Warburton
Wurundjeri
Quick info:
In a Nutshell:
- Excellent trail centre with extensive network of well-built trails with something for everyone.
- Navigation is superb with markers every 500m and maps everywhere
- Some long flowing descents that will make your face ache with grinning so much
- Mix of rocky and loamy surfaces, the latter can get a bit slippery in the wet
- It’s on a series of big hills and while the climbing trails are fantastic, shuttles are a good idea to get the best of the trails in a short space of time
Network size:
70 km + singletrack (being expanded to160 km!)
Our rating:
5/5 MTB Fist Bumps
Facilities:
Trail difficulty:
Greens to blacks
Suits riders:
Not so good for absolute beginners
Bike chooser:
Suits off-road MTBs only
Trail Maps:
Local clubs:
Shuttles:
Where is it?
By car:
About 90 minutes west of Melbourne on the M3 then keep going. Note the main trailhead is in Wesburn, not Warburton.
By PT:
Metro train to Lilydale, then the 683 bus to Warburton. The buses on this route have racks for two bikes – yay!
Description:
The Warburton trails are worth every bit of the hard work and dedication it took to get them approved and built. This is quite simply an awesome place to ride.
While it took years to get going, the network building is in full swing, with large parts of the centre already open and being ridden. Everyone who’s been wants to come back. Everyone who hasn’t been wants to go, such is its reputation.
First up, it’s on a big hill, so climbing and/or a shuttle are inevitable. That being said, the climbing tracks have been built in sympathy with the muscle-bike rider. The gradients are never too steep, and the rolling nature of the ups mean you can use gravity to assist you in going up (in a strange sort of way). The gentle gradients do mean the ups are quite long though, so downhill time is definitely earned.
And what a lot of downs there are. Riders are spoiled for choice on which trails to pick to get down. There is a nice mix of XC, flow and technical DH downs. The flow trails are a real highlight and just go on and on and on, really using the elevation well. There are B lines for more difficult features on the blues.
Wherever you end up when you get to the bottom, navigation won’t be a problem. There are hubs where multiple trails meet and maps at every hub. Each trail has markers at the start and every 500m to show you’re still on track. A nice touch is that the markers also tell you how far you have travelled so you can see how much more you have left to go, which is particularly good on the up tracks.
There are quite a few green trails, but they are long and/or may involve a fair bit of climbing (or shuttling). So while they are technically easy and a good starting point for those with less experience, you don’t want to be making this your first time out on an MTB.
The trailhead in Wesburn has excellent facilities with lots of parking, and shuttles run from here at weekends and some weekdays at busy times. It seems like Warburton and Wesburn haven’t yet caught up with the fact they have an international class MTB trail centre on their doorsteps, so don’t quite have the MTB vibe or range of services you’d expect – so far at least.
World Trail have done an excellent job on these trails so far and we can’t wait for the next tranche of trails to open in September 2026.
Page last updated: 21/7/26