Bay Trail: Elwood to Sandringham

The Bay Trail from Elwood to Sandringham is 17 km of sealed path along the top of Port Phillip Bay, from Point Ormond in Elwood down through Brighton to Sandringham. The trail itself is on lead for its whole length, but it strings together a run of beaches that are not, and that is the whole point of walking it with a dog.

The walk

AllTrails measures the route at 17.2 km and puts it at three and a half to four hours. It is flat, paved and shared with cyclists the entire way, so most people walk a section rather than the whole thing. The Sandringham train line runs parallel for the length of the trail, which makes the logistics easy: pick a station, walk one way and ride back. Nobody sensible walks it as a return trip.

Leash status

Dogs stay on lead on the path itself and in the carparks. Two councils share the route, Bayside City Council at the southern end and the City of Port Phillip at the northern end, and both apply a 20 metre exclusion around playgrounds, barbecues and organised sport. Leash up before leaving the sand and rejoining the path. The beaches beside the trail run to their own timetable, which is where this walk earns its keep.

Beach hours

Elwood Beach is off lead on the sand at any hour from 1 April to 31 October. From 1 November to 31 March that shrinks to 7:30pm through to 10am, with restrictions through the middle of the day. Further south, Sandown Street beach at Brighton allows off lead, and the Sandringham Harbour beach near Jetty Road is off lead around the clock. Read the signs at whichever access point you use, because the boundaries are marked on the sand and the council zones do not always line up with what looks like the same beach.

Pepsi: start at Elwood before 10am in summer and the whole sand is ours. Walk the same stretch at 2pm in January and I am on lead until dark.

Water and terrain

Public toilets, bins and water stations appear regularly along the foreshore, so hydration is not a problem. Shade is, with almost none on the path itself outside the odd lifesaving club. The surface never changes and there are no climbs, which makes sections of it suitable for senior dogs provided the summer heat is avoided.

Getting there and parking

Foreshore parking at Elwood is ticketed from 8am to 11pm and the side streets fill early, so the train is genuinely simpler than driving. Every station on the Sandringham line sits within a few minutes of the path, which turns the one-way walk into a trivial outing.

When to go

In the warmer months, mornings carry the whole plan: off-lead sand hours, cooler pavement, and calmer cycle traffic. Winter inverts everything, with all-hours beach access and the bay at its bluest. The trail is exposed along most of its length, so wind is the factor that decides whether a bay walk is pleasant or grim.

Close by with the dogs

The three beaches that make the walk worth it are written up separately: Elwood Beach at the northern end, Sandown Street Beach at Brighton, and Sandringham Harbour Dog Beach at the finish. The Brighton Beach Gardens walk covers the middle section, and the longer Bay Trail to Mordialloc extends the same route further. Jerry's Milkbar in Elwood is the classic pre-walk coffee stop.

Our Victoria trails page lists more dog-friendly walks, and the Elwood destination guide covers the suburb.