Melbourne is Australia’s hip and artsy city, a creative commune that serves as the capital of the State of Victoria.
This populous and bustling city offers many unique and interesting experiences and is quite impossible to cover everything you want to do in a single trip.
Therein lies the question, with so many things to do, see, eat, and drink in a finite amount of days, it’s easy to get overwhelmed when planning for your trip here.
We’ve got a guide that can get you kick-started before your trip, but what happens when you’re in the city?
Well, let us help you a bit with 10 cool things to do in Melbourne.
10 Cool Things To Do in Melbourne
1. Coffee Lovers Walking Tour
If there was anything I’d recommend doing in Melbourne, it’s to experience Melbourne’s world-famous coffee and cafe culture.
Its strong coffee culture has seen it being exported to all over the world; the vibrant café culture you see in Singapore today owes a large part to the influence and spread of Melbourne’s coffee and culture.
With so many amazing cafes sprinkled all over the city, it can be rather difficult to nail which places to try and what kinds of coffee are unique and signature to the city.
Enter Walk Melbourne Tours, a walking food tour led by locals that will bring you through Melbourne’s many streets to explore the best food the city has to offer.
They have a dedicated Coffee Lovers Walking Tour which features 4 handpicked coffee houses for you where you can sample different types of coffee made by expert baristas and brewers.
2. Puffing Billy Heritage And Steam Train
One of Melbourne’s historic steam railways, the Puffing Billy Train and corresponding track has been operating since the early 1900s.
Plying the mountain track within the beautiful Dandenong Ranges which connects Belgrave and Gembrook, Puffing Billy was instrumental in facilitating the development of the rural areas during the period.
Today, it’s an attraction that serves to let people step back in time and experience what it was like sitting on a steam train, journeying on the original tracks that cut through the mountains.
From packages that include Lunch in the First-Class Carriages or go all out with their Murder Mystery Dinners, Puffing Billy can be one of Melbourne’s more unique and exciting things to do.
3. Gog And Magog
In the southern side of the Royal Arcade in Melbourne’s Central Business District hangs overhead a clock that chimes at the top of every hour.
What’s interesting however, are the two figures that flank Gaunt’s Clock. Standing the clock dial’s side, they are the imaginings of two mythical giants named Gog and Magog, who have been striking the chimes with their arms since 1892.
Gog and Magog are steeped in medieval and religious lore, tracing back to the ancient conflicts between the Britons and Trojans. The figures standing above in Melbourne are modelled after the same characters that stand over Guildhall in London since the 15th century.
Walking through the Royal Arcade, look up and you’ll be able to get a glimpse of these legendary and mythical figures.
4. Kilda Pier Penguin Colony
It’s not often you get to see penguins, much less in the wild.
But in St. Kilda Pier, there’s a small colony of these amphibious creatures. And when I say small, they are actually about several thousand strong.
A truly unusual natural wildlife sight, these penguins usually hide in and amongst the rocks that are part of St. Kilda Pier’s harbour. These penguins tend to hide during daylight hours and tend to be more active in the night, so it’s really in the evenings when the crowds start to gather in hopes to see them.
Of course, don’t get too close or else these creatures will scamper away quickly.
If you’re worried about their safety, you don’t worry too much because there’s a group of volunteers that ensure that these adorable creatures are safe from errant tourists.
5. Polly Woodside
Many know of the RMS Titanic, the famous passenger liner that sunk when it struck an iceberg during its maiden voyage.
What many don’t know is that the Belfast Shipyards, from which the RMS Titanic sailed, actually launched another noteworthy liner some 25 years before the former.
The Polly Woodside, which now sits on a dock beside a museum along South Wharf Promenade in Melbourne, had an exceptional safety record with a total of only 8 sailors meeting their death during its entire career – a record that was impressive for its time.
Today, it’s a living museum with many memorabilia from the period.
6. Melbourne Museum
A natural and cultural history museum located in Carlton Gardens; the Melbourne Museum holds the claim to the largest museum in the southern hemisphere.
Featuring permanent exhibits exploring the history, culture, and narratives of the aboriginals in Australia to Science and the future of our society, the museum offers rich depth and breadth in terms of themes and topics.
With talks and lectures, to interactive tours around the museum, a trip to the Melbourne Museum might be a good way to spend an afternoon in the city.
7. Melbourne Laneways
Venture through one of many Melbourne’s Laneways and you’ll understand why the city is often hailed as Australia’s creative commune.
Wading through the various lanes and you’ll find no shortage of world-class street art, hidden bars, unique boutique shops, and small cafes. It feels like a little world of its own – distinct from the larger neighbourhoods of Melbourne, yet a core identity of what makes Melbourne, Melbourne.
If you want to try some of the best food, Hardware Lane is where you need to be while it’s said that Hosier Lane is where you can find the city’s best street art.
8. Queen Victoria Market
Melbourne is home to a whole host of wonderful and historic markets and the Queen Victoria Market is one of the most famous and oldest in all of Melbourne.
This inner-city market offers a wide range of businesses, from freshest produce to the most intricate handcrafted gifts. We’d definitely recommend visiting early in the morning when the market is often bustling right from the get-go.
Don’t miss out on the Wednesday night markets when Queen Victoria Market plays host to food stalls and live music that is entirely different from its day counterpart.
9. Luna Park
Located in St. Kilda, Luna Park has been operating since 1912, where The Great Scenic Railway just so happens to the oldest continually running rollercoaster in the world.
The entrance of the park is perhaps its most iconic feature as you walk through the mouth of the eye-catching Mr Moon, before the park opens to reveal all the heritage-listed attractions and new rides.
Overlooking the famous Port Phillip Bay, Luna Park is definitely worth a visit, if not for the historic rides, then the surrounding beauty of the Bay.
10. Old Melbourne Gaol
If you’re up for a more eerie and chilling experience, the Old Melbourne Gaol is a can’t-miss attraction.
Ask any Melbourners and they’ll tell you about the imposing façade that is the Melbourne Gaol. Built in 1839, it was the sight of over 100 hangings, including the infamous criminal Ned Kelly.
It once served as the only penal fortress in the area and housed people of all kinds from the mentally ill to serial killers.
Today, the building has been repurposed as a museum which retells the history of the prison with grim mementoes of the death masks of the various criminals that were hanged at Old Melbourne Gaol.
