Top 40 things to do and see in Melbourne

Melbourne is generally regarded as Australia’s cultural capital. The city’s features include Victorian-era architecture, extensive shopping, many cultural institutions such as museums, galleries and theatres, and large parks and gardens. Reasons for tourists to visit Melbourne are to attend major sporting events, to use it as a base for exploring surrounding regions such as Grampians National Park, The Great Ocean Road, and to visit Phillip Island to view the penguin parade.

There are many days worth of activites in the Melbourne proper. The City Centre probably has the most to attract the traveller, including cafes, boutiques, department stores, and Victorian architecture, which can all be sampled on foot. Here is a check list of places to see and things to do while in Melbourne

1. Wander around Docklands— An entire new precinct filled with shops, bars, restaurants and a stadium with a waterside setting.
2. Eureka Tower— Tallest residential building in the southern hemisphere, panoramic views of the whole of Melbourne.
3. Parliament House of Victoria— The first seat of the Australian federal government, free tours are available on week days.
4. Queen Victoria Market— Huge and colorful, with an assortment of fresh and dry produce and tonnes of souvenirs and other interesting things.
5. State Library— Worthwhile if you’re into books, city architecture and free internet.
   

   Federation Square

6. AFL World Cnr Swanston & Lonsdale Street Melbourne— A great introduction to Australian Football.
7. Southgate— Pretty promenade on the south bank of the Yarra, with lively restaurants, bars and a Sunday art & craft market.
8. Federation Square— Modernistic and popular meeting space to see Melbournians enjoy life whilst sitting down at cafes and bars. 
9. Melbourne Musuem— It is the largest museum in the Southern Hemisphere and home to seven main galleries, a children’s gallery and a temporary exhibit gallery on three levels, Upper, Ground and Lower Level.
10. Lygon Street— Crammed with Italian restaurants, gelatarias and coffee shops, which all serve some of Melbourne’s best hospitality.
11. IMAX Cinema— Right next to the museum. It shows movies, usually documentary films, in 3-D format.
12. Royal Exhibition Building and Carlton Gardens— UNESCO World Heritage site (tours available through the museum). 
13. Melbourne Zoo— Usual assortment of zoo animals in a natural-like setting with lots of Australian native species too.
14. Jazz at the Zoo is a popular weekend evening function over the summer months for a picnic, music and evening stroll around the animal enclosures.
15. University of Melbourne— The premier university of Victoria, and internationally recognised as a leading university, it is a hub of students, fine Victorian architecture and gorgeous sprawling gardens.
16. Luna Park— Historic amusement park built in 1912 on the beach in St Kilda.
17. St Kilda Pier— Popular spot for fishing and walking.
18. St Kilda Esplanade— Fine place for walking, skating, sunbathing and on Sundays, discovering new treasures at the Esplanade Sunday market.
19. St Kilda Botanical Gardens— With the first trees planted in 1859, the Botanical Gardens are a sprawling oasis of tranquility and greenery.
20. Jewish Museum of Australia— Depicts the history of the Jewish community in Australia.
21. Royal Botanic Gardens— Water restrictions limit traditional floral gardens. It does have nice old trees, drought tolerant displays, a cafe and grassy places to loll about. In summer you can see outdoor movies and Shakespeare plays.
22. Chapel Street/Toorak Road— Kilometer-long strip of fashionable but often unaffordable shops plus some top end restaurants to match.
23. Chapel Street in Parhran— Famous for its street cafes and designer fashion boutiques. Cheaper stores are found at its southern end.
24. Prahran Market— Smaller version of Queen Victoria Market with excellent quality, albeit slightly pricey, fresh food.
25. Commercial Road— Known for its gay-friendly eateries, shops and clubs.
26. Woodlands Historic Park— Immediately north of Melbourne Airport, contains an 1840s homestead and a nature reserve. 
27. Brighton— Melbourne’s prime bayside suburb featuring excellent upmarket cafes and boutique shops.
28.  The Melbourne Planetarium is located at Scienceworks Museum in Spotswood. It features a 16m domed ceiling, reclining seats, a stereo surround sound system and has recently been upgraded to incorporate Sky-Skan’s DigitalSky projection system.
29. Scienceworks makes learning about science and technology a fun, interactive adventure. Located in Spotswood, five kilometres from the Melbourne Central Business District, the museum presents science and technology in unexpected and involving ways.
30. Mebourne’s Grand Prix held around Albert Park lake in March every year.
    

    Rod Laver Arena Australian Open

31. Australian Open Tennis Championship one of the grand slams of tennis held every year at Melbourne Park in January. There a large screens outside for those who can’t get / afford tickets to the main Rod Laver arena (centre court).
32.  Take a free tram ride around the city circle. Catch the red tram to tour the city and experience riding a tram.
33. Brunswick St Fitzroy- Long and lively cafe/bar strip with cheap and decent eats.See a film (not a movie) at the Art Deco-styled Astor Theatre in Windsor. There are several moonlight cinema programmes in summer.
34. The Melbourne International Film Festival is on in August.Visit a comedy club. The Comic’s Lounge  has shows for $10-25 including a show filmed for Channel 31 on Mondays, or dinner and show for $45. The Comedy Club  has dinner and show for $32 and shows only beginning at $7 (discount ticket price).
35. Watch the mesmorising process of personalised hard candy being hand-made at Suga Around lunch time is a good time to see (and sample!). There is a store at Queen Victoria Market, but if you visit the Royal Arcade location, you can also watch chocolate making next door at Koko Black.
36. Brighton Beach – One of Melbourne’s favoured beaches, be sure to check out the infamous ‘bathing boxes’, brightly coloured boxes that are dotted along the sand.
    

    Bathing Boxes

37. Watch a game of AFL football at the MCG or Telstra Dome during the winter, or a Cricket Match during the summer. AFL Fixtures and Cricket Fixtures, bookings at both the MCG and Telstra can be made through Ticketmaster, however for most games you can just turn up and pay the rates at the gate: this is the most authentic way to experience the game.
38. Kick back at one of Melbourne’s fantastic cafes in the CBD (Degraves St, The Causeway, and other laneways are fantastic for this), South Yarra (Chapel Street) or Fitzroy (Brunswick Street, Smith Street).
39. Melbourne has an exceptionally vibrant live music scene. Many bars and pubs will have copies of the free magazines “Beat” and “Inpress” which provide local gig guides. Fitzroy, Collingwood and St. Kilda are generally your best bets for seeing some of the great local talent Melbourne has to offer. Venues where you generally can’t go wrong include: “The Tote”, “The Evelyn” and “The Espy”.
40.  Bourke Street Mall in the centre of the city has all the shopping anyone could want.

If you have any further ideas or suggestions of great places to see while in Melbourne leave a comment.

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