworth Historic and Cultural Precinct is a huge part of the town's heritage. Bushranger Ned Kelly was tried in the Beechworth Historic Courthouse and imprisoned in the Old Beechworth Gaol. The tours are great though it's a pretty depressing story.
Asylum Ghost Tours run in the old asylum, Mayday Hills. They take you through the place at night and tell you all the horrific things that happened. I learned that if you were a woman, it took one signature to get you committed (your husband could do it) and three to get you out. So once women were in, they usually stayed long-term.
A self-guided tour of Beechworth Public Cemetery will bring you to a Chinese section with the graves of about 2,000 gold seekers and settlers. The Chinese burning towers are historically significant, too; they'd burn paper money to impart riches into the afterlife.
Armour Motor Inn (from $155 for a queen room) is my backup for bands I book if they can't stay at the pub. It's cute, retro and central. The Linaker Motel (from $125 for a queen suite) is in an art deco building in Mayday Hills that was the former nurses' quarters for the asylum. It has an edge of The Shining to it, but it's good value.
The Benev (from $360 a night) is a spa with lovely rooms, and pretty central. It's in a beautiful brick building with a great view.
The two caravan parks are very good. You're right on the water at Lake Sambell caravan park (from $50 for unpowered site to $370 for a three-bedroom villa) and it hires out kayaks and has a coffee truck. Beechworth holiday park (from $45 for an unpowered site to $190 for a three-bedroom villa) is a five-minute drive towards Stanley but it's surrounded by forest and is totally gorgeous.
Doug Wallen is a journalist, band booker and broadcaster based in Beechworth