Guides · Australia
Getting around Melbourne
How to move around Melbourne on a 3-day walking trip: metro, tickets and the notes that matter.
Checked September 2026 against official sources
Melbourne
Transit and walking
Follow the official link before you buy. Full walking days: Melbourne itinerary.
Getting around
- Public transport across Victoria is half price for everyone from Monday 1 June 2026 until 1 January 2027: the full-fare daily cap falls from $11.40 to $5.70, and passengers simply tap on as usual for the fare to be calculated at half price.Source: Victorian Government · checked Sep 2026
- Tram travel within the Free Tram Zone, covering the central city grid and Docklands, is free and needs no myki; if a journey starts or finishes outside the zone, touch on with a myki in the normal way.Source: Yarra Trams · checked Sep 2026
Questions
Quick answers
Which days should I plan around?
Queen Victoria Market trades Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday and is closed on Mondays and Wednesdays, so day one should be on a market day. Everything else is open daily: the NGV, ACMI, the State Library and the Shrine are free; the Skydeck opens at noon; the penguin viewing runs every night after sunset but needs a free ticket booked online, released on Tuesdays for the following week.
Do I need a myki card?
Not inside the Free Tram Zone, which covers the whole city grid and Docklands: trams there are free and you do not touch on. You need a ticket for the tram to St Kilda, and any other trip that starts or ends outside the zone. Fares are half price across Victoria from 1 June 2026 until 1 January 2027, with the full-fare daily cap at $5.70.
When do the penguins come out at St Kilda?
The little penguins of the St Kilda breakwater come ashore just after sunset. Since October 2025 they are watched from a new boardwalk in two free ticketed sessions each evening, about 30 minutes and 90 minutes after sunset, 45 minutes each, limited to 150 people; no flash, no torches and no takeaway food on the platform.
How much walking is this itinerary?
About 2.5 km in a straight line on day one, all flat and inside the grid; about 2.5 km on day two from the NGV to the gardens plus the tram; and about 2.5 km on day three from the Gaol to Fitzroy. Trams inside the free zone can shorten any of it.
The days these rules belong to
3 days in Melbourne
Melbourne's centre is a walkable grid inside a free tram zone, so the plan needs only one paid ride. Day one is the grid: Flinders Street Station, Federation Square, the street art of Hosier Lane, coffee in Degraves Street, the arcades, the State Library and Queen Victoria Market, with dinner in Chinatown. Day two crosses the river to the NGV's free galleries, goes up the Skydeck, walks St Kilda Road to the Shrine and the Royal Botanic Gardens and takes the tram to St Kilda for the little penguins that come ashore after sunset. Day three is north of the grid: the Old Melbourne Gaol, the World Heritage Royal Exhibition Building and Melbourne Museum in Carlton Gardens, lunch on Lygon Street and an afternoon and evening in Fitzroy. Queen Victoria Market is closed on Mondays and Wednesdays, so keep day one off those days.
