Mildura flights and travel guide

Cheap flights to Mildura take just 40 minutes from Melbourne. Lots of visitors - bound for the orchards and vineyards on working holidays - will arrive by coach, train and car too. Once they arrive, they'll discover that, like many of the street names in Broken Hill, that honour its roots as a mining town, several streets in Mildura are named after the fruits that are grown here. Orange, Lemon, Lime, Cherry and Olive are just a few of them.

This part of northwestern Victoria (and southwestern New South Wales) is known as Sunrayasia. The region produces 80 per cent of the country's dried fruit and 85 per cent of Victoria's wine-making grapes, not to mention a fair chunk of Australia's citrus fruit harvest.

As Mildura Tourism says: "It starts with the river." George and William Chaffey, Canadian brothers, founded an irrigation settlement along the banks of the Murray River in the 1880s. When soldier settlers and migrants from Ireland, England, Greece, Italy and the former Yugoslavia arrived, they brought with them the cultivation skills that helped to make Mildura the food bowl of Victoria.

The gourmet trail around Mildura is a delicious one. There are fine restaurants and wineries. Mildura also has a thriving arts scene. The mighty Murray River might just be the city's greatest asset - for gazing at, fishing in or sailing along in a houseboat.

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Mildura climate

The climate is Mediterranean - hot, dry summers and mild winters. The wettest months are between May and October.

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When to fly to Mildura

Peak Season: 

Christmas and Easter and the school holidays are high season times. The Mildura Wentworth Arts Festival takes place in March; Mildura Golf Week and the Mildura Writers' Festival are in July. The Wintersun Festival is in mid-August, the Tour of the Murray River (the road cycling classic) at the end of August/start of September. The Mildura Country Music Festival is on in September and the Mildura Jazz and Wine Festival in November. 

Off Season: 

The winter months, July (apart from the arts festival and golf week) and August (bar Wintersun and the road race) in particular, are low season times.

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Getting into town Mildura

Avis, Budget, Hertz and Thrifty car-rental companies all have desks at Mildura Airport. Taxis are available and cost about $30 to Mildura.

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Getting around Mildura

A car is necessary for getting out and about. Sunraysia Bus Lines serves Mildura, Red Cliffs and Merbein. Coomealla Bus Lines runs weekday services between Mildura, Buronga, Dareton and Wentworth.

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Mildura insider information

• Rio Vista is the mansion that W.B. Chaffey built in 1889. It's now a museum and gallery. Free tours are available every Saturday and Sunday at 2pm. 
• Red Cliffs is home to the Lindemans Karadoc Winery, one of the largest wineries in Australia. It's not open to tours but visitors can sample the wines at its Winery Cellar Door. There's a cafe that serves coffee and light lunches. The opening hours are Monday to Sunday 10am to 4.30pm, except for Good Friday, Christmas Day and New Year's Day. 
• The Trentham Estate Winery, 15km from Mildura has a restaurant and cellar door sales too. 
• Some would say that Stefano de Pieri has put Mildura on the foodie map. There are several eateries dotted around Mildura, including the Quality Hotel Mildura Grand, Stefano's Restaurant, Cafe Bakery and Pub Brewery. There's also Gallery 25 that exhibits artwork by Australian artists. 
• The Sunraysia Farmers' Market takes place at the botanic gardens on the first and third Saturdays of the month at the botanic gardens (8am-12.30pm; first and third Saturday of the month). 
• The Australian Inland Botanic Gardens displays plants from around the world by region, country or continent of origin. The Australian sections are organised by state. The European Summer and 2,500-year-old WOW tree are just two of the must-sees. 
• The Hattah-Kulkyne and Mungo national parks are a couple of hours' drive away. Heart-stopping desert landscapes and evidence of indigenous campfires and middens going back almost 50,000 years await walkers and campers.

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Mildura airports

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