Phillip Island Penguin Parade Express Tour From Melbourne

It’s a good tour. The tour guide David N. was great. It’s so funny to see the penguins walking back to their homes. We had also the opportunity to see other wild animals.

Chris N was amazing , The tour was amazing, The penguins were adorable The Rangers were helpful and staff were great

The experience with the penguins was amazing

Great tour very easy way to see the little penguins

This is something you must see! Such a unique experience and definitely when James/Jaimes is our driver! He’s humerous, super friendly and explains everything very well. He does not only talk about the penguins but also about the island and other wildlife. Would 100% book again.

It's a lovely way to spend the second half of the day and Go West's Jacqui,our driver and guide,was peppy and full of life .The Penguins are simply too cute and they waddled back from the ocean at near to 7 pm and we got a closer look at them as they made their way from the beach to the penguin highway as it's called ! .The other two stops before at Cape Woolamai Beach and the Nobbies too were good fun....touched the Southern Ocean too and caught some surfers

We had a good experience from the booking right the way through. The tour guide, Jono , went out of his way to make sure everyone had a good trip and got home safely. He was particularly kind to my grandson who has Autism and finds travel difficult.

We really enjoyed the Phillip Island Penguin Parade tour. Our guide, Tom, was engaged, knowledgeable, and clearly enjoyed sharing the area with us. Throughout the trip, he shared plenty of interesting facts and took the time to point out wildlife in their natural habitat, including wallabies, birds, and of course the penguins. Tom also gave us some really good pointers on where to sit and what to look for when the penguins started coming ashore. Those little tips made a big difference once the parade started. I would definitely recommend upgrading to the Premium viewing experience. There are no children under 12 in that section, the penguins come incredibly close to the stands, and you also have access to a more private viewing area along the “penguin highway.” Watching them waddle past you up close as they made their way back to their burrows was easily the highlight of the night. Great experience overall, and I’d definitely recommend both the tour and Tom as a guide.

Didn’t see as many penguins as we had hoped but the experience was fantastic. It’s thrilling to see them in the wild. A plus was seeing the night sky. It was moonless and the island location is remote so the milky way is clearly visible from the venue.

Guide Jaimes was welcoming, humorous, calm and informative (both on Victoria wildlife, beaches and history). Great communication on timing, stops and what to expect at each as well as helpful tips on best viewing areas and penguin spotting. Excellent afternoon tour to see the popular penguin parade.

Well timed pick up , Mr Kevin has an excellent voice ,clear tone , good language, well mannered, good man helping you all the way at each and every step legibly , gifted to have him as our tour guide!!! Overall the tour experience was par excellence! Thank you 🙏

James our guide was incredibly Witty knowledgeable and ace at his job The penguins were another story Too far away to make it worth it at the beach We did see them close up as we went back But I felt sorry for them They are used to soo many humans around I guess The price of the tour is not worth it If you have a car it brilliant but not at the tour price

It was an excellent tour with GoWest. Ben the guide was excellent and very considerate. Will use the same tour company again the next time I'm in Melbourne. Great experience.

Pros: nice guide Cons: tickets do not include Premium viewing - I would go with a different company that does and we would have loved that option!! VERY VERY UNHAPPY - were asked to sit at the feet of other people, not on a proper bench; The transport is in need of updating: burnt our feet from heating underneath our seats and then was blasting out cold air from above to help with the VERY foggy windows (so you will be cold, but your shoes would feel that you’re standing on a radiator); seatbelts gave me and another passenger a hard time Small seats and very small space between rows of seats (tall people do not fit) Commentary could include more information - for at least 4hr journey in total, it was not enough

W trip david is a top bloke , the penguins were funny wee guys🗿

We thoroughly enjoyed this tour, and our guide, Dave N, was amazing. He was knowledgeable, friendly, and made the experience even more enjoyable. Seeing the penguins was a real highlight and made the day unforgettable. We highly recommend this tour!

Loved this tour. Easy pick up. Easy drop off. Informative. Our Guide Woody clearly loved his job and had lots of local knowledge.

Bob was the best tour guide we could have wished for! He shared so much interesting information about Melbourne and the surrounding area, all while keeping us entertained with a few great jokes along the way. Of course, he also knew a lot about the penguins and made the whole experience even more enjoyable. The tour itself was fantastic and very well organized. Seeing the adorable little penguins on Phillip Island was truly unforgettable. We would highly recommend this tour to anyone who wants to see the cutest penguins ever!

Nice trip, Bob is a great guide.

Awesome experience and tour guide Alisha was awesome, pointed out all the wildlife! Penguins were amazing and so many wallabies!

Interesting experience and guide was knowledgeable!

We had a fantastic trip to Penguin Island, stopped off at Sunderland Beach and The Nobbies before travelling through the nature reserve for the Penguin Parade. David.N was our guide and was fabulous, very attentive, and couldn’t do enough for us, he was extremely knowledgable about the animals we saw and the surrounding countryside, we also saw Wallabies, geese, possums, echidna, as well as the penguins, plenty of photo opportunities, and restroom breaks if you wanted them. The trip was amazing and I would love to do it all again, and would highly recommend, you also get to stay and watch the penguins to 19.15 most bus trips left at 18.30, so you had longer to take it all in and didn’t feel rushed.

Our tour guide, Michael, was the star of the show! Such a fun experience- would recommend to anyone!

Really enjoyed walking along the boardwalk and watching the ocean waves crash along the rocks. There was a full moon when we were there so the penguin sightings were minimal. Recommend you check the moon phase before booking this trip. Our guide was very enthusiastic. If you sat on the left side of the bus, you could see a lot of wallabies.

I loved it! You were great and so was your singing.

Cloe was a great tour guide. And the tour itself is fun but during my visit i.e. late February there were hardly any penguins. I was traveling with friends who were locals and they said typically its a minimum of 400 penguins and as high as 32000 in one night. People over at the Milawul island knew about it when I asked the staff over there. I felt cheated that they knew about it and yet sold tickets. They could've just told people not to come or refunded their money.

The experience was 9 hours, 2:45pm - 11:45pm. We spent a total of 1 hour and 20 minutes at the penguin parade. We spent 30 minutes at a beach to watch surfers, 45 minutes at a nice boardwalk and then we scouted the Penguin Parade and were told where to the best seats were for when we enter. And then… we went to a town for dinner! Not the Penguin Parade, but a 1 hour trip so people could enjoy a nice dinner. We brought our dinner as to not miss any time with the penguins. The Penguin Parade facility has restaurants… they could have let those that wanted to spend time with the penguins, visit the center, go to the gift shop, enjoy the actual tour location. Instead we arrived as one of the last tour buses and had to hustle to the viewing area and all the good seats were taken. We were so late… it was so unacceptable. We just didn’t have enough time with the entire reason for the trip! A nice dinner out was more important than the penguins. The only reason the tour gets two stars is the guide was energetic, kind and did a great job outside of the itinerary.

It was a lovely and truly memorable trip — one we will never forget, especially as it was our first visit to Phillip Island. These wonderful memories were created thanks to Angel Sophie, who really lived up to her name by hosting us with the care of an angel and the warmth of a mother. She kept everyone engaged throughout the entire journey, offering clear guidance and distinct instructions that made the experience smooth, enjoyable, and successful. Many thanks to Angel Sophie for making our trip so special.

Mel, our guide was brilliant, lovely with the children, very informative and made us laugh. However crowd control for the guides was a nightmare, instructions were not followed which made the experience very frustrating. Quite simply sit down & no cameras! My recommendation SIT ON THE SAND AWAY FROM STUPID PEOPLE, NOT THE SEATING AREA!

Alisha was brilliant, lifted our spirits after a tough day and wow, what a beautiful spectacle the Penguin parade was

Our Guide Angel was the jewel in the 👑 n this tour she was wonderful very informative sndso much fun . The afternoon just flew . Unfortunately it was very busy on Feb 14 and we were unable to get Penguin + tickets. We saw about a dozen penguins and they were so cute. Many of the tourists however were using flash photography and this was most annoying as flash photography not allowed.

Very cheerful and happy experience with our tour guide Angel Sophia.

It is a very long day, but definitely worth it to see the penguins. Our guide also took us to several other places on the way that were very interesting.

We had a great time with Angel Our guide. The trip was so much more than we expected. 2 stops at beautiful beaches along the way before we got to the penguins. Highly recommended

Mel is the best tour guide. The animals on the island are so lovely. Could be a little bit cold at night, so take a coat or a blanket.

A really nice tour held by Robbo. We left Melbourne at 2:45 pm and did three stops (one was for dinner) before we arrived at the penguin place at 8 pm. Sat down and watched the penguins come up from the sea and then followed then along the boardwalk. No photography on the penguins is allowed.

Ashleigh did a great job as tour guide! She was very knowledgeable about about Australia's history and the penguins (and all other animals we saw) :)

Nature’s cutest parade. Beautiful experience to see those penguins coming out from sea. Our tour driver, Chris was awesome.

Bob, our driver was quite entertaining. He gave a bit of the history of the island and how the penguins’s natural habitat was almost destroyed but eventually through local and government efforts to buy back lands, the penguins population began to increase again. We were lucky that the weather was very good and was not very cold at all. We got to see these little penguins made their way out of the water and waddled their way back to their burrows.

Bob took us on a tour and went to see the zoo, and penguines, and a lot of beaches. He was funny, respectful, and nice. We saw a lot, and we learned a lot too, from bob. I like bob 🙂

Bob Tour leader is very friendly and patient safe drive. Highly recommend to visit Melbourne. Go and experience. I liked it. Adelaide group

Was great to see the little penguins in their natural surroundings but don’t think people should be allowed to view on the beach this encourages people to move around & disturb & frighten the penguins. In addition I do not think advisable that you should be allowed to eat food at the event it encourages seagulls who just fly continuously over us.

Tour guide Mr. David N is very helpful and experienced. He provided a lot of useful information and advice throughout the whole trip and guided us to take a good view to the penguins and other Aussie animals. The tour bus is comfortable and equipped with free wifi, good enough for the day trip. Although there is a bit of rain during middle of the trip, the view is good and the penguin and wallaby are cute.

One of nature’s wonders, and a must see opportunity whilst you’re in Melbourne. Judging by the number of coaches in the car park, there are multiple operators taking groups to see the cute little penguins at Phillip Island, but we had the best time with Go West, mostly because of our wonderful driver & guide, Bob. He was not only very well informed, he was also very welcoming, charming and funny! He even gave us useful guidance on the choices of restaurant in Cowes, and how to get the best out of our time watching the penguins on their nightly ritual. If you get Bob as your guide, you can count yourself very lucky.

If you are in this part of Australia it's a trip you must do. Being so up close to wild life is always an experience worth having.

This was one of the highlights of our two weeks in Australia. Our guide, driver and DJ was Cloe. What a great person she is. Cloe made the two-hour drive fun and educational. We learned a ton about Melbourne and of course, the penguins, from her. She schooled us on what to expect and how to get the most of our experience. Cloe literally walked our group into the area and helped us get the best seats, right on the beach for optimum viewing. You'll sit on bleachers that have been built at strategic spots near the water. Seeing the little penguins coming out of the surf is truly magical. But most of the up-close viewing happens away from the beach, on walkways built next to paths taken by the penguins as they climb the bluff beyond the beach on their way to their burrows. It's too bad many visitors don't adhere to the rules and turn off their cell-phone cameras. It's not allowed as it hurts the penguins' eyes, the lights/flash that is. Many disregard this order as there's not enough staff members to get everyone to comply. This tour is worth doing, especially if you get someone as personable and fun as Cloe. We even started talking astronomy as we got ready to depart the area, she pointed out the Milky Way, which looked amazing on this clear night. Since we were raised and still live in a large metropolitan area in Southern California with lots of lights, we had never seen it. An unexpected highlight for sure.

it's exciting to see those little penguins walk towards their habitat, they are all cute, it's a memorable experience

Our guide/driver Sophia is the best. Entertaining and informative, with an encyclopedic knowledge of her city and state, including its eateries. She saved the best for last: the Phillip Island Penguin Parade. A long day, but a perfect one.

The guide Aleks made this trip a great experience. She knew a lot about Melbourne and Phillp Island and answered everyones questions. She made me feel comfortable. On top the penguine parade and the stop beforehand are amazing. With lots of layers to warm yourself you can enjoy this great afternoon trip the best.