Cost:  Free admission.
Location: Corner of Flinders St & Swanston St, Melbourne
Getting There: By foot, look for the ugliest building on the Melbourne skyline and walk towards it. By train, travel to Flinders Street Station. Federation Square is opposite the station.

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Southbank precinct: shopping and dining on the banks of the Yarra River
Once a run-down inner city industrial area, the part of South Melbourne fronting the Yarra River was given a dramatic make over a decade or so ago and has now become to Melbourne what Darling Harbour is to Sydney - a relaxed shopping and dining precinct in a water-side setting. The Southbank promenade along the Yarra River is one of Melbourne's most popular dining precincts. From the Southgate complex to the Crown Casino there is a broad range of cafes and restaurants all the way, most with outdoor terraces and balconies for alfresco dining. Behind them are many eclectic and unique shops and galleries including luxury lingeries, perfume and high-end fashion stores such as Versace, Burberry and Prada. Up along St Kilda Road beyond the waterfront is the city’s arts precinct.
Cost:  Free admission.
Location: near CBD
Getting There: By foot, walk south over the Princess Bridge or the pedestrian footbridge across the Yarra River. By train, travel to Flinders Street Station, then walk across the Princess Bridge or pedestrian footbridge.

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Queen Victoria Markets: colourful and historic produce and general markets
In its 120 plus years, Queen Victoria Market has had a colourful and sometimes controversial history. During that time, the site has been a cemetery, a Livestock Market and a Wholesale Fruit and Vegetable Market. Today it is more than just a shopping mecca - it’s an historic landmark, a tourist attraction and an institution for Victorians. Spread over 7 hectares, The Vic Market, which is what Melbournians call it, is the largest open air market in the southern hemisphere. Almost one thousand traders sell everything from exotic Australian fruit and vegetables and local and imported gourmet foods, meat, fish and poultry, to hardware, manchester, clothing and authentic Australian artefacts and souvenirs. Few places in Melbourne can give the visitor a feel for the city, it's people and its diverse cultures like the Vic Markets.
Cost: Free admission
Hours: Tue & Thu (6AM-2PM); Fri (6AM-5PM); Sat (6AM-3PM); Sun (9M-4PM) 
Contact: Website. 
Location: Elizabeth Street (Corner of Victoria St), Melbourne
Getting There: By tram, heading north along Elizabeth or William Streets. 
By tram, along Elizabeth street from Flinders Street terminus.

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Eureka Skydeck 88: the highest public vantage point in the southern hemisphere.
Eureka Skydeck 88 sits atop the second tallest residential building in the world (the Gold Coast's Q1 Tower is just 1 metre taller) in Melbourne's Southbank precinct. The At 285 metres above ground level, 88 floors up, Skydeck observation lookout is the highest public vantage point in the southern hemisphere. And if the awe-inspiring view across Melbourne and Port Phillip Bay doesn't give you a big enough thrill, for a few dollars more ($16.50) to be exact, you can venture out onto 'The Edge' - a glass cube which projects 3 metres out from the building - suspended almost 300 metres above the ground with glass on all sides including the floor. Due to poor weather conditions and wind speeds, the Edge is not always operational. Entry fees apply.

Cost: $15-25
Hours: Daily (10AM-10PM)
Contact: (03) 9693 8888; Website
Location: Riverside Quay, Southbank.
Getting There: By foot, walk south over the Princess Bridge or the pedestrian footbridge across the Yarra River. By train, travel to Flinders Street Station, then walk across the Princess Bridge or pedestrian footbridge. Entry to Eureka Tower from Southbank promenade.

General Interest Attractions

Williamstown: Originally Melbourne's first sea port, Williamstown is today a popular and fashionable suburban maritime village, playing host to both locals and visitors to Melbourne who embrace the change of scenery and slow down in pace it offers. Surrounded on three sides by the calm waters Port Phillip Bay, its northern and eastern coastline are dotted with piers, gardens and remnants of Williamstown's maritime history that includes numerous colonial-era shipyards and slipways. The former maritime industry buildings on Nelson Place, which runs parallel to the foreshore and form its main street, house an interesting array of cafes, restaurants, galleries and shops, and overlook a ribbon of bayside beach sand where children are often seen playing in the shallows. The Williamstown Maritime Museum is located on the HMAS Castlemaine which is moored at Gem Pier. The vessel is a retired World War II minesweeper that was built at the local shipyards. Around the point beyond the town is a bluestone lighthouse, built in 1849-50 to replace the original wooden one. It later served as a time ball tower and is today part of the Point Gellibrand Coastal Heritage Park. Williamstown hosts a number of events including the annual Williamstown Festival and a popular monthly craft market. Cruises on the Yarra River and the bay depart regularly from Gem Pier. Jawbone Marine Sanctuary is close by.

Location: south of the Melbourne city centre.
Getting There: by car, 15 minutes from Melbourne via the West Gate Fwy.; 
By train, to Williamstown station from Flinders Street Station (30 minutes) on the Williamstown line. 
By ferry or Yarra River cruise from Southbank ferry wharves.

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St Kilda Precinct: The inner bayside suburb of St Kilda is known less for its seedier side and more for the alternative and quirky, which gives the inner suburb its air of cosmopolitan cool. Its a cool place to eat or just partake of Melbourne's cafe culture - there are plenty of restaurants and cafes in Fitzroy Street that don't charge an arm and a leg; a cool place to see and be seen; a cool place to keep in shape - cyclists, runners, walkers and rollerbladers do their thing on the beachside promenade, while the more adventurous can be seen windsurfing or kiteboarding out on the bay. It's a cool place to have fun - at the Coney-Island style Luna Park, or watching the Australian Grand Prix in nearby Albert Park. If you are after something different to wear or to eat, there's super-cool Ackland Street with it independent clothing boutiques and continental cake shops. Down on The Esplanade, there's the night time live-music scene, every Sunday an outdoor market with over 200 stalls of original art and handicrafts made by the stallholders operates, and an organic produce market comes to town on the 1st Saturday of each month.

Location: suburb of St Kilda. 
Getting There: by car, exit Melbourne via Kings Way, proceed into Queens Rd, right into Lakeside Dve. at Albert Park, right into Fitzroy St. By tram, Route 96 from Bourke St (travelling west), Route 16 from Swanston St (travelling south), Route 112 from Collins St (travelling west)

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Docklands precinct: a major residential and recreational redevelopment project
Located to the west of the Melbourne CBD on Victoria Harbour with 3 km of Yarra River frontage, Docklands is fast becoming one of Australia’s most desired urban domains. Once an industrial wasteland, abandoned in the wake of containerisation which made the traditional shipping wharves and terminals of the world's ports obsolete, Melbourne's Docklands were given a new lease of life in recent years. The whole area was bulldozed and redeveloped as a trendy new district just beyond the inner city central business district. Historic wharves are now intermingled with new marinas and parkland to create an innovative recreational harbour. The district's unique urban art, new visual perspectives of the city and Yarra River, its restaurants, stylish bars and cafes and the Telstra Dome sports arena are accessed by walkways lead from the western end of the city block, in the vicinity of South Cross Station, which is now the transport hub for visitors moving into, out of and around Melbourne and its outlying regions.

Contact: Docklands Community website. 
Location: west of Spencer St, city. 
Getting There:  on foot, via walkways above Southern Cross Station, Spencer St, Melbourne, or La Trobe St to Harbour Esp.

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Coops (Melbourne Central) Shot Tower: a preserved historic building in the heart of Melbourne. Shot towers were built for the production of shot balls by free falling lumps of molten lead, which was then caught in a water basin. The shot was used for projectiles in firearms. The Coops Shot Tower is located in the heart of the Melbourne CBD. Completed by the Coops family in 1890 to a height of 50 metres, this historic building was saved from demolition in 1973 and was incorporated into the massive Melbourne Central complex in 1991 underneath an 84 metre high conical glass roof. Suspended from the dome is a hot-air balloon and a fob-watch that entertains shoppers on the hour with traditional Australian folk-songs. A round shot tower which can be seen on Alexander Pde. in the Melbourne suburb of Clifton Hill, built to resemble a chimney, was built to a height of 80.16 metres, making it the tallest shot tower in the world.

Contact: (03) 9922 1100. Location: Melbourne Central, Lonsdale Street and La Trobe Sts, Melbourne.

Special Interest Attractions

Crown Casino

Crown Casino and Entertainment Complex: an extensive entertainment complex in the inner city, The Crown Entertainment Complex is located on the north facing bank of Melbourne's Yarra River. The complex combines gaming, hotel, convention, restaurant, retail and comprehensive entertainment facilitated. Crown Casino is one of the largest gaming facilities in the southern hemisphere. It houses 350 gaming tables and 2500 slot casinos, spans half a kilometre in length, yet represents only 12 per cent of the total 500,000 square metre property which is dominated by its extensive entertainment precinct and hotel. The casino spans one main floor, an upper and sub-level, with numerous entrances - from the main street, riverside promenade and hotel. As its slogan proclaims, Crown is indeed a World of Entertainment. Live shows in the Palladium and Showroom, nightclubs, Village and Gold Class Cinema, games, dining, gaming, and live music are just some of the options available any night of the week. Crown Towers offers a choice of five restaurants and bars each with their own individual style and cuisine. Further along the retail strip, the Food Court offers a range of high quality international foods. Crown's exclusive retail strip is an emporium of world famous designer boutiques. Signature brands such as La Perla, Gucci, Prada, Gianni Versace, DKNY and Giorgio Armani and located together with traditional freestanding shops.

Cost: Free admission
Hours:open 24 hours
Contact: Website 
Location:  Riverside Quay, Southbank.
Getting There:  By foot, walk south over the Princess Bridge or the pedestrian footbridge across the Yarra River. By train, travel to Flinders Street Station, then walk across the Princess Bridge or pedestrian footbridge. 

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Melbourne Cricket Ground: iconic sports ground and the home of Victorian Cricket. Wembley, Eden Gardens and Yankee Stadium are considered among the greatest sporting arenas in the world, but for history, pure drama and emotion, it’s hard to look past the Melbourne Cricket Ground. Melbournians love their sport and for many, the iconic MCG, or simply "The G" as it is affectionately called by them, is the home of sport in their city, if not their state and the whole of Australia. Although the Melbourne Cricket Ground is arguably one of the two most important cricket grounds in the world, it is much more than a cricket venue to the people of Melbourne. It is one of the great icons of this city, and even Australia. By the 1950's, Melbourne's reputation as the sports capital of Australia was so firmly entrenched that it was a foregone conclusion that the city would host the 1956 Olympic Games and that the MCG would be the Games' main stadium. The MCG later underwent a major redevelopment to prepare it as the main venue for the 2006 Commonwealth Games, which were hosted by Melbourne. The present capacity (including seating and standing room) of the MCG is just over 100,000. Apart from the magnificent sporting contests it witnesses, the stadium is home to a collection which includes some of the most priceless pieces of memorabilia in Australian sporting history, most of which are on display in the National Sports Museum. This Museum is home to the Olympic Museum, Sport Australia Hall of Fame, Australian Cricket Hall of Fame and the Melbourne Cricket Club Museum. All are open to the public, and are included in all organised tours of the complex. Entry fees apply.

Cost: tour - $15-$22
Hours: 10am-3pm (except Christmas Day and Good Friday) on non-event days
Contact: (03) 9657 8888. Website. 
Location: Brunton Avenue, Richmond, within the confines of Yarra Park.
Getting There: on foot, walk from the city via Mirrarung Marr / Yarra River or through the Fitzroy Gardens / Yarra Park Gardens; by train, to Jolimont station on the Epping and Hurstbridge lines; by tram, along Flinders St trams 48, 75. 

Festivals And Events

Melbourne is known for its diverse, multi-layered culture and society. It hosts many traditional and commercial cultural institutions such as theatre, popular music and film, sport and fashion, as well as hosting diverse alternative cultural institutions, particularly street art, independent music, art and film. Melbourne is considered the cultural and sporting capital of Australia and is accepted by many within the country as having a more diverse culture, due in part to the multicultural background of its population. Melbourne is therefore perceived to be somewhat removed or disconnected from popular Australian culture. The city celebrates a wide variety of annual cultural events, including:

• Moomba
• Melbourne Fringe Festival
• Melbourne International Comedy Festival
• Melbourne International Film Festival
• Melbourne International Arts Festival
• Midsumma Festival

Australian Grand Prix Formula One motor race, held at Albert Park

Federation Square, with its distinctive architecture, large digital screen and public space, has become one of the city's main hubs, attracting congregations, rallies and public viewing of sporting events. It is also home to the city's tourist centre. A traditional meeting spot in Melbourne is "under the clocks" at Flinders Street Station, opposite Federation Square. The city hosts many parades, marches and rallies which are conducted in the main thoroughfares of Swanston Street and Bourke Street. Melbourne’s newspapers The Age and The Herald Sun and free ‘street press’ publications contain regular arts and entertainment listings, features and reviews. On Fridays The Age produces the ‘EG’ section which is a comprehensive entertainment guide. Events such as the Australian Open (tennis), Australian Grand Prix, Australian Football League Grand Final, the Melbourne Cup (horse racing) and the Boxing Day Test Match (cricket).

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The Melbourne Cup: Australia's major annual thoroughbred horse race, the Melbourne Cup generally regarded as the most prestigious "two-mile" handicap in the world. It is billed as The race that stops a nation, and rightly so - people of all over Australia stop for three minutes to hear or watch the race on radio of television, people who otherwise never bet always have a flutter on the Melbourne Cup. In Melbourne, it so dominates the first Tuesday of November each year, the whole city takes the day off work to place their bets and be seen at the their city's premier sporting event.
Since colonial days, Flemington Racecourse on Cup Day has been one of the few places where high society and the lower classes came together socially. The first Australian race meet, held in 1810, established the culture of the Melbourne Cup that saw it become a neutral meeting place for colonists of all classes - military officers, convicts and free settlers.
The Melbourne Cup has long been known as an urban fashion parade. The party atmosphere of this horse race often means that champagne and canapés, huge hats and racetrack fashions overshadow the business of horse racing. 'Fashions On The Field' is a major focus of the day, with substantial prizes awarded for the best-dressed male and female race goers. The requirement for elegant hats almost single-handedly keeps Melbourne's milliners in business. Race day fashion has occasionally drawn almost as much attention as the race itself, The miniskirt received worldwide publicity when model Jean Shrimpton wore one on Derby Day during Melbourne Cup week in 1965.
Flowers, especially roses are an important component of the week's racing at Flemington. The racecourse has around 12,000 roses within its large expanse. Over 200 varieties of the fragrant flower are nurtured by a team of up to 12 gardeners. Each of the major race days at Flemington has an official flower. Victoria Derby Day has the Corn Flower, Melbourne Cup Day is for the Yellow Rose, Oaks Day highlights the Pink Rose and Stakes Day goes to the Red Rose.
Contact: Website
Location: Flemington Road, Flemington. 
Getting there: By rail, Flemington Racecourse railway station is located on the Flemington Racecourse railway line, adjacent to Flemington Racecourse.

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Moomba Waterfest: a celebration of the City of Melbourne and of the diverse communities that breathe life and character into its public spaces and give strength to its cultural fabric.
Since it’s establishment in 1955, the Moomba Festival has become something of an institution in Melbourne, unfolding in the city’s parks, along the streets and on the waters of the Yarra River.  The festival is as familiar to post-war Melbourne as Australian Rules Football and the Melbourne Cup have been for more then a century, having touched the lives of millions.
Truly a festival for the people, Melbourne's annual Moomba festival was keenly anticipated by Melbournians through childhood, and for them it remains a spur to youthful memories of carnival rides, colourful parades and exciting new experiences. Moomba continues to create those experiences and memories for successive generations of festival-goers, both locals and visitors from near and far.
One of the largest and longest running festivals in Australia, Moomba commands a strong place in the social history of Melbourne. In early festivals, post-war migrants typically displayed their ethnicity through traditional costume and performance and in the mid 60s, with a turn towards a more arts-orientated program, Aboriginal, Jewish, Italian and Latvian arts were featured prominently.  Multiculturalism has been widely accepted since the early 1990s, and today, cultural diversity is well represented and has become a major feature of Moomba.
For many festival-goers the most memorable experience is the grand parade down Swanston Street, which has served historically as the defining event of Moomba. At its height from the 1950s until the 1970s, it drew hundreds of thousands of people to central Melbourne. If Swanston Street and the inner-city parks are seminal places in the history of Moomba, so too is the Yarra River. In recent years, Moomba has embraced the river and the new urban developments that flank it. Historically much neglected and maligned, the river that runs through the city’s heart is the stage for the festival's many sporting feats and aquatic displays - the Moomba Showboat, the Dragon Boat Races, the Moomba Masters and the Birdman Rally.
Moomba Waterfest is held on the Labor Day public holiday each March.

National Gallery of Victoria

Victorian Arts Centre: the focal point of Melbourne's vibrant arts precinct. Situated across the Yarra River from the Melbourne CBD and part of Southbank, the Victorian Arts Centre is the local point of the city's arts precinct, incorporating the Australian Ballet, Melbourne Symphony, NGV International, the Arts Centre, Hamer Hall and Malthouse Theatre. On Sundays, the Arts Centre Market is held along the footways at the eastern end of the riverbank. The two Arts Centre buildings at the start of the St Kilda Road boulevard, are Melbourne's main arts, music and theatre complex. Beneath its 162 metre spire that is lit up at night, are three theatres: State Theatre, Playbox Theatre and the George Fairfax Studio. Hamer Hall (previously Melbourne Concert Hall) is situated in the complex's second building.

Cost: free admission. Charges may apply for temporary exhibitions.
Contact: Website. 
Location: St Kilda Rd, Melbourne near the Southbank precinct.
Getting There: walk south over the Princess Bridge or the pedestrian footbridge across the Yarra River. By train, travel to Flinders Street Station, then walk across the Princess Bridge or pedestrian footbridge.

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National Gallery of Victoria International
National Gallery of Victoria International is one of two Victorian public art galleries within the one arts precinct. Over the last 150 years the National Gallery of Victoria has established one of the world’s finest art collections. With Australian Art moving to Federation Square (The Ian Potter Centre) and the transformation of National Gallery of Victoria International on St Kilda Road, housing for collections and exhibition space will double in size. Since the Gallery opened in St Kilda Road in 1968, the total collection has doubled in size to more than 60,000 works of art.

Cost: Free admission.  Charges may apply for temporary exhibitions.
Hours: Open 10am-5pm daily, Closed Tuesdays except public holidays
Contact: (03) 8620 2222. Website. 
Location: 180 St Kilda Road, Southbank. 
Getting There: walk south along Swanston St across Princes Bridge to St Kilda Rd.

Cost: Free admission. Charges may apply for temporary exhibitions.
Contact: Online visitors guide | About Herring Island.
Location:  Como Park north, offshore from Alexandra Ave. 
Getting There: access is by private boat or organised tours only. No ferries service the island on a regular basis.