Budget · 3-hour walk · Melbourne
The laneways and the market in three hours
The station and the square, the street-art alleys, the Victorian arcades and the market at the top of town.
Melbourne's centre is a grid with a second, secret grid of laneways cut through it, and that is the whole walk: arcades from the 1890s and alleys repainted every few weeks. It is flat, entirely within the free tram zone if you tire, and finishes at a market that has been trading on the same block since 1878.
The route, stop by stop
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Federation Square
Divisive since it opened in 2002 and now the default meeting point for the whole city.
20 min here Walk here → -
Flinders Street Station
Under the clocks is where Melbourne has arranged to meet since 1910.
15 min here Walk here → -
Hosier Lane
The best-known street-art laneway, repainted constantly. Nothing you photograph will still be there next month.
20 min here Walk here → -
Royal Arcade
Australia's oldest surviving arcade, from 1870, with Gog and Magog striking the hour above the Bourke Street end.
25 min here Walk here → -
Queen Victoria Market
Seven hectares trading since 1878. Closed Mondays and Wednesdays; the Wednesday night market runs in summer.
40 min here Walk here →
More in Melbourne
Every walking route in Melbourne, or the full Melbourne guide for where to stay and what a day costs.