City tales & hidden Lanes
ballarat self-guided walking tour
Experience the delight of slow travel
Join our hidden lanes self-guided tour - an inspiring and Carefully curated walking experience to discover unique hidden gems of Ballarat’s landscape, history, food and art.
A unique Slow Travel interactive Guidebook
This beautifully created (self guided) tour and guidebook will lead you on your journey while you and your family/friends discover hidden laneways, art galleries, studios, antique and local gift stores, quirky cafes and beautiful scenery in the inner backstreets of Ballarat. QR codes and links will reveal rich storytelling behind the unique businesses, historical sites and inspiring culture via history podcasts (Tales From Rat City), storytelling videos and carefully crafted photography.
highlights
The route starts from The Ballarat Train Station, or Main Road (for a shorter journey) or can be started at any of the landmarks/points. The journey focuses on hidden laneways, art galleries/studios, antique and local gift stores, quirky cafes and beautiful scenery.
It takes 3-4 hrs including stopping at our recommended spots. For full slow travel cred, walk it, otherwise you could cycle or ride a Neuron scooter. You can also pick and choose what you want to do. The main point is to slow down and enjoy the experience.
The self guided tour runs Wednesdays-Saturdays between 11am to 4pm. It’s available to do all year round except for public holidays and the Summer school holidays (generally December 22-18 January) when most businesses are closed. If you’d like to visit a particular spot, check the guidebook for their opening times. See the guided tours here.
A Beautifully curated, inspiring slow travel experience of inner ballarat
This self guided tour is designed for adventurous souls to discover beautiful scenery, art, history and experience slow travel in Ballarat. We recommend scheduling this as a full day-walk, or for a 2 hour to half day walk start at Main Road. Featured in Kayak’s guide to Ballarat here.
Slow Travel Journeys - Inspired by Korea’s Jeju Island
Jarrod and Emma Hall, Hidden Lanes creators spent 9 years in South Korea, and during that time created video content and a slow travel guide to Korea’s Jeju Island. The journey was a walking or cycling route that included beautiful scenery, funky cafes, art galleries and nature. They made a film about the journey, that was featured in the Korean Expat Film Festival and World Bicycle Film Festival. This style of slow journeying includes meandering along laneways, taking your time to take photos, take in the scenery and buy local produce. They were inspired to make something similar for Ballarat!
prefer a hard copy of the ballarat hidden lanes guidebook?
This beautifully produced full colour interactive self-guided tour and guidebook is proudly local from start to finish - including layout and front cover by local designer Matthew Brown, and local printing business, Sovereign Press. Please note, this is the same version as the digital guide, with QR codes rather than links to the podcasts/videos and directions. The 100-page guidebook is now available at Visit Ballarat, the Ballarat Imaginarium and The Known World Bookshop for just $37 RRP or you can order it here.
This guidebook was developed on the Country of the Wathaurong who have performed age old cultural ceremonies, celebrations and traditions here for thousands of years. We would like to acknowledge and pay our respects to the Elders past and present.