Other towns close to Castlemaine for day trips are:
The centre of town has wide streetscapes with many heritage buildings which can be explored on foot with a self-guided walking tour. In the heart of town there are many stores such as bookstores, antiques and collectables, galleries with original art and designer fashion and other boutique shopping experiences.
Opposite the beautiful Botanical Gardens is the old 1870s Woollen Mills complex which is now a vibrant space bursting with food producers such as Oakwood Smallgoods, Long Paddock Cheese and Ice Cream Social, artisans such as Sprout Bakery and Cabosse and Feve Chocolates, winemakers such as Boomtown Wine, Shedshaker Brewery and Taproom and Das Kaffeehaus where you can taste locally roasted coffee in an Austrian styled setting. Castlemaine Vintage Bazaar and Platform No.5 has vintage, upcycled, hand-made, second-hand and antique goods. You can also stroll around the artisan precinct and observe artists at work in quirky spaces.
Visit Bendigo Region Website
Castlemaine and Moonlight Flat is known for its natural beauty and is home to some amazing scenic walking/riding tracks as well as our beautiful Botanic Gardens. As Castlemaine is surrounded by nature, a great way to discover this region is by taking a bushwalk or jumping on a bike. The Castlemaine Visitor Information Centre provides bike hire with both half day and full day mountain bike hire options and the centre also has pamphlets on walks and riding tracks in the area. A State National Park backs on to our property allowing easy access to some local walking tracks.
The most popular walking/cycling track is The Goldfields Track which cuts a 210km path through the heart of Victoria’s historic Goldfields and runs between Bendigo and Ballarat via Daylesford. The track has a wide variety of walking terrain and offers spectacular views and historical relics. It runs through the Castlemaine Diggings National Heritage Park and there are several entry and exit points at places like Mount Alexander, Chewton, Fryerstown and Vaughn, allowing you to break it down into shorter sections. The townships of Castlemaine, Maldon, Taradale and Newstead all have networks of established walking tracks. Mount Alexander Regional Park, Vaughan Mineral Springs Reserve and the Maldon Historic Reserve are some of the highlights for walkers.
It is family friendly and easy to navigate with signage and trail markers providing information on distance, direction and location. The historic railway served rural Victoria from 1880 through to the 1970s and has been restored to its former glory by dedicated volunteers.
You can also travel on the steam train operated by Victorian Goldfields railway (Wednesdays and Sundays) The ride takes around 2 hours one-way with the main entry points located on Langslow Street in Castlemaine and near the Beehive Mine on Reef Street in Maldon. There is an annual event held each spring called Race the Train.
