Beyond the vines

Beyond Hunter Valley Wine Country: Where to Go Next

Almost everyone who comes for the wine has a second day to fill, and the coast is closer than most visitors expect. These are the places within two hours, what each one is for, and whether it fits alongside a day among the cellar doors.

Newcastle — 50 minutes east

Australia's second-oldest city, built on coal and now living off its beaches. The Bathers Way walk runs from Nobbys Beach past the ocean baths to Merewether, and the harbour still works. It pairs well with the valley because the drive is short and the character is completely different.

Port Stephens and the dunes

An hour and a quarter north-east, and the reason people extend a Hunter trip into a long weekend. Dolphin cruises leave from Nelson Bay year-round, and the Stockton Bight dunes run for 32 kilometres. It is too much to squeeze onto the end of a wine day, so give it a night.

Lake Macquarie

An hour south-east, and the largest coastal saltwater lake in Australia. Sailing, paddling and waterside walking, with far fewer visitors than Port Stephens. It sits neatly on the drive back toward Sydney if you leave the valley by late morning.

Barrington Tops

Two hours north into World Heritage rainforest and snow gum country, with waterfalls and cool-climate walking. Roads are slow and the weather is its own thing. This one needs a day of its own rather than an afternoon.

The Central Coast, on the way back to Sydney

Terrigal, Avoca and the Bouddi peninsula sit an hour and a quarter south, roughly halfway home. Stopping here turns a hard two-and-a-half-hour drive into two easy legs with lunch on a beach in the middle.

Maitland

Thirty minutes east, with a restored heritage high street and the train station most visitors arrive at. The Levee riverside precinct has taken the town from a place you pass through to one worth an hour, and Maitland Gaol runs tours of a prison that only closed in 1998. It is the obvious stop if you are arriving by train and killing time before a transfer.

Cessnock and the valley towns

Cessnock is the working town at the foot of the vineyards, ten minutes from Pokolbin, and it is where the valley's supermarkets, chemists and cheaper beds are. Nulkaba and Allandale sit between it and the vines. None of these are attractions, but they are where half the accommodation is, and several tours pick up across all of them.

Wollombi and the back road to Sydney

Forty minutes south-west, a sandstone village on the old Great North Road with a pub, a general store and a valley of its own. Taking the Wollombi road back toward Sydney instead of the motorway adds about forty minutes and turns the drive into part of the trip. It is slow, winding and worth doing once.

Making it a weekend: two itineraries

Wine and coast. Day one, a guided tour through the cellar doors so nobody drives. Day two, breakfast in Pokolbin, then Newcastle for the ocean baths and the Bathers Way, and back to Sydney down the M1.

Wine and water. Day one, the same guided tour. Day two, north to Nelson Bay for a dolphin cruise and the Stockton dunes, staying a second night in Port Stephens rather than driving back the same evening.

Adding a night: what fits with what

The pattern that works best: wine country on day one with a guided tour so nobody drives, then the coast on day two with the car. Doing it the other way round means finishing a long beach day with a two-hour drive inland.