Hidden Lanes - Ballarat & Victoria Tours

09/09/2026

On the tail end of a long, damp Ballarat winter, we’re dreaming of warmer days! With its serene swans, lovely lawns, sublime statues, kaleidoscopic colour, foaming fountains, fragrant flowers and soaring sequoias, the Ballarat Botanic Gardens does autumn particularly well.

03/09/2026

It’s been a long cold winter and we’ve been quiet on Instagram, but we’ve been buuuuussssyyyyyy!

Winter brought wonderful guests to explore Ballarat with us on City Tales, our Food & Gin Tours, plus the Wintertide by Candlelight evening at Craig’s Royal hotel. The event was magical and a huge success - we’ll be announcing more historically themed immersive events soon!

Jarrod also ventured further afield with his Mum to the extraordinary Murtoa Stick Shed. Built in 1941 as an emergency wartime wheat store, its cathedral-like interior is supported by 560 unmilled mountain ash poles sourced from the Dandenongs and Otway Ranges (their gift store stocks custom Hidden Lanes Stick Shed tea towels too).

We also caught up with our favourite Ballarat history “influencer” recently, on a City Tales tour - he’s a bit cheeky. 😄

We’re currently brainstorming and planning future history-themed events including music, dance, murder-mysteries, historic menus … let us know if you have any suggestions! ☺️ We’d love to hear what you think.

22/08/2026

We’re extremely saddened that Aradale Lunatic Asylum has been closed. It’s terrible news for our good friends at Eerie Tours and it’s heartbreaking for the tourism and hospitality community in Ararat. It’s a waste of a world-class tourism resource. We hope the State government can sort this out.

ARADALE ASYLUM CLOSED❗️❗️

We are devastated to announce that Aradale Asylum has been closed due to concerns relating to it's upkeep. We have, and will continue to, advocate for the maintenance of the heritage site. This is a loss for our guides. Our community. Our business partners. Our families. Our friends.... We won't give up, we've been through this before and survived 15 years of fighting to keep the asylum alive. We have suspended all bookings and will begin to process refunds as the situation develops..We appreciate your support during this time. Please share, like and comment to spread the word.

Thank you, from Nathaniel Buchanan, Emilee Mclean and all of us at Eerie Tours.

Media enquiries: [email protected]

16/08/2026

Whether you like the rich storytelling and insight of guided tours or the freedom and flexibility of self-guided tours, we've got you covered!

Head to bit.ly/3S0knBj to check out the new tours page on the Visit Ballarat website.

📸 Hidden Lanes - Ballarat & Victoria Tours at the Ballaarat Mechanics' Institute

27/07/2026

25/07/2026

You haven’t heard from us in a while as we’ve been in Sydney doing some training with Visit Victoria and pitching our product to Visit Australia and international travel agents. It’s been a chaotic whirlwind couple of days, but also magic. We finally had a chance the last couple of days to really get out at pound the pavement, exploring Sydney, Woolloomooloo, and Redfern. We caught up with family and old friends - and we made some new friends too. But Sydney, oh Sydney, how beautiful you are!

The Rocks Walking Tours Cafe Me We Melbourne, Australia Visit Sydney ▫️ 𝓣𝓱𝓮 𝓔𝓪𝓼𝓽 𝓢𝔂𝓭𝓷𝓮𝔂 𝓗𝓸𝓽𝓮𝓵 ▫️

05/07/2026

Saturday 18 July Wintertide by Candlelight has completely sold out: so we’ve opened up Friday 17 July!

Join us inside Craig’s Royal Hotel for a candlelit winter evening of dinner, live strings, hidden stories, old-world atmosphere, and a little bit of Ballarat winter magic.

Seats are limited and Saturday went quickly.

Friday 17 July now open.
Book now to avoid disappointment.

VisitBallarat

29/06/2026

There’s gold in them there hills … and we’re going hunting for it! 🪙

Today we were out at RACV Goldfields Resort putting the finishing touches on our brand-new Goldfields Treasure Hunt Tour - launching this Thursday for the school holidays!

It’s a fun, family-friendly adventure walk through the bush on the RACV resort near Ballarat and Creswick, with hidden gold to find, gold rush artefacts to handle, kids’ activities, wildlife, plants, stories from the diggings, and even a visit to a real historic gold mine - above ground only, don’t worry!

It’s mainly designed for families with kids, but curious adults, history lovers and nature lovers will enjoy it too.

We’ve loved working with the team at RACV Goldfields Resort to bring this one to life, and we’re pretty excited to welcome our very first treasure hunters.

Running Thursday, Friday and Saturday afternoons this week and next during the school holidays.

Who’s ready to strike gold?

25/06/2026

Feeling like winter has become a little too ordinary?

This July, step into a slower, warmer world. Wander hidden rooms by candlelight, gather around the fire in a 173-year-old hotel, enjoy a beautiful dinner, and let the sounds of baroque cello and violin fill the evening.

A night of flickering candlelight, old stories, glowing fireplaces and a little winter magic.

Brought to you by the team at Hidden Lanes, Wintertide by Candlelight is a rare one-night experience at Craig’s Royal Hotel.

Tickets are available now at hiddenlanes.com/ballarat-winter-festival

25/06/2026

Feeling like this winter is getting a bit ordinary?

This July, step into a slower, warmer world. Wander hidden rooms by candlelight, gather around the fire in a 173-year-old hotel, enjoy a beautiful dinner, and let the sounds of baroque cello and violin fill the evening.

A night of flickering candlelight, old stories, glowing fireplaces and a little winter magic.

Brought to you by the team at Hidden Lanes, Wintertide by Candlelight is a rare one-night experience at Craig’s Royal Hotel.

Tickets are available now at hiddenlanes.com/ballarat-winter-festival