The guide
Roughly half the East Gippsland Winter Festival is free. That one fact should shape how you plan it.
The 2026 festival ran from Friday 19 June to Sunday 19 July: more than 100 events across Metung, Lakes Entrance, Bairnsdale, Bruthen, Orbost, Paynesville, Mallacoota and a string of smaller towns. This guide covers what was free, what was worth paying for, and how to build a budget weekend around the split. The 2026 program has wrapped up, so read the events below as a picture of how the festival works; I'll update this page when the 2027 program lands. Dates, prices and tickets always live on the official program, because they change, and I'd rather send you to the source than make something up.
The quick version
Is the East Gippsland Winter Festival free?
Partly. About half the events are free entry, the rest are ticketed. Both sides are good.
What could you do for free in 2026?
The Metung Winter Festival day, the Bruthen Medieval Winter Fire Festival, the Lakes Lights lantern parade, the Metung Winter Market, the Orbost and Nowa Nowa Sunday Sessions, lantern-making workshops and several free art exhibitions. A full weekend without a ticket is genuinely doable.
What was worth paying for?
The Metung Igloo Dining Experience, Guy Grossi's Inverno at Sodafish, the Nicholson River Trestle Bridge Long Lunch, and Paul West's Ember and Ales Feast at Sailors Grave. If you're on a budget, one of those as the centrepiece is plenty.
How much should you budget?
$0 if you stick to free events. Around $80 to $150 to add one mid-range ticketed dinner or ball. Premium dining sits higher; prices are on the program.
The free side
Bruthen Medieval Winter Fire Festival. Knights in armour, flaming sword fights, bonfires and proper fire shows. One of the best free family events on the program, worth the drive from anywhere in the region. Bring layers and a head torch for the walk back to the car.
Lakes Lights Community Lantern Parade, Lakes Entrance. The marquee free event: artist-made lanterns through town, projection art on the foreshore. Free lantern-making workshops run in several towns beforehand; spots are limited, so register through the program.
Metung Winter Festival day. Metung's big free day on the Village Green at Bancroft Bay. In 2026 the headline was live chainsaw carving, with music, food and family entertainment through the day.
Metung Winter Market and the 'Oodie In. Lakeside market with local produce and handmade goods, free entry. Then the 'Oodie In on the Village Green: wear your Oodie, join the games, bring a gold coin for Variety, the children's charity.
Orbost and Nowa Nowa Sunday Sessions. Free live music at the Orbost Arts Centre and the Nowa Nowa hall. My mum grew up across the river in Newmerella and we've still got family in Orbost, so I'm biased, but these are properly local and properly fun, the kind of thing you stumble into and stay for hours.
South East NOW, East Gippsland Art Gallery, Bairnsdale. A serious exhibition: 25 artists, presented with the Gunaikurnai Land and Waters Aboriginal Corporation. Free entry. Don't miss it.
MA Space Gallery Winter Solstice Gathering, Mallacoota. Three days of creative programming around the solstice. Mallacoota is a long drive from the festival's western hub, but winter is quietly its best season: the warmest winter weather in Victoria, and whales migrating past about 500 metres off the coast. If you're coming this far east, pick the solstice weekend.
The ticketed side
Nicholson River Trestle Bridge Long Lunch. The festival opener: a long lunch on a literal trestle bridge for 150 guests. Nothing else on the program is like it, and demand outstrips seats every year.
Metung Igloo Dining Experience. New in 2026: a three-course dinner over 90 minutes in a private igloo, menu by Bancroft Bay Distillery and The Local Metung. Limited capacity. If it returns for 2027, book it the day tickets open.
Guy Grossi's Inverno, Sodafish, Lakes Entrance. 2026 was Grossi's third year at Sodafish with chef Nick Mahlook, and the earlier years sold out. The food event of the festival.
Paul West's Ember and Ales Feast, Sailors Grave Brewing. Long-table feast cooked over fire, paired with Sailors Grave beers. Book early.
The Riversleigh Winter Masquerade Ball, Bairnsdale. Candlelit, live music, masks and formal attire required. The black-tie night of the festival.
Metung Bloodhounds' Op Shop Ball, Swan Reach Pub. Op-shop dress code, pub venue, covers band. The polar opposite of the Riversleigh Ball in every way that matters, and the locals' favourite. In 2026 it shared its night with the closing Wrap Party at the Paynesville Hotel, which put real pressure on accommodation. Plan for that.
The niche stuff. The High Country Hooch Scottish Festival at Glenaladale: ceilidh, whisky, bagpipes, bonfires. A gourmet packraft trip through Mitchell River National Park for people who want their lunch earned. A floating cinema, new in 2026 and exactly as odd and appealing as it sounds. And the Gippsland Jersey Winter Solstice Swim: if you read "winter solstice swim" and thought "yes please," you already know whether it's for you.
How to plan a budget weekend
Anchor the weekend on free events, then add one ticketed highlight as the centrepiece if the budget allows. In 2026 that looked like a Metung base, the market and the festival day on the Saturday, an igloo dinner or a pub meal that night, then a free gallery or the lantern parade on the way home Sunday. A genuinely good weekend for the cost of accommodation and food.
On where to base yourself: Metung is the most walkable, with the biggest run of village events. Lakes Entrance puts you closest to Lakes Lights and Sodafish. Bairnsdale is central for the Riversleigh, the gallery and the regional airport. Book the room when you book the tickets; the big nights put real pressure on local beds.
Run an event or business featured in this guide? Want better visibility before the next program drops? Flick me a line at matt@yourmateagency.com.au. No catch, no fee, no pitch.
Booking, when the next program lands
Everything ticketed books through egwinterfest.com.au/program, which also has a Free Only filter, the easiest way to plan a no-ticket weekend. The 2026 program launched in early May, so I'd expect similar timing for 2027. Two tips that held true in 2026: book the new limited-capacity events first, and book accommodation at the same time as the tickets. Most free events are walk-up, but a handful of workshops ask you to register even though entry is free, so give the program a five-minute scroll before you head down.
A note from Matt
I built this guide from the official program and what the organisers published, because most of what people planning a trip were finding on Google was stale articles from publications that don't live down here. There was real planning-stage demand and almost no current local content meeting it, so I wrote some. I'll keep this page updated as each year's program lands.
The day job is building websites that get found for searches exactly like these, mostly for local operators across Gippsland and the Sapphire Coast, like the work I've done with Hammond Properties. If you run an event, a venue or an accommodation business in East Gippsland and want to be findable when the next wave of searches hits, email matt@yourmateagency.com.au, call or text 0478 101 521, or grab a 30 minute slot in my calendar and we'll have a chat.