Fodor's Expert Review Puffing Billy

This gleaming narrow-gauge steam train, based 46 km (28 miles) from Healesville in the town of Belgrave, runs on a line originally built in the early 1900s to open up the Dandenong Ranges to 20th-century pioneers. It's a great way to see the foothill landscapes. Daily trips between Belgrave and Emerald Lake pass through picturesque forests and over spectacular wooden trestle bridges. The 13-km (8-mile) trip takes an hour; it's another hour if you continue to the historic town of Gembrook. There are also on-board lunch and train-and-picnic packs, plus special music and children's events, and the new, architecturally impressive visitor center includes a café and interactive activities sharing the little train's long history.