The Dandenong Ranges is best known for its fern gullies and walking tracks, but the ridge tops tell a completely different story. From certain points in the ranges, you can watch Melbourne spread across the plain below while mountain ash towers overhead. These elevated lookouts and fire towers are some of the most rewarding, and least visited, spots in the region.
SkyHigh Mount Dandenong: the obvious one, done properly
Most visitors to the Dandenong Ranges have heard of SkyHigh Mount Dandenong, the summit garden and viewing terrace sitting at 633 metres on the highest point in the ranges. The panoramic view across the Melbourne CBD, Port Phillip Bay, and on a clear day the Mornington Peninsula, is genuinely impressive. What most people miss is arriving at dawn or dusk, when the city lights begin and the ranges fall quiet. The daytime crowds thin significantly by late afternoon. The formal garden and maze are worth walking even if you've come purely for the view, and the coffee is better than the tourist-destination price tag suggests.
SkyHigh is accessible by car via the aptly named Observatory Road from Olinda, and Parks Victoria keeps the viewing terrace open seven days. It's a good anchor point for a half-day ridge circuit if you pair it with one of the quieter walks below.
The heritage fire tower at Grants Picnic Ground
Grants Picnic Ground, near Kallista, sits inside the Dandenong Ranges National Park and is famous among Melburnians for its resident crimson rosellas. Fewer visitors notice the timber fire lookout tower standing at the edge of the picnic area. It's a heritage structure, one of the last surviving examples of the small observation towers Parks Victoria once maintained across the ranges. Climbing it on a clear morning gives a layered view out across the forest canopy with nothing but mountain ash in every direction. It doesn't face the city. It faces the bush. That's the point.
The area is also one of the better spots for wildlife in the ranges. If you're combining a wildlife-watching trip with a viewpoint visit, the gully track below the tower runs alongside habitat where lyrebirds feed in winter. For more on what to look for while you're up here, the guide to wildlife spotting in the Dandenong Ranges covers the full picture.
Kyeema track and the ridge above Sherbrooke Forest
The Kyeema walking track in Sherbrooke Forest climbs from the valley floor to a long open ridge with periodic clearings facing west. It's not marked as a viewpoint on any official Parks Victoria map. That's exactly why it's worth going. The track takes roughly 90 minutes return at a moderate pace. The clearings appear between mature mountain ash, and in the late afternoon light the city sits as a low smudge against the bay. Bring water. The track gets little foot traffic outside of summer weekends.
Sherbrooke Forest itself is one of the most intact temperate rainforest remnants close to Melbourne. The fire history of the area is visible in the composition of the trees: older ash with scarred bark gives way to younger regrowth in sections that burned in the 2009 Black Saturday fires, which came within kilometres of the ridge.
One Tree Hill, Monbulk
One Tree Hill sits at the southern end of the ranges above Monbulk and offers one of the least-visited ridge views in the region. The summit track is a short, steep 20-minute walk from the roadside parking area on One Tree Hill Road. At the top, a cleared summit plateau gives a 180-degree view south toward the Mornington Peninsula and east into the Yarra Ranges. On days with good visibility, you can see as far as Wilsons Promontory on the horizon.
The area around Monbulk has a quietly thriving creative and artisan community worth exploring before or after the climb. The artisan shopping guide for the Dandenong Ranges includes several makers operating in the southern ranges corridor, many of them within 10 minutes of the One Tree Hill car park.
Doongalla Homestead remnants and the forest ridge above Montrose
The Doongalla Reserve above Montrose contains the ruins of a former homestead estate, with open grassland sections on the ridge that look west across the outer eastern suburbs and into the CBD skyline. Parks Victoria manages the reserve as part of the broader Dandenong Ranges National Park. The grassland ridge sections are particularly good in spring, when the remaining heritage orchard trees are still in blossom and the view is framed by flowering hawthorn. The walk from the main car park to the best viewpoint takes about 25 minutes.
Doongalla is less visited than the main Olinda or Sassafras precincts, partly because there's no café at the trailhead. Pack your own lunch. The picnic tables at the ridge clearing are almost always unoccupied on weekdays.
Practical notes for visiting the lookouts
Fire lookout access changes seasonally. In declared fire danger periods, some tracks and structures inside the national park may be closed. Check the Parks Victoria website before visiting between November and April. For ridge walking, mid-week mornings in autumn and winter produce the clearest visibility across the city and bay. Summer haze sits low over Melbourne on hot days and obscures the view from every elevated point in the ranges.
- Carry at least 1.5 litres of water per person on any ridge walk.
- Mobile coverage is unreliable above Sherbrooke and in the Doongalla Reserve.
- Sunrise at SkyHigh is worth arriving for: gates open from 7am most days.
The fire lookouts and ridge clearings of the Dandenong Ranges reward patience and an early start. They're not the region's most advertised experiences. That's precisely what makes them worth seeking out.