Cool Day Trip

If you want a free cool day trip outside of Melbourne city centre then St Kilda is the place to go.

I’ve made two routes here, one if you have youngish kids and another for everyone else.

St Kilda is only a 20 minute tram ride from the city centre........

........and as long as you bring a picnic you could easily spend a day here without paying for anything except the cost of the tram.........

.........And if you come on a Sunday the tram only costs $3.20 per person........

........And this ticket also allows you to travel on the Melbourne metro system all day long without paying any extra money – not that you’ll have time to visit anywhere else though!

Sunday is the best day to come anyway as the famous St Kilda Esplanade market is on that day.........

........It’s great fun browsing round the artists stalls, seeing all the homemade products.........

........This market has been going since the 1970’s and there are nearly 200 artist and craft stalls to look at with a big variety of things to check out.

To get to St Kilda from the city, catch the number 16 tram from the stop between Flinders Street Railway Station and Federation Square heading away from the city centre..........

.........Get off at The Esplanade and you’ll see the market right in front of you. It opens at 10am.

Wander around the market and check out the views over the pier/bay.........

.........At the lower end of the market you’ll come out by the iconic Luna Park on your right hand side. Luna Park has been going since the 1920’s.........

.......You can go for a wander round the inside for free but the rides do cost money. It’s fairly ordinary inside but it does still have the original rollercoaster..........

........It’s the entrance area that’s famous though and you’ll have seen this on postcards and brochures about Melbourne. Make sure you get a photo!

Then it’s time for a stroll along the waters edge. It’s a lovely walk along the beachfront (if it’s not too cold!).........

........If it’s windy you’ll see loads of kitesurfers. I could spend hours watching them trying their jumping tricks. I tried learning kitesurfing once but only succeeded being pulled head first along the water which wasn’t much fun!

People-watching round here is good too as there’s such a variety of people around and there’s always things happening to watch.

You could walk for miles along the seafront in either direction as the walk goes from the West Gate Bridge down to Frankston – but there isn’t time today!!

If it’s summer obviously a dip in the water will be nice too.

Now it’s time to choose if you’re a family with kids up to about age 12 or not!.........

.........If you are, then it’s now time for the fantastic St Kilda Adventure Playground.........

.........It’s about a 10 minute walk away on Neptune Street..........

.........It’s a wonderful kids playground, full of unusual old fashioned things for kids to play on.........

.........See my page about the St Kilda Adventure Playground here.

I only found out about this playground recently but it’s been open for years........

.........I thought it was the best playground I’d ever been to and we went back the following week with an Australian friend and her two boys aged 4 and 6 and they said it was the best playground they’d ever been to too!!.........

.........so make sure you don't miss it!

OR...........

.........IF YOU'RE NOT A FAMILY WITH KIDS UP TO AGE 12 - then instead of the Playground you should do the St Kilda Tour.........

........It’s a very interesting short history tour relating to the architecture of the area.........

.........You can read all about this walk at St Kilda Tour .........

........It'll tell you the website address where you can download the podcast to take along, (this is the best method), or you can listen to the story online and take some notes to bring with you.

At the end of the tour, pop into the Linden Centre for Contemporary Arts which you should be very close to........

..........It’s at 26 Acland Street and is a free council owned contemporary art gallery which is usually well worth a look around. It’s housed in a gorgeous old mansion built between 1855 and 1885.

Next - for everybody again! - our cool day trip heads further down Acland Street, the part furthest from the market where all the shops are. The cake shops here are famous. They obviously aren’t free but they’re well worth a little dip into the pockets if you feel like treating yourselves.........

........If not, go and have a look at the cakes in the windows anyway. You’ll see that this street is usually heaving with people.

Time should be getting on a bit by now. Make sure you don’t miss this last bit – It’s penguin watching time.........

.........About 45 minutes before dusk is the best time to go as the penguins are coming back home after a hard days fishing.........

.........Walk out along the pier and go behind the building at the end. You’ll find the penguins here hanging around outside their burrows on the breakwater..........

.........Check out my St Kilda Penguins page for further details.......

......It’s a wonderful finish to this Cool Day Trip and all for free - as long as you didn't buy those cakes!

Check out the maps below for the two routes.........

........the first map is the route for families.........

View Cool Day Trip for Families in a larger map

...........and this second map is for everybody else!

View Cool Day Trip in a larger map

Return to Free-Things-To-Do-Melbourne Homepage