Portsea is situated at the tip of the Mornington Peninsula and is approximately 90 minutes drive from Melbourne via the Nepean Highway or the new East Link freeway. Alternatively there is a ferry across the bay from Queenscliff to Sorrento. Portsea is a 5 minute drive north-west of Sorrento.

Its end-of-the-road location and cathedral-like canopy of trees sets the scene for the million dollar mansions inhabited on weekends and during holidays by Melbourne’s rich and famous.

Although the town faces over the calm waters of Port Phillip Bay, the land is so narrow at this point that the town extends from the calm waters of the bay across to the surf beaches on the ocean side.