The Rare Hare Wine and Food Store sits right next door to Jackalope Hotel in Merricks North, close enough that guests walk the LL Vineyard grounds on foot instead of driving to a separate cellar door. Cool-climate Chardonnay and Pinot Noir have grown on this estate since 1989, and Jackalope was built directly into that working vineyard rather than dropped in beside it. Founder Louis Li built the concept around the North American folklore figure of the jackalope, a jackrabbit-antelope hybrid tied to Jackson, Wyoming legend, after spotting a jackalope figurine in a Berlin antique shop, and the building carries that duality through: a bold, monolithic, avant-garde structure that is deliberately out of place among the vines, in line with Li's ambition to create "a new breed of hotel" built on "poetic imagination, ambition and rebellion."
A curated art collection, including a Rain Room installation, runs through the property and can be explored in more depth on the on-site Jackalope Insiders Tour. Membership in Leading Hotels of the World and a Michelin Key designation sit alongside the hotel's own 5-star rating and 45 guestrooms across two floors. Only guests aged 12 and over are admitted, since the retreat operates as an adults-only property, and at roughly an hour's drive from Melbourne it has become a favourite weekend escape for couples and small groups touring the Peninsula's wine country.
Custom Zuster furniture and Tom Dixon fittings turn up in every one of Jackalope's five room categories, and a minibar and refrigerator are refreshed daily regardless of which category a guest books. A private balcony or patio is attached to each room, and most categories sleep two on a king bed with twin beds available on request, though the top-tier suite stretches to three guests.
At 38 square metres inside plus a 12 square metre terrace, this is the entry-level category. A king bed (twin beds available on request), a double rain shower, and individually controlled climate come as standard, and the room sits on the ground floor with an east-facing outlook rather than a vineyard view.
Sleeping up to three guests on a king bed (twin option available), this room matches the Terrace with Double Shower's 38 square metre footprint and 12 square metre terrace but trades the double rain shower for a Japanese-style deep-soak stone bath. The east-facing aspect and Tom Dixon fittings carry through unchanged.
Floor-to-ceiling windows frame the vines in this 38 square metre room, which has a smaller 6 square metre terrace and sits on the ground floor. Two guests fit on the king bed, and the room adds a double rain shower, double vanities, and heated flooring.
Same size, same vineyard-facing outlook as the Vineyard with Double Shower, but here a Japanese deep-soak stone bath replaces the shower. Double vanities and heated flooring are included, for two guests, with the same floor-to-ceiling sightlines over the vines.
A private wine cellar with its own six-seater indoor dining table anchors the Lair Suite, the property's signature category, which spans 85 square metres inside plus a 30 square metre terrace and sleeps up to three guests on a king or king-split configuration (two singles available on request). Beyond the cellar, the suite adds a kitchenette and bar, a double-sided fireplace, crystal-and-copper Christopher Boots lighting, Autoban seating, a 55-inch HDTV, a Bose speaker system, and a sunset-facing vineyard outlook.
Daily wine tasting comes included with every room booked here, a benefit that ties the amenity list directly to the estate's identity as a working vineyard rather than a standalone hotel. The outdoor swimming pool and infrared sauna sit on a terrace looking out over the LL Vineyard itself, spa and massage treatments are available on request, and a car transfer can be arranged for trips within a short radius of the property. More conventional needs are covered too: a 24-hour front desk, elevator access, on-site parking, concierge service, luggage storage, a safety deposit box, and complimentary Wi-Fi are all standard.
Traveloka's listing also notes a terrace area, and the property's own site confirms on-site parking, a genuine convenience given how little public transport reaches this rural vineyard location. A stated sustainability programme is maintained as well, though guests after the specifics of any one initiative should check the property's own pages directly, since details like that tend to change. Between meals and wine sessions, the on-site boutique retail shop and library give guests something to do without leaving the grounds; event and meeting spaces mean the property also hosts small gatherings and weddings alongside ordinary overnight stays, though that kind of booking is best confirmed directly with the hotel.
Melbourne is just over an hour's drive from Jackalope Hotel, and for most guests that drive is the entire journey — there's no train line or bus route to factor in. The address is 166 Balnarring Road, Merricks North, inside the wider Mornington Peninsula wine region of Victoria, and sits within the grounds of the LL Vineyard itself, with the Rare Hare Wine and Food Store immediately next door so the estate can be explored on foot.
Public transport on this part of the Peninsula is limited, so travellers flying in from interstate or overseas will generally want to lock down their arrival into Melbourne before anything else; comparing options to book a flight to Melbourne with Traveloka is a sensible starting point ahead of the onward drive to the vineyard. South of Melbourne, the route tracks through the Peninsula's rolling wine country, past several other well-known cellar doors on the way to Merricks North — and for guests keen to extend the trip, the wider Peninsula also has coastal beaches, hot springs, and golf courses beyond the vineyard itself.
Sitting inside a working vineyard rather than a town centre, Jackalope tends to work best as a self-contained base for a night or two rather than a launchpad for day trips on foot. Guests wanting more of the Peninsula's food-and-wine circuit generally build in extra time either side of their stay, since most neighbouring wineries are a short drive rather than a walk from Merricks North. There's also a geographic split worth knowing about: the Mornington Peninsula runs to both a sheltered bay side and an ocean side, so some guests pair a Jackalope stay for the vineyard experience with a separate night nearer the coast to cover both.
Breakfast at Jackalope is cooked to order and complimentary, served daily between 8:00 and 11:00 AM according to Traveloka's listing, with 24-hour in-room dining and a bar/lounge area for anything more relaxed. The centrepiece, though, is a pair of hatted restaurants on-site: Doot Doot Doot, the hotel's signature restaurant, runs a wine-and-food degustation experience built on the surrounding LL Vineyard, while Rare Hare operates a more casual wine and food store format adjoining the hotel.
Guests in the Lair Suite have a further option — its own kitchenette and bar for a quieter drink before or after visiting either restaurant. Both restaurants draw directly on the LL Vineyard and the estate's own wine tasting programme, so dining here is closely bound up with the property's identity as a working winery rather than a hotel that simply happens to have a restaurant attached. Anyone booking specifically for the food and wine side of things should reserve tables ahead of arrival, given the hatted status of both venues. For those wanting to go further afield, Mornington Peninsula tours and activities on Traveloka cover much of the wider cellar-door circuit around Merricks North.
Few Australian countryside hotels ask a guest to reconsider what a hotel building is even supposed to look like, and that's really the pitch here: Jackalope treats the structure itself as an art piece rather than a backdrop to the vineyard. That deliberately jarring, avant-garde design against traditional vine rows is the whole point, and it sits inside a genuinely rare context — a working, cool-climate vineyard under vine since 1989, with wine tasting built directly into daily life at the hotel. Leading Hotels of the World membership and a Michelin Key recognition place it among a small group of Australian countryside properties with that kind of international standing, and the Rain Room along with the rest of the integrated artworks give guests reason to linger beyond the room and restaurants.
Because the property is adults-only (12 and over), the atmosphere stays geared toward couples and small groups. On Traveloka, that comes through in excellent guest reviews, with cleanliness a standout — feedback that points to consistently strong service and room comfort as well. Anyone after a wine country stay that doubles as a design and art experience, rather than a conventional countryside retreat, will find Jackalope one of the more distinctive options within reach of Melbourne.
Outstanding guest reviews carry real weight against only 45 rooms, and that combination is exactly why availability tightens well ahead of weekends and long weekends in particular. It's worth deciding early between the vineyard-facing rooms, the east-facing terrace rooms, and the Lair Suite, since the vineyard-view categories and the suite tend to sell out first.
Before committing, it can help to compare other Mornington Peninsula hotels on Traveloka for the same travel dates.
Jackalope Hotel is one of several well-known stays scattered across the Mornington Peninsula wine and coastal region. Here are other popular hotels in the area, each independently listed on Traveloka.
Wherever you decide to base yourself on the Peninsula, you can start planning the rest of the trip, from flights to activities, on the Traveloka homepage.
Popular Facilities | Swimming Pool, 24-Hour Front Desk, Elevator |
Check-In / Check-Out Time | From 15:00 - 23:00 - to 11:00 |
Breakfast Availability | Yes, hotel has room that provide breakfast |
Available rooms at Jackalope Hotel | 45 |
Number of floors in Jackalope Hotel | 2 |
Another facilities in Jackalope Hotel | Wine tasting room, Winery tours, Romantic proposal packages, Spa, Outdoor pool |
