Fire up your romance while sipping cool-climate wine and sharing locally sourced seasonal meals amid the rolling hills, picturesque wineries and charming heritage towns of the Southern Highlands. Learn something new about your loved one as together you explore this gourmand’s wonderland just 90 minutes’ drive southwest of Sydney.

Drink in the romantic atmosphere

Laze on the lush green lawns in summer or warm up beside a cosy fireplace in winter with that special someone at pinot pioneers Artemis Wines’s rustic cellar door in Mittagong. Sit back, relax and go with the flow by choosing an hour-long tasting of finely crafted wine and spirits at this family-run winery.

Bask in the glow of the bonus points you’ll accrue when you thoughtfully plan ahead and secure a visit to the cellar door of Tertini Wines, a five-minute drive from Artemis, as you need to book in advance to taste the award-winning winery’s pinot noir, riesling and chardonnay.

Refine your palette with masterclasses and wine-and-dine experiences at PepperGreen Estate in Berrima, or take your time and taste your way through more than a dozen cool-climate wines at its cellar door. Come away with insights into the local terroir after a guided tasting at nearby Joadja Estate, the oldest vineyard and winery in the Southern Highlands.

Reconnect with a romantic walk through the vines at Centennial Vineyards in Bowral, before enjoying a guided wine tasting or pinot flights and savouring lunch or high tea at the winery’s seasonally driven restaurant. Take your partner on a treasure hunt in between tastings at the expansive antiques store Dirty Janes in Bowral, a town renowned for its idyllic gardens, fashion and homeware boutiques and excellent restaurants.

Kick back and relax with a charcuterie platter and matching wine at provincial-style Mount Ashby Estate in Moss Vale. And feel like you’ve stepped back in time when you visit the venerable dairy farm turned winery St Maur Wines, which has become an Exeter landmark.

Take a deep dive into the art of crafting beer with a brewery tour and masterclass at Eden Brewery in Mittagong, or be adventurous with ‘beer’ cuisine and locally brewed craft beer at Southern Highlands Taphouse in Moss Vale. Get into the spirit of the highlands with a tipple at Joadja Distillery, one of the few single-malt distilleries in the world to grow its own barley onsite and have its own natural water spring.

Indulge in dinner for two

Start a memorable day together by sharing a plate of pastries with your coffee at the cute Highlands Merchant in Moss Vale, or settle in for a classic breakfast at light-filled café The Press Shop in Bowral. Save room for a languid lunch at Bendooley Estate, in Berrima, a 10-minute drive west of Bowral, after an absorbing few hours browsing through some of the tens of thousands of books at the estate’s Berkelouw Book Barn and tasting its cool-climate wines at the cellar door.

Reflect on a full day of discovery with pre-dinner cocktails at The Lodge Restaurant in the nearby Berrima Vault House, a convict-built former inn reimagined as a members’ club. After drinks, treat yourself to an unforgettable meal at Paste Australia in Mittagong, 10 minutes northeast of Bowral. Here Michelin-starred Thai chef Bongkoch Satongun and her chef husband Jason Bailey, a Southern Highlands local, reimagine ancient Thai recipes to create innovative and universally acclaimed dishes.

Surrender to the season at Birch Restaurant in Moss Vale, where the menu features locally grown produce and changes to suit what local growers and producers have at any given time, and Eschalot in Berrima, where the paddock-to-plate experience starts with the restaurant’s thriving kitchen garden.

For a different type of foodie experience, taste all the region has to offer on your own terms with a personalised Southern Highlands food tour. Get creative with your partner to craft the perfect itinerary with The Highlands Tour Co or The Grape Escape, which both run bespoke wine tours with local guides. Or, attune to the rhythm of the region with Wild Food Adventures, which offers seasonally themed days tours through the region on which you can unearth redolent truffles, savour local whiskys and taste bush foods.

Restore your appetite with a walk through bushland to the dramatic Fitzroy and Belmore Falls in Morton National Park near the town of Robertson – if you don’t get side-tracked by the homemade cheeses and gelato at Robertson Cheese Factory, that is.

Wake up among the vines

Pop the champagne and soak amid the bubbles of a free-standing tub in a designer cottage at Bendooley Estate, where you can gaze at the placid lake and groomed gardens beyond the windows before sinking into a lush bed to admire the bespoke prints and wallpaper.

Relax by a heavenly indoor heated pool or be pampered at a deluxe in-house spa before retiring to your suite at Milton Park Country House Hotel and Spa for the ultimate five-star couples experience.

Be transported back in time at Berida Hotel in the heart of Bowral, which captures the splendour of the 1920s with period furniture while adding contemporary designer touches. Snuggle up for the night after dinner at Bistro Sociale, the hotel’s cosy restaurant.

Kit out in matching outfits for a game on the private golf course at Bowral’s Peppers Craigieburn, a country estate set amid beautiful gardens. Feel like you’re hidden away from the world as you’re pampered in the spa at Osborn House, a restored luxury boutique hotel radiating understated elegance on the edge of Morton National Park at Bundanoon.

Or reconnect with each other as you go gloriously off-grid in a tiny cabin for two nestled on the banks of the Wingecarribee River in Joadja with Tiny Homes Joadja. Put a spark into the evening as you get the firepit going at Elevation, a tiny home in an open paddock, The Rapids on the riverfront, or Wilson’s Rest, overlooking a bucolic valley.