The Ballarat line

No line packs more architecture per kilometre. The Ballarat service climbs out through Bacchus Marsh orchards and the Ballan uplands before delivering you under the iron canopy of Ballarat station — itself a heritage set piece.

From the platform it is a flat ten-minute walk to Lydiard Street's verandahs, the Art Gallery of Ballarat and Sturt Street's boulevard. Come for winter: fog on Lake Wendouree, open fires, and a town that wears the cold beautifully.

• Lydiard Street galleries, theatres and grand hotels

  One of Australia's most intact goldrush streetscapes, where a night at Her Majesty's and a nightcap under iron lacework are both within a block of the station.

• Lake Wendouree circuit and the Botanical Gardens

  A flat six-kilometre lap around the water past rowers and the Botanical Gardens — the best possible way to shake off a train trip.

• Sovereign Hill and the Eureka story

  A living 1850s township of lantern-lit lanes and gold pours that turns the Eureka story into something kids actually remember.

• Bacchus Marsh orchards and the Werribee Gorge

  Halfway to Ballarat, the orchards give up bags of stone fruit in summer and the gorge offers a proper day-long cliffside walk.