The main attractions

A perennial summer favourite for city-weary Melburnians, Rye, located towards the tip of the Mornington peninsula, is sandwiched between its affluent neighbour Sorrento and some world-class wineries in the hinterland. Despite this, it manages to retain some of its unpretentious cheeriness of yore with a certain quiet charm: think old-fashioned Aussie holiday with a tinnie and a spot of beach cricket rather than green tea and glamping; the beachfront a jumble of gelati outlets, restaurants and caravan parks. You’ll find public art dotted about, from wooden sea creatures to landscapes created by the likes of Arthur Streeton, Albert Tucker and John Perceval, part of an informal artists’ trail that we meandered along for an hour or so. (You’ll need a car if you want to complete the whole thing.) The aged watercolours of local landscapes, which make up most of the artworks, match Rye’s rather traditional flavour.

Hot springs

Located on the outskirts of Rye, the Peninsula Hot Springs are a selection of pools, bubbling and otherwise, in a serene location complete with a large pond and picnic grounds. You can go for a private bathe or try the public plunge pools, tubs and feet-buffing “reflexology walk” – an initially painful path of uneven rocks that became strangely soothing. After taking a dip in pools of varying heat – some of which are so hot that they can be tolerated for only about 10 minutes – we headed for the Hamam, where you can buff yourself and close friends with a special glove before spreading yourself out on a giant stone in the centre of the room.

The experience is best enjoyed under slate-grey skies – it would be madness to come on a 35-degree day, unless you restricted yourself to the cold plunge pool, or perhaps, illicitly, the pond. While it can feel faintly ludicrous milling around with lots of other robe-wearing people, the whole thing feels so calming you don’t really care. Without realising it, we spent three hours there. (Prices from $35 per day for adults.)

Paddle boarding

Rye has a small but pretty beach and a short jetty from which you can snorkel, following a signposted aquatic trail in the optimistic hope of catching sight of a seahorse or, more likely, a cluster of mussels. Nearby are other delights: while the peninsula has a few good surfing spots, it is well suited to the slightly more serene option of paddleboarding. You get to stand up for longer, too.

I clambered into a wetsuit and joined the friendly crew at Peninsula Stand Up Paddle, who get you to do counterintuitive things on a wide surfboard under close tutelage.

Save for a few wobbles when changing direction – and perhaps one cartoon-like windmilling of the arms – I managed to avoid falling into the thankfully pancake-flat water. The company offers lessons lasting about 90 minutes, with participants graduating from balancing on their knees to standing up and furiously paddling the Port Phillip Bay waters. Lessons from $65, board hire also available.

Local produce

There are more than 40 wineries within striking distance of Rye, with a new initiative, Wine Food Farmgate, helping connect visitors to some of the excellent local wine, cheese and fruit. A sign for cherries sent us down a quiet laneway towards the small farm gate of family-run Staples Apples. Produce is sold from crates stacked in the barn and I happily handed over $10 for a generous punnet of cherries – large, succulent and addictive. Eating them was probably the best thing I’ve ever done in a hire car.

Further inland we discovered the Red Hill Estate, a winery that combines a high-end restaurant – Max’s – with the more down-to-earth attraction of “prawns on the lawn”, lounging on a beanbag with a view across the vineyard and out to the sea. Prawns and a glass of claret will cost you less than $15 – idyllic.

Sleep

We stayed at One Four Nelson, a clean, comfortable space with communal pool which is in cahoots with Rye hotel next door. Prices rise over the summer – from $230 to $300 a night. The pricier rooms have their own spa facilities. Other options include the Aqua Belle apartments, also very central, or the accommodation at Moonah Links, a nearby golf course/function centre.

Eat and drink

The well-hidden but enormously popular Peninsula Pantry does a splendid line in jam doughnuts, vegetable pasties and other treats, while a little further inland, the Epicurean provides ale, wine and very tasty pizzas cooked in the traditional style. We shared a veggie version with purple cauliflower sitting proudly on top, as well as some Pipsqueak cider. The venue – which used to be a packing shed – has space for a bar and a selection of local wines for mini-tasting sessions.

Food on Rye’s beachfront is variable in quality. The gelati is good – salted caramel and boysenberry proved an instant hit – and there are decent Thai and German options for dinner. Rye hotel served us a rather idiosyncratic version of lasagne – the overcooked pasta sheets we were given could barely be prised apart. This was disappointing given the venue’s prized location and heritage – it opened in 1927.

But signs of a more inner-city Melbourne-like approach to eating are evident. We were drawn by live music to the Captains Bar, a fun piece of displaced Fitzroy with a nautical theme and some outlandish uses of rum. Rigging hangs from the walls and the bartenders wear sailor caps and facial hair. One cocktail, consisting of rum, creamy soda and lollies, was possibly the most sugary thing I’ve ever consumed in a bar. The beers are local and tasty and there’s a decent range of bar snacks.

Getting there and around

From Melbourne, it’s an uncomplicated one-hour drive down the Nepean Highway to Rye. You can also get the bus from Frankston. Rye is reasonably well suited to walking, but you’ll probably need a car for the wineries.

When to visit

The hordes descend in summer but with many bypassing Rye in favour of Sorrento or Portsea, it can be relatively uncrowded even in the warmer months.