With our world-class bars and restaurants, beautiful bathhouses, and incredible museums and galleries, you’ll never run out of things to do indoors in Melbourne. But as it turns out, our (occasionally rainy) city’s most beloved attractions for 2025 are actually out in the open air. Every year, Tripadvisor’s annual Travellers’ Choice Awards reveal the most beloved attractions according to travellers, and the Royal Botanic Gardens of Victoria (encompassing the lush pocket of green in the heart of the city and Cranbourne Gardens) ranked as the fourth most popular in the whole of Australia.
Tripadvisor’s Top Attractions for 2025 list celebrates tourism operators that have achieved the highest volume of above-and-beyond reviews over the past 12 months. With more than 8 million listings across their site, landing a spot in the top ten is a pretty epic achievement – and coming in fourth place is even more impressive.
Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria scored a super impressive rating of 4.7 out of 5 according to Tripadvisor travellers, with more than 1.7 million people visiting the two gardens over the past year. The beloved gardens were the only Victorian attraction to make the list, with a surprising former prison in Hobart taking the top spot, and three attractions around Sydney’s famous harbour also making the list.
The ten best attractions in Australia for 2025, according to Tripadvisor:
- Hobart Penitentiary, TAS
- Kings Park and Botanic Garden, WA
- Sydney Opera House, NSW
- Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria, VIC
- Fremantle Prison, WA
- Sydney Harbour Bridge, NSW
- Australian War Memorial, ACT
- Uluru, NT
- Sydney Harbour, NSW
- Qantas Founders Museum, QLD
This ranking from Tripadvisor isn’t the only time the Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria have been recognised for their tourism appeal. Back in 2021, the gardens scored the top spot in the Qantas Australian Tourism Awards; in 2022, they were inducted into the Victorian Tourism Industry Council’s Hall of Fame (after winning the Major Tourist Attraction award for the third year in a row); in 2024, the Melbourne site was named crowned the fourth best garden to visit in the whole wide world; and (phew!) just this year, Cranbourne Gardens was named the sixth top must-see garden in the world by the New York Times.
The best news? The gardens are only getting better – with plans underway to build new learning hubs, pathways and viewing platforms, and implement more than 30 hectares of habitat restoration.
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