The Melbourne Marathon finishes at the MCG on a Sunday in October, and Queenscliff offers a genuine seaside overnight without the long transfer the Great Ocean Road proper demands. October on the Bellarine Peninsula is early spring by Victorian coastal standards: mild days, a real chance of wind, and none of the summer crowding that fills Queenscliff's guesthouses from December onward. V/Line trains run from Southern Cross Station to Geelong roughly every 30 minutes, a journey of a little over an hour costing a few dollars on myki, and from Geelong a local coach connects onward to Queenscliff in another 35 to 40 minutes.
Night One: Queenscliff
Queenscliff is a 19th-century pilot station and fort town at the mouth of Port Phillip Bay, and it reads that way: squat bluestone buildings, a working lighthouse, and a slower pace than anywhere closer to Melbourne. The primary recovery asset here is the Queenscliff foreshore path, a flat, sealed walkway running along the harbour and out towards the fort, with benches at regular intervals and no meaningful gradient anywhere along it. At post-marathon pace, a full circuit of the town's waterfront takes perhaps 40 to 50 minutes, entirely at sea level.
Fort Queenscliff, built in the 1860s to guard the bay entrance and still an active military site with public tours, sits within a few minutes' walk of the foreshore and requires only level ground to reach; check current tour times before visiting, as access is by guided tour only and not unrestricted. The Queenscliff Lighthouse, a black-painted timber tower dating to 1863, is visible from most of the foreshore walk without needing to detour for it.
Where to stay: Vue Grand Hotel, a heritage property on Hesse Street dating to the 1880s, sits a short flat walk from both the foreshore and the town's small main street. Queenscliff Inn, a more modest guesthouse option on the same street, suits a one-night stay without the heritage-hotel premium.
Where to eat: Vue Grand's own dining room does a reliable seafood-forward dinner in keeping with the town's fishing-port history. For something simpler, the fish and chip shops along Hesse Street are worth the short stroll for anyone who wants dinner without a further sit-down commitment after a day already spent travelling.
The Queenscliff-Sorrento car and passenger ferry, a 40-minute crossing of the bay entrance, is worth knowing about even for foot passengers without a car: it is the most direct link across to the Mornington Peninsula side of the bay, though it is not required for this itinerary and adds a detour rather than shortening the return to Melbourne.
Getting to Melbourne Airport (MEL)
The most straightforward return is the reverse of the outbound route: local bus or taxi back to Geelong, then the V/Line train to Southern Cross Station, followed by the SkyBus Melbourne City Express to Melbourne Airport, a further 30-minute leg. Allow around two hours door to door from Queenscliff to the airport, and build in a buffer for the Geelong connection, which runs less frequently than the Melbourne-Geelong train itself.