The best campervan stops Gippsland self-drivers should not miss

From Melbourne to Mallacoota is roughly 520 km if you behave yourself and follow the Princes Highway, but the good bits sit off to the side. Wilsons Promontory swings south. Tarra-Bulga twists into the hills. Buchan Caves drags you north. Mallacoota is a 23 km sealed turn-off from Genoa that feels like the end of the atlas.

A sensible van route takes 5 to 8 days. You can rush it in 3, but you will mostly remember servos, roundabouts and that odd smell from the grey-water tank. Fuel is easy around Sale, Bairnsdale and Lakes Entrance; east of Lakes Entrance, top up before the 150 km run to Cann River, especially if your hired motorhome drinks 12 to 15 L/100 km.

• Do: travel with at least a 400 km practical fuel range once you are east of Bairnsdale.
• Do: book Tidal River, Buchan Caves and Mallacoota well ahead for summer, Easter and school holidays.
• Do not: assume every beach track suits a 2WD campervan; sand and wet clay have eaten better plans than yours.

Wilsons Prom is the famous one, and annoyingly, it deserves the fuss. Tidal River campground sits inside the national park about 30 km from the park entrance, with walking tracks, beaches and enough wombats to make your headtorch earn its keep. The road in is sealed, but it is not a place for late-night heroics after a long flight and a supermarket shop.

For campervans, the win is simple: you can park where you sleep and walk straight to Squeaky Beach, Pillar Point or Norman Beach without moving the rig. Some sites are tight for larger motorhomes, so check site length before booking. There is no fuel inside the park, no dogs, and generators are not welcome at Tidal River.

• Van fit: best for compact to mid-size campervans; larger motorhomes need careful site choice.
• Fuel: fill at Foster or Yanakie before entering the park.
• Rule: Parks Victoria bookings apply; camping outside designated sites is a quick way to ruin the budget.

Tarra-Bulga National Park is where Gippsland stops being beachy and starts smelling like wet fern, bark and leaf litter. The Corrigan Suspension Bridge walk is short enough for a travel day, but the access roads are narrow, winding and shaded. In a tall camper, low branches and blind corners matter more than Instagram.

Most self-drivers are better off basing near Yarram or Traralgon and visiting the park without hauling a huge motorhome through every scenic squiggle. If you are in a smaller 2WD campervan, take it slow and use pull-outs to let locals and log trucks pass. They know the road. You are guessing.

• Van fit: compact campervans cope best; avoid taking long motorhomes through the narrowest forest roads.
• Distance: Foster to Yarram via the Prom area is about 120 km, but allow 2 hours with stops.
• Do: carry water and snacks; services are limited once you leave the main towns.

Ninety Mile Beach is not a poetic exaggeration. It runs for around 145 km, which is more than enough sand to make you reconsider leaving the step mat outside overnight. Golden Beach, Paradise Beach, Seaspray and Reeves Beach are useful van stops because they break the coast into easy chunks between Yarram, Sale and Lakes Entrance.

This is also where free camping Gippsland gets misunderstood. Some foreshore areas are free or low-cost, some require a permit, and many have basic or no facilities. Camp only in signed areas, keep off dunes, and do not dump grey water on the ground. Councils patrol during busy periods, and a $0 campsite becomes expensive fast if you ignore the rules.

• Van fit: good for 2WD vans on sealed or firm gravel access roads; avoid soft beach approaches.
• Facilities: expect toilets at some sites, but not showers, power or water at every camp.
• Best move: arrive in daylight so you can read the local camping signs before committing.

Lakes Entrance is your practical reset button. After a few nights of sand, salt and questionable fridge organisation, it has supermarkets, servos, laundries, dump points and holiday parks with powered sites. The Kalimna lookout is an easy van-friendly pull-in for that classic view over the entrance channel, especially at sunrise when the fishing boats head out.

Buchan Caves is about 55 km north of Lakes Entrance and makes a strong inland detour. The campground at Buchan Caves Reserve suits campervans, but book ahead and check conditions after heavy rain. Cave tours are run on set times, so do not roll in at 3:55 pm expecting the earth to open politely for you.

• Van fit: Lakes Entrance is easy for larger motorhomes; Buchan is fine for most vans on sealed roads.
• Dump and water: plan to empty and refill around Sale, Lakes Entrance or Orbost rather than at remote beach camps.
• Do: use a powered site here if your house battery has been sulking through cloudy coastal weather.

Mallacoota feels like someone tucked a harbour, surf beach and lake system into the corner of Victoria and forgot to overdevelop it. It is one of the best campervan stops Gippsland offers for paddling, fishing, walking and doing very little with conviction. The foreshore camping area is popular for good reason, but peak-season bookings are fiercely competitive.

The practical bit: Lakes Entrance to Mallacoota is about 205 km via Cann River, and the last 23 km from the highway is sealed but slow in parts. Princes Highway traffic east of Bairnsdale includes road trains and logging trucks, so leave a proper gap, avoid tired dusk driving, and use your mirrors before pulling back out from lookouts.

• Fuel: top up at Lakes Entrance, Orbost or Cann River; do not arrive on fumes for character-building.
• Van fit: excellent for campervans and motorhomes if you book an appropriate site length.
• Do not: rely on phone reception for every side road; download maps before heading east.