Melbourne Pocket Precincts Extract

A Perfect Melbourne Day

The perfect day in Melbourne is like a Choose Your Own Adventure novel, but you can bet there’ll be coffee, trams, laneways, lots of looking and maybe even getting lost.

We’d start our day with a coffee and croissant at Dukes Coffee Roasters on Flinders Lane (the queue tells you it’s worth the wait). Then head for Hamer Lawn; find the stairs behind the sculpture Forward Surge and wind your way around Hamer Hall for an uninterrupted view of the city skyline.

Next stop: the Melbourne Arts Precinct. The National Gallery of Victoria (NGV) is the star attraction, and you’ll be wowed by contemporary art at Buxton Contemporary and the Australian Centre for Contemporary Art. Don’t forget to make a mix-tape souvenir at the Australian Music Vault at Arts Centre Melbourne.

Now for the laneways. Enter the labyrinth at Degraves Street opposite Flinders Street Station. We love to lunch at casual Italian Journal Canteen on Flinders Lane – always at the window to catch the moment that busy Centre Place blazes with midday sunshine. Then weave your way past musicians and magicians, through Centreway and across Collins Street and admire the cakes in the window of Hopetoun Tea Rooms in the ornate Block Arcade. Need an umbrella, scarf or gardening tools? Go see Mr Wares. Eau de toilette? Head to Paint ’n Powder in the Royal Arcade.

Spend your afternoon wandering the State Library of Victoria’s free exhibitions and magnificent domed reading room, and visit Curtin House – for books at Metropolis, fashion at P.A.M., or a sunset spritz at Rooftop Bar.

For dinner, it’s a pita and a bag of beans at Miznon on Hardware Lane or Chinatown for Tsingtao beer, dumplings and century eggs. Then explore the newest laneway bars or our old favourite Meyers Place Bar, relocated to Crossley Street. Cap it off with unexpected gelato flavours: avocado, lime and coriander at Spring St Grocer.

As an alternative, take the 86 tram north to Northcote for food trucks at Welcome to Thornbury; south to Prahran for a really late night at Revolver Upstairs; east to Richmond for beers at Mountain Goat Brewery or The Corner Hotel; or a train west to Footscray for fragrant flavours at Pho Hung Vuong and the laid-back vibe at Back Alley Sally’s.

Where To Find Your Perfect Melbourne Day Locations

Dukes Coffee Roasters 247 Flinders La, Melbourne VIC 3000 Hamer Hall 100 St Kilda St, Southbank VIC 3004 - Hamer Hall Lawn - Australian Music Vault at Arts Centre Melbourne The National Gallery of Victora 180 St Kilda St, Melbourne VIC 3006 Buxton Contemporary Cnr Southbank Boulevard &, Dodds St, Southbank VIC 3006 Australian Centre for Contemporary Art 111 Sturt St, Southbank VIC 3006 Degraves Street Degraves Street, Melbourne VIC 3000 Journal Canteen 253 Flinders Ln, Melbourne VIC 3000 Centre Place Centre Place, Melbourne VIC 3000 Centreway Centreway Arcade, Melbourne VIC 3000 Block Arcade 282 Collins St, Melbourne VIC 3000 - Hopetoun Tea Rooms Shop 1 and 2 - Mr Wares Shop 22 The Royal Arcade 331/339 Bourke St, Melbourne VIC 3000 - Paint n Powder State Library of Victoria 328 Swanston St, Melbourne VIC 3000 Curtin House 252 Swanston St, Melbourne VIC 3000 - Metropolis - P.A.M. - Rooftop Bar Miznon 59 Hardware Ln, Melbourne VIC 3000

WANT TO SAVE THESE LOCATIONS? CLICK ON THE MAP Chinatown Little Bourke St, Melbourne VIC 3000 Meyers Place Bar 7/24 Crossley St, Melbourne VIC 3000 Spring St Grocer 157 Spring St, Melbourne VIC 3000 Welcome To Thornbury 520 High St, Northcote VIC 3070 Revolver Upstairs 229 Chapel St, Prahran VIC 3181 Mountain Goat Brewery 80 North St, Richmond VIC 3121 The Corner Hotel 57 Swan St, Richmond VIC 3121 Pho Hung Vuong 128 Hopkins St, Footscray VIC 3011 Back Alley Sally's 4 Yewers St, Footscray VIC 3011