Experience the scenic Yarra Valley on the Puffing Billy train. This full-day trip takes you through the Dandenong Ranges to Emerald Lake, the Healesville Sanctuary Zoo, and the Yarra Valley Chocolaterie & Ice Creamery. At the last stop you can enjoy free samples and chocolate shopping. This trip starts and ends near Southern Cross Station in the Melbourne CBD.

All entry fees included
WiFi included
Air-conditioning on board
Coffee and tea included

What's Included

Air-conditioned vehicle
Entry to ride Puffing Billy (Belgrave to Emerald Lake)
Entry to Healesville Sanctuary
Entry to Yarra Valley Chocolaterie
Entry to Emerald Lake

Bottled water

Meeting and Pickup

Pickup point

The Hotel Windsor
111 Spring Street, Melbourne, Victoria 3000 Australia

Start time

09:00 AM

Pickup details

8.15am Pick Up Time. Hotel Windsor, 111 Spring Street at 8.15am To be confirmed 24hours prior to start of tour. Please note, this tour is NOT suitable for cruise passengers due to tour timings.

What To Expect

Emerald Lake

1 hour 15 minutes • Admission Ticket Included

Puffing Billy Playground

3 hours • Admission Ticket Included

Healesville Sanctuary

3 hours • Admission Ticket Included

Yarra Valley Chocolaterie & Ice Creamery

30 minutes • Admission Ticket Included

Additional Info

Confirmation will be received at time of booking
Not wheelchair accessible
Stroller accessible
Near public transportation
Infants must sit on laps

Most travelers can participate
Please note, this tour is NOT suitable for cruise passengers due to tour timings.
Infants aged under 3 years old are welcome to attend free of charge providing they do not occupy a seat. If a seat is required for the infant, please purchase a child ticket for them.
This tour/activity will have a maximum of 240 travelers

Cancellation Policy

You can cancel up to 24 hours in advance of the experience for a full refund.

For a full refund, you must cancel at least 24 hours before the experience’s start time.
If you cancel less than 24 hours before the experience’s start time, the amount you paid will not be refunded.
Any changes made less than 24 hours before the experience’s start time will not be accepted.

Cut-off times are based on the experience’s local time.
This experience requires good weather. If it’s canceled due to poor weather, you’ll be offered a different date or a full refund.
This experience requires a minimum number of travelers. If it’s canceled because the minimum isn’t met, you’ll be offered a different date/experience or a full refund.

Traveler Photos

Featured review

Fiona_C

This was a funtastic tour. Our tour guide Russell was accommodating and friendly. The highlight of my adventure was the journey on the Puffing Billy and the Chocolate Factory. Thank you for this excellent adventure.. I would definitely invite my friends and family next time.

Reviews

4.5

197 reviews

Total review count and overall rating based on Viator and Tripadvisor reviews

Reviews by Viator travelers.

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Showing 1-10 of 197 reviews

Good trip.

Ralph_H, Apr 2024

Healesville Zoo, platypus and flight display. Choccy factlry was good Driver/guide (Marika?) did well. (Apologies for egregious name recall.) Choccy factory was interesting. Been on Puffing Billy prior.

AMAZING

Hazel_T, Apr 2024

Kudos to Gavin to this amazing trip! Arrived on time, very accommodating, we love his energy and playlist, we were all taken care of, and he’s very adept to all tourist things. We would love to have him again as our tour guide. He deserves a raise!

Great tour, really worth going.

Audrey_B, Apr 2024

Great trip, really enjoyed. Our tour guide and driver Gavin was brilliant, very informative and genuinely a nice guy.

Nice tour

Natalia_G, Apr 2024

We spend such a good time! Jim is the best driver, a really nice person an excellent guide! We definitely recommend it.

Perfect day out !

kelly_m, Apr 2024

Absolutely worth the money!! My sister and I LOVED this trip. Our tour guide Russel was friendly and accomodating and the activities planned were unique and enjoyable — definitely one of my favourite tours ever.

Amazing experience.

Albe_S, Apr 2024

What a wonderful experience! Our tour guide, Peter, was excellent and provided interesting facts along the way. Make sure to put this tour on your to do list when you visit Melbourne!

Puffin' all the way

Helen_M, Apr 2024

The entire day was great. Would highly recommend this tour. Would have been better if they had option of enclosed carriages.

Awesome !

Nomin_B, Apr 2024

Everything is amazing! Kind staff and captain, beautiful view and of course the joyful atmosphere in the Puffing Billy train.

Trip worth the money

Pauline_A, Apr 2024

The puffing billy was definitely the highlight. You wouldnt think the sanctuary would take that long to go around but we actually spent 3 hours walking around, can get tiring but you have resting spots everywhere, the birdshow was informative and nice to watch. What brightened our day was our guide Gavin, he was a total sweetheart throughout the trip.

Angelic Guide, Wonderful Experience Mix

JohnD_P, Mar 2024

Raffy (short for Raffael) was our great guide - friendly, personable, just talkative enough, and played acceptable music for the drives. The coal fired steam train was authentic and very entertaining. The sanctuary had a great mix of Aussie flora and fauna (only couldn't see the platypus), with a fantastic live bird show. The chocolateria was a chocoholic's dream; their ice cream was nice too. The Yara Valley wine growing countryside was picturesque.

Great experience

AnnMarie_B, Mar 2024

Great trip, our guide Ben was brilliant. The train ride is definitely a highlight that you have to experience.

Great, fun experirnce...

ALBERT_E, Mar 2024

It was a great experience! Family had fun with included activities. They could have add at least 1 more activity in between and the guide could have been more entertaining.

Sweet Memory of Puffing Billy Tour

LEONGGEOK_C, Mar 2024

This is my 4th time riding Puffing Billy Train and still enjoyed very much. Doris(not sure got the correct name) is a friendly and lovely tour guide. She even helped to take photos and video for us.

Wholesome and heartwarming

Laura_A, Mar 2024

Was a wholesome and heartwarming experience with a tour that didn’t rush you through the experience, but rather let you enjoy and take it all in

Great experience

Daryl_R, Mar 2024

We had a great time on the Puffing Billy tour. The train ride itself was a great experience. The lake stop was a beautiful place to visit. The Healesville sanctuary was great. We enjoyed some ice cream at the chocolate factory. Warren, our tour guide was fantastic, gave me good informed information, and had a few jokes to share as well as well as some funny banter. We would highly recommend this to anyone of all ages.

We had a great time this...

Pam_J, Mar 2024

We had a great time this trip. We were lucky that the weather was very nice. What an experience especially the train ride. the sanctuary was not too big so the time that we stopped there was a pleasant walk to see majority of animals.

Great trip, but not as described

Vicky_B, Mar 2024

This is the 3rd Viator tour lately that completely skipped a promised part of the trip. The descriptions says: "Emerald Lake Enjoy a leisurely stroll around beautiful Emerald Lake. 1 hour 15 minutes • Admission Ticket Included When I asked our tour guide, who was otherwise wonderful, why we weren't doing it, he just said "I thought I'd give you more time at Healesville." No options for us, no discussion--it was just skipped. And the nearly 4 hours at Healesville was too long--at least half of us were killing time at the exit long before our time was up. I hate that when we're deciding what trips to do, we can't really count on the descriptions. Otherwise it was a great trip, but I was looking forward to a walk around a lake.

Steam train to Little Devils

Mark_K, Mar 2024

The very active Tasmanian Devils at Healesville Sanctuary were THE highlight of the trip! Just Simply Amazing!

BEST tour

Carolyn_B, Mar 2024

It all started with the Best tour operator and his name is Harley. Harley was very kind and knowledgeable and drove very safely. The train ride was wonderful that we went to the beautiful sanctuary and we were able to see the bird show at 3 PM before heading to a lovely chocolate factory I highly recommend this tour

Awesome train ride

Belinda_R, Feb 2024

The actual train ride was fabulous and such a unique experience. The sanctuary and chocolaterie were other plus to a memorable trip. Was however expecting to drive back in the train as the ticket was a return one.

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