Recommended Tours

Melbourne is a cosmopolitan city sprawled around a wide beach-lined bay. Yet its center is very walkable. Many of the city’s most famous attractions are within a short stroll of each other, or you can hop on one of the city’s historic trams and trundle between them.

Federation Square

Federation Square is the new focal point of Melbourne and home to some of the city’s most interesting museums. The National Gallery of Victoria’s Australian collection is housed here at The Ian Potter Centre: NGV Australia. There’s also the Australian Centre for the Moving Image and the Australian Racing Museum, dedicated to horseracing. Pick up a bowl of noodles at the popular and funky Chocolate Buddha on the northern side of the central square. Federation Square comes alive with festivals, performances and exhibitions year round. Inquire at the Melbourne Visitor Centre on the eastern corner about what’s going on. From here, you can catch the free City Circle Tram on Flinders Street for a circuit of the CBD or head down to the river, directly below Federation Square, where you can rent a bike at Hire a Bike to explore the riverside Main Yarra Trail.

National Gallery of Victoria

Across the Yarra, The NGV: International showcases art from around the world, including collections from Asia and the Pacific. Next door is The Arts Centre, home to the Melbourne Theatre Company. Tours of the centre leave at 11am on Monday to Saturday and 12:15pm on Sundays. In the afternoon or evening, take in a play. Students, under 27-year-old’s and seniors can buy half-price tickets from the box-office from two hours before performances begin. From October to December, The Famous Spiegeltent sets up in The Arts Centre forecourt. Recreating the world of traveling European theaters, the mirror-lined tent hosts musical and theatrical performances. Within the Arts Centre, Curve Bar offers drinks, meals and interesting canapés, while Café Vic serves up quick meals before the show. On Sundays, the Arts Centre Sunday Market lines the footpath from the concert hall to the river’s edge, selling quality Australian crafts.

Eureka Skydeck 88

Just along the Southbank Promenade from here is Eureka Tower. At 92 floors, it’s the highest building in the Southern Hemisphere, and the viewing platform at Eureka Skydeck 88 affords views all across Melbourne. Choose from the community of eateries in nearby Crown Entertainment Complex or watch the street performers at the Southgate Leisure Precinct while licking ice-cream from Trampoline. Boat tours of the Yarra leave from the lower promenade below Southbank Promenade. From here, you can also take the Williamstown Ferry across the bay to Scienceworks museum, with its hands-on exhibits for kids. Alternatively, you can head across Kings Way Bridge to Melbourne Aquarium. Its walk-through shark exhibit provides a close-up encounter with Australia’s famous razor-toothed predators.

The Royal Botanic Gardens

The Royal Botanic Gardens is one of the finest in the world and a hub for Melbourne’s outdoor life. Tours of its sweeping lawns, conservatories and giant trees are available through the gardens’ Visitors Center. In the summer months, watch a movie relaxing on beanbags under the stars at the Moonlight Cinema or take in a play by the Australian Shakespeare Company on the gardens’ lawns. The Terrace restaurant offers relaxed dining and Devonshire teas by the gardens’ Ornamental Lake, while Observatory Café near the Ian Potter Foundation Children’s Garden serves fresh, casual meals. On the lawns by the café is the historic Melbourne Observatory. Across the road, one of Melbourne’s most prominent landmarks, The Shrine of Remembrance, commemorates the sacrifices made by service men and women.

Melbourne Museum

Set in gracious Carlton Gardens, Melbourne Museum is one of the best places to learn about Melbourne and its surroundings. Don’t miss the Melbourne Story exhibit about the city’s history, or Bunjilaka, the Australian Aboriginal Centre. The museum has an extensive shop with quality Australian crafts and educational toys. In the same building is an IMAX cinema, and just across the courtyard is the World Heritage-listed Royal Exhibition Buildings, built in 1880 for Melbourne’s first International Exhibition. Tours of the Exhibition Buildings depart most days at 2pm from Melbourne Museum. For a bite to eat, head to the Italian and university heartland of Lygon Street, just two blocks west down Grattan Street, or one stop on the free Melbourne City Tourist Shuttle. Nearby, Thresherman’s Bakehouse has huge, hearty, meals for a tiny price, while Brunetti serves up authentic Italian coffees, extravagant pastries and rich hot chocolates.

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