Melbourne is a fantastic city, and it’s one we’ve come to love more and more with every visit. We might be Sydneysiders, but we’ve visited Melbourne countless times and each time we always look for something new and exciting to do.

The city might not be as jaw dropping as Sydney to look at but beyond aesthetics we think Melbourne is a lot cooler. Sydney might try to be cool but Melbourne does it effortlessly. Our itinerary will take you around the best of the city centre as well as giving you a bit of a nature fix without ever leaving Melbourne itself.

After countless visits these are the things you just can’t miss on your two day Melbourne itinerary.

Melbourne Itinerary

This is the perfect 2 day Melbourne itinerary:

Day 1: Hosier Lane
National Gallery of Victoria
Royal Botanic Gardens
Yarra River for sunset
Ponyfish Bar

Day 2: Brunch!
The laneways and ride a tram
South Melbourne Markets
Brighton Beach Boxes
Penguin spotting in St Kilda

Day 1

Day one will focus on the city and most of the things to do on this part of the Melbourne itinerary aren’t too far apart. To kick things off, head to Hosier Lane, which is just off Flinders Street in the centre of the city.

AM

Hosier Lane

Hosier Lane has become one of Melbourne’s most popular photo spots and over the last few years we’ve watched this little street get busier and busier. It’s still a great place to visit though and well worth a quick stop on your Melbourne itinerary.

There are plenty of laneways which have graffiti in the city but Hosier has the most impressive display we’ve seen. The entire street on both sides is covered in artwork which even stretches up some of the nearby buildings. There are often some interesting messages to be found in the art and the longer you spend the more you’ll see. It’s also interesting to watch the artists at work too.

After getting your fix of street art, walk down Flinders Street to the National Gallery of Victoria.

National Gallery of Victoria

The National Gallery is a pretty building inside and out. It’s almost opposite Hosier Lane so it makes sense to do these altogether.

You could spend hours in the NGV checking out everything from contemporary art to textiles to Asian art but if you want to make a quick visit then we’d recommend heading for the Indigenous art display.

We love Aboriginal art so we’re pretty biased but it is obviously the art that you don’t get much of anywhere else in the world so check it out while you can.

The National Gallery general entry is free of charge, though some exhibitions have fees attached.

Melbourne Itinerary - National Gallery Victoria

From the National Gallery, head onto the Royal Botanic Gardens. It’s a 15 minute walk away.

PM

Royal Botanic Gardens

Melbourne has many pretty gardens, but the one we come back to every time is the Royal Botanic Gardens. The beautifully landscaped garden feels a world away from the city until you round a corner and suddenly get a glimpse of the MSG or city skyscrapers and you are reminded this little piece of tranquility is right in the heart of the city.

There’s a small lake with lots of bird life but my favourite bit about the gardens is the amazing smells as you wander around. You’ll suddenly get a amazing scent of tea tree or eucalyptus, heavenly!

The gardens are well manicured and the walking trails are flat and easy. We’ve never managed to time it right but one thing we’d love to do one day is the Aboriginal Heritage Walk where an Indigenous guide will take you around the gardens telling you about the traditional uses for all the plants you can see (the tour currently costs $35 per adult and $12 per child and operates every day accept Saturday).

The gardens are free to visit and open daily between 7.30am and sunset. From here, head to the arts centre on the Yarra River. It’s a 15 minute walk.

Yarra River sunset

We’re always looking for the best sunset spots wherever we go and one of our favourites in Melbourne is definitely from the riverside trail along the Yarra River.

It’s a lovely flat walking path and well worth a stroll or if you’ve had enough walking by this point it’s a great place to come and relax on the riverbank and watch the sunset behind the city. You’ll likely see lots of rowers paddle by and it’s a lovely peaceful spot.

Walk west along the river until you reach the Evan Walker Bridge.

Ponyfish Bar

Just a few minutes walk from our Yarra River sunset spot is the Ponyfish bar. When I went to visit a friend in Melbourne this was the bar she really wanted to take me to and it’s easy to see why. This cute little bar is right on the river and offers absolutely fantastic views of the city from every table.

It is tiny so on a busy night you can queue to get in, but it always seems to move quickly. Drinks are reasonably priced considering the location and it’s a great place to sit on the water and soak up those city vibes. It’s definitely one of the sweetest little bars I’ve been to in Australia.

Day 2

Indulge in an epic brunch

Australia is famous for its brunches and nowhere more so than in Melbourne (it is the best way to start the day!).

Melbourne likes to think it does the best coffee in the country and - whilst we think Sydney is just as good (cue outrage from Melbourne locals!) - we can’t deny the coffee and brunch is always amazing.

If you’re visiting on a weekend look up your chosen spot online because many of the usual favourites only operate on weekdays unless you are staying in one of the suburbs. We find with both Melbourne and Sydney brunch in the suburbs is almost always better than in the city centre but we recently had a good brekkie right by Flinders Lane at Cumulus Inc.

Explore the laneways or take a free scenic tram ride

Melbourne is one of those cities that is a pleasure to explore on foot. My friend and I once did 30,000 steps just exploring the various laneways, stopping for lots of coffee and even more food and generally just enjoying people watching.

Melbourne has a lovely vibe (even more so than Sydney in my opinion), it’s a laid back city with friendly people and lots of great architecture. If you like pretty buildings I think it’s the best city in Australia. Spending a few hours on foot stopping at anywhere that catches your eye is a morning well spent in my opinion.

If walking is not so much your thing you could always take a scenic tram ride instead. These old fashioned trams remind me of the ones we used to take on our holidays in Northern England and always make me feel quite nostalgic. Route 35 is a free tram which takes you around all the major tourists sites and even has an audio guide!

In a clockwise direction the stops are Flinders Street - Harbour Esplanade - Docklands Drive - La Trobe Street - Victoria Street - Nicholson Street - Spring Street - Flinders Street.

South Melbourne Markets

The Queen Victoria Market right in the city is more famous with travellers but if you’re looking for where the locals go it’s South Melbourne Markets. If you’d rather stay in the city, then the Queen Victoria Market is a great bet but if you don’t mind hopping on a tram to South Melbourne we’d recommend it.

There’s everything from your traditional market stalls (we love the used book stand) to loads of restaurants - don’t miss the pastries from Agathe Patisserie - and plenty of restaurants and local produce on sale. Come hungry!

After the markets, it’s time to head out of the city to an iconic spot near Melbourne.

Brighton Beach Boxes

Brighton Beach boxes are another place that has become really popular following lots of coverage on social media. We’ve been several times and though the beach itself is not the nicest, the bathing boxes themselves are really cute and definitely worth a look.

Some of the them are very traditional and some have been spiced up by their owners with different paintings, we love the VW Life’s a beach one and the one with the huge space invader!

If you don’t want to be at the penguins for sunset Brighton Beach is a lovely sunset spot (although St Kilda is too) as the sun sets right into the ocean.

It’s always been really windy when we’ve been but you can never beat a good ocean sunset.

St Kilda Penguin Watching

We’ve saved the best thing on this itinerary until last!

This is one of the highlights of the whole of Victoria. St Kilda has a huge colony of Little Penguins which go out to sea to hunt during the day and then come back to roost on the rocks at St Kilda Pier around sunset.

We went expecting perhaps to see one or two or maybe none at all, as you can never be sure with wildlife watching, but we saw over 20 adorable penguins in just one hour.

The best time to go is around sunset and then give yourself an hour or so as the first few will begin to come in around sun down but it really starts to pick up as it gets darker. The penguins waddle up really close to you, so close we couldn’t actually believe it, and it’s a wonderful encounter to have right in a busy city!

It absolutely made our recent trip to Melbourne.

The place to head to is St Kilda Pier, right at the bottom of the walkway you’ll see the barriers set out to make sure that people don’t encroach on the beach the penguins walk across. Watching the penguins is free of charge.

Tips for penguin watching -

You can stand either side of the pier and you will see them. Don’t panic if they start coming in on one side only and there isn’t room for you, they will come in on your side too.
We were told that the righthand side is the best place to be due to calm water but we saw them with no problem on the other choppier side. In fact if you can’t get into the first row of the righthand side we’d advise taking the left as the penguins come right up the rocks towards you which is much closer than you’ll get anywhere other than the front row of the other side.
If you want a really quiet experience come when it is already dark. You won’t get good photos but you will probably get this wonderful encounter to yourself.
The penguins will come close to you but don’t go close to them, don’t stand on the rocks as that is their home and if they try to cross the pier to the rocks on the other side make room for them. We saw so many people climbing on the rocks and the penguin volunteers did their best to keep people in line but it was quite upsetting to see people ignore them.
Don’t use a flash or white light on the penguins. You can shine a red light if you need to as this doesn’t disturb them but we found our eyes adjusted and we saw them just fine without any light. The volunteers carry red light torches and they will often shine them for you for a better look.

Where to stay in Melbourne

The Adina, Flinders St

The Adina on Flinders Street has everything going for it. It is central as you can wish for and the rooms are huge, comfortable and quiet, providing a little hideaway from the bustle of the outside world.

We stayed in a one bedroom loft apartment, which was tucked away in a laneway - very Melbournian! The room had a separate living room and kitchen from the bedroom, which meant you could always make your own food and be only steps away from Flinders Street and the Yarra River in the centre of the city. The apartment was huge but there wasn’t a lot of decoration so it didn’t feel fancy. The kitchen is also fairly old but very functional.

Click to check prices and reviews on:

Bookng.com

Tripadvisor

Booking.com

This post may contain affiliate links, meaning at no additional cost to you, that we will earn a small commission if you click through and decide to make a purchase. This helps towards the costs of running our website. :-)