A Local's Guide to Melbourne's Best Hidden Gems

Think you know Melbourne? Flinders Street Station, Fed Square, the ding-ding of a passing tram - they're all iconic Melbourne landmarks. But this city also rewards the curious. 

From multicultural markets to secret bars, bawdy old Melbourne streets and the private art gallery that welcomes you in, there are plenty of secret Melbourne experiences which are often hidden in plain sight.

So slink up that alleyway, climb to the top of the stairs, get up early or stay up late to discover the coolest things to do in Melbourne. 

Read on for our curated list - written by Melburnians - sharing 10 of Melbourne's hidden gems. 

It's a hero shot of Melbourne; the dramatic architecture of the library's 1913 La Trobe Reading Room, with its glass ceilings and octagonal reading desks. But head to Redmond Barry Reading Room where it's almost crazy to discover the bullet-riddled armour that Ned Kelly wore at the final, tragic Glenrowan siege in 1880.

It's ironic that the room is named for the judge who convicted Kelly to death, and also his mother, Nell, to jail. The library also runs free, guided walking tours; the Dome to Catacombs takes you above and below the city - book ahead for this unmissable tour.

Address: 328 Swanston St, Melbourne

Melbourne's a produce market town, as you'll know if you've visited Queen Vic Markets in the city centre, the long-running Prahran Markets in South Yarra or the South Melbourne Markets, trading strong since 1867. For sheer volume of fresh produce and market stalls from all over the world, put Dandenong Markets top of your list.

Not just a food shopping destination, check its website for a feast of live music, cooking classes and the cook's tour and lunch, which is as delicious as it is good value. Turn up hungry for a street-food tour, or snack around the world, from Dutch to Dubai treats, Kiwi to Korean snacks. Hot tip: the Afghani food stalls, with their hot, fresh bread, are a must-visit in their own right. Take the train from Flinders Street station to Dandenong; the market is a one-kilometre walk from Dandenong station.

Address: Clow St & Cleeland St, Dandenong 

Easey's blends so many great Melbourne trends - rooftop bars, graffiti, trams and giant burgers - but clearly, this burger bar doesn't know when to stop. The best seats in the house are in its three old Hitachi train carriages perched five storeys up on top of a building in inner-city Collingwood. Yep; burgers, in a train, on a roof. Book ahead for big views and bragging rights of one of the coolest things to do in Melbourne.

Address: 48 Easey St, Collingwood

The Yarra River dominates Melbourne's inner city, especially Yarra Bend Park, where the river knots and curves. It's a green refuge, home to gentle walking trails, pretty iron suspension bridges and bike trails, and is also one of the best spots for picnics, rowing and letting sunny afternoons slide into dusk.

There's been a boathouse here on the banks of the Yarra since 1863, and the Edwardian conservatory of the Studley Park Boathouse has had a $6m glow-up; book in for drinks, gelato and wood-fired pizzas in the pergola, the conservatory or outdoors - weekends are busy as Melburnians drop in for a post-walk coffee or long lunch; dogs and prams at heel. 

Address: 1 Boathouse Rd, Kew

Date night or a night out with the kids; whichever way you're rolling tonight, fill the car with pillows and blankets, stashes of snacks and pull up to the Coburg Drive-in for an old-school night at the movies.

The drive-in has been showing flicks on the biggest screen since 1965, and stays on theme with a '50s-style diner on site. It's just one of two surviving drive-ins around Melbourne; the other is in Dromana, on the Mornington Peninsula, about an hour from the city. Kids under 12 go free.

Address: 155 Newlands Rd, Coburg North

Surrounded by skyscrapers today, in the 1880s Little Lon was Melbourne's most raucous party district, and also its slum neighbourhood. Brothels, gambling and opium dens, secret tunnels leading to Parliament House... it was all happening in this neighbourhood, fuelled by gold and brought down by a global financial crash.

To learn more about the infamous district, pop into Little Lon, a tiny gin distillery to taste its gins and whiskey, named after real-life characters still famous around this Melbourne square. In the lanes around the distillery, you'll find their stories and even photographs, such as brothel madam Miss Yoko and Proudfoot, the policeman who played for Collingwood Football Club. 

Address: 17 Casselden Pl, Melbourne

It's Melbourne's best loo with a view - on Level 35 of the Sofitel Melbourne on Collins, you'll find the sky-high bar and also the toilets with floor-to-ceiling glass. Both the men's and women's toilets have equally impressive views over the city and even out to the Dandenong Hills; sunset's the best time for snaps.

If you were shy about taking selfies in a toilet, don't worry, you're in good company; tennis greats Venus and Serena Williams are amongst the admirers of the view from this hotel up 'the Paris End' of Collins St.

Address: 25 Collins St, Melbourne

Rock legend Chrissie Amphlett, madam and political force Madame Brussels, and opera diva Dame Nellie Melba are just some of the big names dropped in this walking tour through Melbourne by tour company She Shapes History.

The tour also remembers many lesser-known women, who changed the city's laws, art and society, but have until now been written out of the city's history books. The two-hour tours cover about 3km around the city.

Address: sheshapeshistory.com.au

Part art gallery, part private home, Lyon Housemuseum is a striking house and connected gallery in the inner-eastern suburb of Kew. Here, art patrons Corbett and Yueji Lyon allow visitors to view their private art collection, which comprises around 500 contemporary pieces - many of them supersized - which they weave their lives around.

About a quarter of the collection is on display at any time, with a sculpture garden, all designed by architect Corbett Lyon. Visit, take an art class, listen to cutting-edge conversations about art. Bookings are essential, as is a fully-charged phone for the 'gram.

Address: 217-219 Cotham Rd, Kew

Fitzroy is a market-lover's paradise, and these two markets, set across the road from each other, will set your Saturday afternoon up right. Rose Street is Melbourne's premier artists' market; find handmade jewellery, one-off paintings, even furniture, and talk to the artists themselves at the market.

The organisers also run the Heide Market, The Trust Market at Rippon Lea Estate, and the newest, Younghusband Market in Kensington, in the inner north-west. In the car-park across the road, it's vintage overload; need a pre-loved leather jacket, a vintage handbag, some statement-making jewellery? Take a flick through the racks, with tunes, coffee and the best bacon & egg burgers in town.

Address: 60 & 75 Rose St, Fitzroy

See Ned Kelly's armour at the State Library of Victoria, eat burgers in a train perched on a rooftop at Easey's in Collingwood, drink gin distilled in a former brothel at Little Lon or take a walk through Melbourne's streets to discover the extraordinary truths of the inventive and influential women written out of history with walking tour guides of She Shapes History; some of the best hidden gems in Melbourne.

Ponyfish Island is one of Melbourne's many blink-and-you've-missed-it bars; it's right in the middle of the Yarra River, underneath the Evan Walker Bridge. To discover Melbourne's bawdy past, Little Lon is a history-soaked gin distillery in a former slum area, while Easey's serves burgers and fried chicken from a converted train perched on a rooftop in Collingwood; peak Melbourne, right? 

The inner-city suburbs of Collingwood and Fitzroy are Melbourne's hotbeds of independent culture and creativity. For makers' markets and art communities, galleries and collectives, put Collingwood Yards and the Rose Street Artist's Market on your must-visit list. Art is free and ever evolving on the walls of Brunswick St and the side streets that splinter off it in Fitzroy, with large-scale murals cementing Melbourne's reputation as a street-art city.

Explore Melbourne's unique character at Lyon Housemuseum, one of the city's unique private art galleries, and be ready to be dwarfed by the enormous installations in this home, which doubles as a gallery. For a taste of multicultural Melbourne, head to Dandenong Markets, where locals display their culinary traditions, from Afghanistan to the Netherlands, or take a walking tour with She Shapes History, to learn the stories of the women who built Melbourne.