With so much to see and do in Melbourne, a tour is the best way to organize your itinerary and take the pressure off planning. Whether it’s history that’s your interest, or you’re more into food and wine, you’ll be able to find a tour to book that’ll first and foremost be a new experience—teaching you something new or introducing you to a new favourite spot.
Exploring Melbourne’s best food and drink spots has never been easier with the aid of a tour. Taste of Melbourne is a popular one, where you not only get to taste a wide variety of different bites from different eateries, but you’ll have a chance to learn about Melbourne’s cultural melting pot and how it has influenced the culinary scene, with specific restaurants and their histories a focus. Starting at Spring Street and walking down through the CBD, this tour sees you come away with a full stomach and a top-tier list of places to try. For a more specific route, the Melbourne Dumpling Walking Tour is exactly that, traveling through Chinatown. For some history with a side of delicious food, a lanes and arcades tour takes you through Melbourne’s famous side streets, with a drink and chocolate tasting stop along the way.
If you’re just keen on the historical side of things, Melbourne has you covered for tours. You can walk through one of Melbourne’s iconic heritage buildings with the help of a guide—the Parliament House tour is a favourite, as are the tours through the Melbourne Cricket Ground and the State Library of Victoria, but we’re partial to the Old Melbourne Gaol Ghost Tour, best taken at night for the ultimate spooky experience. To experience the best of Melbourne without the hustle and bustle of pedestrians, a Highlights of Melbourne cruise takes you past skyscrapers and gardens by way of the Yarra River, complete with expert commentary.
To gain a different perspective on the Melbourne natural environment, why not take an Aboriginal heritage tour? The best one in the CBD would have to be through the Royal Botanic Gardens. Here, a local Indigenous guide educates you on the different environments in the gardens, how the local people lived, and traditional uses of plants found there, such as for food and medicine.