"The Heart of the Hunter Wine Valley" Top 5 Page for this destination Pokolbin by trisanna

We spent two full days in the Hunter Valley and loved every minute of it. By living in the city, we just crave country life. In Pokolbin, we had a lovely one bedroom cottage set in the vines and just minutes away from the vineyards of the Valley. Hunter Valley is around a two hour drive north of Sydney. From Sydney, there are tour operators that organize day trips to the hunter wine valley, where you visit a few wineries. We really enjoyed renting a car and driving through the tiny towns off route 1 to get to hunter valley.

Pokolbin is literally in the center of everything. It's a few minute drive to the best vineyards, restaurants and shops. Cessnock is the main town, which is about a 15 minute drive, which has more affordably priced restaurants and super markets.

If you don't want to drink, there is still stuff to do!
The Hunter Valley Gardens are quite lovely and offer fountain shows. Also, you aren't far from the central coast and close to ocean front towns, which offer other activities or scenic drives.

We spent two nights in the Hunter Valley over the Easter Holiday. This is isn't the best time to visit, unless you want to travel over the holiday. We had a harder time finding accomodation and usually most places want a three night minimum. Also, if you come during the week rather than weekend, the rates are lower!

• Pros:being in the country amongst vines, drinking wine at wineries, lovely restaurants
• Cons:gets very crowded on holiday weekends
• In a nutshell:lovely break from city life