Things to do in Melbourne

Melbourne runs along the Yarra River. The centre still follows the Hoddle Grid, laid out in 1837. Wide streets carry the trams; the laneways between them carry everything else — bars, cafes, murals.

The centre, laneway by laneway

Flinders Street Station has anchored the grid since 1854. Its current dome-topped building dates from 1910, and Federation Square now faces it across the road.

• Hosier Lane and its neighbours. Street art covers the walls floor to roofline, repainted often enough that no visit sees quite the same lane.
• Queen Victoria Market. Trading continuously since 1878, still the place for produce, deli stalls and a summer night market.
• Chinatown. Settled during the 1850s gold rush, among the oldest Chinatowns still standing in the Southern Hemisphere.
• State Library and the old gaol. The library's domed reading room sits a block from the Old Melbourne Gaol, where Ned Kelly was hanged in 1880.

Inner suburbs and the bay

Fitzroy keeps the city's alternative streak alive. Brunswick Street runs to bookshops, bars and vintage stores, while Chapel Street in South Yarra runs toward flagship shopping.

• St Kilda. A beach suburb with Luna Park's 1912 wooden coaster and penguins nesting under the pier at dusk.
• Royal Botanic Gardens. Landscaped since the 1840s beside the Yarra, a genuine escape a short tram ride from the towers.

Trams and sport

Its trams form the world's largest network by length. A Free Tram Zone covers the whole city centre for free. The MCG anchors a sports precinct that fills for the AFL Grand Final every year.

Day trips from Melbourne

• The Great Ocean Road reaches the Twelve Apostles limestone stacks, roughly three hours each way.
• The Yarra Valley's wineries sit under two hours out, close enough for a half-day tasting run.
• Phillip Island's little penguins come ashore at dusk, under two hours away.
• The Dandenong Ranges run the heritage Puffing Billy steam train through the forest above.

Practical

• Weather. Melbourne can run four seasons in one afternoon; January averages near 26C with spikes past 30C, July sits closer to 13C.
• Getting around. Trams inside the Free Tram Zone cost nothing; beyond it, a myki card covers trams, trains and buses on one fare.
• From the airport. SkyBus runs from Tullamarine to the city in twenty to thirty minutes, cheaper than a taxi.
• Tipping. Not expected anywhere; ten percent for standout service is noticed but never assumed.
• Coffee and lunch. A flat white runs about five dollars, lunch closer to twenty.