Melbourne on a budget
Melbourne on a Budget!
Cheap things to do in Melbourne
Like any vibrant city, you can easily blow a wad of cash on a decadent few days in Melbourne, but just as easily you can live like a king on a relatively modest budget… of course to do this, it makes it easier if you have our We Know Melbourne knowledge on the city’s best kept secret bargains. So just between us and you, here we share our 50 suggestions of things to do in Melbourne on a budget… And remember this is Melbourne - so we guarantee you all of our recommendations simply ooze with Melbourne charm and style!!
Discover Melbourne
Melbourne is the perfect city for playing tourist in; easy to get around, plenty of variety and an endless selection of free attractions. The following are all great cheap ways to fill in a day or two and still leave you with plenty of money for eating, drinking and shopping…
- City Circle Tram; get to know our wonderful city aboard the FREE city circle tram. Trams run at 12 minute intervals and do a loop past many of the city’s most popular attractions.
- Melbourne Tourist Shuttle Bus; explore the best attractions in the city and inner suburbs on this FREE hop-on / hop-off shuttle bus.
- Eureka Skydeck; reach up and touch the sky, 88 levels above Melbourne. Riverside Quay, Southbank. $17.50 per person
- Yarra River Cruises; get out on the water and cruise the city’s famous river. From $22 per person
- Shrine Of Remembrance; A moving memorial of our brave ANZACS, the shrine hosts a variety of exhibitions and has an observation deck with views of the city and surrounding parklands. Free Admission.
- Yarra Trail Bike Riding; grab a bike, get some exercise and a great perspective of the city’s great outdoors. The trail winds its way along the Yarra River – stopping for coffee or a snack at the Abbotsford Convent is a great way to refuel before the ride back. Bike hire from $15 for the first hour, $5 per hour thereafter.
- Golden Mile Heritage Trail; a 4 kilometre trail that unlocks the secrets of the city’s heritage. Follow the path of golden disks on the footpath for the free self guided tour (information booklets can be purchased for $8) or take a guided tour from Federation Square for $20 per person.
- MCG Tours; discover what goes on behind the scenes at the historic Melbourne Cricket Ground. $20 per person.
Appreciate Art & Culture
Proud of its multicultural makeup, it’s no wonder that Melbourne has a veritable smorgasbord of cultural attractions, and many of them are either free or extremely good value. Here are some highlights…
- NGV (National Gallery of Victoria); allow plenty of time to explore every nook and granny of this truly impressive international gallery. St Kilda Road, Southbank. Free Admission.
- The Melbourne Story - Melbourne Museum; all you could ever want to know about Melbourne, and so much more. 11 Nicholson St, Carlton. $8 per person.
- Immigration Museum; one of Melbourne’s most under rated attractions, learn all about the settlers who built the city into what it is today. 400 Flinders St, Melbourne City. $8 per person.
- Australian Centre for Contemporary Art (ACCA); Melbourne’s leading contemporary art gallery. 111 Sturt St, Southbank. Free Admission.
- NGV Ian Potter Centre; the world’s first art gallery dedicated exclusively to Australian Art, made up of over 20 different galleries. Federation Square, Melbourne City. Free Admission.
- Laneway Street Art; the city’s famous laneways have been turned into a canvas for street artists to share their unique expressions of art, one of the most popular laneways for this is Hosier Lane (between Flinders St and Flinders Lane).
Grab A Bite To Eat
A great meal doesn’t have to break the bank! Melbourne is a true foodie’s town, full of truly interesting restaurants, cafes & food stores. Here are just a few of our favourites that dish up tasty lunches & dinners at very reasonable prices…
- Camy Shanghai Dumpling; dumplings so good and plentiful you’ll definitely not leave hungry! 25 Tattersalls Lane, Melbourne City.
- Pellegrini’s Espresso Bar; a Melbourne institution, honest home-style Italian food straight from mama’s kitchen. 66 Bourke Street, Melbourne City.
- Piadina Slow Food; a leader in the slow-food movement, delicious filled flatbreads and simple hearty fare. Rear, 57 Lonsdale St, Melbourne City. (Lunch only)
- Don Don; fast, cheap, tasty Japanese, highly recommended for its Bento Boxes. 340 Little Lonsdale St, Melbourne City.
- Aix Creperie; a cosy creperie secreted away in a one of Melbourne's oh-so-Parisian Laneways. 24 Centre Place, Melbourne City. (Lunch only)
- Mekong; famous for its big steaming bowls of Vietnamese noodle soup, even Bill Clinton has eaten here! 239 Swanston St, Melbourne City.
- Earl Canteen; simply amazing gourmet baguettes, their pork belly baguette cannot be beaten! 500 Bourke St, Melbourne City. (Lunch only)
- Grossi Florentino Cellar Bar; simple and tasty Italian food, not quite as good as the fare from the much classier Grossi Florentino Restaurant next door, but much much cheaper. 80 Bourke St, Melbourne City.
- Laksa Me; a laneway treasure, great value modern Malaysian food that will leave your tastebuds tingling. 16 Liverpool St, Melbourne City.
- Italian Waiters Club; almost a Melbourne institution, serves honest, hearty, homestyle Italian. The blackboard menu with no prices may make you nervous, but trust us, it’s a bargain! If you spend more then $25 per person, you will have simply eaten way too much! 1st Floor, 20 Meyers Place, Melbourne City.
- Miss Chu; fantastic Vietnamese hawker style fare from this funky hole-in-the-wall eatery, very well priced for food so good! 297 Exhibition St, Melbourne City.
- Supper Inn; a renowned late night gem open till 2am, Supper Inn serves fantastic Cantonese food. Worth the wait (there is usually a line up to get in) and the rather basic décor. 15 Celestial Ave, Melbourne City.
Quench Your Thirst
Melbourne is Australia’s bar capital, well known for the incredible range of unique and quirky bars which seemingly spring up out of nowhere. These groovy bars will all delight and surprise you whilst also leaving enough change in your pocket to enjoy a second or third drink if you so wish…
- Rooftop Bar; worth the effort of hiking up the 6 levels of stairs, this groovy rooftop space comes alive in summer, but is also a great winter hangout too. Level 6, Curtin House, 252 Swanston St, Melbourne City.
- Sister Bella; a rabbit warren of vintage furniture and random bric-a-brac, hard to find and some say hard to leave – good value tasty snacks as well. Sniders Lane, off Drewery Lane, off Lonsdale St, Melbourne City.
- Loop; one of the original laneway bars, Loop is an art space and bar in the one stylishly creative location. 23 Meyers Place off Bourke Street, Melbourne City.
- Red Hummingbird; an eclectic mix of Moroccan style cocktail lounge, topped off with a Balinese styled rooftop garden. 1st Floor, 246 Russell St, Melbourne City.
- Cho Gao; a Thai style bar over looking Swanston with street, great drink specials, great balcony and great food. 2nd Level, Melbourne Central, Melbourne City.
- Cocoon Bar; the hotel’s own bar is like no hotel bar you have seen before… stylish, chic, cosy, it fits perfectly into the Melbourne bar scene. Cocoon’s popular Cocktail Hour allows you to try our seasonal cocktail specialities for just $12 between 5.30pm and 7.30pm. Mezzanine Level, 195 Swanston St, Melbourne City.
The Best Of The ‘Burbs’
Melbourne’s inner suburbs are home to some fabulous entertainment and shopping precincts, like Chapel St, Brunswick St (Fitzroy) and St Kilda, whilst some of the lesser known suburbs like Collingwood and Brunswick have also recently started to gain attention. So get out to the burbs and enjoy some of the following We Know Melbourne finds…
- Mountain Goat Brewery; on Wednesday & Friday nights, this small boutique brewery opens its doors for beer lovers to enjoy a fine brew or two. Corner North & Clark Sts, Richmond.
- Mediterranean Wholesalers; surely this is Melbourne’s cheapest coffee - an authentic espresso for just $1.40 per cup, spend time wandering the isles marvelling at the incredible array of imported foods on offer and bag some great bargains if your bag is big enough to take them home in. 482 Sydney Rd, Brunswick.
- A1 Lebanese Bakery; after coffee at Mediterranean Wholesalers, keep wandering along Sydney Rd and you’ll find some of the tastiest yet cheapest pizza around. 643 Sydney Rd, Brunswick.
- Australian Shiatsu College; treat yourself to a cheap Shiatsu Massages from final year students at the ASC. $35 for 1 ½ hours on Fridays or Saturdays. 36-44 Cambridge St, Collingwood.
- Lentil As Anything; a different way to pay for your lunch – this vegetarian restaurant is run as a not-for-profit community organisation and it has no set prices, you simply pay whatever you think your meal was worth. At 3 locations in St Kilda, Brunswick and the Abbotsford Convent.
- The Astor Theatre; a lovely classic theatre that often shows double features – there’s not many cinemas where you can see 2 movies for just $15 these days. 1 Chapel St, St Kilda.
- Minh Minh; take the tram to Little Vietnam for fabulous Thai-Vietnamese-Lao food at amazingly low reasonable prices. 94 Victoria St, Richmond.
- The Linden Gallery; a small contemporary gallery set in a gorgeous Victorian era mansion. 26 Acland St, St Kilda. Free Admission.
- Banf Pizza; gourmet pizzas at prices that are far from gourmet, with a simple wine list (all wine is a fixed price of $18 a bottle), makes this always busy and very popular with the St Kilda locals. 145 Fitzroy St, St Kilda
- Books For Cooks; keen cooks will be enthralled by this shop, with 1000’s of cooking titles all under the one roof. If you can’t fit one in your luggage, just browsing will keep you busy for hours – though beware entering this store when you have an appetite! 233 Gertrude St, Fitzroy.
Shopping, Entertainment, More…
Melbourne is well known as the shopping and entertainment capital of Australia, but what’s not so well known is the incredibly diversity of places to shop and be entertained for far less then you would expect to spend. Here are just a few ideas that will not put too much of a dent in your holiday budget;
- Half Tix; choose from the daily changing list of live shows playing in town, but don’t pay full price for your seat. Half Tix sells heavily discounted tickets on the day of the performance. Melbourne Town Hall, Swanston St, Melbourne City.
- Mag Nation; got some time to spare, enjoy a lazy afternoon browsing the shelves at Mag Nation, with over 4,000 magazine titles in stock there is surely one or two that will take your interest, and the best thing about it is that you don’t have to buy! Free Wi Fi also provided. 88 Elizabeth St, Melbourne City.
- Factory Outlet Stores; Melbourne is truly spoilt for choice when it comes to factory outlets. Start with the massive DFO South Wharf complex, follow that up with a short tram ride to the famous outlet strip in Bridge Road, Richmond. If that’s not enough, Smith Street in Collingwood should definitely fulfil your needs.
- Comedy Night @ Soft Belly; Laugh Out Loud at Soft Belly’s weekly Thursday night comedy show ($12 entry) or see an up and coming young comedian at Wednesday’s open mic night. 367 Little Bourke St, Melbourne City.
- The Junk Company; an eclectic mix of second hand wares, some are a little worn and weathered, but the super bargains are worth the effort. 583 Elizabeth St, Melbourne City.
- Red Stitch Actor’s Theatre; an intimate theatre that stages Australian and international plays with a talented ensemble of actors including Kat Stewart of ‘Underbelly’ and ‘Offspring’ fame. 2 Chapel St, St Kilda.
- Markets; grab a bargain at Queen Victoria Markets, and even if you’re not in the mood for spending - the food hall is a gourmet ‘window shoppers’ delight with free samplings often available. Elizabeth St, Melbourne City.
- Chapel St Bazaar; chock a block full of second hand gems, everything from furniture to home-wares and jewellery. You could get lost in here for hours on end. 217 Chapel St, Prahran.
