Best Beer Gardens in Geelong

About This Guide

Geelong has more outdoor drinking space than most people realise. The city's bay frontage, the heritage streetscapes of Pakington Street, and the Surf Coast pubs south of town all lend themselves to proper outdoor venues — not just a couple of tables on a footpath. This guide covers six beer gardens and outdoor spaces verified as open and operating in 2026: from a massive 700sqm all-weather courtyard in Geelong West to a rooftop bar with panoramic Corio Bay views on the Geelong foreshore.

We only list venues we have confirmed are open. If you find something out of date or know of a great beer garden we've missed, drop us a line.

Geelong Beer Gardens at a Glance

1. Queen of the West — Geelong's Biggest Beer Garden

If sheer scale is what you're after, the Queen of the West wins. The 2023 renovation added a 700-square-metre all-weather beer garden to the back of this Pakington Street heritage building — covered enough to handle a summer downpour, open enough to feel like genuine outdoor drinking. Inside you'll find a wood-fired pizza oven, 12 taps, and a live music stage that fires up on weekends. The front sports bar connects seamlessly, so you can move between the garden and the screens without losing a seat.

The pub traces its history to 1856 — originally the Queen of the South, then known for decades as The Barking Dog before the heritage name was restored in August 2023. The renovation brought a new kitchen and a completely rethought outdoor space while keeping the bones of a proper neighbourhood local. Open Tuesday to Sunday; closed Mondays.

2. Sailors' Rest — Rooftop Bar Above Corio Bay

The only entry on this list where the view is half the point. Sailors' Rest sits at the foot of Moorabool Street on the Geelong foreshore, and its multi-level layout gives you three distinct ways to drink outside: a ground-level beer garden, a second-floor al fresco lounge bar, and a rooftop terrace looking out across Corio Bay towards the You Yangs. On a clear afternoon, it's one of the best views in Geelong you can have a beer in front of.

DJs run every Saturday and Sunday from 3pm in the second-floor lounge, which spills onto the outdoor terrace. The first Friday of each month is a free event: local distillers and brewers set up tastings alongside live acoustic music — genuinely worth timing a visit around. Open seven days from 8:30am, which means it's also the place for a bayside Sunday session starting at lunch.

3. Belmont Hotel — Rooftop Garden in a 1920s Art-Deco Pub

The Belmont Hotel's rooftop beer garden sits on top of one of southern Geelong's finest buildings — a beautifully restored 1920s art-deco structure on High Street. The rooftop is the centrepiece: open-air, set up for functions as well as casual sessions, and directly connected to the DJ and live music program that runs every Friday and Saturday evening. The art-deco interior carries through to the outdoor space in a way that makes it feel genuinely different from a generic rooftop terrace.

The Belmont is closed Mondays, opens at 5:30pm Tuesday, and from noon Wednesday through Sunday — so late-afternoon Friday rooftop sessions are well catered for. The monthly trivia night (first Tuesday) runs in the indoor bistro area, but the rooftop is the signature feature.

4. Blackman's Brewery — Torquay Craft Beer in the Sun

Blackman's Brewery is a different kind of entry on this list — a working craft brewery 500 metres from the Torquay surf, where the beer comes straight from serving tanks rather than kegs for maximum freshness. The outdoor area at Bell Street is relaxed beach-town drinking: wood-fired pizza from the kitchen, Blackman's on tap, and a rotating range of craft spirits and local wines. In summer the outdoor space transforms into the Spritzville & Euro Beer Garden concept — Euro-style outdoor drinking with spritzes and local wines alongside the brewery range.

Blackman's is open Wednesday to Sunday from midday — which makes it a natural stop on a Surf Coast day trip, paired with a surf or a walk along the Esplanade before arriving for lunch. The Wed–Sun calendar is worth noting: if you're driving down on a Monday or Tuesday, this one's closed.

5. Barwon Heads Hotel — Coastal Beer Garden on the Bellarine

Barwon Heads is a small coastal village where the Barwon River meets the sea — the pub that anchors it has been here long enough to feel like part of the landscape. The Barwon Heads Hotel beer garden is a genuine coastal outdoor space, and in summer it hosts free live music on weekend afternoons, making it one of the better warm-weather destinations on the Bellarine Peninsula. Four distinct areas inside and out: bistro with seasonal produce, bridge bar cocktail lounge, sports bar with live sport, and a function room for private events.

It's worth combining the beer garden with one of the weeknight specials: $24 parmi Wednesdays (5–9pm) or $28 steak Thursdays (5–9pm). Accommodation on-site makes this a realistic base for a Bellarine weekend — Ocean Grove, Portarlington, and Queenscliff are all within easy driving distance.

6. Petrel Hotel — A Proper Pub Garden Since 1849

The Petrel Hotel is the oldest pub in this guide and arguably the most straightforward — a neighbourhood local on Pakington Street since 1849, with a welcoming beer garden out the back that has been pouring drinks for generations of Geelong West locals. No rooftop, no DJs, no concept — just a proper pub garden connected to a bistro with an open fireplace, TAB, and full sports screens inside. The recent revitalisation updated the kitchen and interior without stripping the historic character, so it still feels like a Geelong pub rather than a renovation project.

The Pakington Street location means the Petrel sits mid-strip between the Queen of the West and the Telegraph Hotel, making it the natural anchor of a three-pub beer garden crawl along Pakington Street — one of Geelong's best pub walks.

Also Worth Knowing

These venues have outdoor or rooftop spaces worth noting — but with more limited seasonal programs or less dedicated beer garden infrastructure than the six above.

The Pakington Street Beer Garden Crawl

Pakington Street in Geelong West is one of the best pub-crawl streets in regional Victoria — three venues with outdoor spaces, all within easy walking distance:

Know a Geelong beer garden we've missed? Tell us and we'll add it.