Now that winter is here, we can complain about the cold or we can choose to embrace it by way of a day trip to Mount Buller!

A quick check on the internet shows a range of service providers that do return trips within the same day. The catch is that the start time is rather early, between 5.30am to 6am. There is a choice of pickup locations (Melbourne CBD, Boxhill etc).

We went with Viator. With the easy booking and payment process, it was a breeze.

On the day of travel, we woke up pretty early to ensure we didn’t miss the bus. The driver was chirpy and after ticking off the names of the passengers, we set off for our first stop at Mansfield to rent snow gear and to have breakfast.

First stop at Mansfield for Rental of Snow Gear

Upon reaching Mansfield 2.5 hours later, we were quite famished. As we had already packed warm clothing for snow play and did not have plans to ski, we had plenty of time to head straight for the café for coffee and a sandwich while the rest of our bus mates jostled with snow gear rental.

The onward journey from Mansfield to the base carpark of Mount Buller took just 45 minutes. We were surprised to note that the mountain roads were not as winding as we expected, so we did not experience the much dreaded motion sickness.

Before alighting from the bus, the driver took pains to drill into us not to be late when it came time to leave and head back to Melbourne (4 pm). With that, we were left to freely explore the mountain by taking a free shuttle bus from the base carpark to Mount Buller Village.

Mount Buller Village

Being a weekday, the resort wasn’t too crowded. However, being non skiers, we explored the cafes, restaurants and were soon quite bored. The Village Toboggan Park was a short stroll across from the village square and was mainly used by young children.

Alpine Museum

We decided to head for the Alpine Museum, located further up the road from the village square. Entry is free and within the premises, there were many interesting artefacts related to Mount Bullers to look at.

The museum was manned by a very pleasant older man and he recommended taking the scenic lift even higher up the mountain to enjoy the views. Thankfully, we took his good advice and did just that.

Mt Buller’s Sightseeing Chairlift

It was a different world up there!

With the howling wind and white landscape of snow, it finally looked and felt like Christmas! We would heartily advise anyone to spend more time at this higher peak.

Soon, it was time to leave. We took the chair lift down and made our way to base carpark which was a short wal away. Then we hopped onto our tour bus for our return journey to Melbourne, which was thankfully uneventful. We got back to Melbourne at around 8.30 pm.

Thoughts About Our Day Trip to Mount Buller

Travelling by tour bus is definitely worth it if you do not wish to drive 3.5 hours one-way. It is also good in that you do not have to mess around with putting on and taking off snow chains from your car tyres.

It’s worth noting that food is expensive up on the mountain. We had fish and chips, pies and hot drinks at various eateries. There is a small supermarket which sells sushi and other food. All up, our meals cost about 50% more than down the city, and not nearly as tasty. A number of families packed their own food. They sat at picnic tables located at the village square to have their snacks. Wish we had thought of that!

Mount Buller has an elevation of 1,805 metres and we certainly did not go all the way up to the summit. So altitude sickness was not an issue for us during this trip as well.

Would we do it again? Most definitely, but on a different mountain!