Melbourne, Australia

Melbourne, Australia - Nov 27 - Dec 08, 2023

Public Transportation in Melbourne

Melbourne city can be visited easily by foot or by public transportation. The city’s public transportation system is very extensive, metro trains, buses and the world’s largest tram network will take you everywhere in the city and to outside regional destinations. The easiest way to travel in Melbourne is by buying a Myki card which costs AUD 6 and then top it up with more money as needed. You just have to tap on and off on each bus or train. The fares you pay depend on the zones you are travelling and are capped across the network. For the metropolitan zones 1 and 2 you will pay AUD 5 whether you travel just for one stop or for 2 hours. There are also capped daily fares so you can travel as much as you want for a maximum of AUD 10. Downtown Melbourne offers free service on its City Circle Tram or on any tram in the so-called Free Tram Zone. Melbourne also has a 24 hour night public transport network. All information about public transportation in Melbourne can be found on Public Transport Victoria website.

Getting from Melbourne Airport to downtown

There are two ways to travel between the airport and Melbourne city. The easiest is by Melbourne Skybus which offers a 30 minutes’ direct route to Southern Cross in Melbourne every 10-15 minutes, but is more expensive. One way tickets cost AUD 22 and return tickets AUD 36. The cheapest way to get to the city is by taking bus 901 (Frankstone) from the airport to Broadmeadows Station and from there the train (metro), Craigieburn line, towards city (from Platform 2) or towards Craigieburn (from Southern Cross or Flagstaff Station) if you travel to the airport. Bus 901 stop can be found by walking about 900 meters to the parking across Terminal 4 (at Bay 17) The bus stops in front of the Broadmeadows train station and the trip is about 15 minutes. From there the metro ride to the city is about 30 minutes. Overall the whole trip including walking between stops is about 1 hour compared to 30 minutes by Skybus but the fare is only AUD 5 for the whole trip compared to AUD 18-22 by Skybus.

Top tourist attractions in Melbourne

Queen Victoria Market

The heart and soul of Melbourne, Queen Victoria Market is home to over 600 businesses. It is a great place to shop for fresh produce, hand-made products, coffee, souvenirs and clothing. Every Wednesday evening there is a night market with delicious street food, cocktails and live music.

St Francis Church

Victoria’s oldest Catholic church is located in the middle of Melbourne’s Central Business District and makes a nice contrast among the modern glass skyscrapers.

Royal Arcade

This historic arcade is the oldest covered shopping arcade in the country and hosts boutiques, cafes and specialty stores. We visited early in the morning when not all the shops were opened but we could still appreciate the beauty of the Italian architecture and watch the famous statues of Gog and Magog strike the clock at the hour.

Flinders Street Railway Station

This train station is known to be the first steam rail station in Australia and it is the busiest station of Melbourne’s network. With its beautiful architecture and central location, the train station is a recognizable landmark and one of the most photographed by tourists.

St. Paul’s Cathedral

This beautiful Anglican church, located on Melbourne’s busiest intersection and across the Federation square, is one of the most visited landmarks in the city.

Forum Melbourne

The historic Forum Theatre, despite its unusual Moorish architecture with minarets and a clock tower, is the main venue for live music shows and events in Melbourne.

Scots’ Church

Located between modern buildings on Russell and Collins Street, this gothic church is an impressive sight and a base for Scottish tradition and culture.

The Ian Potter Centre

This art gallery is part of National Gallery of Victoria (NGV) dedicated exclusively to Australian art, including works of the Aboriginal community and it is a free attraction.

Federation Square

Federation Square is the heart of Melbourne where locals and tourists gather for free events, to experience culture or to feel the joy of Christmas as the Square is the city’s focal point for Christmas celebrations. This public space was designed with a stunning architecture and includes cultural and commercial buildings like the Ian Potter Centre, ACMI, SBS radio and television as well as restaurants, coffee shops and an open air amphitheatre. We visited the place almost every day either for visits to cultural places or to watch the Christmas tree and decorations and feel the spirit of Christmas.

ACMI (Australian Centre for Moving Images)

Located in Federation Square, ACMI is a museum dedicated to film, television and gaming.  It is also a free attraction and we had fun visiting the place as many of its unique exhibits were interactive.

Birrarung Marr Park

Located on the northern bank of Yarra River, we walked through this park along the river and on the so-called Tree Top Walk. The Angel public art and the Federation Bells are located in this park. There are 39 upturned bells and more than 100 compositions can be heard at certain times of the day following a weekly schedule.

Southern Cross Station

The impressive train station with a dune-like architecture design and full glass street frontage was our first contact with Melbourne as we arrived here from the airport and the hotel was a short walk from it.

Shrine of Remembrance

The Shrine of Remembrance is a memorial dedicated to the Australian men and women who served in times of war and peacekeeping. We spend a lot of time here visiting the Galleries, the Peace Wall, the Sanctuary and the stunning memorial gardens. There is no entrance free and we got amazing views of the city from the balcony.

Royal Botanical Gardens

One of the best green spaces in Melbourne to enjoy a relaxing time while discovering all the hidden surprises that has to offer: Australian Forest Walk, Guilfoyle’s Volcano, the Plant Craft Cottage and the Temple of the Winds but also the many themed gardens and ponds.

National Gallery of Victoria

NGV is Australia’s oldest art museum with an extensive Australian and international exhibits collection. Entry to the Gallery is free. We visited three times as they had a special exhibition “the Triennial”, a collection of 100 projects by 120 artists and designers and every time we discovered new additions to the collections.

Australian Music Vault

This free permanent exhibition is located within the Arts Centre Melbourne and showcases the Australian Music history. We could see a lot of iconic objects, costumes, guitars of famous Australian musicians.

Polly Woodside ship

Polly Woodside is a historic museum ship moored at South Wharf on the Yarra River. Unfortunately, it is open only on the first and the third Sunday of the month so we could not visit the museum but still enjoyed the view of this 1885 three-masted cargo vessel from the promenade deck.

Docklands Melbourne

Docklands is a modern waterfront development with pedestrian walks and plazas, waterfront dining and public art displays. We started our walk at Seafarers Bridge, continued on South Wharf Promenade and crossed the Webb Bridge, a modern pedestrian bridge shaped as an Aboriginal fish trap, to the other side, where we strolled on the Docklands Water Promenade and the Harbour Esplanade.

Melbourne Skydeck

Located on Melbourne’s Southbank, Eureka Tower is a skyscraper with a height of almost 300 meters, making the Skydeck the highest observation deck of the southern hemisphere. The 360 degree views from it were amazing and the more daring people could also try the Edge, a moving glass-bottom cube. We are both afraid of heights so skipped the experience.

German Lutheran Trinity Church

Being the Christmas season we visited the Christmas market at the German Lutheran Church. The market had it all, hand crafted Christmas gifts, German sausages, waffles and cheerful people.

Chinatown

Chinatown Melbourne is considered to be the longest continuous Chinese settlement in the western world. Located mainly on Little Bourke Street and lined up with plenty of eateries, shops, Asian grocery stores, boutiques, Chinatown is also the place where many traditional festivals are happening.

Coop’s Shot Tower

This 50 meters’ tower was saved from demolition and fully encased into the huge glass and steel cone of Melbourne Central Mall. The tower was built in 1880 to make shot pellets and is an iconic landmark of the city’s past.

Melbourne Parliament House and Gardens

The Parliament House is the meeting place of the Parliament of Victoria and can be visited only by free public 50 minutes’ tours booked well in advance and subject to limited availability. We did not go inside but enjoyed strolling through the Victorian landscaped Parliament Gardens.

St Patrick’s Cathedral

The short walk around the Parliament House took us to St Patrick’s Cathedral, the largest Gothic Revival building in Victoria.

Fitzroy Gardens

With a long history of over 150 years, Fitzroy Gardens is one of the most beautiful parks in Melbourne. Many attractions are located within the Gardens making them a popular spot for tourists: Cook’s Cottage, the original thatched cottage in which Captain James Cook was born and lived his childhood years, Sinclair’s cottage (the famous Scottish writer James Sinclair), the Fairies Tree, Tudor Miniature Village, amazing statues and fountains and a Conservatory providing spectacular floral displays.

State Library of Victoria

Melbourne public library is a cultural landmark where aside from the books, manuscripts and other written material found in any library you can enjoy free exhibitions, galleries and an immense Dome six storeys high, offering a nice view of the magnificent La Trobe octagonal reading room.

University of Melbourne

Some of the buildings with the greatest architecture in Melbourne can be found at University of Melbourne. The Spot, Arts West Building, the Old Quadrangle, Elisabeth Murdoch building are among the most interesting.

Carlton Gardens and Royal Exhibition Building

Carlton Gardens is a World Heritage Site and a very beautifully landscaped green space. Melbourne Museum and Royal Exhibition Building are located here among majestic elm tree avenues, nice fountains and scenic grounds.

Alexandra Gardens

Located on the south bank of Yarra River, Alexandra Gardens are another good place to enjoy a break from the bustling life of the city.

Collins Street

Known to locals as the “Paris End”, Collins Street is famous for high end designer stores, world class dining and major business headquarters. Places like 333 Collins Street or Collins Place are a hint of the street’s character.

The Block Arcade

This shopping arcade is one of Melbourne’s most famous. Chic boutiques, coffee and bakery shops, specialty stores, Tea Rooms and a beautiful architecture featuring skylights, stained glass windows and mosaic floors make the place a popular tourist attraction.

Melbourne’s best public artworks

Melbourne city commissioned a lot of public artworks that can be found everywhere across the city and we made a point to visit as many as possible of this unique, strange or controversial public art installations.

Three Business Men That Brought Their Own Lunch:Batman, Swanston and Hoddle – Located near Bourke Street Mall, the sculpture pokes fun at the three men that founded Melbourne by dressing them in modern clothes and portraying them as some confused time travelers.

The Public Purse – Located outside the old Post Office this public art was once considered to replace some of the city’s conventional benches but it remained just an idea. Regardless, there are always people sitting on it.

Ophelia – Inspired by Shakespeare’s “Hamlet” character, this artwork represents the artist point of view.

Angel – Commissioned in 1988 to celebrate two hundred years since the colonization of Australia.

The Vault – Nicknamed “the Yellow Peril” this artwork was very controversial, people disliked it so much that had to be moved twice.

The Guardians – Situated on the south bank of Yarra River and carved from Italian marble and clad with ceramic tiles

Cow Up A Tree – Located on Docklands’ Harbour Esplanade, this five tonnes of bronze sculpture was inspired by the images of cows swept away during the big flooding in Gippsland, a rural region of Victoria.

Meeting 1 – A sculpture of eight life-size red men crouching in a meeting circle, number eight believed to bring luck in Chinese culture and red seen as a multicultural colour by the Beijing artist.

The Reuniting Family – Commissioned to commemorate the Italian immigration and all migrants to Australia.

Architectural Fragment – This bluestone sculpture is a tribute to the State Library.

A History Apparatus: Vessel, Craft and Beacon – Found  at corner of Russell and Bourke Street it is one of the city’s most unusual. This steam punk inspired sculpture represents the past (Vessel) and the future (Beacon) and connecting them the track (Craft).

Best street art in Melbourne

Melbourne is famous for its street art. The city commissioned the creation of a network of laneways with their own visuals and stories. Among the best we visited were: AC/DC lane, Hosier Lane, Croft Alley, Meyers Place, Duckboard Place, Drewery Lane, The Upper West Side Precinct.

Solar System Trail

When visiting cities close to the seaside we are always looking to find walking trails along the shores and beaches in order to enjoy the piece and serenity of the ocean landscapes and this trail was one of the best. This 6 km walking trail stretches between Port Melbourne and St Kilda and is suitable for both walkers and bicycles. In 2008 a scale replica of our solar system was constructed by artists and scientists with Pluto being in Port Melbourne and ending with the Sun in St Kilda. We had fun discovering the planets and enjoyed the slow pace walk along the coastline.

St Kilda

It is very easy to get to St Kilda from Melbourne CBD by public transport, either by bus or by tram. We got there walking the the Solar System trail and after visiting St Kilda we returned to downtown by taking Tram 12 from Albert Rd/Clarendon St stop close to Albert Park. St Kilda is a nice suburb of Melbourne that has a lot to offer. Acland Street is a famous retail strip in St Kilda, lined up with restaurants, cake shops and retail stores. Luna Park amusement park is nearby and St Kilda Esplanade Market is open every Sunday along the street that overlooks the beach and close to Luna Park. The Market has stalls displaying crafts, paintings, clothes, jewelry and food trucks. St Kilda is famous also for its gorgeous Botanical Gardens and the shows at Palais Theatre.

Albert Park

Located 3 km from downtown Melbourne, this park has nice pathways for walking, cycling and is home to wildlife habitats. The park encompasses the artificial Albert lake and a walk around it will offer nice views of the city.

The Bay Trail – From Elwood to Sandringham Beach

We spent another day along the coast of Port Phillip Bay exploring the walking trail from Elwood Beach to Sandringham Beach. The trail took us passed a series of beaches, Elwood Beach, Brighton Beach, Hampton Beach and Sandringham Beach and piers along the way. The trail was easy and had lots of places to stop for a coffee, water fountains, food or a toilet break.

Brighton Bathing Boxes

They are one of the most popular attractions to spend half a day or a day trip from Melbourne. Built over a century ago these 93 privately owned boxes are located on Brighton beach and their bright colours and distinctive designs attract a lot of tourists from all over the world. It is easy to get here and back to the city by taking the metro Sandringham Line.

Visiting Melbourne during Christmas season

Visiting Melbourne in December is a special experience. The city displayed festive Christmas decorations and installations at Federation Square, Docklands, Yarra River and everywhere across the city. There were also many free events happening around town, Christmas projections at Melbourne Town Hall and at the Victoria State Library every day from 9-11 pm. A Christmas River Show between Princes Bridge and Evan Walker Bridge on Southbank, every day between 9-11. Christmas Markets and a huge Christmas Tree displayed at the Federation Square where Christmas choirs performed every day at lunch time.

The Great Ocean Road

One of the best attractions outside Melbourne is to see the 12 Apostles. The only way for us to see it, considering we were not willing to rent a car and drive on the wrong side of the road, was to book the Great Ocean Road Tour. It was a full day tour, we left at 7 in the morning and returned at 6:30 in the afternoon, in a 12-person minivan, but well worth it. Our guide was very knowledgeable and kept us entertained with interesting information about the places we visited. Our trip was a reverse itinerary in order to avoid the crowds at the main attractions of the trip.

First stop was in Winchelsea for a quick coffee/breakfast/toilets break. Next we drove straight to the Gibson Steps and 12 Apostles, the main attraction of the trip, located about 275 km from Melbourne. The stunning rock formations rise up from the Southern Ocean on Victoria’s breathtaking escarpments. The constant erosion of the mainland coast’s limestone by the combined action of the stormy ocean and wind formed caves in the cliffs, caves that became arches and finally these iconic 12 Apostles. We had enough time to climb down the stairs to the beach and have a 360-degree experience of this out of the world spot.

A small drive from here took us to the Razorback, another stunning rock formation visible from a lookout which was a short walk from the parking lot. On the same path in the opposite direction, we stopped at Tom and Eva Lookout and at Loch Ard Gorge. Both attractions are situated in the Port Campbell National Park. There is a beautiful but tragic story about the Loch Ard Gorge clipper ship that ended up as shipwreck in 1878 and out of the 52 passengers, only two survived by the names of Tom and Eve so that the two pillars remaining out of the gorge were named after the two survivors. Loch Ard Gorge is surrounded by ragged cliff tops, ocean and bushland making a landscape of a surreal beauty.

On our way back we stopped at Mait’s Rest, at Great Otway National Park, for a twenty minutes’ rainforest walk among towering myrtle beech trees, some 300 years old, lush greenery and tree ferns. While driving to Apollo Bay for our lunch stop, our guide stopped along the road to look for koalas in eucalypt trees. We were lucky to spot quite a few of them up in the trees and also kangaroos in the wild on the nearby hills. For us this was the highlight of the tour and a unique Australian experience.

Ballarat Wildlife Park

Located 100 km away from Melbourne, this wildlife park is easily reachable from Melbourne by public transportation. We took Melbourne to Wendouree via Ballarat train (metro) line for 1 hour and 25 minutes ride and then Bus 20 Canadian from the bus station (behind the train station) to the Wildlife Park, a 25 minutes’ bus ride. We returned to Melbourne using the same route. The cost for the whole return trip was AUD 10 per person, the capped daily amount. While considering which wildlife park to visit we researched three other parks, Healesville Sanctuary, Moonlit Sanctuary and the Melbourne Zoo but we were glad we chose the one in Ballarat. The ticket cost per person is AUD 38.5 but we purchased online so we paid AUD 34. Here we had one of the most unforgettable Australian experience, hand feeding kangaroos and walking among over 100 free-roaming kangaroos, lots of emus and Alpacas. The park has more than 35 koalas, a tiger, small penguins, dingos, wombats, crocodiles and more. We spent easily over 4 hours enjoying the animals and attending the presentations for meerkats, penguins and dingos. If we were to name our number 1 attraction in Melbourne we will name this wildlife park without much thinking.

Melbourne is located on south east coast of mainland Australia and the biggest city in Australia by population. Recognized as one of the most livable cities in the world, Melbourne is famous for being modern and trendy. Historic buildings mingling with unique architecture skyscrapers, a multitude of cultural venues, a very good and cheap public transportation network and the many expansive green spaces and parks along with the Australian wildlife make Melbourne a desirable world destination.