A guide to Hepburn’s mineral water, from the free pumps in the reserve to a 90-minute soak
The whole town exists because of what comes out of the ground. The Motor Inn sits a few minutes’ walk from the Hepburn Mineral Springs Reserve, which is the reason to stay on this side of Daylesford. Here is how the springs work, what a Bathhouse ticket actually includes, and which of the other springs around the district are worth a detour.
Why the Water Is Here
Swiss and Italian settlers arrived in the 1850s to dig for gold and recognised the mineral water from home. In 1864 they met at the Savoia Hotel to petition for the springs to be protected from mining, and in 1865 the reserve was gazetted, the first of its kind in Australia. The first bathhouse opened in 1895, and the building is still there as the Pavilion Cafe. The current Bathhouse opened in 2008 and came out of a refurbishment in 2025.
The Reserve: Free, Open Always
Bring empty bottles. The springs in the reserve are hand pumps and taps and cost nothing: Soda, Locarno, Sulphur and Wyuna in the centre of the reserve, with Argyle a 1.4km walk east and Golden Spring further up the valley. Each tastes different. Locarno is the most effervescent, the closest to a natural soda water and the one most people fill up on. Fresh from the ground the water carries an iron tang and a whiff of sulphur that fades if you decant it and leave it a week. It is monitored rather than treated, so the official line is a mineral water to taste, not a routine drinking supply. Pumps occasionally stop for maintenance; Mineral Springs of Victoria keeps a status list.
- Facilities - barbecues, a shelter with tables, toilets and a playground up the hill from Sulphur Spring, and a concrete path down to Locarno.
- Hepburn Pavilion Cafe - in the 1895 bathhouse building, brunch daily from 8.30am.
- Walks from the reserve - Golden Spring via Jacksons Lookout (2.8km one way, about 50 minutes) and on to Breakneck Gorge; Argyle Spring (1.4km).
- Mineral Springs of Victoria - which pumps are flowing (website)
The Bathhouse
Hepburn Bathhouse & Spa is at the bottom of the reserve. A Bathhouse ticket buys a 90-minute session in two covered mineral pools: a relaxation pool held around 34 to 35 degrees and a 36 degree spa pool with jets. It is social bathing, families included. There is no minimum age for the Bathhouse pools, though anyone under 16 needs an adult in the water with them. The Sanctuary upgrade is adults only (16 and over) and adds the aroma steam room, a magnesium salt pool, a dry sauna, a hammam, spa couches and a cool-down plunge pool, with robe, towel and locker included. Sessions are timed and prepaid online, and cancellations inside 48 hours are charged in full, so book once your plans are firm.
- Weekend afternoons and long weekends are the crush. Go midweek, or first thing, if you want the pool to yourself. There is a late-afternoon Sundowner session on weekdays.
- Bring swimwear, slip-on shoes and a water bottle; towels and robes can be hired.
- Spa treatments are booked separately and fill up on weekends.
- Hepburn Bathhouse & Spa - Mineral Springs Reserve Road (book)
Other Springs Worth a Detour
- Central Springs Reserve, Daylesford - Below Lake Daylesford on Wombat Creek, with new hand pumps opened in 2024 and a barbecue shelter. On the Peace Mile walk.
- Tipperary Spring - A hand pump on the Tipperary Track, reachable by car and wheelchair accessible.
- Jubilee Lake - Three kilometres south-east of Daylesford: hand pumps, a lake loop and a playground.
- Sailors Falls - A pump at the top of the falls on the Ballan road, 10 minutes south.
- Vaughan Springs - Twenty-five minutes north on the Loddon River, with two pumps, river swimming and a picnic ground under big old trees.
Day Spas Beyond the Bathhouse
- The Mineral Spa - At the Mineral Springs Hotel, up the road at 124 Main Road (it was Peppers until 2022): hydrotherapy, steam, sauna and outdoor mineral spas, open daily.
- Salus Spa at Lake House - Treetop mineral-water spa cabins above Lake Daylesford.
- Shizuka Ryokan - A Japanese-style inn in Hepburn Springs that takes day visitors for its bathing ritual and treatments.
- Daylesford Day Spa - In town on Albert Street; closed Tuesday and Wednesday outside school holidays.
Then walk back up the hill to your room, which is the whole point of staying here.
