Benalla sits in north-east Victoria, close enough to the Hume Highway to be easy to dismiss and interesting enough that you should not. It has made art its calling card: murals across town, a respected regional gallery by the lake, and the North East Victoria Silo Art Trail radiating into the surrounding countryside.
The town's best day is a mix of walking and driving. Start with the Benalla Art Gallery, cross the botanic gardens and lake foreshore, then look for the Benalla Street Art murals around the centre. If you have a car, Winton Wetlands adds open water, dead river red gums, birdlife, and large-scale public art.
Benalla is not as grand as Bendigo or as pretty as Bright, but it has a clear reason to stop: regional art against a flat, dry, inland Australian backdrop.