Mid-range · 6-hour walk · Melbourne
St Kilda and the gardens in six hours
The war shrine, the botanic gardens, the tram down to the bay and the penguins on the breakwater.
The three-hour route does the laneways and the market. This one goes south: the shrine on the hill, thirty-six hectares of botanic gardens behind it, then the 96 tram to St Kilda, which was the city's seaside resort in the 1880s and still has the pier, the pavilion and a colony of little penguins that comes ashore on the breakwater every night at dusk.
The route, stop by stop
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Shrine of Remembrance
Built 1934 and designed so a shaft of light crosses the Stone of Remembrance at 11am on 11 November. The balcony gives the best axis view of the city.
45 min here Walk here → -
Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne
Thirty-six hectares on the river since 1846, with the Guilfoyle Volcano water reservoir and an Aboriginal heritage walk.
60 min here Walk here → -
Albert Park Lake
Arrive by tram from the previous stop
The five-kilometre circuit that becomes the Grand Prix track in March, and a park the rest of the year.
40 min here Walk here → -
Luna Park Melbourne
Arrive by tram from the previous stop
Open since 1912, entered through an enormous laughing mouth, with a wooden scenic railway still braked by a man standing in the car.
35 min here Walk here → -
St Kilda Pier
The 1857 pier and kiosk out into Port Phillip Bay. A colony of little penguins comes ashore in the breakwater rocks at dusk — free, volunteer-marshalled, no flash, and do not touch them.
60 min here Walk here → -
Acland Street
The cake shops behind the pier, opened by Jewish refugees in the 1930s and still selling the same kugelhopf and chocolate kugel from the same windows.
35 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.