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Yes, a Puffing Billy and Phillip Island tour is worth it if you want the iconic steam-train ride and Penguin Parade in one Melbourne day trip! You’ll travel through the Dandenong Ranges, then watch little penguins return from the sea at sunset. It’s a full day with a late finish. Here’s what you’ll see, how the timing works, and what you gain by visiting on separate days.
Puffing Billy is a daytime outing, while the Penguin Parade happens in the evening.
A combined tour takes care of the travel between the two attractions. The two combined tours featured below include the railway ticket, penguin admission, a guide and return transport from Melbourne. You don’t need to hire a car or drive back to Melbourne after the penguins.
You get a one-way train ride followed by coastal sightseeing and the Penguin Parade. You won’t spend a full day at each destination.
Both featured tours combine Puffing Billy, the Nobbies and the Penguin Parade. The two tours use different railway routes.
The open-sided heritage carriages take you through forest and fern gullies, with timber trestle bridges along the route. You hear the wheels on the track and feel the air coming through the carriage. It’s quite a change from Melbourne’s city streets!
The Puffing Billy and Penguins Experience day tour includes a one-hour ride between Belgrave and Lakeside, in either direction. The tour departing from Hotel Windsor travels from Emerald to Belgrave. Both include a one-way train ride, with road transport for the rest of the day.
Puffing Billy allows passengers to sit on the carriage sill, with age and adult-supervision rules for children. You’ll find those rules in the children’s section below.
The tour departing from Hotel Windsor includes a walk around Emerald Lake and time to buy lunch. It’s a lovely chance to stretch your legs beside the water before continuing the day.
At the Nobbies, you’ll see rocky shoreline and open ocean from the coastal boardwalk. Both tours include this stop before the penguins. This part of the tour stays on land; it isn’t a Seal Rocks cruise.
The Penguin Parade is the evening highlight. Little penguins come back from the sea, cross the sand and follow their paths towards their burrows. The parade runs year-round. Its start time changes with sunset.
General Viewing is included in the Penguins Experience day tour. The tour departing from Hotel Windsor also includes Penguin Parade entry, but doesn’t list a premium viewing ticket.
Lunch and dinner are not included. The tour departing from Hotel Windsor allows time to buy dinner at the Penguin Parade venue. On the Penguins Experience day tour, you can buy food in Cowes or at the Penguin Visitor Centre, or bring your own. Have dinner before you sit down to watch the penguins.
Allow a full day and evening. The train ride is only part of a trip that also includes road travel, sightseeing and sunset penguin viewing.
Some combined tours continue from the railway towards Phillip Island. Others return to Melbourne between the two activities, adding another road journey to the day.
The train, driving and sightseeing stops all add to the length of the day. Keep the evening clear of dinner reservations, shows or other Melbourne plans.
The Penguins Experience day tour returns to Melbourne around 9–10pm in winter and 11pm–midnight in summer. These times apply to that tour, not every combined itinerary.
In summer, you have more daylight for the forest and coast, but you’ll watch the penguins later in the evening. Winter has an earlier sunset and return time, though you’ll still get back after dark.
A leisurely breakfast is a much nicer follow-up to a midnight return than an early alarm. Leave some breathing room the next morning, especially before another day tour or a flight.
Visit separately for a return train journey or more island sightseeing before sunset. The extra day gives you time to explore beyond the combined tour’s stops.
An independent Belgrave–Lakeside return visit lets you ride the railway in both directions. Puffing Billy recommends allowing four hours for this outing, with an hour on the train each way and time at Lakeside between services.
That leaves room for a walk beside Emerald Lake before boarding for the journey back. Our Puffing Billy half-day or full-day guide explains the longer railway visits.
For a separate train outing with Melbourne transport, book the Puffing Billy half-day tour. It takes five to six hours and returns in the early afternoon, leaving the rest of your day free! The included train ticket is still one-way, rather than the return railway trip described above.
On a separate island day, you have more daylight for Cowes, coastal walks and other stops before the Penguin Parade. Our guide to what to do before the Penguin Parade covers the island’s daytime attractions.
Or keep your morning in Melbourne and join the Phillip Island afternoon tour on a separate date. The nine-hour outing includes the Nobbies, standard Penguin Parade viewing and return transport.
The penguins still return at sunset, so a separate island outing still ends late. Book the half-day train tour and afternoon island tour on different dates, not as two connecting trips on the same day.
Take a guided tour to leave the transfers and night-time driving to someone else. If you drive, you decide where to stop and arrange your own tickets and return journey.
The Puffing Billy and Penguins Experience day tour gives you four pickup locations:
Choose the closest of these to your accommodation when booking. The Southbank pickup is handy if you’re staying south of the river; the other three are in the city centre.
The Puffing Billy and Phillip Island Penguin Parade tour meets at the Hotel Windsor, 111 Spring Street, Melbourne. It’s a set meeting point, not a pickup from whichever hotel you’re staying in.
Whichever tour you book, allow time to reach its meeting point from your accommodation.
Self-driving means booking the railway and Penguin Parade separately, then connecting the two attractions by road. A return train trip needs more time than the one-way ride included in a combined tour.
For General Viewing, plan to arrive an hour before the penguins. Allow for that early arrival when planning the drive from the railway.
Public transport won’t get you through this full day and back to Melbourne after the penguins. Nature Parks has no public transport between its parks, and V/Line buses don’t return to Melbourne after the Penguin Parade.
Make sure the person driving back is well rested. Don’t continue driving when tired; stay overnight or have another rested driver take over. Our Phillip Island tour or self-drive guide also covers transport for a separate day on the island.
The train and penguins give children plenty to get excited about!
Think about your child’s normal bedtime before booking the combined day. Waiting for the penguins is only part of the evening; you still have the journey back to Melbourne afterwards. For children who need an early night, a standalone railway outing keeps that day shorter. A separate Penguin Parade visit still finishes late.
Children under four aren’t allowed to sit on Puffing Billy’s carriage sill. Children aged four to thirteen must stay within arm’s reach of a supervising adult when sitting on the sill. Each adult can supervise no more than two children on the sill.
Puffing Billy recommends small folding prams. To keep yours in your carriage, it must fit under the seat; larger prams travel in another carriage. The railway also has wheelchair-accessible carriages with ramps. Book an accessible carriage in advance. The Penguin Parade has accessible grounds and designated wheelchair viewing areas.
Neither of the two combined tours allows prams. If you need a pram with you throughout the outing, take your own vehicle with room to carry it between the attractions.
An accessible train carriage doesn’t make the tour bus wheelchair-accessible. You need suitable transport for the road journeys as well as a ramp-equipped carriage. For an independent railway visit, book the accessible carriage in advance and travel there in a vehicle that accommodates your chair.
Pack a warm, windproof jacket and a raincoat, even when Melbourne starts the day warm. You’ll be in an open-sided carriage during the day and by the coast after dark. Comfortable walking shoes, a refillable water bottle and familiar snacks are useful between stops. Keep your jacket handy for the Penguin Parade rather than buried in your bag.
Not after sunset. Photography and video are prohibited at the Penguin Parade after sunset, including on your phone. The ban applies even if your flash is switched off. Put the camera away and enjoy watching the little penguins cross the beach and head towards their burrows. Save your photos for the train, Emerald Lake and daytime coastal scenery earlier in the trip.
No. Neither of the two featured tours includes Brighton Beach. Their itineraries cover the railway, island stops and Penguin Parade, not the colourful bathing boxes. Visit Brighton separately if you want to see the bathing boxes.
