Max your summer in Melbourne

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...

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. 

May the 4th is a special date for any Star Wars fan, but this year is one to remember. A brand-new Lego Star Wars exhibition made its world premiere, and not in a galaxy far, far away but right here in Melbourne.  Lego Star Wars: the Exhibition at Melbourne Museum comes from revered Lego genius Ryan 'Brickman' McNaught, who's back with his latest mind-boggling project of massive Star Wars brick creations – some standing at a whopping four metres tall.  There are Lego replicas of many of the iconic characters, fan favourite scenes, spacecraft and more, from both the classic films and newer releases. Plus, the exhibition includes interactive brick-based activities inclusive of all ages.  It took more than 25,000 hours to finish the exhibition and it features a wild 8 million Lego bricks. One of the most monumental creations is a three-metre-tall red X-wing spacecraft, made of an astonishing 64,759 bricks, taking 382 hours to build.  "Fans will be blown away by the scale of the experience," Brickman says. "Building these iconic scenes and characters in Lego Star Wars form is an extremely complex task – taking the humble Lego brick and using it by the millions to translate into Star Wars builds and models at an epic scale the world has never seen before.  "My team and I are super excited to launch this mind-blowing experience right here in Melbourne. My inner 7-year-old self still can’t quite believe this is happening. I can’t wait till May the Fourth to be able to share this...

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...

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. 

May the 4th is a special date for any Star Wars fan, but this year is one to remember. A brand-new Lego Star Wars exhibition made its world premiere, and not in a galaxy far, far away but right here in Melbourne.  Lego Star Wars: the Exhibition at Melbourne Museum comes from revered Lego genius Ryan 'Brickman' McNaught, who's back with his latest mind-boggling project of massive Star Wars brick creations – some standing at a whopping four metres tall.  There are Lego replicas of many of the iconic characters, fan favourite scenes, spacecraft and more, from both the classic films and newer releases. Plus, the exhibition includes interactive brick-based activities inclusive of all ages.  It took more than 25,000 hours to finish the exhibition and it features a wild 8 million Lego bricks. One of the most monumental creations is a three-metre-tall red X-wing spacecraft, made of an astonishing 64,759 bricks, taking 382 hours to build.  "Fans will be blown away by the scale of the experience," Brickman says. "Building these iconic scenes and characters in Lego Star Wars form is an extremely complex task – taking the humble Lego brick and using it by the millions to translate into Star Wars builds and models at an epic scale the world has never seen before.  "My team and I are super excited to launch this mind-blowing experience right here in Melbourne. My inner 7-year-old self still can’t quite believe this is happening. I can’t wait till May the Fourth to be able to share this...