The Princes Highway is a segment of Australia's Highway 1 that extends from Sydney to Adelaide, via Melbourne.

The Princes Highway starts in the centre of Sydney and heads south through the Illawarra region of New South Wales and the city of Wollongong. It continues south, passing through Nowra and Batemans Bay finally crossing the border into Victoria south of Eden .

In Victoria the highway passes through the Gippsland region, the Latrobe Valley and continues heading west into Melbourne. Leaving Melbourne, and still heading generally west, the highway passes through Geelong, before striking inland toward Warrnambool. This last leg avoids the slower, but very picturesque Great Ocean Road. From Warrnambool, the Princes Highway passes through Portland before crossing the border into South Australia at Mount Gambier.

At Mount Gambier the highway takes a northward tack, passing the most beautiful Coorong National Park. The last leg takes us through Murray Bridge and over the mighty Murray River into Adelaide.

By contrast, the National Highway takes the Hume Highway from Sydney to Melbourne, and the Western Highway from Melbourne to Adelaide.

Sections of the Princes Highway have been upgraded or superseded by freeways. They are :

• Southern Freeway between Sydney and Wollongong
• Princes Freeway East between Melbourne and Traralgon
• Princes Freeway West between Melbourne and Geelong
• South Eastern Freeway between Adelaide and Murray Bridge

See also

• List of Australian highways
• List of New South Wales highways
• List of Victoria (Australia) highways
• List of South Australian highways