Lorne is one of Victoria’s most popular and scenic tourist destinations. It is located 140 kilometres south-west of Melbourne, along one of the state’s most scenic coastal routes, the Great Ocean Road, between the large seaside towns of Anglesea and Apollo Bay.

Café’s and boutiques line Lorne’s main foreshore thoroughfare of Mountjoy Parade, creating a Mediterreanean feel to the area. The wide foreshore areas extend from the shops on Mountjoy Parade down to the patrolled sandy beaches.

The mountainous eucalypt forests of the Otway Ranges form an attractive backdrop to Lorne, with the Great Otway State Park offering bushwalking and scenic views. The vegetation ranges from heathland to cool temperate rainforest. Species of messmate, blue gum, mountain grey gum and mountain ash are to be found with tree-ferns, blackwood and satinwood predominating the wetter areas of the forest. Many spectacular waterfalls, including Erskine Falls and Phantom Falls, are located a few kilometres out of town.

Lorne is home to over 170 bird species, such as the rare crested penguin and peregrine falcon, along with many nocturnal marsupials such as the eastern grey kangaroo, swamp wallaby, marsupial mice, echidnas, ringtail and brushtail possums and bandicoots.

The Great Ocean Road between Lorne and Apollo Bay is a particularly scenic section of this popular tourist route with the road hugging the coastline for much of its 45 kilometre journey between these two major centres.  Along the way are attractions such as the Mount Defiance Lookout, the small coastal communities of Separation Creek, Wye River and Kennett River, and the fantastic views along the coast from the lookout at Cape Patton. The Lorne coastline has been the site of at least five shipwrecks during the 1800’s.