Visit Melbourne: Laneways, Trams & Things to Do

Ride to level 88 of Eureka Tower for 360° views over the CBD, the Yarra and Port Phillip Bay, and step out over the edge in The Edge glass cube.

Sharks, rays and a king penguin colony on the banks of the Yarra, a short walk from Flinders Street station.

A century-old steam train winding through the tree ferns and trestle bridges of the Dandenong Ranges, an hour east of the city.

Walk the players’ race and members’ stand of the Melbourne Cricket Ground, then explore Australia’s sporting history in the museum.

Natural history, First Peoples culture and a living rainforest gallery beside the World Heritage-listed Royal Exhibition Building.

Most things to do in Melbourne CBD are hidden off the main streets. Hosier Lane and AC/DC Lane are repainted with street art every few weeks. Degraves Street and Centre Place run on espresso and small kitchens. A block away, the Royal Arcade and the Block Arcade have kept their tiled floors and glass roofs since the 1890s. Federation Square anchors the eastern end, with ACMI inside and the Yarra just across Flinders Street.

Four of the best-known Melbourne tourist attractions sit within a few tram stops of each other. Melbourne Skydeck is 285 metres up on Level 88 of the Eureka Tower, the highest public viewing platform in the southern hemisphere. Across the river, the MCG runs behind-the-scenes tours through the Long Room and the player change rooms, with the Australian Sports Museum attached. SEA LIFE Melbourne Aquarium keeps king and gentoo penguins on the riverbank at Flinders Street, and Melbourne Zoo in Parkville is the oldest zoo in Australia.

Melbourne's coffee habit came from post-war Italian and Greek migration and never let up. Order a flat white or a magic and you will get it made properly almost anywhere. Queen Victoria Market covers seven hectares and runs a night market on Wednesdays. The best restaurants in Melbourne are spread out: Flinders Lane for tasting menus, Lygon Street in Carlton for Italian, Little Bourke Street in Chinatown for yum cha and late-night Sichuan, Victoria Street in Richmond for Vietnamese. Attica in Ripponlea holds three hats and books out months ahead.

St Kilda Beach is 20 minutes from the CBD by tram, with Luna Park behind the sand and a small wild penguin colony on the pier breakwater at dusk. Brighton Beach and its row of 82 painted bathing boxes are a few stops further along the bay. After dark, Melbourne has more live music venues per head than any other city in the world, roughly one for every 9,500 residents. Nightclubs in Melbourne CBD hide above laneways and in basements, while Chapel Street in Prahran runs the bigger rooms.

The Hoddle Grid measures about one kilometre by half a kilometre, so you can walk it end to end in 25 minutes. Inside it sit the Victorian shopping arcades, the street-art laneways, Federation Square, Queen Victoria Market and most of the city's hotels. Trams are free within the grid, which makes this the easiest base for a first visit. Stay here if you want to do Melbourne CBD on foot.

The south bank of the Yarra holds the arts precinct: NGV International, Arts Centre Melbourne, the Melbourne Recital Centre, Crown Melbourne and Melbourne Skydeck, all linked by the Southgate promenade. Keep walking west and you reach Docklands, a modern waterfront district with Marvel Stadium, ArtVo, the NewQuay marina and a run of Docklands restaurants along the harbour. Both sit inside the Free Tram Zone.

St Kilda is the bayside suburb six kilometres south of the centre, reached by tram in about 20 minutes. Luna Park has run since 1912 and still uses its original wooden Scenic Railway. St Kilda Pier draws a crowd at sunset for the little penguins that nest in the breakwater rocks. Acland Street is lined with old cake shops, Fitzroy Street with bars, and the Esplanade hosts an art and craft market every Sunday.

Fitzroy was Melbourne's first suburb and is still its scruffiest in the good sense. Brunswick Street and Gertrude Street carry vintage shops, wine bars, rooftops and pubs that put on bands most nights. Neighbouring Collingwood has taken over as the centre of gravity for craft breweries, queer venues and clubs along Smith Street. Carlton is a short walk north if you want Lygon Street, Melbourne Museum and the UNESCO-listed Royal Exhibition Building.

We recommend: Melbourne CBD, Southbank and St Kilda

We recommend: coffee, street art and one big-ticket sight

We recommend: three city days plus one bayside day

We recommend: Melbourne + Great Ocean Road + Yarra Valley

The best-known drive in Australia, and the reason most people rent a car in Melbourne. The Twelve Apostles are 275 kilometres away, about four hours along the coast road through Torquay, Bells Beach and Lorne, with Loch Ard Gorge and the Great Otway rainforest on the way. Doable in a long day, better over two.

An hour northeast of Melbourne, the Yarra Valley is Victoria's main cool-climate wine region, with more than 80 cellar doors including Domaine Chandon and Yering Station. Healesville Sanctuary in the same valley keeps only Australian native animals, and dawn hot-air balloon flights lift off over the vines.

Just under two hours southeast, Phillip Island is where little penguins come ashore at Summerland Beach every evening in the Penguin Parade. Book that ahead. The island also has Australia's biggest fur seal colony off the Nobbies boardwalk, a koala reserve and the Grand Prix motorcycle circuit.

An hour south of the city, the peninsula pairs cellar doors with the Peninsula Hot Springs and the Arthurs Seat Eagle gondola. Sorrento and Portsea sit at the tip, with bathing boxes along the calm bay side and surf beaches on the ocean side. A car ferry crosses to Queenscliff on the Bellarine.

The easiest day trip from Melbourne to do without a car. Take the Belgrave line an hour east and the Puffing Billy Railway terminus is a two-minute walk from the station, where a narrow-gauge steam train from 1900 runs 25 kilometres through mountain ash forest. Add the 1000 Steps or the tea rooms at Sassafras and Olinda.

Three hours southeast is the southernmost point of mainland Australia. Wilsons Prom has the white quartz sand of Squeaky Beach, the summit walk up Mount Oberon, and wombats and emus wandering the campground at Tidal River. Long for one day, so plan a night if you can.