The best things to do in Melbourne this weekend

The Mornington Peninsula, Great Ocean Road and Yarra Valley Chocolateries are famous for their month-long festival dedicated to hot chocolate in all its irresistible forms, and this year’s no different. A total of 31 limited-edition flavours will be available to try throughout August, with decadent options loaded with everything from boozy truffles to choc-lined ice cream cones. Some of the flavours already revealed include Sweet Berry Tacos, a berry-infused hot chocolate accompanied by a sponge taco filled with white chocolate ganache and fresh fruit for dunking; and Dubai Sphere, which features a pistachio marshmallow sphere filled with Dubai chocolste crème that can be dropped into your steaming-hot bevvie. Heaven! Each steamy creation is barista-made with a shot of either dark, milk, white, ruby or caramelised warm couverture chocolate, and served in a large glass with a giant fluffy marshmallow and a selection of artisan ingredients.  “Our annual Hot Chocolate Festival has become a real feature on the calendar for our three Chocolateries, and we’ve loved coming up with even more over-the-top creations and experiences this year,” says head chocolatier, Allan Grandjean.     Can’t decide on just one hot choccie? Then the tasting sessions have your name on it. At $28 per person, it’s an opportunity to sample eight different flavours. You'll also get the chance to flex your culinary chops by choosing from 50 different ingredients to make three bespoke creations....

Stand beneath a simulated thunderstorm, ponder eternal life, venture inside a massive lung-like inflatable installation and hear boundary-pushing sounds – Now or Never is back this winter.  Returning for a third year, the 2025 program has just dropped, cementing the festival as an exciting addition to Melbourne’s cultural calendar. From August 21 to 31, this multi-venue festival takes over some of Melbourne’s most iconic buildings to host artistic works at the forefront of creative innovation. With a whopping 140 events over 11 days, it features the recipe that the festival made waves with when it debuted – and some thrilling new elements.  The transformation of the Royal Exhibition Building into a cavernous rave cave has been a huge highlight from previous years, but this year the heritage space will morph into a completely different form. The space will house a massive installation by Spanish collective Penique Productions that will fill the building with a mammoth inflatable balloon to be experienced from the womb-like insides. ‘MATRIX’ will be on show for the first four days of the festival and it’ll be free to experience during the day, while also hosting immersive artistic evening events. Melbourne Town Hall will also come to life with a large-scale installation, a kinetic textile artwork that will dramatically drape 20 metres across the ceiling, titled ‘Einder’ by Dutch artist Boris Acket. Rippling with light and sound, this piece will also be free to see for just...

Almost a decade ago, metal detectorists in Kirkcudbrightshire, Scotland, went hunting for lost treasure. To their amazement, they would go on to discover the richest collection of Viking Age objects ever found in Britain or Ireland in a ploughed field. The Galloway Hoard has been hailed as a remarkable discovery, with more than 100 gold, silver, glass, crystal and earthenware objects being uncovered.  Now, everything from piles of silver arm rings to gold-mounted rock crystal jars are heading Down Under, and for the first time ever in Australia, you will be able to see the most important Viking Age discoveries of the 21st century up close at the Melbourne Museum. The Galloway Hoard dates to around AD 900, a period of intense cultural and political upheaval. The collection was buried in four parcels and includes more than 100 astonishing objects, from silver bullion and intricately worked jewellery to items that reveal trade routes stretching as far as Central Asia. Some of the pieces – including recently deciphered runic inscriptions – are still rewriting what we know and understand about the Viking Age today. Treasures of the Viking Age: The Galloway Hoard is a travelling exhibition, developed by National Museums Scotland, that showcases years of painstaking conservation and cutting-edge research. Intricate details, hidden inscriptions and newly uncovered mysteries are revealed for the first time outside the UK. To mark the opening weekend, Dr Martin Goldberg, principal...

What’s better than gorging yourself on scones, finger sandwiches and Champagne at a regular high tea? Gorging yourself on piles and piles of cheese at the Westin’s un-brie-lievable High Cheese event, of course. Yes, the insanely successful event is back at the Westin's Allegro Restaurant for another year, and we turophiles couldn't be more thrilled. The idea for High Cheese first crystallised a few years ago when the Westin's executive chef at the time, Michael Greenlaw, teamed up with Anthony Demia from Maker and Monger to bring a series of cheeses together in both sweet and savoury dishes. Years later, the much-loved tradition continues. In 2025, the indulgent menu has been curated in collaboration with renowned cheese masters, brother-sister duo the Studd Siblings and vino legends Zonzo Estate. Ellie and Sam Studd, both members of the International Guilde des Fromagers and Certified Cheese Professionals, have joined forces with the Westin's executive chef, Apoorva Kunte, to curate an enticing three-tiered selection of dairy-licious treats. We're listening... Each creation showcases the finest quality cheese from around the world, with each tier crafted to highlight bold flavour, balance and technique. Highlights from the menu include Aphrodite Barrel aged organic fetta with tomato and lychee tartare, Woombye triple cream brie with pickled beetroot and raspberry almond pesto, and a shared baked Le Conquérant camembert with thyme and garlic. Yum! And a high tea wouldn't...

Hola! Long before he created the smash-hit musical phenomenon Hamilton, Lin-Manuel Miranda was best known for In The Heights – a colourful, high-energy celebration of community, culture and chasing your dreams. Set in New York’s Washington Heights, it blends hip hop, salsa and Latin beats to create an uplifting theatre experience. The Melbourne season will see Ryan González and Olivia Vásquez reprise their roles as Usnavi and Vanessa, with Mariah Gonzalez, Ngali Shaw and Steve Costi joining them in key roles. In The Heights is showing at the Comedy Theatre until September 6. For more information and to book tickets, head to the website. *** Time Out Sydney reviewed In The Heights when it played at the Sydney Opera House in July, 2024. Read on for that four-star review:   First hitting the Broadway stage in 2008 (before it inspired the 2021 feature film), this rags-to-riches story returns to the Harbour City with gusto for the first time since 2019. A fiery fusion of poetry and passion, In the Heights is an idyllic love letter to the riches of community, cariños and carnaval! The story is simple enough: Usnavi (Ryan Gonzalez, they/them), a bodega owner living in the largely Latin-American neighbourhood of Washington Heights in Upper Manhattan, dreams of returning to his homeland and pines for the strong and beautiful Vanessa (Olivia Vásquez, she/her). Amongst the struggles of the day-to-day – the rising threat of gentrification, the cost of living, tighter immigration...

Congratulations to Beetlejuice the Musical, which took out the Critics' Choice Best Musical, and Karis Oka, who was awarded the Best Performance in a Musical for her role as Lydia Deetz, at the 2025 Time Out Melbourne Arts & Culture Awards, presented in partnership with the Australian Cultural Fund. Way back when Tim Burton was a much weirder filmmaker, my wee brother and I were unreasonably thrilled by the chaos engine of awfully bad behaviour that was Michael Keaton’s unhinged and unwashed demon, Betelgeuse.  The grotty stripe-suited monster ate up the 1988 film of not quite the same name – the studio figured folks would stay away unless the title was simplified to Beetlejuice. Named after the red supergiant star blazing ferociously in the constellation of Orion, some 600 light years from our solar system, Betelgeuse is an outcast from the hilariously bureaucratic afterlife, aka the Netherworld. Which leaves him preying on the naïve recently deceased, like sweet young couple Adam and Barbara Maitland (Alec Baldwin and Geena Davis), in an attempt to crowbar open the sort of ridiculous loophole the Greek gods are fond of. Say his – apparently too complex – name three times and he’ll be unleashed on the mortal coil once more.  But Betelgeuse’s sleazy attentions are soon distracted by Winona Ryder’s goth child Lydia, when she reluctantly moves into Adam and Barbara’s now-empty house with her dad, Charles (disgraced actor Jeffrey Jones), and his new squeeze, OTT sculptor...

Looking for something to warm your heart this winter? We've got just the answer: beloved musical Annie is returning to Melbourne after a smash-hit run in Sydney. With a knock-out cast that includes Anthony Warlow as Oliver “Daddy” Warbucks, Debora Krizak as Miss Hannigan and Greg Page (aka the OG Yellow Wiggle) as President Franklin D. Roosevelt, this tale of hope, family and friendship is one you won't want to miss.  Annie is showing at the Princess Theatre until November 8. Now, who's ready to belt out 'It’s the Hard-Knock Life'? *** Time Out Sydney reviewed Annie when it played at the Capitol Theatre in April. Read on for that four-star review:   Just over a decade since it was last seen in Australia, Annie is back – bursting onto the Capitol Theatre stage filled with optimism, joy, and hope. Director Karen Mortimer revives this quintessential piece of musical theatre with a sentimental production that preserves the charm and flair found in Thomas Meehan’s book. For those living under a rock (mainly me), this Tony Award-winning musical follows the story of 11-year-old Annie, who is growing up in an orphanage in 1930s New York, under the cruel eye of Miss Hannigan. In the midst of the Great Depression, pessimism is all around, but chipper young Annie has the antidote: hope. Encouraging others to believe that “the sun will come out tomorrow”, Annie’s enduringly positive spirit seems to finally pay off, when billionaire Oliver Warbucks chooses to take her in for two...

French Impressionism is host to arguably some of the most famous (and most loved) artists of all time. Monet, Pissarro, Renoir, Van Gogh and Degas are just some of the artists who achieved such acclaim that they remain household names even a century after their deaths. And this winter, you can see some of the artist's most beautiful and well-known works right here in Melbourne at the NGV's new exhibition, French Impressionism: From the Museum of Fine Arts Boston. From June 5 to October 5, 2025, the NGV will host more than 100 French Impressionist works by artists like Claude Monet, Vincent Van Gogh, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Edouard Manet, Camille Pissarro, Edgar Degas, Paul Cézanne and Mary Cassatt – including works never before seen in Australia. The exhibition is running in partnership with the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, which is well regarded for its collection of French Impressionist masterpieces.    A highlight is the display of 16 canvases in one gallery, painted over a 30-year period, by Claude Monet. These works depict many of Monet’s most beloved scenes of nature in Argenteuil, the Normandy coast, the Mediterranean coast and his famous garden in Giverny.  One of the best things about this exhibition is that you will also learn the stories of the artists, exhibitions and collectors that shaped this significant movement in art history. Originally brought to the NGV back in 2021, this exhibition had to close just after it opened due to (yep, you guessed it), the...

Get your wands at the ready, because Melbourne is set to play host to the Australian premiere of Harry Potter: The Exhibition. This behind-the-scenes extravaganza will leave Potterheads spellbound, and features interactive recreations of famous film scenes, props and costumes from the Broadway production of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, a multimedia experience featuring the Whomping Willow, dementors, the Marauder's Map and the chance to conjure a Patronus charm. Budding witches and wizards will be sorted into Hogwarts houses and earn points as they explore the exhibition – it could be through a potions class, predicting the future à la Professor Trelawney in Divination or defeating a boggart in Defence Against the Dark Arts. There will also be opportunities to practice spell casting and Quidditch skills, plus win golden snitch medallions to become a model student. Each experience comes with plenty of photo ops and, of course, magical interactive moments. There's even a recreation of the Great Hall for visitors to enjoy in all its splendour, complete with floating candles.  This official Harry Potter exhibition is part of a global tour, previously selling out in cities like Boston and Madrid. You can find out more about this enchanting experience via the website.  Looking for more family-friendly things to do? Here's our guide to the best activities for kids in Melbourne. 

It’s not uncommon for theatre productions to cast teenage characters a good bit older, body-swerving labour laws limiting the amount of time a young performer is on stage, and rightly so. At least the audience’s distance, unless you forked out for exxy tickets, allows hand-waving fuzz. When Ben Platt was cast in the Tony Award-winning Broadway run of Dear Evan Hansen, he could just about pass for 20. Not so much when he also played the high schooler in the big screen adaptation while closer to 30. So if you go in cold to MTC’s latest Tony-festooned Broadway import, Kimberly Akimbo, you might find yourself blinking for a moment at 60-something soprano and musical theatre matriarch Marina Prior doing so. But there’s an in-show explanation. Her titular character, Kimberly Levaco, is an old soul in a 16-year-old’s body, one that’s rapidly aging at four times the normal rate because of a rare genetic condition.Jaunty opening number ‘Skater Planet’, set at the local ice rink, establishes her outsider status. “It’s Saturday night and I’m the new girl, so I get to start from scratch… Sure, tonight I’m getting looks, but tomorrow they might see me.” The theys are a quartet of Bergen County, New Jersey, teenagers who look the part: Delia (Allycia Angeles), who secretly fancies Teresa (Alana Iannace), who quietly digs Martin (Marty Alix), who’s pining for Aaron (Jacob Rozario), who in turn only has eyes for Delia.  An adorkably awkward gang, they aren’t in touch with their feelings...