13 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.

The Australian and First Nations art collection of the National Gallery of Victoria hangs on the walls of this gallery in Fed Square. Key pieces include pioneering Indigenous artist Emily Kame
Kngwarreye's vast 1995 work, Anwerlarr Anganenty (Big Yam Dreaming), as well as paintings from the famous Heidelberg school, such as Frederick McCubbin's Lost and Tom Roberts's Shearing the Rams. Other displays include fashion and textiles, sculpture, and photography. A gallery highlight is the First Nations collection, which is permanently displayed on the ground floor in a dedicated gallery called Wurrdha Marra and includes both traditional and contemporary art.

An alphabet soup of Chinese, French, Italian, and Lebanese eateries—along with a fantastic array of cake shops dating from the 1930s—lines the sidewalk of St. Kilda's hip restaurant row. The street faces Luna Park.

Once a run-down area of Richmond, this street hosts factory outlets selling fashion and leather goods; refuel at spots like 360 Beer, Vlado's steak house, the Motley Hotel's streetfront café, or Oster Italian osteria. Take tram No. 48 or No. 75 from the city.

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.

Encompassing a whole city block, the bold, abstract-style landmark was designed to be Melbourne's official meeting place, with a variety of attractions and restaurants within it. The square incorporates the second branch of the National Gallery of Victoria (The Ian Potter Centre: NGV Australia), which exhibits Australian and First Nations art, as well as the Australian Centre for the Moving Image; the Edge amphitheater, a contemporary music and theater performance venue; and the Koorie Heritage Trust, which runs exhibitions and programs relating to Aboriginal Melbourne, and sells Victorian Aboriginal products and designs. Regular events are held in the square and along the path beside the Yarra River. Crowds often gather to watch live performances and events televised on the giant "Fed TV" in the center of the square.

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.

Much more than just a train station, Flinders Street Station is a Melbourne icon and a popular meeting place. The term "meet me under the clocks" is widely used, indicating the timepieces on the front of this grand Edwardian hub of Melbourne's suburban rail network. When it was proposed to replace them with television screens, an uproar ensued. Today there are both clocks and screens.

This massive, moat-encircled, bluestone-and-concrete edifice of the National Gallery of Victoria houses works from renowned international painters including Picasso, Renoir, and Monet. Its Melbourne Winter Masterpieces series of international blockbuster exhibitions require tickets. In the Great Hall, it's considered perfectly reasonable to stretch out on the floor in order to properly appreciate the world's largest stained-glass ceiling, by Leonard French. A second campus of the NGV, in nearby Fed Square, exhibits Australian art only.

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. 

On a rise behind lawns and heroic statuary, this handsome 1853 building was constructed during the gold-rush boom and houses more than 1½ million volumes as well as bushranger Ned Kelly's famous armor. Large reading areas—including the splendid domed reading room up the grand staircase—make this a comfortable place for browsing, and three galleries display works from the library's Pictures Collection.

One of Melbourne's most popular "eat streets," this 2-km (1-mile) stretch has restaurants ranging from simple canteens to tablecloth-and-candlelight dining spots. The street is packed with Vietnamese grocers, kitchenware stores, several art galleries, and a handful of chichi drinking spots and historic neighborhood hotels. Once a year at Tet, Vietnamese New Year (in January and February but the exact date varies from year to year), the street comes to life with a daylong Lunar Festival, with dragon dances, music, and more food!