May is when Sorrento draws a breath. The summer crowds have taken the ferry back across the bay, the limestone has softened from white-hot to the colour of warm honey, and Ocean Beach Road moves at a pace that feels genuinely unhurried. It is the village at its most like itself, and for a day that asks you to slow down and pay attention to the person who deserves it most, there is nowhere on the Mornington Peninsula better placed to deliver.

Mother’s Day in Sorrento is less a single event than a complete argument. Walk the cliff edge of the National Park in the morning. Soak in geothermal springs. Sit down to lunch with the bay in the window. Wander the length of Ocean Beach Road with nowhere in particular to be. Come home with something beautiful. The village makes this sequence feel effortless, which is, of course, the point.

Start where the land opens up.

The Mornington Peninsula National Park runs along Sorrento’s back beach, a long, wild stretch of Bass Strait that on an autumn morning carries a particular quality of light: low, clear, the kind that makes the clifftops look painted. The trail between Point King and Sorrento Back Beach follows the edge of the land, the Southern Ocean unfolding below, the air smelling of salt grass and limestone. It takes about an hour at the pace Mother’s Day demands: no agenda, just the track and the view and the company.

For families with younger children, Sorrento Park sits above the village with a well-kept playground and wide grass surrounds. The kids find their feet; Mum finds a bench, a coffee from the village below, and a clear view toward Port Phillip Bay. The front beach foreshore is a short walk downhill, and the bay light at this time of year, with the autumn stillness on the water, is worth every step.

For those prepared to venture to the very tip, Point Nepean National Park rewards the effort with one of the Peninsula’s most considered walks: past the old quarantine station, through coastal scrub and defence history, to the narrow point where Bass Strait and Port Phillip Bay meet. Arrive early. Pack lunch. It earns the afternoon back in the village.

The indulgence she actually deserves.

A short drive from the village, Peninsula Hot Springs has been drawing people down to soak since 2005. The thermal pools are set into natural bush, the air carries eucalyptus, and the experience of floating in a hilltop pool while the Peninsula landscape unfolds around you is one that most people return to year after year. Book ahead. Mother’s Day at the springs fills quickly, and for good reason.

For those who prefer their indulgence within the village, Aurora Spa at the InterContinental Sorrento is the considered choice: facials, massage, and the kind of attentive stillness that a five-star property has spent years learning to get right. Marlo Spa at Hotel Sorrento offers another option, with treatments curated for exactly the kind of morning this day calls for. Meesha Hair and Holistic and C&E Sorrento Skin and Beauty round out what has quietly become a genuinely strong suite of wellness offerings for a village of this size.

“If there is anywhere on the Mornington Peninsula that has learned to do this day properly, it is Sorrento. The walk and the meal, the wander and the gift. The village makes the sequence feel effortless. Which is, of course, the point.”

Lunch is the centrepiece.

Sorrento’s dining scene has grown into something that goes well beyond the standard coastal lunch. At The Baths, the tables face Port Phillip Bay, with a view that makes a glass of Peninsula white taste better than it has any right to. The menu leans into seafood and long plates, the room is open and light, and on a still May afternoon the water holds the limestone bluffs in its reflection. Book a window table. Book it early. This is where the day finds its rhythm.

Ember, Sardo and Bistro Elba on Ocean Beach Road, is where you choose when the occasion calls for something more intimate: a room that hums quietly with the right kind of conversation, a wine list that rewards the curious, and cooking that has earned its place through consistency rather than fashion. For the historic with views, the Sorrento Hotel on Hotham Road brings the full weight of Sorrento’s limestone heritage to bear. This icon of a landmark offers a dining room worthy of the building.

For something warmer and less formal, Koonya Hotel, Italico and Onda all carry the kind of relaxed generosity that a long lunch with people you love should feel like. And Sciclunas Real Food Merchants, with its providore shelves and considered pantry offering, is worth stopping into for picnic fare or something to take home at the end of the day.

Find her something she won’t find anywhere else.

The length of Ocean Beach Road is the argument for staying the afternoon. Start with the independents, because this is where the village earns its reputation. Siren Fine Jewellery and Finer Rings for something that lasts longer than the day; Connies and Debs Boutique for pieces that feel considered rather than convenient; The Sorrento Collective for homewares and objects that carry a story; Cape Merchants and The Phoenix and the Turtle for the gift she didn’t know she wanted. Antipodes Bookshop and Gallery is worth an hour of anyone’s afternoon: a proper independent bookshop with an eye for art, tucked into the village in exactly the way you’d hope. & Gallery, Sorrento Contemporary and Manyung Gallery round out what has quietly become one of the Peninsula’s most compelling collections of independent art spaces.

When the boutiques give way to the familiar names, they’re the right ones. Country Road, Witchery, Gorman, Blue Illusion, Kookai, and Peter Alexander all trade on Ocean Beach Road, which means you can cover the full range of what she loves in the course of one pleasant afternoon walk. With wonderful coffee across Ocean Beach Rd and something from Mubble Ice Creamery to reward the effort, it is a very fine way to spend a Sunday.

The village at its best.

Sorrento has a particular talent for the kind of day that holds everything, the walk and the warmth and the wander, without feeling like it’s been arranged. That is what two centuries of knowing how to live by the sea produces. Come for the morning. Stay for the ferry crossing at dusk, when the limestone goes gold one more time, and the bay holds the last of the autumn light long after the wine is finished.

If there is anywhere on the Mornington Peninsula that does Mother’s Day properly, it is Sorrento.