Things to Do in Melbourne This Weekend

Melbourne's weekend identity is arguably Australia's richest: the laneways, the coffee culture, the St Kilda and South Melbourne markets, the AFL (March-September), the live music venues on every inner-city corner, and a restaurant and bar scene that reflects a city that has earned its reputation as Australia's culinary capital. A Melbourne weekend involves pleasant choices between too many good options.

Queen Victoria Market — the QVM on Saturday and Sunday morning is a Melbourne institution, with the fruit and vegetable hall, the deli shed, the meat and fish hall, and the arts and crafts section providing a market experience unlike any other in Australia. The sheer scale (7 hectares, 600+ stalls), the heritage covered halls, and the quality of the produce create a market that international visitors consistently rate among the world's best.

Laneways and coffee — Degraves Street, Centre Place, Flinders Lane, and the CBD's laneway network create Melbourne's world-famous hospitality culture. Specialty coffee (Market Lane, Patricia, Seven Seeds), weekend brunch (Auction Rooms, Monk Bodhi Dharma, Hardware Société), and the alfresco café life of the inner north (Fitzroy's Smith Street, Collingwood's Smith Street) are weekend rituals for Melbourne residents.

AFL football — a Saturday or Sunday AFL match at the MCG (up to 100,000 capacity) or Marvel Stadium is among the great sporting event experiences in the world. The AFL season (March-September) means 18 rounds of home-and-away games at Melbourne grounds each weekend. Tickets are generally available on the day for non-blockbuster games.

St Kilda — St Kilda's Acland Street cake shops, the Sunday Esplanade Market, the Esplanade Hotel live music (the Espy), the Luna Park heritage amusement park, and the bay beach swimming create a neighbourhood weekend experience with no direct equivalent in any other Australian city.

NGV and cultural precincts — the National Gallery of Victoria (free permanent collection) and the Southbank cultural precinct provide weekend programming of consistently high quality, with major international exhibitions running year-round.

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