Phillip Island Penguin Parade Tours — Frequently Asked Questions
Everything travellers ask before they book, answered from what the reserve and the operators actually publish. Prices in Australian dollars are the reserve’s own gate prices; prices in US dollars are what the tour operators charge.
Booking a tour
Do I need to book Phillip Island Penguin Parade tours in advance?
Yes. The reserve says bookings are essential and every viewing area is capped, and the tours that carry you there sell out first in summer and over school holidays. Book a week or two ahead between December and February, and a few days ahead the rest of the year.
Can I make a Phillip Island Penguin Parade reservation for a group?
Yes, and there are two ways to do it. Most coach days take a party of ten or more on a single booking, and the private tours here carry your group alone in one vehicle. One of them is priced per group rather than per head, which changes the arithmetic completely once you are more than four.
What is the best Phillip Island penguin tour for a first visit?
For a first visit, a full-day coach from Melbourne with a wildlife park in the fare gives you the most for the drive. You get koalas or kangaroos in daylight, a stop on the coast, and the parade at the end. If you are already on the island or have a car, the ticket on its own does the same job for a fraction of it.
How far in advance do tours sell out?
Summer evenings and the week between Christmas and New Year go first, often a month out. Winter is far easier and you can usually book a few days ahead. The small-group minibuses cap at ten or eleven travellers, so they fill sooner than the large coaches whatever the season.
Can I cancel a Phillip Island Penguin Parade tour?
Most of the tours here refund in full if you cancel at least 24 hours ahead. Two do not: the reserve's own ticket asks for two days' notice rather than one, and one private day is sold non-refundable. Each card says which it is, so check the one you are booking rather than the band at the top of the page.
What happens if my coach is late picking me up?
Pickup windows on these tours run wide because the coach works through a list of hotels, and the operator emails your exact time the day before. If nobody has arrived twenty minutes after your window closes, call the number on your booking rather than making your own way; the tour is timed around the sunset and the driver knows where the group is.
Does the tour wait for you at each stop?
Yes, and the driver sets a return time at every stop. The one stop nobody waits for is the parade itself, which starts when the penguins decide to come in. Be in your seat before the published arrival time rather than after it.
What does a 'from' price mean on these tours?
It is the lowest fare the operator currently sells for that product, usually an adult on the cheapest date and the standard viewing area. Child fares, upgraded viewing and peak dates cost more. The figure on each card comes straight from the operator's own listing and moves when they move it.
Are there child fares?
Most operators price a child at four to fifteen years and a few run to twelve. One coach asks every traveller up to fifteen to buy a child ticket rather than an infant one, and one private day charges adult rates from four upwards. The age bands are on each listing at checkout.
Can infants come?
Yes, and everyone needs a ticket at the reserve, infants included. Several coaches carry infant seats if you ask when you book, and one asks infants to travel on a lap. Prams and strollers cannot come on most of the coaches at all, which is the detail that catches families out.
Tickets and admission
How much are Phillip Island Penguin Parade tickets?
General Viewing is A$34 for an adult, A$17 for a child aged four to fifteen and A$85 for a family of four, as Phillip Island Nature Parks publishes it. Penguins Plus is A$93 an adult, Underground Viewing A$103 and a guided tour with a ranger A$108, all of them gate prices in Australian dollars. The tour fares here are quoted in US dollars and usually have the general ticket already built in.
What is the difference between General Viewing and Penguins Plus at the Phillip Island Penguin Parade?
General Viewing is the tiered stands above Summerland Beach, where you watch the birds come out of the surf and cross in front of you. Penguins Plus is a smaller elevated platform closer to the crossing, capped at far fewer people, and it also puts you beside the boardwalks the penguins walk under on the way to their burrows. Reviewers who paid for it say the same thing over and over, and reviewers who did not are the ones who wish they had.
What are Phillip Island Penguin Parade ticket prices for the upgraded areas?
Underground Viewing is A$103 for an adult and puts you at a window level with the sand. The Guided Penguin Tour is A$108 and takes a small group out with a ranger. The Ultimate Adventure Tour is A$129 and is the only one that walks you away from the main crossing. All three are capped and all three sell out before general viewing does.
Is there a pass that covers more than the parade?
Yes. Phillip Island Nature Parks sells a 3 Parks Pass covering the Penguin Parade, the Koala Conservation Reserve and Churchill Island Heritage Farm at a discount on buying the three separately. The reserve does not publish the pass price on the pages we can read, so buy it through their own booking site rather than relying on a figure quoted second hand.
Do I still need a ticket if I am on a tour?
No. Every tour we list has parade admission in the fare, and your guide hands the booking over at the gate. What differs is which viewing area that fare buys, and on most of them it is the general stands.
Are there concessions?
Australian pensioners pay A$23.80 for general viewing, and the reserve accepts Australian Pensioner, DVA, Seniors and Carer cards. Companion Card holders are admitted free. Bring the card itself; a photograph of it is not accepted at the gate.
Where does the ticket money go?
Phillip Island Nature Parks is a not-for-profit body established in 1996 to manage these reserves, and admission funds the conservation work on the peninsula. That work is why the colony grew from about 12,000 birds in the mid-1980s to an estimated 40,000 today.
Visiting practically
What time does the Phillip Island Penguin Parade start?
The penguins come ashore at sunset, so the start time moves through the year: about 5:15pm in June and about 8:45pm in January. The reserve asks you to arrive an hour before that, and the Visitor Centre opens at 12pm every day. Check the month you are travelling in on our arrival-times page before you book anything else, because it sets the shape of your whole day.
Can I get to the Penguin Parade by public transport?
No, and this is the single most useful thing to know before you plan. The V/Line coach from Melbourne reaches Cowes but does not go to the Penguin Parade, and there is no return service to Melbourne after the parade finishes. That leaves a car, a taxi from elsewhere on the island, or a tour.
Can you take photos at the Penguin Parade?
No. There is strictly no photography or filming after sunset, because a sudden flash or an unusual light frightens and disorientates a bird whose eyes are built for the dark. Take your photographs in daylight on the boardwalks and the headlands, and put the phone away when you sit down.
How long does the whole evening take?
Allow about three hours at the reserve: an hour before the published arrival time, the parade itself, and half an hour or so watching the birds walk up to their burrows afterwards. Add two hours of driving each way if you are coming from Melbourne. A 1 day Phillip Island tour from the city runs eight to fourteen hours door to door depending on what else it takes in.
What should I wear?
Warm layers and a windproof outer, whatever the forecast says and whatever the month is. You are sitting still on an open beach in Bass Strait after dark, and the reserve's own advice is to prepare for sun, rain, wind and cold in one evening. Closed shoes, and a hat you do not mind losing.
Does the parade run in the rain?
Yes. The birds come ashore in every kind of weather and the parade runs every night of the year, so a wet forecast is not a reason to rebook. It is a reason to bring a waterproof rather than an umbrella, because an umbrella in a tiered stand blocks the people behind you.
Is the Penguin Parade wheelchair accessible?
The reserve publishes an access guide and its viewing areas and boardwalks are built for wheelchairs. Getting there is the harder half: most of the coaches that run down here state plainly that they are not wheelchair accessible, and only a couple of the private options say they are. Our accessibility page sets out which is which.
Is the Penguin Parade suitable for young children?
Yes, and children are the reason many families come. The thing to plan around is the clock rather than the content: a January arrival at 8:45pm means a two-hour drive home starting close to eleven. In winter the same evening finishes before eight.
Is there food at the reserve?
The Penguin Parade Visitor Centre has a cafe and a shop from 12pm daily, and the reserve is cashless, so bring a card. Most coach days stop in Cowes for an hour beforehand, which is where the choice is. Reviewers who arrived on a quiet evening found some Cowes shops already shut, so eat when the chance comes.
Is there parking?
Yes, and it is free. The car park is beside the Visitor Centre and everybody leaves at the same time, so expect a slow twenty minutes getting out afterwards. If you are driving back to Melbourne, that queue is part of the journey time.
Do binoculars help?
From the general stands, yes, and more than people expect. The birds come out of the surf at a distance before they cross, and a pair of binoculars turns a dark shape into a penguin. From Penguins Plus or Underground Viewing you will not need them.
What does a Phillip Island day tour include besides the parade?
Most of them put a second wildlife attraction in the fare, and it is not always the same one: some include the Koala Conservation Reserve on the island, others include Moonlit Sanctuary, which is at Pearcedale on the way down. Nearly all of them stop at The Nobbies and at Cowes. Two pair the day with a steam railway in the Dandenongs instead.
Can I visit other parts of the island on the same trip?
In daylight, yes, and the reserve's other two parks both close well before the parade starts. The Koala Conservation Reserve takes last entry at 4.30pm and Churchill Island at 4pm, which works in every month except deep summer, when the parade is late enough to leave the whole afternoon free.
The penguins themselves
How many penguins will I see?
It varies every night, because they are wild birds rather than a show. Numbers are highest through the breeding season from August to February, when parents are coming and going with food, and lowest during the moult, when the birds stay ashore and do not fish. Some reviewers count hundreds; a few count ten.
Why do they only come in after dark?
They wait for dusk before crossing the beach to hide from predators, which is why the parade time follows the sunset rather than a clock. It is also why the beach lighting is dim and the photography ban exists.
How big are little penguins?
Only slightly bigger than a bowling pin, and just under a kilo. They are the smallest penguin in the world, and the first reaction of most first-time visitors is that they are far smaller than expected.
How far do they swim?
They spend the day at sea and dive between 1,300 and 2,000 times, usually to between ten and thirty metres. The deepest dive the reserve has recorded is 72 metres and the longest lasted 114 seconds. They cruise at two to four kilometres an hour and have been clocked at twelve.
Are they the same birds every night?
Broadly, yes: this is a resident colony and the birds return to the same burrows on the Summerland Peninsula. Who comes ashore on a given night depends on where they are in the breeding year and how the fishing has gone.
Still deciding?
What usually settles the rest is the four ways to see the parade and how you actually get there. When you are ready to compare fares, Phillip Island Penguin Parade tickets are listed with what each one covers, and Phillip Island Penguin Parade Tours puts them side by side.