10 Best Sights in Melbourne, Victoria

One of the cultural linchpins of Federation Square, ACMI is Australia's museum of screen culture, from film to TV, video games, and art. Its remit is to explore the moving image through film festivals and interactive exhibitions, games, and workshops—some focused especially on their youngest visitors. The permanent games lab, with its classic and new games, is an arcade-style experience great for all. The little ACMI kiosk sells sandwiches, salad bowls, and sweets, and there's also a museum shop for unique gifts.

A much-photographed Melbourne landmark, the park's entrance is a huge, gaping mouth, swallowing visitors whole and delivering them into a world of ghost trains, pirate ships, and carousels. Built in 1912, the Scenic Railway is the park's most popular ride. It's said to be the oldest continually operating roller coaster in the world. The railway is less roller coaster and more a relaxed loop-the-loop, with stunning views of Port Phillip Bay between each dip and turn. Luna Park is a five-minute stroll southeast of St. Kilda.

Sixty-four acres of tree-lined paths, artificial lakes, and flower beds in this English-style 19th-century park, as well as a Moreton Bay fig tree significant to the Victorian Indigenous community, are the backdrop for the outstanding Melbourne Museum, and the World Heritage--listed Royal Exhibition Building, erected in 1880.

On the banks of the Merri Creek in East Brunswick, this award-winning sustainability center is home to a permaculture and bush-food nursery. Buy local produce and crafts here, eat at the seasonal, organic Merri Cafe, and explore the green technology displays. The Merri Creek bike path passes CERES.

Horse-racing information, displays, and a minishrine to Australia's most famous racehorse, Phar Lap, take center stage at this gallery in the Australian Sports Museum, within the Melbourne Cricket Ground.

This 64-acre expanse of European trees, manicured lawns, garden beds, statuary, and sweeping walks is Melbourne's most popular central park. Among its highlights is its 94-year-old Conservatory and the Avenue of Elms, a majestic stand of 135-year-old trees, one of the few in the world that has not been devastated by Dutch elm disease.

A spectacular, postmodern building (in Carlton Gardens) offers visitors insights into Victoria's histories, cultures, and natural environments. Visit such globally recognized exhibitions such as Te Vainui O Pasifika, Bugs Alive!, 600 Million Years, and Dinosaur Walk, along with brilliant temporary and touring exhibitions from near and far. In the Bunjilaka Aboriginal Cultural Center, First Peoples presents the Koorie experience and hosts works by Koorie artists, while the Melbourne Story tells the history of this city.

Verdant gardens and open-environment animal enclosures are hallmarks of this world-renowned zoo, which is 4 km (2½ miles) north of the city center. A lion park, reptile house, and butterfly pavilion, where more than 600 butterflies flutter through the rain-forest setting, are on-site, as is a simulated African rain forest where a group of Western Lowland gorillas lives. The spectacular Trail of the Elephants, home of six Asiatic elephants, has a village, tropical gardens, and a swimming pool. The orangutan sanctuary and baboon outlook are other highlights. It's possible to stay overnight with the Roar 'n' Snore package (from A$245 per adult) and enjoy dinner, supper, breakfast, close encounters with animals, and a behind-the-scenes look at the zoo's operations.

Within its 93 acres are 8,500 species of native and imported plants and trees, sweeping lawns, and ornamental lakes populated with ducks and swans that love to be fed. The Children's Garden is a fun and interactive place for kids to explore. Summer brings alfresco performances of classic plays, usually Shakespeare, and children's classics like Wind in the Willows, as well as the popular Moonlight Cinema series. There is also a garden shop and several cafés including The Terrace, which serves high tea. The present design and layout were the brainchild of W.R. Guilfoyle, curator, botanist, and director of the gardens from 1873 to 1910. Take a 1½-hour Aboriginal Heritage walk through the gardens, a significant site for the local Kulin Nation. 

Take an underwater journey through glittering bioluminescence in the Night on the Reef exhibit. Walk through the ocean tunnels as sharks and sea turtles glide above you. Press your nose to the glass and watch the king and gentoo penguins waddle across the ice and dart through water, or don snow gear and get up close to them with a Penguin Passport. Discover the mega saltwater croc Pinjarra, and if you're feeling brave, don scuba gear for an instructor-led shark dive—no diving experience is required.