Sale is the main city of central Gippsland, and it is more useful than glamorous. That said, it has enough of its own story to reward a slow stop: a canal built to link the town to the Gippsland Lakes, a strong regional gallery, and one of Victoria's more unusual pieces of engineering heritage.
The best place to start is the Port of Sale, where the old shipping link has become the town's civic and cultural centre. The Gippsland Art Gallery gives the city more cultural weight than many towns its size, while the Sale Swing Bridge tells the older story of river traffic and cargo moving between inland Gippsland and the coast.
Sale works best as a half-day or full-day stop if you are already moving through Gippsland. Walk the lake and botanic garden precinct, take the heritage cruise if it is running, and then continue east toward the lakes or west toward the Latrobe Valley.