--- title: "Top 10 Things To Do in Melbourne, Australia | Wimup" description: "The 10 best things to do in Melbourne, plus the coffee, laneways, galleries, live music and day trips worth your time. Mapped and ranked." url: https://wimup.com/city/melbourne type: City guide updated: 2026-08-25 publisher: Wimup (https://wimup.com) --- # Top 10 Things To Do in Melbourne Melbourne, Australia · Oceania · By Wimup Editorial, 16 min read Melbourne keeps its best rooms out of sight. Robert Hoddle laid the city out in 1837 as wide streets with service lanes between them, and nearly two centuries later the lanes hold the coffee, the bars and the murals while the streets hold the institutions. Sydney arranges itself around a harbour. Melbourne arranges itself around what people do indoors. ## Quick answer Give Melbourne four days. One belongs to the central grid: the laneways, NGV International, State Library Victoria and Queen Victoria Market, all inside the free tram zone. One belongs to the inner north, where Fitzroy, Carlton and Collingwood carry the food and the bandrooms. One belongs to the bay, on the 96 tram to St Kilda. The fourth belongs outside the city, on the Great Ocean Road or in the Yarra Valley. ## Quick facts - **Best months:** Mar · Apr · Oct · Nov - **Ideal length:** 4 days - **Budget per day:** A$170–320 - **Language:** English - **Getting around:** Trams, trains & walking - **Tourism board:** [Official site](https://www.visitmelbourne.com/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral) ## The 10 best things to do in Melbourne ### 1. Spend a morning at NGV International Gallery · 180 St Kilda Road, Melbourne VIC 3004 The largest and oldest public art museum in Australia, and the free half of a two-part gallery: the Australian collection sits across the river at Federation Square. Walk through the water wall at the entrance, then look up in the Great Hall, where Leonard French's stained-glass ceiling is best read lying on the carpet. General entry is free. - **Time:** 2–3 hrs - **Cost:** Free - **Best at:** Weekday morning - **Tip:** Lie down in the Great Hall Links: [Website](https://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral) ### 2. Shop Queen Victoria Market Market · 513 Elizabeth Street, Melbourne VIC 3000 Seven hectares of sheds at the top of the grid, trading since the 1870s: deli hall first for cheese and smallgoods, then the produce rows, then the doughnut van. Go early on a Saturday, when the crowd is buying rather than browsing. Check the day before you set out, because the market closes on Mondays and Wednesdays outside the summer and winter night-market seasons. - **Time:** 2 hrs - **Cost:** Free entry - **Best at:** Saturday, early - **Tip:** Closed Mon and Wed Links: [Website](https://qvm.com.au/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral) ### 3. Walk the Royal Botanic Gardens Park · Birdwood Avenue, Melbourne VIC 3004 Thirty-eight hectares on a bend of the Yarra, laid out in the 1840s and still the best free hour in the city. The Tan running track loops the perimeter, Fern Gully cuts the temperature by several degrees, and the Aboriginal Heritage Walk is the one guided option worth booking. The gates open at 7.30am every day of the year. - **Time:** 1–2 hrs - **Cost:** Free - **Best at:** Early morning - **Tip:** Enter from the Shrine end Links: [Website](https://www.rbg.vic.gov.au/melbourne-gardens/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral) ### 4. Get inside the MCG Stadium · Brunton Avenue, Yarra Park, East Melbourne VIC 3002 A hundred thousand seats, the main stadium of the 1956 Olympics, and the ground where Australian rules football is measured. A ticket to any winter match is the real experience, and the roar of a full house is not reproducible. Out of season, the 75-minute tour runs from Gate 3 and takes in the changing rooms and the MCC Long Room. - **Time:** 2 hrs - **Cost:** Tour ticketed - **Best at:** Match day - **Tip:** Walk in from Jolimont Links: [Website](https://www.mcg.org.au/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral) ### 5. Read the walls of Hosier Lane Street art · Hosier Lane, Melbourne VIC 3000 The bluestone lane opposite Federation Square has been painted continuously since the late 1990s, and nothing on it survives long. That is the point: come twice in a week and the work has changed. Rutledge Lane doglegs off it with fewer people. Go before nine to see it without a tour group, and follow AC/DC Lane east for the version nobody photographs. - **Time:** 30–45 min - **Cost:** Free - **Best at:** Before 9am - **Tip:** Carry on to AC/DC Lane ### 6. Sit in the La Trobe Reading Room Library · 328 Swanston Street, Melbourne VIC 3000 The octagonal dome of State Library Victoria has been open since 1913 and holds six storeys of galleries above the reading desks. Take the stairs to the top balcony for the view straight down. On the way, the free Ned Kelly display holds the armour he wore at Glenrowan, which is the closest thing this country has to a national relic. - **Time:** 45 min - **Cost:** Free - **Best at:** Weekday afternoon - **Tip:** Climb to the sixth level Links: [Website](https://www.slv.vic.gov.au/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral) ### 7. See Melbourne Museum and the Royal Exhibition Building Museum · 11 Nicholson Street, Carlton VIC 3053 The museum holds the Bunjilaka Aboriginal Cultural Centre, a forest gallery under glass and Phar Lap. Its neighbour across the Carlton Gardens matters more: the Royal Exhibition Building held Australia's first federal parliament in 1901 and became the country's first built site on the World Heritage List in 2004. The dome tour leaves from the museum. - **Time:** 3 hrs - **Cost:** Ticketed - **Best at:** Weekday - **Tip:** Book the dome tour ahead Links: [Website](https://museumsvictoria.com.au/melbournemuseum/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral) ### 8. Take the tram to St Kilda Beach · 18 Lower Esplanade, St Kilda VIC 3182 The 96 tram runs from the centre to the bay in about half an hour. Luna Park has been swallowing visitors through the same mouth since 1912; Acland Street does the cake shops; the Esplanade does the Sunday market. Stay for dusk, when little penguins come ashore on the breakwater at the end of the pier. The viewing sessions are free but ticketed. - **Time:** Half a day - **Cost:** Park free · rides ticketed - **Best at:** Late afternoon - **Tip:** Book the penguin session Links: [Website](https://lunapark.com.au/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral) · [Penguins](https://www.penguins.org.au/attractions/st-kilda/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral) ### 9. Look down from Melbourne Skydeck Viewpoint · 7 Riverside Quay, Southbank VIC 3006 The 88th floor of Eureka Tower, 285 metres up, with Port Phillip Bay on one side and the Dandenong Ranges on the other. The Edge is the extra: a glass cube that slides three metres out from the building with you inside it. Open daily from midday, which makes this an evening rather than a morning stop, and the hour before sunset is the ticket worth timing. - **Time:** 1 hr - **Cost:** Ticketed - **Best at:** Hour before sunset - **Tip:** The Edge is a separate ticket Links: [Website](https://www.melbourneskydeck.com.au/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral) ### 10. Climb the Shrine of Remembrance Memorial · Birdwood Avenue, Melbourne VIC 3001 A classical mausoleum on a rise at the top of St Kilda Road, built between the wars and aligned so that a shaft of light crosses the Stone of Remembrance at 11am on 11 November. A service with the same effect runs every half hour. Entry is free, and the balcony gives the cleanest view straight up the boulevard. - **Time:** 1 hr - **Cost:** Free - **Best at:** Late morning - **Tip:** Walk up from the gardens Links: [Website](https://www.shrine.org.au/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral) ## Best coffee in Melbourne (2026) Six roasters and espresso bars, from a standing-room counter in the grid to a warehouse in the South Melbourne back streets. 1. **Patricia Coffee Brewers** (Espresso bar · Standing room · CBD): A counter at the rear of Little Bourke Street with no seats and a menu of three words: black, white, filter. It pours Seven Seeds, Market Lane and Proud Mary. [Website](https://patriciacoffee.com.au/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral) 2. **Seven Seeds** (Roastery café · Warehouse · Carlton): The Berkeley Street warehouse most of the Melbourne specialty scene traces back to. Roasting happens beside the communal table, and public cuppings are open. [Website](https://sevenseeds.com.au/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral) 3. **Proud Mary** (Roastery café · All-day food · Collingwood): Oxford Street's coffee institution, as serious about the brunch plates as the single origins, and busy enough on weekends that the wait is part of the plan. [Website](https://www.proudmarycoffee.com.au/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral) 4. **Market Lane Coffee** (Roaster · Market stall · Prahran): The Prahran Market stall is the best of Market Lane's rooms. Order at the counter, then work through the produce halls either side of it. [Website](https://marketlane.com.au/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral) 5. **Brother Baba Budan** (Espresso bar · Chairs overhead · CBD): A shoebox on Little Bourke Street with wooden chairs bolted to the ceiling and a Seven Seeds grinder underneath. Six seats, so plan on the window ledge. [Website](https://sevenseeds.com.au/pages/brother-baba-budan?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral) 6. **ST. ALi** (Roastery café · Back streets · South Melbourne): A converted warehouse on Yarra Place, off the main street and roasting since the mid 2000s. Still the reason people walk past three closer cafés. ## Best restaurants in Melbourne (2026) Eight rooms, from a Ripponlea tasting menu to a Chinatown dining room that has set the standard for Cantonese food in Australia. 1. **Attica** (Tasting menu · Bookings essential · Ripponlea): Ben Shewry's restaurant on Glen Eira Road has spent two decades arguing that Australian ingredients deserve a tasting menu. One sitting, booked far ahead. [Website](https://www.attica.com.au/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral) 2. **Cumulus Inc.** (All day · Flinders Lane · CBD): Andrew McConnell's Flinders Lane room runs from breakfast to late dinner without changing character. The tuna tartare has survived a dozen menu rewrites. [Website](https://www.cumulusinc.com.au/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral) 3. **Flower Drum** (Cantonese · Market Lane · Chinatown): White tablecloths, Peking duck carved at the table, and a Cantonese kitchen that Melbourne has been measuring the rest against for decades. Book well before you fly. [Website](https://flowerdrum.melbourne/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral) 4. **Supernormal** (Asian · Late kitchen · CBD): The lobster roll gets the attention, but the dumplings and the late kitchen are why the Flinders Lane room stays full on a Tuesday. [Website](https://supernormal.net.au/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral) 5. **Tipo 00** (Pasta · Counter seating · CBD): A narrow pasta bar at the top of Little Bourke Street. Sit at the counter, order two plates between two people, and let the kitchen decide the rest. [Website](https://www.tipo00.com.au/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral) 6. **Gimlet at Cavendish House** (Bar and grill · Russell Street · CBD): Arched windows, marble and a martini list that takes itself seriously. If the dining room is gone, the bar takes walk-ins and serves the same menu. [Website](https://gimlet.melbourne/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral) 7. **Embla** (Wine bar · Wood fire · CBD): Everything comes off the wood fire and the wine list leans natural. Walk-ins are designed into the room, which is rare enough in this city to be worth knowing. [Website](https://embla.com.au/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral) 8. **Grossi Florentino** (Italian · Bourke Street · CBD): The Mural Room upstairs is the formal Melbourne dinner. The Cellar Bar downstairs is the same kitchen at a third of the ceremony, and takes no bookings. [Website](https://florentino.melbourne/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral) ## Best rooftop bars in Melbourne (2026) Five terraces in a city that treats a fire escape as an opportunity, including one with a cinema on it. 1. **Rooftop Bar at Curtin House** (Level 7 · Rooftop cinema · CBD): Seven flights above Swanston Street, with deckchairs, a bar built from crates and an open-air cinema running through summer. Blankets and heaters when it turns. [Website](https://www.rooftopbar.co/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral) 2. **Siglo** (Terrace · Cocktails · CBD): An open terrace above the Melbourne Supper Club, facing Parliament House across Spring Street. Late, low-lit and old-world. Also a cigar bar, which decides where you sit. [Website](https://siglobar.com.au/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral) 3. **Naked in the Sky** (Fifth floor · Brunswick Street · Fitzroy): The fifth-floor rooftop above Naked for Satan, looking back at the skyline from the northern side. Do the pintxos downstairs first. [Website](https://nakedforsatan.com.au/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral) 4. **Her Rooftop** (Level 5 · Retractable roof · CBD): Thai barbecue and natural wine on the top floor of a Lonsdale Street building, under a roof that closes when Melbourne does what Melbourne does. 5. **Transit Rooftop Bar** (Level 2 · Federation Square · CBD): Above the Transport Hotel at Federation Square, which puts Flinders Street Station, the river and the cathedral in one view. [Website](https://www.transitrooftopbar.com.au/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral) ## Best galleries in Melbourne (2026) Six rooms other than NGV International, four of them free, one of them an hour out of town in a farmhouse garden. 1. **The Ian Potter Centre: NGV Australia** (Australian art · Free entry · Federation Square): The NGV's Australian collection, First Nations work included, in the Federation Square building across the river from its international half. Open daily, free. [Website](https://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral) 2. **ACMI** (Screen culture · Free exhibition · Federation Square): The Story of the Moving Image runs the length of a floor and costs nothing: a hands-on history of film, television and games, with the best repertory cinema attached. [Website](https://www.acmi.net.au/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral) 3. **ACCA** (Contemporary · Commissions · Southbank): The Australian Centre for Contemporary Art commissions rather than collects, so the rusted-steel building on Sturt Street changes completely between visits. Free. [Website](https://acca.melbourne/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral) 4. **Heide Museum of Modern Art** (Modern art · Sculpture park · Bulleen): The Reeds' old dairy farm in Bulleen, where Sidney Nolan painted the first Ned Kelly series. Three buildings of modern art in a heritage garden. [Website](https://www.heide.com.au/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral) 5. **Buxton Contemporary** (Contemporary · University collection · Southbank): Michael Buxton's collection of Australian contemporary art, given to the University of Melbourne and shown in a concrete box behind the arts campus. Free. [Website](https://buxtoncontemporary.com/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral) 6. **Gertrude Contemporary** (Artist studios · Preston South · Preston): The studio-and-gallery model that launched a generation of Melbourne artists, now on High Street in Preston South. Exhibitions are free and the studios open periodically. [Website](https://gertrude.org.au/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral) ## Best live music in Melbourne (2026) Five rooms, from a 1929 picture palace to a Collingwood pub that a street protest once kept open. 1. **Corner Hotel** (Bandroom · Rooftop · Richmond): Swan Street's bandroom has hosted most of the acts that later needed a stadium, and the rooftop is where the crowd goes between sets. [Website](https://cornerhotel.com/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral) 2. **The Tote** (Pub · Two rooms · Collingwood): Johnston Street's sticky-carpet institution. Its 2010 closure put thousands on the street in protest and forced a change to state licensing rules. [Website](https://thetotehotel.com/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral) 3. **Forum Melbourne** (1929 picture palace · Flinders Street · CBD): A 1929 picture palace on the corner of Flinders and Russell, with statues around the walls and a painted night sky overhead. Worth a ticket for the room alone. [Website](https://forummelbourne.com.au/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral) 4. **Melbourne Recital Centre** (Concert hall · Southbank · Southbank): Elisabeth Murdoch Hall was built for sound rather than spectacle, and the chamber programme in it is among the best value in the city. [Website](https://www.melbournerecital.com.au/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral) 5. **Northcote Theatre** (Bandroom · High Street · Northcote): A restored High Street theatre reopened as a mid-size bandroom, and the anchor of the strip that runs either side of it. [Website](https://northcotetheatre.com/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral) ## Best neighbourhoods in Melbourne (2026) Six areas within half an hour of Flinders Street, each with its own reason to get off the tram. 1. **Fitzroy** (Brunswick Street · Bars and vintage · Inner north): Brunswick Street and Gertrude Street carry the bars, the vintage shops and the galleries. The first suburb of Melbourne, and still the one that sets the tone. 2. **Carlton** (Lygon Street · Italian Melbourne · Inner north): Lygon Street is Italian Melbourne, the university sits at one end and the Carlton Gardens at the other, which makes this the easiest half day on foot from the grid. 3. **Collingwood** (Smith Street · Breweries · Inner north): Smith Street runs breweries, record shops and small kitchens, and the warehouses behind it hold most of the city's independent design studios. 4. **St Kilda** (Acland Street · Bayside · Bayside): The bayside end of the 96 tram: Acland Street cake shops, the Esplanade market on Sundays, and penguins on the breakwater at dusk. 5. **Brunswick** (Sydney Road · Live music · Inner north): Sydney Road runs Lebanese and Turkish kitchens, bridal shops and bandrooms in the same block. The bike path down the middle of it is how locals arrive. 6. **Footscray** (Market · Vietnamese and East African · Inner west): Vietnamese, Ethiopian and Somali kitchens around the market, ten minutes from Southern Cross by train and the best value eating in the city. ## Best day trips from Melbourne (2026) Six trips inside a single day, though the first of them will take all of it. 1. **Great Ocean Road and the Twelve Apostles** (Coast road · Full day · South west): The limestone stacks are the far end of the drive and the road is the reason to go. Leave at first light and take the inland route home through Colac. [Website](https://visitgreatoceanroad.org.au/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral) 2. **Yarra Valley** (Wine · Under an hour · East): Victoria's best-known cool-climate wine country sits under an hour east. Healesville Sanctuary keeps native animals in bushland rather than enclosures. 3. **Mornington Peninsula** (Beaches and hot springs · An hour south · South): Bay beaches on one side, ocean surf on the other, wineries along the ridge between them, and hot springs at the Fingal end for the last hour of the day. [Website](https://www.visitmorningtonpeninsula.org/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral) 4. **Phillip Island** (Penguin Parade · 90 minutes · South east): Little penguins come ashore at dusk in front of a ticketed viewing stand, about 90 minutes southeast. Book the session before you set out. [Website](https://www.penguins.org.au/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral) 5. **Puffing Billy and the Dandenongs** (Steam railway · Fern gullies · East): A narrow-gauge steam line that has run out of Belgrave since 1900, through mountain ash forest and fern gullies, with village tea rooms at either end. [Website](https://puffingbilly.com.au/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral) 6. **Sovereign Hill, Ballarat** (Gold rush town · 90 minutes west · West): An open-air museum of the 1850s goldfields on the edge of Ballarat, 90 minutes west by car or by train from Southern Cross. [Website](https://www.sovereignhill.com.au/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral) ## Festivals & annual events in Melbourne (2026) - **Australian Open** (12 Jan – 1 Feb): Three weeks of tennis at Melbourne Park, with ground passes that buy a whole day of outside courts. - **Moomba Festival** (5–9 Mar): A free carnival on both banks of the Yarra over the Labour Day long weekend, with the birdman rally and nightly fireworks. - **Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix** (6–8 Mar): Albert Park closes its road circuit for the weekend, and the whole south side of the city hears it. - **Melbourne International Comedy Festival** (25 Mar – 19 Apr): One of the largest comedy festivals in the world, run out of the Town Hall and dozens of small rooms around it. - **RISING** (27 May – 8 Jun): The winter arts festival: night markets, installations and late programmes across the centre of the city. - **Melbourne International Film Festival** (6–23 Aug): Eighteen days and several hundred films, with ACMI and the city's picture houses as the main venues. - **AFL Grand Final** (26 Sep): The MCG fills for the last game of the season and the rest of Melbourne watches from a pub, a park or a living room. - **Melbourne Cup** (3 Nov): Flemington's race day is a public holiday across metropolitan Melbourne, and the carnival runs through the week around it. ## Must-try dishes in Melbourne, Australia - **Dim sim**: Invented here in the 1940s, when William Chen Wing Young scaled up siu mai. - **Chicken parma**: A crumbed schnitzel under tomato and cheese, the default order in a Victorian pub and a standing argument. - **Souvlaki**: Melbourne's Greek community built the Lonsdale Street precinct, and its souvlaki is the most portable export. - **Banh mi**: Footscray and Richmond's Victoria Street bakeries turn out the best, both built by Vietnamese arrivals. - **Yum cha**: Little Bourke Street is the longest continuous Chinese settlement in the West. Take the Sunday trolleys. - **Hot jam doughnuts**: The doughnut van at Queen Victoria Market has sold the same thing for generations: fried dough and hot jam. - **Flat white**: Postwar Italian and Greek migration built the city's espresso culture, and Melbourne stayed strict about it. - **Lamington**: Sponge, chocolate and desiccated coconut. Named after a Queensland governor and in every bakery window. ## Melbourne transport & airports - **Melbourne Airport** (MEL): Tullamarine sits about 20 km northwest of the centre and has no train line. SkyBus runs an express to Southern Cross in roughly 22 minutes; taxis use the same freeway. [Website](https://www.melbourneairport.com.au/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral) · [SkyBus](https://www.skybus.com.au/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral) - **Trams** (TRAM): Melbourne runs the largest tram network in the world, around 250 km of track. Everything inside the Free Tram Zone costs nothing and needs no card. Beyond it, touch on with a myki. [Official website](https://www.ptv.vic.gov.au/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral) - **Trains & regional rail** (RAIL): Metro lines run through the City Loop under the grid and out across the suburbs, all on myki. V/Line takes the regional services from Southern Cross to Ballarat, Bendigo and Geelong. [V/Line](https://www.vline.com.au/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral) · [PTV](https://www.ptv.vic.gov.au/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral) - **Avalon Airport** (AVV): The second airport sits southwest toward Geelong and is worth checking when a domestic fare is much cheaper. The SkyBus coach in takes a little over an hour. [Website](https://www.avalonairport.com.au/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral) ## Melbourne at a glance - **Country:** Australia - **Region:** Victoria - **Population:** 5.4M Greater Melbourne - **Founded:** 1835 · Kulin Nation land long before - **Nickname:** Marvellous Melbourne - **Language:** English - **Currency:** Australian dollar (A$) - **Time zone:** AEST · UTC+10 - **Calling code:** +61 3 - **Airports:** MEL · AVV - **Power:** 230V · Type I - **Emergency:** 000 ## Interesting facts - Melbourne was the seat of Australia's federal government from 1901 to 1927. The first parliament opened in the Royal Exhibition Building. - The Royal Exhibition Building and Carlton Gardens went onto the World Heritage List in 2004, Australia's first built site to be inscribed. - The central grid is Robert Hoddle's 1837 survey, which is why wide streets alternate with narrow ones. - The dim sim was invented here in the 1940s, when restaurateur William Chen Wing Young adapted Cantonese siu mai for bulk production. - Melbourne's tram network is the largest in the world at roughly 250 km of track, and the section inside the central grid is free to ride. ## Watch [Melbourne Travel Guide](https://wimup.com/watch/melbourne.md), 4:51 ## Melbourne travel FAQ ### How many days do you need in Melbourne? Four. One for the central grid (the laneways, NGV International, the library and the market), one for the inner north around Fitzroy, Carlton and Collingwood, one for the bay at St Kilda and the parks along the Yarra, and one out of the city to the Great Ocean Road, the Yarra Valley or Phillip Island. A fifth day buys a second trip out. ### What is the best time of year to visit Melbourne? March to April and October to November. The weather is mild, the festival calendar is dense at both ends, and the city is not competing with school holidays. Summer runs hot and dry with days over 40C; winter is cold, grey and the best time for the galleries. The joke about four seasons in one day is close enough to true. ### Do you need a car in Melbourne? Not in the city. Trams, trains and walking cover everything in this guide, and the central grid is free to ride. Hire a car only for the day trips, and read up on the hook turn first: at several city intersections you turn right from the left lane, so the trams can keep moving. ### How do you pay for public transport in Melbourne? With a myki card, bought and topped up at stations, 7-Elevens and the PTV hubs, then touched on and off. The exception is the Free Tram Zone, which covers the central grid, Docklands and Queen Victoria Market: inside it, trams are free and you do not touch on at all. ### Melbourne or Sydney for a first trip to Australia? Sydney if you want the harbour and the beaches, Melbourne if you want to eat, drink and go to things. Sydney is the more photogenic city and Melbourne is the more habitable one. They are an hour and a half apart by plane, so a week can hold both, with a day trip out of each. ## Nearby guides - [Hobart](https://wimup.com/city/hobart.md): Australia · 10 picks - [Adelaide](https://wimup.com/city/adelaide.md): Australia · 10 picks - [Sydney](https://wimup.com/city/sydney.md): Australia · 10 picks - [All of Oceania →](https://wimup.com/oceania): 24 cities Part of the [Australia guide](https://wimup.com/country/australia.md) · [Oceania](https://wimup.com/oceania.md) ## Sources - [Melbourne tourism board](https://www.visitmelbourne.com/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral) - [Spend a morning at NGV International (official site)](https://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral) - [Shop Queen Victoria Market (official site)](https://qvm.com.au/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral) - [Walk the Royal Botanic Gardens (official site)](https://www.rbg.vic.gov.au/melbourne-gardens/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral) - [Get inside the MCG (official site)](https://www.mcg.org.au/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral) - [Sit in the La Trobe Reading Room (official site)](https://www.slv.vic.gov.au/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral) - [See Melbourne Museum and the Royal Exhibition Building (official site)](https://museumsvictoria.com.au/melbournemuseum/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral) - [Take the tram to St Kilda (official site)](https://lunapark.com.au/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral) - [Take the tram to St Kilda: Penguins](https://www.penguins.org.au/attractions/st-kilda/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral) - [Look down from Melbourne Skydeck (official site)](https://www.melbourneskydeck.com.au/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral) - [Climb the Shrine of Remembrance (official site)](https://www.shrine.org.au/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral) - [Patricia Coffee Brewers (official site)](https://patriciacoffee.com.au/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral) - [Seven Seeds (official site)](https://sevenseeds.com.au/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral) - [Proud Mary (official site)](https://www.proudmarycoffee.com.au/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral) - [Market Lane Coffee (official site)](https://marketlane.com.au/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral) - [Brother Baba Budan (official site)](https://sevenseeds.com.au/pages/brother-baba-budan?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral) - [Attica (official site)](https://www.attica.com.au/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral) - [Cumulus Inc. (official site)](https://www.cumulusinc.com.au/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral) - [Flower Drum (official site)](https://flowerdrum.melbourne/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral) - [Supernormal (official site)](https://supernormal.net.au/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral) - [Tipo 00 (official site)](https://www.tipo00.com.au/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral) - [Gimlet at Cavendish House (official site)](https://gimlet.melbourne/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral) - [Embla (official site)](https://embla.com.au/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral) - [Grossi Florentino (official site)](https://florentino.melbourne/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral) - [Rooftop Bar at Curtin House (official site)](https://www.rooftopbar.co/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral) - [Siglo (official site)](https://siglobar.com.au/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral) - [Naked in the Sky (official site)](https://nakedforsatan.com.au/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral) - [Transit Rooftop Bar (official site)](https://www.transitrooftopbar.com.au/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral) - [ACMI (official site)](https://www.acmi.net.au/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral) - [ACCA (official site)](https://acca.melbourne/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral) - [Heide Museum of Modern Art (official site)](https://www.heide.com.au/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral) - [Buxton Contemporary (official site)](https://buxtoncontemporary.com/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral) - [Gertrude Contemporary (official site)](https://gertrude.org.au/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral) - [Corner Hotel (official site)](https://cornerhotel.com/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral) - [The Tote (official site)](https://thetotehotel.com/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral) - [Forum Melbourne (official site)](https://forummelbourne.com.au/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral) - [Melbourne Recital Centre (official site)](https://www.melbournerecital.com.au/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral) - [Northcote Theatre (official site)](https://northcotetheatre.com/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral) - [Great Ocean Road and the Twelve Apostles (official site)](https://visitgreatoceanroad.org.au/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral) - [Mornington Peninsula (official site)](https://www.visitmorningtonpeninsula.org/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral) - [Phillip Island (official site)](https://www.penguins.org.au/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral) - [Puffing Billy and the Dandenongs (official site)](https://puffingbilly.com.au/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral) - [Sovereign Hill, Ballarat (official site)](https://www.sovereignhill.com.au/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral) - [Melbourne Airport (official site)](https://www.melbourneairport.com.au/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral) - [Melbourne Airport: SkyBus](https://www.skybus.com.au/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral) - [Trams (official site)](https://www.ptv.vic.gov.au/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral) - [Trains & regional rail: V/Line](https://www.vline.com.au/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral) - [Avalon Airport (official site)](https://www.avalonairport.com.au/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral) - Rankings are Wimup editorial picks. Prices, durations and budgets are editorial estimates, not live quotes; check the official site before you go.