Lorne, Australia

Picturesquely set at the foot of the heavily forested Otway Range, on the banks of the Erskine River, LORNE has long been the premier holiday town of the Great Ocean Road. Only two hours' drive from the city, it's hugely popular with Melbourne weekenders who relish its well-established café society and whiff of 1960s counterculture overlaid on an essentially middle-class 1930s resort. To complete the picture, the Great Otway National Park, with its walking tracks, plunging falls and fern gullies, surrounds the town.