If you are on a tight schedule the trip Melbourne to Sydney via the Hume Freeway/Hwy is the quickest and about the only option. Using the City Link Freeway, the Western Ring Route and Hume Freeway it is multilane for around 240 km to beyond Albury. You will need to purchase a day pass for City Link as it is a toll road.  A day pass can be obtained by ringing City Link on 132 629 and can be purchased prior to travel or up to 24 hours after.

After you turn off the Western Ring Route onto the Hume Freeway watch out for speed cameras at very regular intervals especially for the first 30 or 40 km.  These are also time over distance cameras that don't just measure your speed at the cameras but also time your vehicle from camera to camera to determine average speed.  Slowing down just to smile for the cameras won't work if you speed too much in between.

Before you get to Albury, there is a roadside stop at Glenrowan.  This town is the scene of Ned Kelly's last stand.  He was a notorious Bushranger (outlaw) in that area in the 1870/80's. For more information on Touring Kelly Country see the Inside page on Touring Kelly Country.

There is a bypass at the town of Albury, on the Victoria/New South Wales border.

There are extensive roadworks in progress from north of Albury, off and on,  for around 150 km to the Wagga Wagga turn off then it is nearly all  multilane all the way to Sydney except for the bridge over the Murrumbigee River at Gundagai.  Work on the construction of an additional bridge over the river has commenced but this is having little effect on the current road.  There is a short stretch around Coolac of about 15km where  there are construction works for a bypass in progress until August 2008.  All works should be completed by the end of 2009 and this will mean dual carriageway for the whole drive from Melbourne to Sydney via the Hume Highway.

On the trip from Melbourne to Albury there are no towns as the Freeway bypasses them all.  There are frequent rest stops with toilet facilities and quite a few road side eating places. If you have time.  take it easy on the first day and overnight at Albury (off the bypass), or go further say to Goulburn (off the freeway) and take it easy into Sydney on the second day.

While the road works are in progress between Albury and Tarcutta another option is to break the trip about 1/2 way, in Wagga Wagga, where there are a lot of Motels.  To avoid the road works turn off, to the left, onto the Olympic Hwy about 16 km past Albury. It is about 100km to Wagga Wagga. If you go this way you will need to follow the Sturt Hwy east from Wagga Wagga, for about 45km, back to the Hume Hwy.  This will not avoid the first 5 - 10 km of the works north of Albury or around Coolac.

Alternatively there are a number of country roads between Albury and Tarcutta that go to Wagga Wagga but these are not recommended as they are B roads and in parts are narrow and can be a bit rough and you will not avoid the majority of the works. 

There are also a number of smaller towns north of Albury on the Hume Hwy such as Holbrook, Tarcutta and Gundagai that would be suitable overnight stops.

About 11 km north of the Murrumbigee River crossing at Gundagi is a road side stop with several eating places and an Australian icon, the Dog on the Tucker Box

The final sections of the Freeway into Sydney are also tollways but they have cash toll booths so take some coins to pay the tolls and avoid the ETAG lanes at the toll booths as the will only accept electronic tolls.

Speed limit on Freeway is 110 kph and on non freeway sections mainly 100kph except for towns and road works.

Watch out for Highway Patrol, Radar and speed cameras both mobile and fixed. They are very strict on speed limits in Victoria and a bit easier in New South Wales .  Fixed speed cameras in New South Wales are clearly marked.  They are not clearly marked in Victoria.

Another alternative would be to turn off the Hume Freeway, onto the Barton Hwy, north of Yass and go via Canberra and spend a day or two in Canberra.  This is about 60 km. Leaving Canberra you proceed north on the Federal Hwy rejoining the Hume Freeway just south of Goulburn which is about an 80 km drive.  The road from Canberra back to the Hume Freeway is also a freeway.

An alternative route is from Melbourne to Canberra via Bairnsdale, Lakes Entrance, Cann River, Bombala, Cooma which is much more scenic, certainly from Bairnsdale onward.

From Cann River to Bombala you travel through the lower Snowy Mountains and natural Australian forest country to Bombala and then through the Monaro which are undulating high plains, currently very dry due to the drought. The Nimmitabel Bakery between Bombala and Cooma is well worth a stop for lunch. The trip to Canberra is a good 9 to10 hour trip.  From Canberra you can go direct to Sydney which is all multi lane road and will take about 3 1/2 hours or you could go via Braidwood to Batemans Bay and then up the coast to Sydney. Canberra to Batemans Bay about 2 1/2 hours as there is a steep descent down the Clyde Mountain after Braidwood. From Batemans Bay to Sydney about 4 - 5 hours as the road is not a great road.  The route through the mountains to Canberra and then via the coast is much more scenic but you would probably need 2 overnight stops.

Another alternative is from Cann River continue along the coastal route through Eden to Batemans Bay then to Sydney. This would also require an overnight stop at either Eden, Merimbula or Narooma.

Using any of these routes it is recommended book overnight accommodation in advance especially during school holidays and peak holiday times around Christmas/New Year.