Portarlington is a quiet residential town of 2407 people located on the shores of Port Phillip Bay. Over the summer months of December through to Easter the town is flooded with families and holiday makers who take advantage of the largest camping area on the Bellarine Peninsula, turning it into a popular if low-key resort town. It is located on a hillside overlooking Port Phillip Bay 104 km south of Melbourne and 31 km east of Geelong at the tip of the Peninsula which extends out into Port Phillip Bay. 

Portarlington was surveyed c.1850 and named Drayton but was renamed in 1851 in honour of Lord Arlington (another claim is that it was named after an Irish village, owing to the predominance of Irish settlers in the area).

Portarlington has a large flora, fauna and recreation reserve which accommodates camping and caravans. Attractions include a sailing club, an 18-hole golf course, excellent fishing opportunities, boat ramps, a safe swimming beach, and indoor heated pool and a bicycle track that leads around the foreshore to Indented Head, as does the roadway known as The Esplanade.

Indented Head

Indented Head is a tranquil settlement of 453 people located 6 km south-east of Portarlington, on the eastern edge of the Peninsula and the western shore of Port Phillip Bay. The beach offers safe swimming and the foreshore area is very pleasant. There is a bicycle track, a camping area, toilets, a boat ramp and a caravan park. These waters are noted for their fishing.

The baysteamer, Ozone, which once carried passengers to and fro from Melbourne to the resorts of the Bellarine Peninsula, was sunk offshore in 1925 to form a breakwater. The paddlewheel can still be seen above the water-line.