Sunshine Coast Hinterland Food & Wine Trail by Car: Maleny, Montville & Mapleton

The Sunshine Coast Hinterland food trail is a loop of a little over 100 km from Sunshine Coast Airport, with under two hours of actual driving. Head south to Landsborough, climb the Landsborough-Maleny Road to Maleny for farm-gate dairy, a cheese board at Maleny Cheese and chocolate on Maple Street, then follow the ridge road to Montville for a tasting and paddock-to-plate lunch at Flame Hill Vineyard and a wander through the artisan village. Carry on through Flaxton, where Kondalilla Restaurant looks out over the national park, to Mapleton for a verandah table at Mapleton Public House, then drop down through Nambour and back to the coast. Friday is the one day when every stop in this guide is open. You'll need a designated driver, a cooler bag and an empty boot.

Introduction: A Culinary Journey Across the Blackall Range

You walk into the RaD Car Hire Sunshine Coast depot at Marcoola with a cooler bag under one arm, and Vicky looks up from the counter and smiles.

"That's an empty esky," she says. "Which means you're planning to fill it. Let me guess. Cheese?"

Cheese, wine, chocolate, maybe a bottle of gin. Vicky has heard this plan before, and she loves it. "Everybody comes to the Sunshine Coast for the beaches, and fair enough," she says. "But forty-five minutes that way," and she points inland, "you're up on the Blackall Range. It's cooler, it's green, there are dairy cows on the hills, and somebody's handing you a cheese board. It's my favourite day out, and I live here."

The Blackall Range is the long ridge that runs behind the coast, with Maleny at the southern end, Montville in the middle and Mapleton at the north. The three villages are strung along less than 25 km of road, and almost everything worth eating and drinking sits on or just off the one road that joins them.

"The trick is doing it in the right order, on the right day," Vicky says, pulling out a map. "Half these places are closed early in the week. Get that wrong and you're looking at a lot of locked doors. Get it right and it's the best lunch of your holiday."

This guide is that conversation: the route, what's open when, who drives, and how to get a boot full of cheese and wine home in one piece.

Why a car makes sense for a hinterland food trail

The stops are spread along a ridge. Flame Hill Vineyard is down a side road outside Montville, Maleny Dairies is on a farm road outside Maleny, and Kondalilla Restaurant is in the rainforest at Flaxton. According to Google Maps, there are only occasional bus services between the villages.
You set the pace. Linger over a long lunch, skip a stop that's busy, or pull over at a lookout when the view opens up.
You can take it home. Farm-gate milk and yoghurt, cheese, chocolate and wine all need somewhere cool and safe to travel. That's a cooler bag in a car, not a backpack on a bus.
It's an easy loop. Up the range at Landsborough, along the ridge, and down again at Nambour, so you never drive the same road twice.

Staff tip from Vicky: "Tell us you're doing the food trail when you book and we'll talk you through the route before you leave. And bring the cooler bag in with you. If you've forgotten ice bricks, we'll point you to the nearest servo."

Route Overview: Landsborough up to Maleny, Montville and Mapleton

All times and distances below are Google Maps estimates in usual traffic at the time of writing. Check your navigation app and QldTraffic on the day.

Travel Schedule

Leg	Distance	Drive time
Sunshine Coast Airport to Landsborough	about 37 km	about 30 minutes
Landsborough to Maleny (Maple Street) via Landsborough-Maleny Road	about 16 km	about 19 minutes
Maleny to Montville via Maleny-Montville Road	about 15 km	about 16 minutes
Montville to Mapleton via Flaxton Drive	about 8 km	about 9 minutes
Mapleton to Sunshine Coast Airport via Nambour	about 26 km	about 29 minutes

Google Maps does offer a slightly quicker way to Maleny that skips Landsborough, but the Landsborough-Maleny Road is the classic approach. It climbs from the railway town of Landsborough up the face of the range, with the Glass House Mountains appearing behind you as you gain height.

"It's a proper climb, but it's a good road," says Vicky. "Take it steadily, use a lower gear on the steep bits, and if there's mist or low cloud at the top, which happens up there even when it's sunny on the coast, pop your headlights on and slow down."

What's open when

This is the part most visitors get caught out by. These are the opening days listed by each venue or its Google listing when we checked, and they do change, so confirm before you travel.

Opening Hours

Stop	Days open
Maleny Dairies MilkBar	Wednesday to Friday
Maleny Cheese shop	Daily (full cafe menu Wednesday to Sunday)
The Barrel at Clouds Vineyard	Friday to Monday
Flame Hill Vineyard cellar door and lunch	Wednesday to Sunday
Kondalilla Restaurant	Thursday to Sunday
Mapleton Public House	Daily (bar menu only Monday and Tuesday)
Morts Brewing Co., Nambour	Thursday to Sunday

Friday is the only day everything lines up. On a Saturday or Sunday you'll miss the Maleny Dairies MilkBar but catch everything else, and on a Thursday you'll get the dairy and Flame Hill but not The Barrel. Wednesday is the thinnest day, with The Barrel, Kondalilla and Morts all closed.

Staff tip from Vicky: "If you can pick your day, pick Friday. If you can't, don't stress. Even on a Sunday you'll still eat and drink very well up there. Just book your lunch table ahead."

Stop 1: Maleny, Farm-Fresh Dairy & Local Produce

On the way up: The Barrel at Clouds Vineyard

On the way up the Landsborough-Maleny Road, at Bald Knob, you'll see a building shaped like a giant wine barrel. That's The Barrel at Clouds Vineyard, which pours wines from South East Queensland alongside craft beers and serves a bistro menu, with the Glass House Mountains as a backdrop.

If you've come for a Maleny winery drive, this is the first vineyard you'll pass. It rates 3.9 stars from around 570 Google reviews, so opinions are mixed, and locals on Reddit haven't always been kind about it. It does make for a great photo stop, so take a look at the view on the way past, and save your appetite for the stops ahead.

Image credit: Maleny Dairies Facebook

Morning start: Maleny Dairies

Maleny Dairies is a family-owned dairy on McCarthy Road, just outside Maleny. It rates 4.6 stars from more than 1,300 Google reviews, and one reviewer sums up the appeal: good prices, and dairy that's about as fresh as it gets.

A couple of things to know before you go. The dairy's website says its farm tours are closed until further notice, so this is now a farm shop visit, not a tour. The MilkBar is open Wednesday to Friday, 9am to 4pm, and closed on weekends and public holidays. If your trip falls on one of those days, it's a lovely first stop for milk, yoghurt, custard and cream straight from the source. If it doesn't, you'll find Maleny Dairies products in shops and cafes all over the hinterland.

"Buy the custard," says Vicky. "That's all I'll say. Put it straight in the esky."

Maple Street: coffee, chocolate and gelato

Maleny's main street is a short drive further on, and it's the place for a coffee and a stroll before the serious eating starts. All ratings are from Google Reviews at the time of writing.

Maleny Food Co. Cafe on Maple Street rates 4.3 stars from around 580 reviews for artisan gelato, pastries and cheese. One reviewer mentions a selection of more than 200 cheeses, including local ones, which makes it a handy cheese stop on days when the dairies are shut.
Maleny Chocolate Co. in Rainforest Plaza rates 4.6 stars from around 240 reviews, with reviewers mentioning the range of flavours and the hand-decorated chocolates.
Monica's Cafe rates 4.6 stars from more than 1,000 reviews and is known for generous breakfasts.
Maple 3 Cafe at 3 Maple Street rates 4.5 stars from around 870 reviews, with plenty of praise for the coffee.
AnRvi at 13 Maple Street rates 4.9 stars from around 320 reviews for small plates, if you're staying in the area for dinner.

Image credit: Maleny Cheese Factory Facebook

The cheese stop: Maleny Cheese

Leaving Maleny on the road towards Montville, look for the giant milk can and cheese wedge at Balmoral Ridge. Maleny Cheese is a family-run cheesery and cafe built beside its own working factory, and it rates 4.4 stars from more than 1,360 Google reviews.

This is your cheese tasting stop on the way to Montville. The range includes cheddars, brie, fetta-style cheeses and seasonal buffalo milk cheeses, plus Greek-style yoghurts, and the cafe serves cheese boards built from what's made next door. Tourism listings note that on weekdays you can watch production through the viewing windows.

Shop: open daily, 10am to 3pm, according to the Maleny Cheese website.
Cafe: full menu Wednesday to Sunday, 10am to 2:30pm.
Tasting tours: a guided Yoghurt and Cheese Tasting Tour was listed at $18 per person for around 30 minutes when we checked. The website says tours currently run during school holidays on Wednesdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, and must be booked by 3pm the day before. Check current dates and prices before you plan around it.

Just along the same road, Gerrards Lookout rates 4.7 stars from more than 1,450 Google reviews and is an easy roadside stop, with one reviewer calling it a great view of Maleny and its surrounds.

If you'd like to add waterfalls and gardens to your Maleny morning, our Maleny and Gardners Falls day trip guide covers the non-food side of town.

Staff tip from Vicky: "Do the cheese before the wine, not after. Maleny Cheese shuts at three, and Flame Hill pours until five. And get the cheese into the cooler bag straight away. It's had a better life than to end up sweating on a back seat."

Stop 2: Montville, Boutique Wine & Village Charm

The scenic drive: Maleny-Montville Road

The 15 km between Maleny and Montville is the prettiest stretch of the day. The road follows the top of the range through green farmland, with lookouts along the way.

It's a two-lane country road with bends, so keep to the limit, only pull over where there's a proper lay-by or lookout car park, and watch for wildlife around dawn and dusk. The Queensland Government's guide to sharing the road with animals is worth a quick read before any hinterland drive.

Highlight stop: Flame Hill Vineyard

Flame Hill Vineyard is on Western Avenue, which turns off just before you reach Montville village. The vineyard's own website puts it 2.2 km, or about three minutes, from the village, so the Flame Hill Vineyard drive is an easy one to fit in either side of a wander along Main Street.

Cellar door: wine tasting and sales Wednesday to Sunday, 10:30am to 5pm.
Lunch on the Deck and Terrace: Wednesday to Sunday, 11:30am to 3pm. Flame Hill describes it as a paddock-to-plate experience, with grass-fed Angus beef from its own farm and much of the herbs and vegetables from its kitchen garden.
The wine: Flame Hill says its wines are exclusively estate grown, from its Montville vineyard and its two vineyards on Queensland's Granite Belt.
Bookings: there's a restaurant booking form on the Flame Hill website. We'd book ahead for a weekend lunch. We couldn't find current tasting prices online, so ask when you book.

Flame Hill rates 4.1 stars from around 670 Google reviews, and it's fair to say Queensland wine divides people. In a r/sunshinecoast thread about local wineries, now around two years old, user Current-Sink3928 called Flame Hill "beautiful to be at" while being less convinced by the wine, and pointed out that a warm coastal climate isn't classic wine country. In the same thread, several locals, including kelsbells84 and isybeanz, spoke up for the wines of Stanthorpe on the Granite Belt, which is where two of Flame Hill's three vineyards are.

"Here's how I'd put it," says Vicky. "You go to Flame Hill for the whole afternoon. The view over the vines, a long lunch off the farm, a tasting with someone who can tell you where every bottle came from. Try the range, buy what you like, and make up your own mind. That's half the fun."

Image credit: Flame Hill Vineyard Facebook

Montville's artisan village

Montville's Main Street is lined with galleries, craft studios, sweet shops and cafes, and the hinterland tourism site maps it out as the Montville Artisan Village Walk. It's the right place to walk off lunch. Ratings are from Google Reviews at the time of writing.

Little May Espresso at 174 Main Street rates 4.7 stars from around 680 reviews for coffee and breakfast.
Chocolate Country Montville at 192 Main Street rates 4.5 stars from around 750 reviews.
fudgyboombahs rates 4.6 stars from around 125 reviews for fudge and old-fashioned sweets.
Montvale Gin Distillery & Bar at 92 Main Street rates 5.0 stars from a small number of reviews (33), with reviewers mentioning its gin tastings. Google listed it as open only on Friday afternoons and Sundays when we checked, so confirm before you go.
Fiorio & Co, a French bistro at 182 Main Street, rates 4.9 stars from around 350 reviews and is one for anyone staying up the range for dinner.
The Edge Cafe, Bar & Restaurant rates 4.1 stars from more than 2,400 reviews and has valley views from its deck.

Parking in Montville

Montville is a small village on a ridge, and Main Street parking fills up quickly on weekends and in school holidays. A few things help:

Arrive before 10am if you want to park on Main Street itself, or come after the lunch rush.
Follow the signs. Bays are signed, and some are time limited. We couldn't confirm the current limits from an official source, so read the signs where you park.
Park once and walk. The village is compact, so leave the car in one spot instead of hopping between shops.
Do Flame Hill first on a busy day. It's out of the village on its own property, so you can have lunch there and drive into Montville mid-afternoon as the day-trippers start to leave.

Staff tip from Vicky: "Reverse into your park in Montville if you can. Main Street's on a slope and it's busy, and it's a lot easier driving out forwards with a boot full of wine than backing into traffic."

Stop 3: Flaxton & Mapleton, Rainforest Dining, Craft Beer & Big Views

The afternoon drive

From Montville, Main Street becomes Flaxton Drive and carries on north along the ridge through Flaxton to Mapleton. It's only about 8 km and 9 minutes, and it's where the trail gets quieter and greener. If you're after a Sunshine Coast scenic dining drive, this is the stretch for it, with a rainforest deck at one end and a pub verandah at the other.

Kondalilla Restaurant, Flaxton

About 3 km north of Montville, turn onto Kondalilla Falls Road for Kondalilla Restaurant, the restaurant at Kondalilla Eco Resort. It has a deck looking out over Kondalilla National Park, a seasonal modern Australian menu, live music on Sunday afternoons and an enclosed play area for children. It's open to the public as well as resort guests.

It rates 4.7 stars from around 190 Google reviews, and 4.7 from more than 500 diners on OpenTable. OpenTable lists it as open Thursday to Saturday from 8am to 8pm and Sunday from 8am to 5pm, and closed Monday to Wednesday. Check before you travel and book a table for weekends.

If Flame Hill is your long lunch, Kondalilla makes a lovely coffee-and-dessert stop on the deck. If you'd prefer lunch in the rainforest, swap them around and call into Flame Hill for a tasting only.

Nearby, The Barn on Flaxton rates 4.8 stars from more than 820 reviews for cafe meals, and is a good fallback early in the week when Kondalilla is closed.

Image credit: Mapleton Public House Facebook

Mapleton Public House

At the northern end of the ridge, Mapleton Public House is the classic way to finish the trail. Visit Sunshine Coast describes the pub as sitting 400 metres above sea level, with verandah views that stretch across the hinterland to the coast. Its owners also run The Falls Farm nearby, and Gourmet Traveller reports that what's picked on the farm goes onto the menu, alongside local craft beers and an Australian wine list.

It rates 4.3 stars from more than 1,700 Google reviews. The pub's website lists it as open daily from 11am, with lunch from 11:30am to 2:30pm on weekdays and until 3pm on weekends, dinner from Wednesday to Saturday, and a bar menu only on Mondays and Tuesdays.

For the view without the meal, Mapleton Falls lookout is a short drive from the village and rates 4.6 stars from around 125 reviews. And for a last coffee, La Botiga on Obi Obi Road rates 4.5 stars from around 165 reviews.

Sunshine Coast Hinterland craft breweries (and distilleries)

If a hinterland craft brewery road trip is the reason you came, here's the honest local picture. The hinterland has lost two well-known brewery venues in 2026, with the Brouhaha-branded taproom in Maleny and Terella Brewing at North Arm both closing. The good news is that the drive home from Mapleton takes you through Nambour, home of the brewery Reddit locals rate highest.

Morts Brewing Co. in Nambour is about 15 minutes and 12 km down the range from Mapleton, and rates 4.8 stars from around 90 Google reviews. In a r/sunshinecoast thread on breweries and distilleries, user Electrical-House-185 said Morts has "the best beer on the coast" in their opinion, and two other locals, Plackets65 and amaznow, backed them up. Google lists it as open Thursday to Sunday from midday.
Sunshine & Sons, next to the Big Pineapple at Woombye, is a short detour south of Nambour. Its cellar door is listed on Google as Distillery Door, rating 4.9 stars from around 345 reviews and open daily from 9am to 5pm. It gets several mentions across both Reddit threads, including from Current-Sink3928 and Cinderella_Boots.
The Rare Orchid Distilling Co in Landsborough, right at the start of the route, rates 5.0 stars from around 65 Google reviews. Reddit user Kudos_812 described it as a hidden gem that wins over people who don't think of themselves as gin drinkers. Its website lists cellar door visits by appointment towards the weekend, so book ahead.

As SalopianPirate put it in the wineries thread, the coast's real strength is its breweries and distilleries, so think of this as a food, wine, beer and gin trail and you won't go far wrong.

Staff tip from Vicky: "Finish at Mapleton and come home through Nambour. It's the quickest way back to us, about half an hour, and it means the last thing you do on the range is sit on that verandah with the whole coast laid out in front of you."

Driver Guidelines & Vehicle Comfort

Designated driver planning

A food and wine trail only works if one person in the car isn't drinking. Sort this out before you leave the branch, not at the first cellar door.

Pick your designated driver for the whole day. Swapping drivers after lunch doesn't help if you've both been tasting.
Know the law. In Queensland, open licence holders must stay below 0.05 blood alcohol concentration, and learner, provisional and probationary licence holders must be at zero. If you're visiting on an overseas licence, check with the Queensland Government how the limits apply to you. Tastings add up faster than people expect, so the safe choice is for the driver not to drink at all.
Look after the driver. Most venues on this trail do excellent coffee, soft drinks and food, and the driver gets first pick of what goes in the boot to enjoy later.
Add a second driver to the hire. RaD lets you add up to two additional drivers to your booking, so you can decide on the day who's driving, and take it in turns over a longer holiday.
Staying overnight? Flame Hill and Kondalilla Eco Resort both have accommodation, and so do Maleny, Montville and Mapleton. Stay up the range, walk to dinner, and drive back in the morning.

"We'd much rather have this chat at the counter than not at all," says Vicky. "Decide who's driving, add them to the hire, and then everybody can relax."

Getting your cheese and wine home

Queensland sun and a closed car are hard on good produce, and a parked car heats up quickly.

Bring a cooler bag or esky with ice bricks for anything from the fridge: milk, yoghurt, custard, cream and cheese. Pack it cold and keep it cold.
Buy the chilled things last where you can. If you're coming back past a shop later, pick up the dairy on the way home.
Keep wine out of a hot boot. Heat is no friend to wine. On a warm day, carry wine in the air-conditioned cabin, lying flat in a footwell or wedged upright behind a seat, and bring it inside when you get back.
Stop bottles rolling. Ask the cellar door for a carton, or wrap bottles in a towel or jumper.
Chocolate melts. It goes in the cooler bag too.

Our Queensland road trip packing guide has more on boot space by vehicle class and where to pick up an esky near our Sunshine Coast branch.

Choosing your vehicle

Every road on this route is sealed, so you don't need a 4WD, and a small car will manage the climb.

Couples will be comfortable in a compact hatchback, with room in the boot for a cooler bag and a carton of wine.
Groups of three or four will appreciate an SUV for the extra cabin space, the higher seating position on the winding ridge road, and a bigger boot.
Bigger groups can look at a 7-seat SUV or a people mover from our full vehicle range, which keeps everyone, and the one designated driver, in a single car.

Our guide to choosing the right rental car for South East Queensland compares the options in more detail.

Picking up on the Sunshine Coast

RaD Car Hire Sunshine Coast offers terminal pick-up and drop-off at Sunshine Coast Airport with no shuttle bus, in-branch collection at the Marcoola depot, and pick-up options in Noosa. If you're based in Noosa, the same loop works in reverse order from the north, and our Noosa to Eumundi markets guide makes a good companion food day.

Staff tip from Vicky: "Leave here by about 8:30 and you'll be in Maleny as the doors open. Dairy and cheese in the morning, wine and lunch in the middle of the day, Mapleton for the afternoon view, and home before dark. Mornings up there are the best part, so don't waste them."

More Hinterland Ideas

If one day on the range isn't enough, these guides pick up where this one leaves off:

Sunshine Coast Hinterland Hidden Gems Drive for lookouts, rainforest walks and platypus spotting.
Rainforest to Reef: A 4-Day Sunshine Coast Self-Drive Itinerary for a longer trip that links the range with Noosa and the coast.
One-Way Car Hire: Brisbane to Sunshine Coast if you're arriving from Brisbane and finishing on the coast.

FAQs

What is the Sunshine Coast Hinterland food trail?

It's a self-drive loop along the Blackall Range linking Maleny, Montville and Mapleton, with stops for farm-gate dairy, cheese, chocolate, wine, village cafes and lookout dining. From Sunshine Coast Airport the full loop is a little over 100 km, with under two hours of driving in total, based on Google Maps estimates at the time of writing.

How long does it take to drive from the Sunshine Coast to Maleny?

Around 45 minutes from our Sunshine Coast branch to Maleny, according to Google Maps in usual traffic. Going via Landsborough and the Landsborough-Maleny Road, allow about 30 minutes to Landsborough and another 19 minutes up the range.

What is the best day to do the hinterland food trail?

Friday. When we checked, it was the only day every stop in this guide was open. Many venues close early in the week, and the Maleny Dairies MilkBar is closed on weekends.

Is Flame Hill Vineyard worth visiting?

For the setting, the paddock-to-plate lunch and the chance to taste estate-grown Queensland wine, yes. Google reviewers rate it 4.1 stars, and opinions on the wine itself vary, so go for the whole experience and taste before you buy. The cellar door is open Wednesday to Sunday.

Can you still tour Maleny Dairies?

Not at the moment. The Maleny Dairies website says its farm tours are closed until further notice. The MilkBar farm shop is open Wednesday to Friday from 9am to 4pm, and closed on weekends and public holidays.

Where can I do a cheese tasting near Montville?

Maleny Cheese, at Balmoral Ridge on the road between Maleny and Montville, is the cheese stop on this route. The shop is open daily from 10am to 3pm, the cafe serves cheese boards, and guided tasting tours run on selected days.

Are there craft breweries in the Sunshine Coast Hinterland?

There are fewer than there were. The Brouhaha taproom in Maleny and Terella Brewing both closed in 2026. Mapleton Public House pours local craft beers, and Morts Brewing Co. in Nambour, about 15 minutes down the range from Mapleton, is the pick of local Reddit users. Opening days vary, so check ahead.

Do I need a designated driver?

Yes. Queensland's general limit is below 0.05 blood alcohol concentration for open licence holders, and zero for learner, provisional and probationary drivers. The safest plan is for the driver not to drink, and to take a few bottles home instead.

Is parking difficult in Montville?

It can be on weekends and in school holidays. Arrive before 10am or later in the afternoon, follow the signed time limits, and park once and walk the village.

Do I need an SUV for the Blackall Range?

No. The roads are sealed, and a compact car will manage them. An SUV gives you a higher seating position and more boot space for a cooler bag and wine.

How do I keep cheese and wine cool in a rental car?

Bring a cooler bag or esky with ice bricks for dairy and chocolate, buy chilled items as late in the day as you can, and carry wine in the air-conditioned cabin, not a hot boot.

Plan Your Hinterland Food & Wine Trail with RaD Car Hire

As you pick up the keys, Vicky taps the empty cooler bag on the counter. "Custard from the dairy, something soft and something sharp from Maleny Cheese, a bottle from Flame Hill, and chocolate for the drive home. And if there's any left by the time you bring the car back, you've done it wrong."

Whether you're a couple after a long lunch among the vines, a group of friends working your way along the ridge, or visitors who want to taste the side of the Sunshine Coast that isn't sand and surf, the Blackall Range is under an hour from our Sunshine Coast branch. Choose a hatchback or an SUV with room for the esky, add your designated driver to the booking, and let the team help you plan the day. Every RaD booking includes unlimited kilometres, so an extra detour to a lookout or a distillery won't cost you anything more than the fuel.

Book your RaD Car Hire vehicle today

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