Visitors to Melbourne will discover that unlike its flashy sister city Sydney, with its iconic Harbour Bridge and Opera House, some of the true delights of Melbourne lay hidden. The joy is in their discovery.

Melbourne began its life as a small village on the banks of the Yarra River. But it was the discovery of gold in nearby Ballarat in the 1850s that created the world’s biggest goldrush and provided the money that would transform the city into one of the world’s richest and give it the moniker – Marvellous Melbourne.

Today the capital of Victoria, is one of the most culturally diverse, eclectic and cultured cities in the world. It hums with a vibrant energy. Recognised as both the sporting and artistic capital of Australia, Melbourne exudes a unique creative energy. It is also clearly the culinary and coffee capital as well. Also referred to as The Garden City, it is ringed by magnificent parks and gardens, including the Royal Botanic Gardens, considered by many to be one of the best Victorian style gardens in the world, second only to Kew Gardens in London.

A truly Victorian city

Melbourne is also recognised as one of the most intact Victorian cities in the Western World. This far-flung remnant of the British Empire, retains much of the glory it built with the money from the gold rush during the 1850s-1880s. In those days, ‘Marvellous Melbourne’ was one of the wealthiest cities in the world, with 2 tons of gold, worth a staggering 100,000 pounds flowing into the city every week. The legacy of this time remains with Victorian-era gems like Hotel Windsor and the Princess Theatre, the magnificent Royal Exhibition Buildings and the gorgeous historic shopping arcades of the Block Arcade and Royal Arcade. St Paul’s Cathedral, Flinders Street Station and Parliament House also all date from this heyday.

A foodies paradise

The Chinese who came with the Gold Rush in the 1850s settled in Little Bourke St, creating the oldest Chinatown outside Asia. They bought with them their unique Chinese cuisine, which also set the scene for Melbourne becoming a foodies paradise. Today the city boasts not only Chinatown but Little Italy, the Greek quarter, Vietnamese district, and Jewish bakeries. Each location tells a tale.

The Italian and Greek immigrants who fled a devastated Europe after WW II, seeking new lives and new opportunities down under. The brought with them their food, their culture, their language and their amazing espresso machines. The first documented Italian coffee machine was set up in Pellegrini’s Espresso bar, in 1954, an icon of the city that still exists today. (The bar, not the espresso machine!)

Equally the Jews sought escape from the horrors of the war and settled in St Kilda and Caulfield, bringing with them their wonderful pastry shops. Most recently, the Vietnamese who fled the war in their country in the 1970s can now be found in restaurants all along Victoria Street.

The coffee capital of Australia

But if one thing defines Melbourne more than anything else, it is the coffee. Everywhere, in every part of the city and suburbs, you will find cafes, large and small. Sometimes a large expansive place, buzzing with noise and chatter, waiters dashing back and forth. Sometimes just a literal hole in the wall, but with queues stretching down the street, a tell-tale sign that this place sells great coffee.

The competition in Melbourne among the cafes and restaurants is so fierce that it keeps the standards incredibly high. You will not last long in this city serving bad coffee, which Starbucks found out to their horror when they launched 84 stores between 2000 and 2008 only to be forced to shut down some 64 of them! (Melbournians know the difference between good European coffee and sugary American rubbish!)

Fine dining in Melbourne

If fine dining is your thing, Melbourne will not disappoint. Legendary restaurants with long-standing reputations for fine food excellence like the Flower Drum (Chinese), Di Stasio (Italian) the Stokehouse (bayside dining), Attica and Vue du Monde, mix with newcomers Marmelo, Etta and Embla. Each drawing loyal fans and rave reviews on a regular basis.

It is said that at one time Melbourne had more restaurant per head of the population than any other city in the Western World.

Australia’s sporting capital

Melbourne is very proud to wear the mantle of the Australia’s sporting capital. The Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) or the “G” to locals, is a 100,000-seat sporting colosseum making it one of the Top 20 biggest sporting stadiums in the world. Filled to capacity on Grand Final Day, the biggest event in the local footy code AFL final or the Boxing Day Test Cricket, the roar of the crowd can be heard from miles away. But that is not all, there are rugby stadiums, the Tennis Centre for the Australia Open, the Albert Park track for the Australian Grand Prix.

It is also a city of hidden delights and wonders. The central city of Melbourne, what Americans would call downtown, is often referred to as the Golden Mile. A simple rectangular block of parallel main streets, intersected with smaller streets and a maze of tiny, often dead-end lanes.

Melbourne’s Golden Mile

Some famous streets in the city, Collins Street for example, owes its reputation as the city’s most prestigious shopping street to the Gold Rush. Sitting at the top end is the Treasury building where gold miners would come to town, deposit their gold and get cash. They would then walk down Collins St, their pockets overflowing with money. So, it’s no surprise that the first shops to set up were expensive clothing boutiques, to encourage the miners to swap their mining clothes for something a little fancier. A little further down, the middle, is where all the jewellers set up to try and offer you something dazzling for your money. And if you still had anything left in your pockets, then further down, all the major banks set themselves up, encouraging you to deposit your newfound wealth with them.

Next is Bourke Street, the retail centre of the city. The Bourke Street Mall hosts the two biggest department stores in Melbourne – Myer and David Jones. Originally spanning across 2 city blocks, the Myer store was once the largest department store in the Southern Hemisphere.

The famous laneways of Melbourne

But it is perhaps the lanes that Melbourne is most famous for. So much to discover and explore. The most famous is Hosier Lane, which presents an ever-changing daily display of graffiti inspired street art. Many other laneways host hidden cafes and bars, some with no signage whatever. You just need to be cool enough to know that if you knock on that blue door late at night, you will be invited into one of the hippest underground bars in the city.

In between the lanes and side streets are places like the legendary Degraves Street where cool cafes spill out onto tables that take up almost the entire street. You might hear a busker playing a sax echoing through the streets. Music is also a big deal in Melbourne. Across the city and inner suburbs, small corner pubs host solo artists or small bands all playing their tunes almost every night of the week, but more so on Friday and Saturday nights. Cool jazz clubs like Bird’s Basement, the Paris Cat Jazz Club and the JazzLab in Bennetts Lane swing with cool sounds. While you will also find buskers all over the city - singing or playing their hearts out.

Hidden gems in the city of Melbourne

There are many other hidden gems in the city of Melbourne, all waiting to be discovered:

• The “Little Lon” district, once home to Victorian era brothels, now home to cool cafes and flashy office buildings

• The Manchester Unity building, a magnificent art deco building that boasted the city’s first escalators, an even so exciting that 100,000 people flocked there to ride them on the opening day

• St Patricks and St Pauls Cathedrals – two magnificent shrines to the world’s two leading Christian faiths

• Flinders Street Railway Station with its legendary clocks making a meeting point for generations - everyone in the city knows what it means to say “I’ll meet you under the clocks”

• The controversial Federation Square – loved by some, loathed by others

• Melbourne Town Hall where one famous monarch and a world-famous pop group are among the few exceptions to the Lord Mayors to have stood on its balcony overlooking Swanston Street

• Captain Cooks Cottage which was transported from the UK to reside now in the Fitzroy Gardens, just one of many that ring the city and give it its worthy title of the Garden City

• The famous Yarra River with its elegant, original boathouses that stand on one side, paying homage to the city’s most prestigious schools whose students regularly row the waters in regattas

• Luna Park, an original amusement park that boasts the oldest, still operating, wooden rollercoaster in the world.

Marvellous Melbourne Markets

Markets abound in Melbourne too. The most famous is the iconic Queen Victoria Market, known as the “Queen Vic” to locals. It offers the freshest foods, gourmet deli products, fresh meats and seafood as well as legendary hot jam donuts and churros (Spanish donuts often served with chocolate sauce) sold from vans on the fringes. Tourists are catered for with clothing, knickknacks, crafts etc

The cultural attractions of Melbourne abound too with the Arts Centre, National Gallery of Victoria and the whole Arts Precinct all part of the cultural landscape and just a short stroll over the river from the central city.

A city of musical theatres

Musical theatres abound in Melbourne. It still has 4 from its “Golden Age” - The Princes, Her Majesty’s, the Regent and the Comedy Club. Other less known but equally loved stars include the Forum and the Athenaeum. The city once boasted some 10 theatres from the Victorian era, but sadly many were torn down during the development boom of the 1980s. The Palace and the Auditorium were sadly lost. Those that survive are magnificent examples and every night of the week you will see crowds spilling out onto the street still singing the last bars of their favourite show.

Not far from the central city lie other legendary icons, the famous bathing boxes of Brighton for example. These colourful wooden structures were established in the Victorian era to provide a private place to change in an era where modesty was king. Today they are prized assets worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.

All these attractions and more lay waiting to be discovered in Magnificent, Marvellous, Magical Melbourne.

Where is Melbourne City?

Melbourne is located in the southeastern corner of mainland Australia. It is the capital city of the state of Victoria.

Geographic Position

• The city wraps around the shores of Port Phillip Bay, a large natural bay that opens into the Bass Strait. The city centre (CBD) sits on the banks of the Yarra River, about 5 kilometers (3 miles) inland from the bay.

• Sydney is approximately 880 km (545 mi) northeast of Melbourne. Canberra is about 660 km (410 mi) northeast. Adelaide is roughly 725 km (450 mi) northwest. Tasmania: It sits directly south of the separated by the Bass Strait.

Key Surroundings

• The Dandenong Ranges and the Yarra Valley (famous wine region) to the east. The Mornington Peninsula (beaches and coastal towns) to the south east. Flat volcanic plains leading toward the city of Geelong to the west. And bushland and suburbs leading toward the Great Dividing Range to the north.

Need an expert guide?

Check out Melbourne City Private Tours by Melbourne Touring Company.