The capital of Victoria is a beautiful city with some great buildings like Flinders Street Station and modern art on Federation Square, Melbourne Arts Centre and NGV International. There are also some interesting museums like the Old Melbourne Gaol; some colourful markets like Queen Victoria Market and South Melbourne Market, and some nice small backstreets like Hosier Lane and Hardware Lane. Melbourne is also a cosmopolitan city, which means a lot of festivals. Here is some Melbourne travel information, places like Rialto Towers, Melbourne Aquarium, Melbourne Zoo, as well as shopping in Melbourne, Melbourne bars and restaurants, Melbourne theatres and where to stay in Melbourne. In the end of the page is a map of Melbourne.
Flinders Street Station - Melbourne Trip Planner In the heart of the city, on the banks of Yarra River, is Melbourne’s most famous building – the Flinders Street Station. It really is an amazingly beautiful building and it’s a favourite meeting point. Across the street are the central tourist information centre, and the famous old pub Young & Jackson’s.
Federation Square Melbourne Trip Planner Across the street from the Flinders Street Station is the city’s central square – the Federation Square Melbourne. It is a popular square with a big TV screen, cafes and restaurants, and a great lot of artworks both outside, and inside the Ian Potter Centre and the Australian Centre for the Moving Image. North of the Federation Square across the Flinders Street is St Paul’s Cathedral – a beautiful gothic church built in the late 1800s.
Melbourne Trip Planner - Parks East of the Federation Square are Melbourne Parks, Olympic Park and the famous MCG (Melbourne Cricket Ground) in Yarra Park. North from Yarra Park are Treasury Gardens, and the historical Cook’s Cottage in the Fitzroy Gardens. Also in Fitzroy Gardens is Melbourne Conservatory.
Melbourne Trip Planner - Aquarium and Rialto Towers West from the Federation Square are Melbourne Aquarium, Immigration Museum and the Rialto Towers where you have some great views of Melbourne and the Yarra River. The Melbourne Aquarium is a good place to see sharks and other marine life, and the Immigration Museum is a classic with exhibitions and displays about the backgrounds and traditions of Victorians.
Docklands and Telstra Dome Melbourne Trip Planner Further west is Docklands – a former industrial docking area, which as in many other cities in the world, has got a great facelift with some modern architecture, film studios, shopping centres and restaurants. New Quay is a good place to dine and wine, and Telstra Dome is the place to watch a game of Australian Rules Football.
Hardware Lane, Hosier Lane and other Streets with Character North of the Federation Square is the CBD with the busy Swanston and Elisabeth streets running from south to north, and Bourke and Collins Street east-west. The central shopping mall is the pedestrian Bourke Street Mall, and there are a fair number of shops on the streets around it. Royal Arcade is a nice place to shop, as is the new GPO shopping centre. There are many narrow backstreets in the area like Degraves Lane, Hardware Lane and Hosier Lane which will surprise you with some great cafes and colourful paintings on the walls.
Melbourne Chinatown Australia One block north-east from the Bourke Street Mall is the Melbourne Chinatown. Like many other cities in Australia, Melbourne has got a large Chinese population, and Chinatown is always a nice place to stroll around. It is colourful with Chinese neon signs and has lots of Chinese shops and restaurants – it even smells differently from the rest of the city. There is also a museum in the Chinatown – the Museum of Chinese Australian History.
The Old Melbourne Gaol and Melbourne City Baths North of Chinatown and the city centre are the Victorian State Library, Melbourne City Baths and the Old Melbourne Gaol. The Melbourne City Baths are mostly known for the beautiful old building which houses them, and the Old Melbourne Gaol is known for a grim history from the days when about 100 criminals were executed here. There was a strange thought that the criminals’ minds could be studied from their death masks, and today the death masks are still here. The most famous of them is the mask of Ned Kelly – a bushranger that committed many crimes before he was finally captured, and you may wonder why such a criminal became a legend in Australia, but it was because he committed crimes against the police and the whole legal system that were corrupted at the time, and many people liked him.
Queen Victoria Market - Melbourne Trip Planner West of the Melbourne City Baths and the Old Melbourne Gaol is the famous Queen Victoria Market where you can buy almost everything you can imagine. There are food stalls and street musicians, and if it’s all too much and too confusing, you can even get guided around on a market tour! Queen Victoria Market is one of the best markets in Australia, so don’t miss it.
Flagstaff Gardens, Melbourne Museum and Melbourne Zoo South-west of the Queen Victoria Market are Flagstaff Gardens, and north-east of it (along Victoria Street) are the Garlton Gardens with Royal Exhibition Building and Melbourne Museum. Both have some modern design on the outside, and in the Melbourne Museum this continues even inside. Many displays are interactive and there is also an Aboriginal Centre. Further north of the city is the Melbourne Zoo.
Southgate Complex - Melbourne Trip Planner Back south in the city centre and the Federation Square, Swanston Street turns into St Kilda road south of the Yarra River. On the southern bank of the Yarra River is Southgate – a huge complex of bars, cafes and restaurants with views over the CBD across the river. It is a popular place to have a drink or just stroll around and watch the street performers. You can also take a Yarra River cruise from here.
Melbourne Arts Centre, NGV International and South Melbourne Market South of Southgate is the Melbourne Arts Centre – famous for its design. But it’s not an art museum as the name may suggest – it’s a centre of concert halls and theaters. South of the Melbourne Arts Centre is the NGV International (National Gallery of Victoria International), which displays international art, and is known to be a good one. If you are interested in Australian art, head to the Australian Centre for Contemporary Art further south. West along the southern bank of Yarra River are Crown Entertainment Centre, Exhibition Centre, and Polly Woodside Maritime Museum. South from here is the South Melbourne Market, and back towards the Melbourne Arts Centre on Southbank Road is the Fosters Brewery, if you think it’s time to sample some beer.
Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne Trip Planner Across St Kilda Road on the eastern side of the south bank of Yarra River are a lot of Melbourne parks: Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne, Kings Domain, Queen Victoria Gardens and Alexandra Gardens. There is a nice walking track around the Kings Domain and the Royal Botanic Gardens, where you can watch the parrots in trees or visit the Government House and the Old Observatory. In the southern end of the parks there is a war memorial – Shrine of Remembrance, and the old La Trobe Cottage.
St Kilda Botanic Gardens and Luna Park Melbourne Trip Planner South of the city centre is the famous St Kilda – a beachside suburb with Melbourne’s Luna Park, the St Kilda jetty and lots of cafes and restaurants both along the beachfront and the streets like Fitzroy Street. North of the central St Kilda is the Albert Park Lake, and south are Renfrey Gardens and St Kilda Botanical Gardens.
Melbourne Restaurants and Cafes Melbourne is known for its cafe and restaurant scene, and there are some very good restaurants in the city centre, Carlton, Fitzroy and St Kilda. Some popular ones in the CBD are Mecca, Bhoj and Kimchi House. In Carlton there is the Italian-influenced Lygon Street with Tiamo and Jimmy Watson’s Wine Bar. Fitzroy’s restaurants are pretty cosmopolitan and some good ones are Mao’s, Ladro and teh Old Kingdom; and good places to eat in St Kilda are Vineyard, Cicciolina and Stokehouse.
Melbourne Bars - Melbourne Trip Planner There are also heaps of places to go out drinking, such as Lounge, Cookie and Ding Dong in central Melbourne; Bar Open and Laundry in Fitzroy, and Esplanade Hotel and Elephant & Wheelbarrow in St Kilda, only to mention a few. Many Melbourne bars and pubs have live music, try Green Room and Arthouse on Elisabeth Street in the city centre.
By avlxyz
Melbourne Theatres - Melbourne Trip Planner If you ever intend to go to theatre in Australia, the cultural capital of Victoria is probably the best place to do it. There are many theatres in the Victorian Arts Centre south of Yarra River, where there is also the CUB Malthouse Theatre. North of the river there are La Mama and Storeroom; and in St Kilda there is the Red Stitch. There are also many cinemas in the city, but the Federation Square probably has the most original screen.
Shopping in Melbourne - Melbourne Trip Planner Melbourne is also one of the greatest places in Australia to shop. In the central city there is the Bourke St Mall with Myer, David Jones and the new GPO and many interesting shops on surrounding backstreets. North from here are the QV on Lonsdale Street and Melbourne Central on La Trobe St; and south are Australia on Collins (yes, on Collins Street), and the Southgate south of Yarra River.
Cheap Hotels in Melbourne - Melbourne Trip Planner As with other big cities, there is a lot of accommodation to choose from in Melbourne. In the city centre there are Friendly Backpacker and Greenhouse Backpackers, Hotel Y, Victoria Hotel and Connection Travellers Hostel. In Fitzroy there is the Nunnery and south of Yarra River there is the Nomads Market Inn. In St Kilda there are the Base, Coffee Palace, Ritz Backpacker and Olembia Guesthouse.
Australian Celebrations and Festivals - Melbourne Trip Planner There are lots of Australian celebrations and festivals in Melbourne - if you happen to be around you can enjoy Australia Day and Big Day Out in January, Chinese New Year and St Kilda Festival in February, Melbourne Moomba Festival and Food & Wine Festival in March, and International Comedy Festival and Anzac Day in April.
Australian Celebrations and Festivals - Melbourne Trip Planner In May, there is the St Kilda Film Festival and International Jazz Festival; in July there is the International Film Festival, and in September there are the Melbourne Fringe Festival and the AFL (Australian Football) Grand Final. October sees the Lygon Street Fiesta and Melbourne International Festival, in November there is the Melbourne Cup (It’s one of the most famous ones when the whole Australia stops 2pm to gamble on horses), and in December there are the Christmas Carols, the Test Match Cricket, and of course, the New Years Eve. On various events, Melburnians have a habit to show off their hats.
Here's the map of Melbourne, where I have tagged the places that I mentioned on this web page. You can click on the tags to see what places they are, and double-click anywhere on the map to zoom it in and see the places closer. Drag the map to move around, and if you want to see the satellite image with Google Earth, click on "Sat" in the top right hand corner.
Exploring Melbourne
My husband and I went to Melbourne last May 2009 by train from Sydney. It was a long trip as it took us the whole day but it was worth it. We stayed with ...
NOTE: This website is written in British English, which is the English we use in Australia. You will find words like "traveller", "harbour" and "realise", and they are all correct in the language used in Australia.
