5 things to do in Melbourne
5 things to do in Melbourne
Taste the lifestyle of a Melburnian by going to these places
Melbourne is a big place, with lots to see and do. Should you have just a few days to explore Australia’s second-largest city, and want to see its highlights, here are the top 5 things you should do in Melbourne:
Explore the City of Melbourne
Visit the Royal Botanic Gardens
Try the amazing gourmet food scene
Explore the beach areas of Melbourne on a bike
Venture out of the city on a day trip
Check out my 5 Things to Do in Melbourne Google Map below to see the exact locations of all mentioned landmarks.
01. Explore the City of Melbourne
Probably the ultimate way to begin your Melbourne experience is to venture into its most urban and commercial centre - the City of Melbourne. This is what we did, and we were excited to find out many things to do, with a thing for every taste and fancy.
Venturing around the CBD
A great place to start your exploration of Melbourne is the Central Business District (aka CBD. Not that CBD!). At the very heart of the city, this area contains not only the tallest building in Australia (hint: Australia 108 is also the only building with more than 100 floors in the Southern Hemisphere), but also the city’s most eclectic foodie and cultural scenes as China Town is located here, too.
The landmark rail station that you can get off is Flinders Street Railway Station, a popular station to get off at and meet a friend, especially if you’re coming from the eastern suburbs and areas of Melbourne.
Check out the laneways
After the latest and brightest of Melbourne, you can go back to history and have a respite of modernity when you go to the laneways of Melbourne.
Being foodie havens and hubs of creativity, the many laneways of Melbourne have a lot to offer. Check out the official guide to Melbourne’s Laneways on the official site of Melbourne or check out this compact Google map of some of the key laneways.
Go shopping at the arcades
Melbourne’s Central Business District should be called Melbourne Shopping District really, as there’s much to do when it comes to shopping centres and arcades.
The top places to visit that have a unique historic feel are the Royal Arcade and the Block Arcade, both shown in my Google guide map here. Don’t miss out the Gog and Magog statue and displays at the Royal Arcade!
There are plenty of places to grab lunch in this area (if you haven’t already done so), including the Melbourne's GPO - another retail gallery shops & quaint restaurants, located in an elegant former post office.
Grab a drink on the Yarra River
And of course, after a long day brooding around, why not relax and grab a drink with a view at the Yarra River? We went to a bar just next to Evan Walker Bridge (bridge pictured below). The bar is not actually marked on Google, but you can find it easily - on the south side of the bridge, follow the steps down to the bar - you won’t miss it!
02. Visit the Royal Botanic Gardens
Now you are on the south riverbank, a fitting next stop would be the Royal Botanic Gardens of Melbourne.
This is a must see place in our opinion, especially if you’re not from Australia and this is one of your first encounters of the flora and fauna that this country has to offer.
Check out the Ornamental lake
This is a beautiful lake with many viewpoints, perfect for your instagram-ready snaps of you and your loved ones. Try the Taxodium Lawn for perfect photo angles and the area called Punting on the Lake on Google Maps for its many beautiful water lillies - the scenery is simply sublime!
Explore the many thematic gardens
The Botanic garden is full of many thematic gardens and special areas such as the Fern Gully, the Herb Garden, the Tropical Glasshouse and more.
Exploring the gardens fully may take some time, so if you want to fit a visit to the Royal Botanic Gardens on an already packed schedule, you can pick and choose the areas you’d like to see the most, and visit only these.
Stop by the Shrine of Remembrance
Although technically not in the Botanic Garden, the Shrine of Remembrance is a good landmark to see if you’re in the area. The monument commemorates the fallen from the World Wars with a spectacular moment (we, as Europeans, find the sheer scale of it rather massive). The monument also has good views of Melbourne city where you can take even more beautiful snaps.
03. Try the amazing gourmet food scene
It’s no secret that Melbourne is a haven for foodies.
We were told that the specialty cuisines that the city simple excels at are Asian and Italian. We explored the Asian cuisine in particular, and we can’t agree more.
Here are some great places for lunch and dinner we tried and tested:
Brunetti - Italian cuisine
Hochi Mama - Asian Fusion cuisine
Dodee Paidang - Thai cuisine
Hu Tong Dumpling Bar - Chinese cuisine
Coffee - we tried Patricia Brewers & Wall Coffee.
04. Explore the beach front areas by bike
Melbourne has an expansive coastline with many beaches to enjoy, closer and further from the city.
Hiring an Uber / Lime bike
A fun way to explore the ocean front of Melbourne is by bike. The city and suburbs are bike-friendly, with plenty of bike lanes, especially around the beach areas. You can get the usual Lime/Uber electric bikes popular in other areas of the world, too. The bike arm of Uber is now Lime (or vice, verca, who knows), which means you can use your usual Uber app, as well as the Lime app, to pay and get one from the street. The Lime app would work better, as it’s the native one to the bikes.
Other means of transport are easily accessible, too. Trams are another great option to travel around, and for those staying a bit further from the city, trains are the fastest way to go in the city.
Point Ormond Lookout
After hiring a bike, we rode a long way on the coastline between St. Kilda West & Elmwood beaches.
One good stop with a view is the Point Ormond Lookout. On a good day, you’ll have a good view of the city and the beach.
St. Kilda & Elmwood Beach
On our journey, we explored the more “suburban” beaches slightly further away from the city. They still had a lot of visitors, and Elmwood especially, was a rather popular destination for locals as well as tourists. Tip: stop at the West Beach Pavilion for a beverage and a view, it has a great location straight on the beach!
05. Venture out on a day trip
Greater Melbourne’s area of approximately 9900 km² of suburbs spread tens of kilometers on each side. The area has certainly got a lot to offer, including a
Should you have the desire and time to go out on a day trip, you’ll be truly spoilt for choice (and I really mean it). Hiring a car to visit these places is the recommended choice, as public transport will significantly increase your journey.
We were fortunate enough to be in the area for multiple days and be guided by our friends living locally, Hayden & Steph, and we managed to visit the places below. We’ll be writing about some of these places separately, but here’s the one-line summary for each:
Dandenong Ranges National Park
~1h drive
Want to see a rainforest? This is your place! We trekked fropm the Grants Picnic Ground area (picture above) and there are other forest areas to explore, too.
Check out our article detailing our adventures at the Dandenong Ranges below:
Healesville Sanctuary
1.25h drive
Great zoo, perfect to get you familiarised with typically Australian mammals and many birds.
Mornington Peninsula
1.75h drive
Amazing beaches on both bay and ocean sides. Expensive area with quaint houses ending at Portsea town.
Yara Valley Wineries
Depends on your location
A must do thing in Australia in general is to try the many delicious wines. Yara Valley is popular region for wines. We tried a couple of wineries on our route to Healesville Sanctuary which were about 1 hour drive from Melbourne.
Melbourne has certainly a lot to offer to everyone. For a full exploration of the area, you’ll need more than 5 days, but the 5 things to do above are a great start.
And of course, the locations of all the places above can be found on my 5 Things to Do in Melbourne Google Map.
Thanks for reading! Stay tuned for more posts about Melbourne, Sidney, Bali, and many other places we’ve travelled to!
Anna & Morgan
The Wandering Hustlers is a travelogue made by Morgan and Anna - two digital nomads, wandering the world.