Best Map of Melbourne 

Enjoy beautiful landscapes, discover awesome culture with plenty of festivals and sportive events, test multicultural and delicious food! Can you think of a better place than Melbourne to spend your holidays?

No, I cannot. I think after your holidays you may even want to stay for longer.

Exploring this astonishing city can be more than half the fun. But you'll need the very best map of Melbourne to discover the "unknown to tourists" parts of Melbourne.

Sure the tourist map that you'll get (at the airport or a thousand other tourist places) are good.  But you may not find all the information you need.

I wanted to build my own map of Melbourne, a fun and useful one, with all the hidden gems that only locals know about.

My Melbourne Maps and Itineraries

When you are unfamiliar with a city it may be challenging to coordinate visits, shopping, restaurants and hotels.

You could find tons of reviews on the best spots to visit, but why couldn't you find a map outlining them?

Yes, that was the main reason for me to start building my maps of Melbourne with the help of Google Map.

On the note of coordinating vacation plans, nothing makes trip planning as easy as suggested itineraries. It can be tricky to figure out what you want to do and how it will all lay out.

With that in mind, I have developed some itineraries that feature things to explore, complete with information on each point of interest and its location on a map. I hope you find them useful!

My Map of Melbourne CBD

Let's start with a map of Melbourne CBD. Discover the lanes and arcades, parks and buildings, stunning Yarra river and the best eats.

I have highlighted:

• in Blue the buildings and attractions
• in Red the lanes and arcades
• in light Blue and with a cutlery symbol for my suggestion of Melbourne Best Eats.
  

Melbourne CBD Itinerary 1: Lanes and Arcades

In Melbourne CBD there are plenty lanes and arcades, little streets and secret shops.

My first recommendation would be to do a walk to discover these lanes and arcades. Enjoy the street arts and explore the nice cafes and shops. Follow the red landmarks of my map of Melbourne.

You can easily finish this walk within an hour or two. You can also take your time to taste the food, shop around and spend a half day to find your own Melbourne hidden gems.

1) Begin your walk by turning right into Degraves Street. It is a great place to try the Melbourne coffee culture.  Order a coffee at Degraves Espresso Bar, where the seats are recycled cinema seats and benches from a former magistrates court.

2) You will find at Centre Place plenty of tiny cafes or bars like the pocket sized Jungle Juice Bar which serve delicious soups. This area is also a must see for those interested in street art.

3) Then cross Collins Street and turn left before entering the exquisite 19th century Block Arcade. This arcade has mosaic floors and fascinating shops to explore.

4) Cross the little Collins street and enter into the elegant Royal Arcade. It is the oldest arcade in Australia and it is also my favourite place in the CBD.

5) Exit at Bourke Street, Melbourne main shopping street with malls like Myer or David Jones, pass Melbourne's GPO, then continue along Elizabeth Street. Go left up Little Bourke Street and cross two laneways before you discover a superb group of 1880s warehouses at Niagara Lane.

6) Round the corner, you will find Hardware Lane. This lane has plenty of restaurants and cafes with nice outside seating.

7) Then turn left onto Little Collins Street pass a dozen lanes and arcades before reaching the beautiful Howey Place.

8) Continue on through Capitol Arcade to Capitol House.

9) Finishing the walk through historic Manchester Unity Arcade and then cross Collins Street to Manchester Lane.

10) Reward yourself with a beer at Young & Jackson’s one iconic old pub in Melbourne.

Melbourne CBD Itinerary 2: Yarra Promenade

I like walking along the Yarra River to discover the street activities of the Southbank, Melbourne Aquarium, restaurants and stunning bridges.

This itinerary is a nice 2 hours walk or half day excursion if you decide to do a river cruise, have a meal or visit the Ian Potter Centre.

1) Start your walk at Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre.

2) Cross the street and you cannot miss the Crown Entertainment Centre. You can find a casino, pretty high end restaurants and shops, cinemas and luxury hotels. Do not miss the gas brigade show fires in the evening from the fire towers in front of the crown entertainment complex. It is an amazing spectacle.

3) Continue your walk along the Yarra promenade enjoy the view of the city and the spectacular bridges.

4) Walk until the giant steel sculpture ‘Dervish’ and then follow the ramp down to the riverside in Alexandra Gardens.

5) After a small break at Alexandra Garden you can come back and cross the river through Princes Bridge.

6) Stay a little bit in Federation Square, the centre place of every Melbourne culture events.

7) Just behind the Federation Square you can finish your walk and visit the Ian Potter Centre NGV Australia. This centre is the world’s first major gallery dedicated exclusively to Australian art.

Melbourne CBD Itinerary 3: A day in Melbourne

Once you have done the centre of the CBD with the lanes and arcades and a nice promenade along the Yarra River, if you are looking for spending a day to visit a little more Melbourne, here is my suggestion.

For this itinerary you can either walk between the interest points (quite long walk) or catch the free City Circle tram.

You can find the interest points among the blue landmarks of my map of Melbourne.

1) Start your day at the award-winning Melbourne Museum.

2) Then visit the famous Queen Victoria Market. This market is one of the best market in the world. So authentic, so Melbourne!

3) After a lunch in the Victora Market, you have 2 options

• If the weather is nice I would suggest to spend the afternoon in the delightful Botanic Garden
• If the weather is not with you, then you can explore the fabulous shops and cafes at Collins Place and if you have time, check out the famous view of the city from the Sofitel restrooms on the 35th floor