Melbourne tends to have a reputation for being expensive — a rather undeserved one, I might add.
Yes, it’s pricey… but so is everywhere else in Australia. In fact, I would say that Melbourne is one of the cheaper cities to visit in this country.
It’s also my favorite capital city in Australia, by far!
I live in Brisbane but I’ve visited Melbourne at least five times. And each and every time, it feels like an absolute treat. Crisp cold mornings in the winter and lovely late sunsets in the summer, beautiful architecture, and a city that’s buzzing well into the night? Count me in!
And thanks to the fact that Melbourne’s city center is designated as a free tram zone, you can have an amazing day out in Melbourne without paying a single cent (except for food and a roof over your head at night, of course).
Not only are the trams free, they are also modern, clean, and reliable. In my opinion, Melbourne has the best public transport in all of Australia.
Trams arrive frequently at all hours of the day and night, the routes make sense, and they take you anywhere you need to go in the central city. Unlike buses, they don’t get stuck in traffic, so they rarely get delayed or piled up.
So, here’s my list of things that you can do in central Melbourne for free! All of these activities are completely free of charge and located within the free tram zone.
I do include food recommendations near some of these attractions (because I just can’t stop myself from raving about Melbourne’s food!), which costs money, but you can always skip them.
Spend an afternoon at the State Library Victoria
It’s a bit unusual for a library to be an attraction at an Australian city, isn’t it?
This one’s here for a reason, though. Not only is it, in my humble opinion, the most beautiful library in Australia, it also gets my vote for the top 5 most beautiful libraries in the world, right up there with the libraries of Trinity College (Dublin) and St. Gallen (Switzerland).
The star of the show here is the La Trobe Reading Room, aka “The Dome”. Man, if I lived here, I think I’d be here every day! What a place to sit and read, or study, or work remotely from.
You can also take the lift or stairs up to the viewing galleries on each floor of the Dome. There are some historic displays near the stair area, but you’re mainly going up all those levels for this view.
The library is pretty massive, and aside from the 6-level dome, there are several other sections in the library – an art gallery, meeting rooms, reading rooms, so on and so forth. The best way to find your way around is to download State Library Victoria’s map.
The library is open from 10am – 6pm every day, and the La Trobe Reading Room follows those hours as well. There are shorter opening hours for some sections, like Ian Potter Queen’s Hall.
It’s important to note that the free tram zone map has a big “Library” arrow pointing to the library in Docklands. That is not this library. The State Library Victoria is located on the corner of Swanston St and La Trobe St.
Outside the library, there’s a grassy area with a few statues scattered around it. Students love hanging out here, and you’ll see a busker performing more often than not.
There’s a cafe in the library, Mr. Tulk Cafe, which opens from 8am – 5pm. Honestly I would give it a skip — both the view and the food is very ordinary, and there are better options just across the road.
See the mall built around the historic Shot Tower
Speaking of what’s just across the road…
Have you ever wanted to see a historic tower with a shopping mall wrapped around it? You should, because it’s pretty outlandish, but in the best possible way.
Melbourne Central, just opposite the State Library Victoria, is a shopping mall built around the industrial-chic brick facade of the Shot Tower Museum. And because they needed to pack even more stuff into a block’s worth of space, the Melbourne Central Station is also located underneath this mall.
I’ve never actually been inside the museum, but it’s free to enter, so hopefully I’ll check it out during my next trip. The museum is open from 10am – 7pm, and the shopping mall is open from 9am – 9pm (although many of the shops close at 7pm).
Ride the vintage City Circle Tram
The vintage City Circle Tram (aka Route 35) is gorgeous. Sitting inside its sleek wooden interior, you feel as if you were transported back to a bygone era.
Best of all, it’s completely free! Just hop on at any of the stops along the route, and it’ll take you on a loop through the Melbourne city center, with commentary for each attraction that it passes by.
I highly recommend this tram! Especially if you’re new to Melbourne or if you don’t have much time to spare, it’s the quickest and easiest way to see all of the attractions at once.
The whole loop takes about an hour to complete, but you can hop off at any stop along the way. It runs from 9.30am – 5pm daily, every 12 minutes or so.
You can check out the route and plan your stops on Transport Victoria’s website.
Browse the goods at Queen Victoria Market
Queen Victoria Market is a Melburnian institution (and yes, that is how “Melburnian” is spelled, for some reason). At 57,315 Google Maps reviews, it is objectively the most popular attraction in all of Melbourne.
What did I think? Well, it was… okay.
I mean, I’d definitely recommend visiting it at least once. It’s bigger and fancier than it appears from the outside, and you’ll be spoilt for choice if you’re here for food.
There’s a food court area with floor-to-ceiling glass, a row of shops next to some picnic areas, and a massive market where you can find all sorts of fresh produce, meat, and dairy.
But the thing is, the food is kind of expensive compared to what you could get elsewhere in Melbourne. I had a couple of pastries from a bakery stall, which tasted rather average but cost about $8 each.
And as for the produce and meat, there’s certainly a lot of variety, but what are you going to do with it as a tourist? Unless you booked an apartment with a full kitchen, not much.
Anyway. The markets open from 6am – 3pm weekdays (closed on Mon and Wed), and 6am – 4pm weekends. Give it a try and let me know what you think!
Follow the Street Art
Melbourne is full of eye-catching street art. I’d just be walking from the tram stop to my destination, not expecting much of anything along the way, but I always stumble across street art en route.
Some of the street art murals look like professional paintings — elegant and tasteful.
Others? Well… not so much, heh.
The unpredictable nature of the art just makes it all the more interesting, in my opinion. Who knows what you’ll see around the corner…
Where can you find street art in Melbourne?
Honestly, everywhere. It isn’t confined to any one particular area. However, some of the more popular places are Little Bourke St, Hosier Lane, AC/DC Lane, Croft Alley, Meyers Place and Finlay St.
Shop at the Block Arcade & Royal Arcade
The Royal Arcade and Block Arcade are two of the most elegant Victorian-era shopping arcades in Melbourne. Conveniently, they are also situated next to each other, separated only by Little Collins St.
According to their website, the Royal Arcade is “the first arcade in Melbourne and the longest-standing arcade in Australia”.
You’ll find a ton of well-known boutique shops here. I’m not one for fashion shopping, so I can’t comment on that, but I’ll always drop by Koko Black for their amazing chocolate, and The Little Royal Macaron Specialist for… you guessed it.
Gog and Magog stand guard on either side of Gaunt’s Clock at one end of the Royal Arcade. Every 15 minutes, they’ll strike the bells next to them with their mechanical arms to mark the time.
So, umm, we stayed for 10 minutes to watch the show. And honestly, I wouldn’t waste your time waiting, because they barely moved at all! Don’t expect the intricate hourly displays of the astronomical clocks in Europe, or even the Royal Clock in Sydney’s Queen Victoria Building. Take a photo of the duo and move on.
Both arcades apparently open from 7am – 7pm most days, but in practice the hours differ from shop to shop. Some of them were closed when we were here at 6pm on a weekday.
Wander down leafy Collins Street and drop by the Town Hall
Melbourne was ranked 16th in a list of the world’s most walkable cities in 2025, and as you walk down Collins St, you can see why.
Collins St doesn’t look at all like what you’d expect from a main road in an Australian city! The wide, flat sidewalks are lined with leafy trees that provide comfortable shade in the summer. A tram track runs through the middle of the street, and there are barely any cars.
Walk past the entrance to the Block Arcade, cross the street, and you’ll find yourself at the Melbourne Town Hall. When we visited this summer, the planter boxes around the town hall were filled with pretty pink lupins.
There are free guided tours of the Town Hall, but only at specific times (11am and 1pm on Mon, Wed, Thurs, and Fri). Even though the tours are free, you’ll still need to book them in advance.
Laneway dives: Degraves Street & Centre Place
There’s just something about Melbourne’s laneways.
When you step out of the glitz and glamour of the arcades and into Degraves Street or Centre Place, you feel like you’ve walked into an entirely different city.
The laneways feel alternative. Hipster. Like a silent rebellion against the floor-to-ceiling windows and glossy exteriors that we’ve come to expect of a big city in Australia.
Also, while you’re in Degraves St, you will see a little shop called Pidapipó Gelateria. You must enter and purchase a gelato at once, and you will very much not regret it.
Yes, they keep their gelato in opaque covered tins instead of piling them up high in brightly-colored mounds. This is actually a sign of authenticity and quality. I learned this when I first visited Italy, and it’s been a game-changer.
You see, the covered metal tins are necessary to keep the gelato at just the right temperature, to prevent the texture and flavor from degrading. Any serious gelateria keeps their goods in these tins, and Pidapipó is one of the best in this hemisphere.
Aside from Degraves Street and Center Place, some of the other popular streets with a laneway vibe are Hardware Lane (have lunch at Lulu’s Malaysian Hawker while you’re at it — their char koay teow is divine, with copious amounts of pork lard and wok hei!), and Tattersalls Lane.
Snap that selfie at Flinders Street Station & St Paul’s Cathedral
If you’ve ever seen a photo of Melbourne, you’ve probably seen Flinders Street Railway Station.
Just like how the Sydney Opera House screams “Sydney!”, millions of people around the world associate Melbourne with this copper-domed Edwardian building with a row of clocks over its entrance.
At least, that would explain the large number of souvenir shops on the opposite side of the street, where traffic inevitably gets held up by tourists trying to get that perfect selfie.
In all seriousness, Flinders Street Station is certainly worth a visit. And yes, you should take that selfie if you feel like it (just not in the middle of the road).
But do me a favor, please, and skip the tacky souvenir shops. If you want a souvenir to take back home, there are plenty of better options in the arcades.
Instead, head in the other direction, and check out St Paul’s Cathedral across the crossroads. It’s one of the best examples of Gothic Revival architecture in Australia, and the stained-glass windows on the inside are exquisite.
Check out the controversy at Federation Square
Federation Square (more commonly known as “Fed Square”) was apparently once panned as one of the world’s ugliest buildings, alongside such icons as the Beehive in Wellington, New Zealand and the Zizkov Television Tower in Prague, Czech Republic.
Okay, so I’ve actually seen both the Beehive and Zizkov Tower in person, and in my opinion this comparison is grossly unfair!
Firstly, I feel like Fed Square actually tries, unlike both of the abovementioned buildings. The postmodernist architecture might not be for everyone, but it doesn’t look anywhere near in the same ballpark as this eyesore:
Secondly, from everything I’ve read, it seems that Melburnians’ feelings about Fed Square are a bit more nuanced and varied.
Some of the controversy was caused by budget blow-outs, and the final build looking very different from the design submitted for the competition. But yet, people protested when the council wanted to demolish the southern building and replace it with an Apple Store.
With the Zizkov Television Tower, more than one Czech person has said to me that, “The best view of Prague is from the Zizkov Tower, because you can’t see it.” Heh.
Anyhow, why not come and see for yourself? Personally, I think Fed Square looks alright. It’s nice to wander around the plaza, have a drink or two, and look at the galleries.
ACMI (Australian Center for the Moving Image) has some pretty cool exhibitions that you can enter for free, typically focusing on film, TV and gaming. It’s open daily from 10am – 5pm.
Bonus: Eat to your heart’s content in Chinatown
Okay, so… this one’s not really free, but I just couldn’t not include it in a budget post. I mean, you could go to Chinatown and not buy any food, but why would you do that?!
Anyway, if you love hole-in-the-wall cheap eats, this is the place to be. The widely-photographed “Chinatown” entrance is on the corner of Little Bourke St and Heffernan Ln, but the foodie strip extends way beyond that. The whole area between Little Bourke St, Collins St, Queen St and Exhibition St is packed full of authentic Asian restaurants.
As a side note – I was born and raised in Malaysia, and in my opinion, the Malaysian food in Melbourne is the real deal. You won’t find better Malaysian food anywhere in the world… well, other than in Malaysia itself, of course.
Tips for using the free tram zone in Melbourne
- You don’t technically need a Myki card at all, because you don’t need to tap on and off if you are only traveling in the free tram zone. Just hop on and take a seat (or more likely, grab a handrail). But if either your start or end destination is outside the free tram zone, you must have (and tap) your Myki card.
- Google Maps has very accurate routes and timetables for trams in Melbourne. You can use the planner on Transport Victoria’s website, but there isn’t really any need for that (except in niche cases like the City Circle Tram). Unlike in many other cities, I rely completely on Google Maps when I’m taking public transport in Melbourne.
- Only trams are free, not buses. If you take a bus, even if you’re in the free tram zone, you need to tap on and off to pay for your ticket. Honestly, the trams are so much faster and more frequent than the buses that it’s almost never worth taking the bus anyway, even if the bus stop is nearer than the tram stop.
- Book a hotel in the free tram zone, or near enough to walk to it. This really saves on costs – the two-hour fare for trams is $3.50 (Zone 2) or $5.50 (Zone 1 + 2) otherwise. Once you add transport, the hotels that are further away from the city don’t seem like good bargains any longer.
