Phillip Island Penguin Parade & Wildlife Tour From Melbourne

Our driver, Pete, was excellent very friendly, knowledgeable and entertaining, he also was very adaptable considering the weather conditions and the fact that the moto GP 2026 was on in Cowes. The actual tour and seeing the penguins was amazing, make sure you pay for the penguin plus option well worth it. Pete added loads of local knowledge to each part of the tour and made some great recommendations.

An awesome experience. Despite the unpredictable weather, our tour guide Stuart managed it with sense of humour and wisdom. He is informative, warm and kind. The penguins and the nature is humbling!

Tour was well-planned, gave us a lot of time in each attraction. Tour guide is very friendly and informative, helped us get the best experience throughout. Worth the price overall.

We had an absolutely wonderful experience with Explore Australia, and a huge part of that was our guide, Stuart. From the moment the tour began, Stuart was friendly, knowledgeable, patient, and genuinely passionate about sharing Australia with his guests. He took us to Moonlit Sanctuary, the Nobbies, the Penguin Parade, and several other beautiful locations throughout the day. At every stop, he made sure everyone was comfortable and never rushed us. He was always there when we returned, ready with more fascinating information and stories. What really set Stuart apart was his ability to bring Australia to life. He taught us about Australian culture, wildlife, history, and local customs, while also pointing out countless things we would have completely missed on our own. His enthusiasm was contagious, and he was consistently kind, gracious, and engaging throughout the entire tour. We have taken many guided tours over the years, and Stuart ranks among the very best guides we have ever had. The tour itself was fantastic, but Stuart's professionalism, warmth, and knowledge made it truly memorable. We loved every part of the experience and would happily do this tour again. Highly recommended!

Must Visit Experience. Do try it out. Mark was great at his work. An All-In-one person who handled everything well.

This was my second daytrip booking with them. Highly recommended tour agent. Absolutely amazing penguins and wildlife tour. Antony was our tour guide for Moonlit sanctuary experience. He is very professional , polite and cheerful.Very small group and comfortable bus. He explained to us clearly and gave us tips along the way. Me and my kids thoroughly enjoyed feeding the wallabies and ducks and Kengaroos. Very close encounters. Loved it. Saw cute koals. After half day we were combined with another group for Penguin island. Gina was our guide. She is very professional, explained about the wildlife , when to spot. Dos and donts. Stopped at places to get stunning philip island coastal views. Only small vehicles can reach these places. Always ask the guide what is the best place to sit for penguin viewing. Try not to miss the penguins coming out of the ocean. Amazing amazing experience. The little blue penguins are adorable. Prepare for cold winds as you will be seeing penguins after sunset. Walk around after a while to see penguins returning to their homes and interaction with each other. Absolutely loved the trip

Had a great time on this tour. Stuart was very knowledgeable. Plenty of time at Moonlit Sanctuary and Penguin Parade station never felt rushed. Thoroughly recommend.

An unforgettable wildlife experience and one of the best introductions to Australia we could have asked for. Moonlit Sanctuary gave us the opportunity to see and interact with Australian wildlife up close, while the Penguin Parade felt genuinely magical once the little penguins began returning ashore at sunset. The entire tour was very organized and balanced wildlife experiences with scenic stops throughout the day. Definitely one of the highlights of the trip. Michael was a wonderful tour guide and driver as well.

Great experience viewing wildlife at the animal sanctuary and the penguin march is one of the best things I have ever seen. As you walk out to the ocean keep an eye on the holes and caves because that is where the penguins are headed. One thing I would recommend is that you carry masks because both tours I have taken people are obviously ill and cough profusely. My family got sick after the tours. I think the tour operators should require the people that are continuously coughing to wear a mask or prevent them from going on the tour.

The sanctuary was nice but obviously the real highlight was seeing the penguins! They were soo adorable! I also really loved the Nobbies- when you get there walk to the left side (the path splits)- very magical place :)

We saw some incredible sights among the nobbies, the penguins and the ocean pyramids. But, there was a lot of lost time waiting for the bus to pick up at different locations. The seating on the bus was too tight. No leg room, especially when you are spending several hours on the bus. The driver was very nice, but less joking and more facts would have improved the tour.

I took this tour on a weekday, which turned out not to be the best choice. One of the towns we stopped in had all their cute souvenir and boutique shops closed which left only restaurants open, so we ended up with about an hour there and very little to do. We also visited Moonlit Sanctuary, which was a huge letdown. The sanctuary looked run down and not very well maintained, and the overall atmosphere was quite depressing. We spent around an hour and a half there, which felt far too long for what there was to see. The rest of the tour included a few quick stops at beaches and coastal viewpoints, but nothing that really made up for the earlier parts of the day. I would have been better off renting a car and exploring on my own, especially just to see the penguins. NOT WORTH IT!

We had the most incredible experience!! I couldn’t recommend it enough!! Our tour guide Peter was so great!!

Not to be missed! We got to see lots of animals at the wildlife preserve, and the penguin parade was incredible. Alan, our driver/guide, was excellent.

The overall experience was good. Although for the Plus seats, the extra expense was too much given that many of the plus seats don’t even face the sea. E only realized towards the end that we were missing a big part of the experience of seeing the penguins gathering on the beach since we couldn’t see the sea at all.

Our guide José was lovely and did everything to make the experience unforgettable for us; his enthusiasm was the best! Our guide Scott was able to tell us a lot about the wildlife on French Island as well and knew exactly where to go for the perfect sightings.

A relaxing, no-hard-selling tour experience. A very comfortable trip for us to wind down indeed. Our guide Stuart was always on time, gave lots of best practices tips on what to do/ look out for on site and during the road trip, good music in the bus, knew when to speak/ when to be quiet, passionate about preserving the nature and the animals. No rush from one place to another. We got to touch the koala and feed the kangaroos/ werribees/ ducks in Moonlit, witness the magnificent waves and wonderful little penguins in Philip island. Though meals are not included in the package, we got to buy nice food on premise and in the Cowe town.

We enjoyed the day- it was an easy pickup from the Mail Exchange hotel, then a seamless drive to the Moonlit Sanctuary (we got to feed so many wallabies and kangaroos), a few other less memorable stops, then Phillip Island for the smallest penguins in the world. We had a wonderful time seeing the animals, and I also appreciated that our guide/driver gave us an additional information about the city sights as we drove to the different drop-off locations.

A very good tour . Driver and guide was awesome . Enjoyed the tour and the penguins . It was a delight to see them walking together

I glad I took the tour, it was lovely experience to feed kangaroo, see the ocean..thank you for organizing everything so well. Taira

Make sure you dress as warm as possible. We bought some extra knit hats at one of the souvenir shops. The souvenirs were cheaper in Cowes than the penguin center too. We regretted not paying for the Penguin Plus option as we couldn’t see anything with general admission though we did see a few penguins along the boardwalk.

This tour really is amazing. We had a fantastic time and we don’t have any regrets about choosing this company. The only reason I’m not giving it 5 stars is because we didn’t stop at all the places listed on the itinerary. Our first stop was Moonlit Sanctuary. We had the perfect amount of time there. We were able to walk the entire reserve at a leisurely pace and see everything, plus grab lunch at the cafe without feeling rushed. I paid extra for my daughter to do the koala encounter and she loved it. We also bought food to feed the wallabies and I really appreciated that the Sanctuary staff suggested we start off with one container to share rather than one each in case the wallabies weren’t hungry, as we didn’t finish a whole container (but the wallabies we did feed were soooo cute). We then drove to Phillip Island and briefly visited a surf beach to get photos (just a short visit, so don’t bother filling your bag with swim suits and towels like we did as there is no time to swim.) I was expecting a stop at Cowes town to walk along the pier and explore the Esplanade, as written on Explore Australia’s website, but this didn’t happen. (Possibly because it was Easter Friday and the traffic to Phillip Island was hideous so we arrived there later than planned? Or maybe this stop was dropped off the itinerary and their webpage was never updated?) We then headed for the Nobbies and I was really looking forward to walking along the boardwalk there, but our bus was not allowed to stop there because another company had booked out the bus parks. Our driver Kat tried to make the best of a bad situation and drove really slowly out of the park, pointing out wildlife that we passed (including a penguin that had come ashore early, very cool to see). But it was really disappointing that Explore Australia hadn’t pre-booked a bus park, seeing as they come here every day and booking is apparently possible. Our final stop was the Penguin parade. I expected to enjoy it but even I was blown away by the sheer number of penguins that waddled past - over 600. It was incredible. We purchased the “penguins plus” tickets and I thoroughly recommend this. We were in the front row on the side that most of the penguins walk past (I asked the staff which side was the best), so we had an incredible view. The penguins were literally right in front of us. It was a holiday highlight. Despite the things that were missed off the itinerary we still had an incredible time, so I did consider still rating this tour 5 stars, but I think ultimately people need to be aware that they won’t necessarily get to do everything written on the itinerary.

This trip was well organised and very informative. We got to feed wallabies, see a wealth of native Australian animals and see an amazing penguin parade at dusk. Stuart our guide was very friendly and so enthusiastic about the animals and his love and appreciation of Australia. He gave us lots of useful tips and things to look out for throughout the day. Thank you so much.

The bus was very small. Sanctuary was ok, have to pay extra for encounters with animals. Nobbies were so busy could hardly walk down walkways. Penguin parade fun but people were continually walking by and standing up so hard to see penguins and even when asked to not take pictures they would try and do it, very rude.

We had an amazing time, our first experience at ‘Moonlit Sanctuary’ & ‘Phillip Island’, loved every minute!! Billy was a great guide, showing us all the wild native animals along the way, have never seen so many echidnas in one day & there were certainly no shortage of wallabies on Phillip Island either!! The penguin parade is something we’ll never forget, thanks so much for taking us Billy, thank you for everything you did for us 🤗

This was a fun trip to the Wildlife refuge and Penguin parade. We had Michael as our guide and he helped make it a fun day. The wildlife refuge has wonderful animals and a great area to engage with the kangaroos. The drive through the National park to see the kangaroos in the wild was amazing. The Penguin parade was great to watch and fun to be next to them on the platform as they walked up the beach to find their nesting place. Overall a wonderful trip!

Very interesting experience! Highly recommende to all travelers. In Moonlit Sanctaury you can encounter koala and take photos with it. And the coastal views of Nobbies Centre was great. Penguin parade was the highlight of that day, our guide Bree helped us find a very nice seat and tell us about the "penguin highway". Very nice guide and tour, recommend to all travellers who love wildlife.

Nice trip, well organized. Beautiful parks, local animals and good transportation. You can see Koalas, Penguins and many Kangaroos.

Lovely trip! Michael was extremwly patient even with guests who always arrive late. We loced the tidbits of trivia he shared while driving us to different spots. Highlight of the day would be our trip to Nibbles beach and the penguin parade. So worth the long trip and glad I've found Explore Australia's tour when all Phillip Island tours were all fully booked.

Penguins, koalas, kangaroos, dingoes, opossums, wallabies... What a lovely day! Sam was an ideal guide: kind, (really) funny and attentive at everyone well being. He gave us lots of very interesting informations throughout the day. The tour is very well thought out and the mechanics well-established. If you drive by Cowes, a pit stop at the Ocean Reach brewery is mandatory ;)

I booked this trip to get out of the City and into nature for the day. I'm so pleased that I did and enjoyed every minute of it. Spending time with the animals and by the ocean. The penguin parade was beautiful and I loved not only seeing them but watching the sun go down by the ocean. Fantastic day!

We had such an amazing time with explore Australia. Our tour guide lachie made the experience so much better by being so kind and funny! This trip gives you a bit of everything. I would definitely go again and recommend to everyone.

The perfect tour for anyone wanting to see some native wildlife and get out of the city into some natural spaces. The tour was timed well, didn’t feel rushed at any point and we weren’t waiting around either. Nik our guide was fantastic, friendly and very informative. You’ll see some great wildlife at Moonlit sanctuary with up close encounters with wallabies and kangaroos as well as the option to go spend some time with Koala’s. And the Penguin parade experience is truly special. This tour is great because it also shows you some of the natural wonder around Forest Cave beach at Cape Woolamai and the Nobbies centre, as well as the charming town of Cowes. Thoroughly enjoyed our day and would urge anyone travelling to Melbourne to take a day to do this tour!

I had an amazing time on this tour. Everything went as planned (we even saw more things). The tour guide- Locky, was great, he talked about everything we were seeing and was very helpful. Even tho there were two groups for two tours, everything went very smoothly. The tour itself is planned amazingly. I loved getting to see the Aussie wild life and also seeing the being nature.

We recently took the Full-Day Penguins and Wildlife Nature Experience from Melbourne, and it was an unforgettable adventure! Although the pickup from the Regent Hotel was slightly delayed, it didn’t affect our schedule, and we made it to the first destination on time. The tour offered excellent value for money, especially compared to another tour we took the previous day, which included Puffing Billy, Healesville Sanctuary, and the Chocolate Factory. That tour was $300 more and ended early at 3:30pm, partially due to storm damage on the tracks, though this was no fault of the organizers. The highlight for the kids was the Moonlit Sanctuary. They loved getting up close to feed kangaroos, wallabies, and the many ducks (that would pick up the scraps). We spent most of our time feeding the animals, we bought 3 portions of kangaroo feed which was plenty. A local we met mentioned that the Moonlit Sanctuary is a hidden gem and offers a more intimate experience for kids compared to other places. I couldn’t agree more! Afterward, we drove to the Nobbies, where we walked along the boardwalk, taking in the stunning views while trying to spot penguins in their burrows. The scenery was breathtaking. The Penguin Parade was next, and sitting in the front rows made it even more special. The seating was divided into two sections, and some penguins wandered right between them. If you go, I recommend bringing a mat to sit on the sand and get as close as possible. The best part of the tour had to be our driver and guide, whom my kids affectionately named Captain Bill. He was amazing with the kids, engaging, and shared plenty of information for the adults during the drive. Hearing my kids say, “This is the best holiday ever!” was a true testament to how well he entertained them on the way back from the Mornington Peninsula to Melbourne. My 8-year-old even declared him the “best captain in the history of captains,” and my 6-year-old wholeheartedly agreed.

The trip was great overall but the schedule was way too rushed. There was a couple who need to go to the French island instead of the moonlit sanctuary, and so the tour guide need to use extra time to pick them up somewhere else. The rest of us were left in a place to wander around the souvenir shops with not much to do for 45 minutes. That made the schedule quite rushed and we didn’t really have enough time for the nobbies and the penguin parade tour.

Our guide Matt was absolutely great, humor, smile always ! On the whole trip Matt kept talking to us and share some AUS knowledge. Love him so much ! I’ll recommend this trip to my friends also.

It was a wonderful day-long tour. We had an amazing tour guide and driver named Gerry, who was a wealth of information and had a wonderful sense of humor. We spent a couple of hours at Moonlight Sanctuary, with ample time to feed the animals and explore at a leisurely pace. We made a stop in a town called Cowes and ended the day at the famous penguin parade. Gerry did a great job of getting us from place to place and keeping the day organized and on schedule. Highly recommend.

The penguins were just delightful. However seeing a wombat at Moonlit Sanctuary and an echidna while driving along was special. Ryan was informative, cares about the environment and showed us why Philip Island is special.

There were many aspects of this tour that give me reason to not give it 5 stars. First, our tour guide was sick and coughing up a storm the entire time, which is not a good idea if you're going to be driving a small vehicle with a total of 6 people. I am now sick as well. Second, I feel like the timing of everything was not allocated well. We had two hours at Moonlit Sanctuary, which was way too much time. We finished walking around in about 45 minutes, even with two school groups there. There was not enough time at the Noobies or Cowes. I would've specifically liked to have more time in Cowes to have time to check out more shops and cafes. I reckon the day was just overall poorly planned. Which lunch not included, the price isn't worth it. I wouldn't do it again.

Ryan made our day fantastic good job Ryan, will come back go support you all. A fantastic team to arrange this

We really enjoyed this tour and our driver very much, and highly recommend it. In the Moonlit preserve you see (and can feed) animals up close. The Phillip Island and the penguins coming out of the ocean in the dark was magical. Bring a warmer jacket for the evening.

Seeing the tiny penguins waddling to shore. Amazing resilience. Well worth the time . Will be a most memorable experience of the Australian trip.

Our guide was absolutely lovely and knowledgeable. It was an amazing full day trip. I highly recommend this beautiful tour.

This tour was a true highlight of our time in Melbourne!!! We got to pet a koala and feed kangaroos & wallaby! The nature center was awesome. Watching surfers was unexpected and cool. That we had priemere seating for the penguines was another surprise. Watching the waves of adorable, little peguines arrive en masse ... indescribably amazing!!! Icing on the cake - our driver/guide, Darren was fantastic!!! His care of us, his commentary en route ... top notch and greatly appreciated!!! He is a definite company asset!!!!

Would 100% recommend this trip! Our guide Matt was so fun and energetic all day, and full of knowledge. His passion and enthusiasm for the wildlife really showed.

Such a fantastic day! Gina was an exceptional guide that had in-depth knowledge of the local area, but knew extensive details regarding Australia’s history, including its native ancestors, and about the extraordinary local wildlife including the wallabies, penguins, and so much more. The tour itself was spectacular but Gina’s amazingly warm attitude and expertise really helped make this trip memorable. Thank you again for an excellent tour!

The anima sanctuary was so fun! We got to pet kangaroos and wallabies and see all kinds of animals. The stops were all really fun and we got some amazing views. I won’t lie, those sweet little penguins popping out of the ocean made me tear up. It was beautiful. As a tour it was seamlessly done and absolutely worth every penny. I would have spent more money for this tour.

Ryan was an excellent guide, friendly, knowledgeable and entertaining making for a fun day out. The trip down was broken up into many stops making it more manageable and exciting. Moonlit sanctuary was a really lovely experience with many animals, all well looked after and very easily done in 2 hours including lunch at the cafe. The stops down to the penguins were beautiful, including a stop at Cowes with shops or just a walk along the beach and then walking along the boardwalk at the Nobbies we saw some penguins having a little snooze in their hatching boxes. When seeing the penguins, anywhere on the boardwalk you will see the penguins once they have come up off the beach, but try and get to the stands early to see the penguins coming out of the water and making a run for it up the beach! The purple bus made it easy to find and the trip home was smooth. We did the trip with 6 adults and 3 children (7, 11 and 14 years) and it was just perfect, plenty of toilet stops along the way, time to eat and just relax!