Royal Hotel Mornington

After we departed the fantastic Royal at Queenscliff, we headed across the entrance to Port Phillip Bay and on to our next stop on the tour, the Royal Hotel Mornington.

This leg involved another first: the first boat trip on the Tour. We took the ferry from Queenscliff across to Sorrento before heading up to the Royal Hotel Mornington. The ferry ride was actually pretty fun if a little bumpy. Rod and I enjoyed a couple of beers, while John focused on retaining the beers he had already drunk.

But John did make it through and we safely reached the eastern shore and headed up towards Mornington. We arrived to find a massive pub in the kind of ‘ye olde Royal’ vein. And upon walking in, we found a pub that was absolutely packed. There was nowhere to sit. There was barely anywhere to stand and lean (there are minimal photos of the inside of the pub since taking sneaky photos of hordes of drunk locals in a country pub is often not the best idea).

We finally found a place to settle at a table on the front verandah with a pint of the pub’s Royal Lager. The wind from Queenscliff had followed us across the bay to Mornington, but it was still a pleasant place to relax with a beer.

This was early on a Saturday arvo that we arrived. And judging by the number of people that were there already, the Royal Hotel Mornington was set to go off that night. Luckily the pub had 3 or 4 different bars that they could open up to accommodate the masses (in addition to the front bar that was open when we arrived). There was what looked like a live music oriented bar in the back. And a massive outdoor bar around the side.

But the front bar area and the verandah we settled at was really nice. It feels like we might have hit it and just the wrong time. There were tons of people, but the overflow bars hadn’t yet been opened up. With the crowds spread out a little bit, the Royal Hotel Mornington would’ve been a great place to hang out for several schooners and watch the footy.

As it was, we enjoyed our beers out the front. Mornington is a popular weekend destination for Melburnians. And this pub definitely had the feel of a holiday town pub. I would be willing to bet that the average crowds in the summer are generally massively more than what we might have seen had we come down in the winter.

The Royal Hotel Mornington is one of those Royals we put in the ‘good solid Royal’ category. It’s not one we were trying to get away from as soon as possible. But equally it wasn’t super unique and unlikely to trouble the Top 10 list.

And speaking of the Top 10 list, this is the 80th Royal we’ve visited. And that means it is time for a Top 10 List refresh. So next week’s post will be an update of our favourite 10 Royals from the first 80 we’ve visited.

Royal Stats

• Town/Suburb: Mornington, VIC
• Population: 25,759
• Date Visited: Saturday, February 15, 2025
• Visited By: Cory, John and Rod
• Beer Sponsorship on Sign: None
• Beer Consumed at Pub: Royal Lager (pint)
• Price of Schooner of Said Beer: $12.00
• Unique Award: Biggest Holiday Town Royal
• Tour Progress: 58.0% (80/138)