Small-Group Phillip Island Afternoon Day Trip from Melbourne

A Highlight of our Trip

We recently booked the Phillip Island tour as part of our recent holiday in Australia, and would definitely recommend the outing. Our tour guide Travis was the perfect host, and his passion for animals and pride in Australia contributed to an overall excellent experience. With respect to the Phillip Island penguin parade, I recommend splurging and going for the underground viewing experience. Definitely worth the money.

Penguins

Over all good experience and excitement with penguin. Driver was nicely explained every location and history also. Time allowed every area is fine

Unique experience for visitors to Melbourne

We had a fabulous day trip with Travis. They do city hotel pick ups at around 1pm. First stop is the moonlight sanctuary where you can get up close and personal with a. Koala (extra fee) and feed wallabies, kangaroos and pottaroos. Park is small but let's you get up close with Australian fauna including spotted quolls, kookaburras etc. Tour makes a short stop at the nobbies before the penguin parade. Make sure you book the pro tickets as you get to see thousands of penguins come onshore from sunset. A memorable experience as you get to see the penguins up close from the board walk. Well worth the visit. Special shoutout to Travis for being a great tour guide throughout the day with useful tips and boundless enthusiasm. He has also an in-depth knowledge of the animals and tour.

Amazing!

The tour was so fun. We had an amazing tour guide Travis. He was so knowledgeable and he made sure that we had the best experience. He gave amazing advice what to do in Melbourne the next day. In the Moonlit Sanctuary we saw so many animals. The koalas were stunning and I hade the chance to see a womat for the first time in my life. The coast line we went to see was breathtaking. Will deffenity go back. The penguin parade was a once in a life time experinence. Everyone has to see this sight at least once in their life. I recommend to do this tour, you get to see a lot and the experince is so much better because it's a small group.

Highly recommended

The tour takes you to the amazing and quiet Moonlit Sanctuary, where you can feed wallabies and see koalas, kangaroos, Tasmanian devils, dingos, emus, local birds, etc. Then you get to see spectacular views of the coast and finally the penguin parade, which is incredible but true. The guide Travis is super knowledgeable, kind, and knows a lot about nature and animals. Highly recommended tour and guide.

My experience

Seeing the penguins, and learning so much from Travis. We learnt lots of new facts and saw lots of wildlife.

Seeing peguins coming out...

Seeing peguins coming out night and noise they make and finding their family and also driving through and seeing kangaroos

Loved the penguins!

Great tour. We all very much enjoyed the visit to Phillip Island as well as stopping at the conservation center to see the wallabies and koalas. Everything was well organized and smooth. Our guide was excellent!

Excellent trip and worth to go

i love my tour guide, his name is Allan, he is so funny and gives so much information about the places where we go. I definitely recommend my friends if they go on the day tour in Melbourne or anywhere else in Aussie.

Funny Fantastic Fred, Pitiful Penguin "Parade"

Fred our guide made this a three star (almost 4!) experience, without him it might have barely made two stars. He was a wealth of information and interesting and funny stoies; and he went out of his way to make our near midnight drop off convenient. The animal exhibit was hot and dusty, with most of the animals laying torpid in the shade. We did get to feed a few wallabies and briefly catch the Tasmanian devil when he came out of his log for a drink of water. We saw more and closer wildlife as we drove around the Penguin peninsula - though that was only wallabies and geese. Though we bought the "plus" Penguin viewing experience, every seat was NOT a "good seat". The viewing area was crowded and only those who suffered the hard board seating an hour early could see well (those on the very front). Not that that made much of a difference as only about 100 penguins passed that location on this night. In all, the rangers reported around 220 for both viewing areas, FAR SHORT of the hundreds to thousands many reviews gush over.

Good to tour Philips Island.

Good day touring Philips Island and Moonlit Sanctuary. It was a busy day, as it was Easter Friday. Unfortunately, it was not the best season for seeing the Pequin Parade, as there was fewer sequins the normal.

Cute penguins

Although the numbers were low it was worth seeing the penguin parade as the waddle up the beach to their burrows.

Wonderful tour to Philip Island and watching the Penguins come ashore.

This was a great tour with our excellent and very knowledgeable guide and driver Travis. He went out of his way to make sure we saw everything and had the best experience possible. After visiting the Moonlit Sanctuary and getting close up to Koala bears and Wallaby's we visited Woolamai Surf Beach and had a short stroll on the boardwalk at Nobbies. After dinner at the Penguin viewing location (at our own expense) we walked down to the viewing platform and as darkness fell we watched the amazing scene of at least a thousand penguins arriving from the sea and walking onto the beach before heading off to their burrows. Again a big thank you to Travis for getting us back to Melbourne afterwards quickly and providing further information on the way. We would highly recommend this tour.

Great experience with Travis.

Great trip with Travis who was very informative throughout the trip. Visit to moonlit sanctuary gets you close up with Kangaroos, wallabies, koala. Then onto coffee shop for delicious coffee and cake. Cowes for dinner, then onto the main event watching the penguin parade. Throughout the journey Travis regularly pointed out wildlife and we were lucky to see several wedge tailed eagles. Highly recommend this tour.

Excellent trip. Great guide

Alan was a fabulous guide, informative, funny and very helpful. Couldn’t have asked for a more helpful guide

Wonderful wildlife experience

Feeding the wallabies and watching the penguin parade was an experience not to be missed Highly recommend spending the extra on the Penguin Plus tickets.

Penguin Parade and much more

Every part of the tour was excellent. We had enough time at each stop without feeling too rushed. The penguins were supposed to be the highlight but I enjoyed all of the places we stopped at. It was a long journey back but that couldn’t be helped.

Get the Penguin plus!

Kevin was a wonderful tour guide, he was very knowledgeable and kind! I had a great day on the tour. It was nice to be able to have the small group option and not have to deal with a large group. The animal sanctuary was fun but the penguins were the highlight of the day for sure. Definitely worth doing! Also penguin plus was worth it to be so up close to the penguins.

Penguins, penguins, penguins

The driver and guide was very knowledgable, helpful and great fun. The penguins experience was cold, but as I was prepared the cute penguins arriving on the beach was an amazing experience. The animal sanctuary was great. Our guide was very helpful with the animals and very knowledgable.

Great shorter day trip to Philip island

Great tour! We got to leave in the afternoon but still saw everyth8ng we wanted to. Moonlit sanctuary was a great stop-we fed wallabies and kangaroos. Philip island is beautiful and the "Penguins plus" has a great viewing location for the penguins. Sam was a great guide!

Phillip island

Great tour,with most amazing tour guides,very knowledgeable tour guides,visit to a sanctuary moonlit to learn about Australia’s wildlife

Fabulous nature adventure

Alan was an exceptional guide, knowledgeable, very effective managing the group and schedule and established a very fun environment for learning and experiencing amazing Phillips Island, thank you!

Great experience!

What a great trip! Seeing all the different animals at the sanctuary was good, even got to feed the wallabies and a kangaroo. Nobbies was beautiful and loved seeing wallabies in the wild. Penguins were the highlight of trip and not to be missed. Allen was an excellent tour driver.

Adventurous Day with Travis

Travis was passionate about his job by answering all of our questions at the Moonlit Sanctuary, the Noobies, or Penguin Parade. Quick stops at a bakery, for dinner in Cowes and the beach. Great memories were made.

Great tour

We had a great tour to Phillip Island with Sam as our host. Sam was informative, friendly & fun. Very enjoyable tour all around. The penguins were so fun to watch. Great time! It is a shame that so many inconsiderate guests don’t follow the rules about no photography though.

Phillips Island tour

Al was an amazing host for our trip. He went out of his way to be informative, and also figured out how to make up time, when unforeseen situations happen with traffic. I highly recommend taking a tour with Al

Unforgettable Adventure

My wife and I recently went on the Small-Group Phillip Island Afternoon Day Trip from Melbourne, and what an absolutely breathtaking experience it was! This tour is definitely a highlight not to be missed while visiting the area. Our driver was incredibly knowledgeable, ensuring we got to see and do everything on our itinerary. The sights we encountered were simply stunning, and the experience exceeded our expectations. We highly recommend this tour to anyone looking for a memorable and immersive day trip from Melbourne.

Fantastic

Our tour driver Ben was so informative- made the trip more memorable! The penguins were astonishing- never forget this

Amazing Experience!!

Amazing experience of seeing up close the wallabies and kangaroo. The highlight would be the penguin parade. I’m in awe with this little fella’s. In addition to that, the view, landscape and the journey are amazing!

We will never forget the penguins, the wallabies, and our bus driver and tour guide Fred

The penguin parade was unforgettable and feeding wallabies great fun but we would have to rank up there with these at the very top our tour guide and driver Fred. What a knowledgeable guide and what a raconteur!! He made our time on the bus a real delight.

Incredible! Beyond worth it!

The tour was incredible! Gary was an excellent host and made sure the whole trip was smooth and enjoyable. All the interim stops at the Nobbies and the moonlit animal sanctuary added to the experience. I do think the actual penguin experience may vary with weather, and we lucked out with perfect weather and visibility that offered incredible viewing of the penguins. Note: GET PENGUIN PLUS! The viewing experience is much better and completely worth the marginal extra $. You’re significantly closer (I.e., 2 feet versus 10+ yards) Only downside is it is a bit of a hike to get there, but Gary’s commentary and wit kept it light. Highly recommend!!!

Great tour, great guide

Great experience watching penguins and petting kangaroos. Sarah has everything I imagine of an ideal guide: humorous, knowledgeable, responsible, and incredibly passionate for her job. She fills the drivings with informational talks and makes them pass a lot faster.

Great Experience

We booked this trip at the last minute, but it was surprisingly easy and perfect. During the whole trip, we saw many animals, koalas, kangaroos, penguins and so on. Among them, penguin parade tickets have been upgraded and we see more penguins returning to their nests. We all enjoyed the trip very much. Alex's experience led us to the penguins in the cave during the day. It was exciting, especially since the penguin parade project itself could not film penguins after sunset, and we left a good souvenir.

Awesome Tour!

Would highly recommend this tour. Seeing the penguin parade was one of the coolest things we’ve ever seen. The nobbies and moonlit sanctuary were also great. Our driver Alex was fun and knowledgeable.

Fabulous Day

The driver/guide was so knowledgeable and enthusiastic. He made our trip memorable giving us so many facts and taking us to the best viewing areas. What a lovely man he was too. We saw so many animals during the day but obviously the highlight was seeing the penguin parade, something we won’t ever forget. We definitely recommend this trip.

Trip was great! Very...

Trip was great! Very enjoyable! Sanctuary was very interesting although could have had another 15 minutes. Penguin parade was great.

Don't miss seeing the little penguins

Watching those little penguins waddling out of the water, was a highlight for us! This is a highly regulated wildlife event....no photos. Fred was our wonderful knowledgeable tour guide, pointing out wildlife along the way. We also visited a Conservation Reserve, where animals can roam freely. We were able to hand feed a wallaby. Highly recommend this trip.

Great experience!

Great experience with an excellent tour guide who was friendly and very knowledgeable. Comfortable vehicle and the trip included everything as advertised. Highly recommended!

Grand nature wonder

It is good nature tour observing the little penguins making their way back from ocean. Plus a chance to visit an animal sanctuary and a few lookout points along the south ocean coast. Tour guide is friendly and knowledgeable. Recommended a nice place to have dinner at own cost.

Amazing Penguin parade! (with some suggestions to improve the tour)

Penguin parade : It was amazing and once-in-a-lifetime experience! I appreciate having an option of purchasing penguin plus seating. However, we were rushed to come back to the meeting point. Then, we found out we had to wait as one guest requested to stay longer. The tour should have given us more time for Penguin parade from the beginning. We wanted to stay another 45-60 min to observe the penguins and check out other things at the visitor center. Nobbies : We loved amazing scenery! We even got to see wallabies and echidnas! Cowes : We really enjoyed dining and checking out the town! which was not included in the tour description in Viator. It would have been very helpful to have a list or a map of eateries as we had limited time and we were not sure what other options were besides what the driver suggested. Moonlit sanctuary : Sanctuary was a bit underwhelming comparing to other sanctuary that we visited. It may be due to excessively hot weather but all exhibits were finished by the time we arrived so we were not able to learn about the sanctuary or animals much. Bus ride : Small group worked very well for us. The driver was nice, upbeat, and entertaining. It was a comfortable ride although it was a long drive. The only downside was that the driver was checking his cell phone multiple times on the way back which was a bit unnerving. Also, there was a couple behind us who talked very loud and non-stop on the way back. It is not the tour's fault but something could have been mentioned to all guests to ensure quiet and relaxing bus ride especially it was late at night. Overall, we had a great time! We feel some areas may need improvements to make it even better.

A magnet cal day at a wildlife Park and Penguin Parade

Dec 27 2023 I did the Phillip Island Penguin Plus tour (full day), with our guide/driver Sarah. We stopped at the Moonlit Sanctuary Conservation Park and then the Penguin Parade. An awesome day, with a terrific guide/driver. Thank you!

Australian wildlife fun!!!

This was a fantastic tour. Our guide, Fred, was not only extremely knowledgeable, he was a hoot! He went out of his way to help us find wildlife including penguins in their nests. The penguin parade was fantastic! Do yourself a favor and buy the upgrade to plus or ranger. Much better views with less crowds. Keep in mind it is cold - very cold. Bring layers and wind protective clothing.

Excellent day in Yarra.

Craig was amazingly helpful, attentive and high professional. I would highly recommend this day out.

Fantastic Tour

Fantastic tour! Ross is so well-versed and he tried his very best to show us everything, especially when he spotted things that were interesting on the road. He took good care of everyone. Thank you Ross.

great coach

the coach is absolute great. i have attend 4 different group of penguin tours. but this lovely elder coach is the only one who prepared a sitting cushion. and he drived us directly to our home on the way back

Great tour to Phillips Island with knowledgeable guide

The Penguin Parade is the cutest thing. On the way down to Phillip's Island we stopped at Moonlit Sancturary where we saw Australian animals and fed Kangaroos and Wallabies as well as other lookout points. At the penguin parade we had reserved penguin plus tickets which meant we were in a less crowded area. The penguins are adorable as the waddle pass you from the ocean to their nests. Our driver/guide Trevor was very knowledgeable and enthusiastic. At Phillip's Island he drove us around to see burrows/nests of the penguins. He was solicitous and very helpful to all.

Nice day, went well

Very good day, the trip was very good, the driver could have maybe listened to his customers a bit more, he didn’t even ask our names and was very full of his life and his own experiences

Wonderful Tour

Ben was the best! He was super friendly, took the time to remember everyone’s names, and even drove us all back to our hotels at the end of the night. My partner and I couldn’t have asked for a better tour experience.

Loved the animal encounters on this tour!

Had a great visit to the Moonlit Sanctuary and Phillip Island, Ross the guide was fantastic and it didn’t feel like a long drive at all. I recommend heading down to the viewing area for the penguins early as the seats fill up fast. Terrific tour, would definitely recommend!

Penguins are great, but bus is uncomfortable.

First the best part: the penguins were amazing, and made the entire trip worthwhile. The bottom line, though, is that we wish we'd driven down there on our own. The minibus was very uncomfortable, especially for my tall husband. We were in the back two seats, right over the rear wheels, and the roads are bumpy. Also, that row doesn't get any flow from the air conditioners, which are overhead and blowing forwards. So when the rest of the group was too cold, we were still too warm. Half the group was a family with three children who were (understandably) very bored by the long drive, especially because they'd already done another tour that morning. Our driver, Ross, did a commendable job in difficult circumstances of trying to look after them and minimize the impact on the rest of the group. I was very impressed by him throughout the tour.