Step into Ballarat with Hidden Lanes on our signature City Tales walking tour: a small-group, story-rich experience through the streets, buildings and characters that shaped one of Australia’s great gold rush cities.

Over 2–2.5 relaxed hours, your local guide will take you from Ballarat’s early beginnings through the drama, ambition and upheaval of the gold rush, with hidden laneways, grand civic buildings, historic hotels, strange details and larger-than-life characters along the way.

This tour includes:

• Access to some of the most extraordinary historic buildings in Victoria
• A coffee, hot chocolate or chai at Craig’s Royal Hotel, Ballarat’s grandest Gold Rush hotel
• Stories from Ballarat’s gold rush, including the people, scandals and ambitions that shaped the city
• A visit to the site where the Eureka Stockade speech was made
• A keepsake Ballarat art print to take home
• A relaxed pace, small group and plenty of time to ask questions

This is not just a walk past old buildings. City Tales is designed to help you understand Ballarat as a living city: layered, theatrical, beautiful, strange, and full of stories hiding in plain sight.

Tours run regularly on weekends, with other days available on demand.

Duration: approx. 2–2.5 hours, including the hot drink stop.

Meeting point: St Paul’s Anglican Church, Bakery Hill. Please meet out the front.

After booking, please check your confirmation email and scroll to the bottom for your booking details.

Children under 6 are free. Please note that no drink is included for free child tickets.