A guide to Melbourne's best winter festivals and events

As a chill settles over the city each winter, Rising returns with a nocturnal vengeance. This year, the much-loved arts festival will take place across twelve nights from June 4-15, with a red-hot program featuring 65 events, 327 artists and nine world premieres.

Melbourne's favourite illuminated event is back again for a fourth year, with more than 20 dazzling new light installations to meander through in wonderment. From June 20 to August 10, take a nighttime stroll through the Royal Botanic Gardens and experience luminous pathways, lit-up tree canopies, soothing soundscapes and more spectacular sights.

If you're keen to head on a cool-climate caper but aren't sure where to begin, you're in luck: the East Gippsland Winter Festival is returning for its fifth iteration. Rug up and hit the road for a month-long celebration packed with lavish winter feasts, fantastical art installations, live music, lantern parades, creative workshops, wellness experiences and much more.

Every year, the Yarra City Council puts on a beloved music festival focussed on showcasing and supporting local artists and venues during the quieter winter season. This year, Leaps and Bounds Music Festival is taking place across four days and nights from Thursday, July 24 until Sunday, July 27. Anticipate parties and performances to suit all ages and budgets, including plentiful free and family-friendly gigs. It all happens in Fitzroy, Collingwood, Fitzroy North, Abbotsford and Richmond – which are some of the suburbs that make up the City of Yarra area.