Lively culture, overwhelming nature - Victoria, with its area of almost 228,000 square kilometers, is the second-oldest, second-smallest, and yet most varied of all Australia’s states.
Introduction
Victoria is Australia’s smallest and most populous mainland state. By Australian standards, you could almost say it is crowded. Despite its size, however, it is incredibly diverse: mountains, deserts, rainforest, beaches and plains make up the landscape. The state also has a rich historical heritage, multicultural people and a large sophisticated city.
The state revolves around Melbourne, a city which combines the gracious character of its Victorian past with style, innovation and energy. Not only is Melbourne pretty to look at with its beautiful parks and gardens and its serpentine Yarra River, but it is the most cosmopolitan of all Australian cities with a huge cultural mix.
Within just an hour or two of Australia’s second largest city, you can swim with dolphins or try local wines in the Yarra Valley. To the west are the popular coastal towns of the Great Ocean Road. Inland is one of the state’s best national parks, the magnificent Grampians, where craggy sandstone rock faces tower above swathes of forest. Towards the coast the foothills run down to the moist green fields of Gippsland and come to an end in the perfect sandy coves of Wilson’s Promontory and the series of tranquil lakes, lagoons and inlets further east.
