Things to do in Melbourne in July

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...

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...

Whack on something dazzling and dust off your dancing shoes as the much-loved NGV Friday Nights returns to warm Melburnians up this winter. The popular event returns for 18 weeks during the NGV International's latest winter masterpieces exhibition, French Impressionism.  The new exhibition showcases more than 100 works by some of the greatest impressionist artists of all time, such as Claude Monet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Camille Pissarro, Édouard Manet, Edgar Degas and more. French Impressionism will take visitors on a journey through the evolution of Impressionism and Post-Impressionism in late nineteenth-century France, experiencing firsthand the radical vision of avant-garde artists who challenged tradition to forge a new artistic path. From June 6 until October 3, you can take an after-dark journey through late nineteenth-century France, and exploring the evolution of this art form that was once considered radical and avant-garde. But in addition to the art, spend your Friday evening enjoying a night out at one of Melbourne's most beloved attractions. Grab a tipple from one of the multiple bars (including the Moët and Chandon Champagne Bar and the Yering Station Wine Bar), or enjoy a set winter menu at the NGV Garden Restaurant. The trendy tunes are another key drawcard of NGV Friday nights, with musicians performing in the Great Hall every night. There'll be live music performances spanning genres including jazz, contemporary classical, R&B, neo-soul and electronic,...

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. 

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...

Mark your calendars and grab your warmest winter woolies, Melburnians: Queen Victoria Market's beloved Winter Night Market is back. From June 4 to August 27 you can spend cosy Wednesday evenings enjoying live entertainment, huddling around open fires and feasting on goodies from a selection of global street food stalls, carts, trucks and festival bars. This year, expect to see beloved traders from previous years, as well as a number of new and exciting additions across the market's roaring 13-week season. Highlights include piping hot soup served in a bread roll by the Soup Factory (lobster chowder, anyone?), juicy smash burgers by Smashville and ginormous churro bowls of chocolate-drizzled vanilla ice cream, courtesy of Churro Kitchen. And check out all the newbies making an appearance this year! Take your pick from artisan-made hot pasta dishes from La Trafila, cannoli from Cannoleria, heavenly bowls of laksa from Laksa Shack, plus raclette and actual French garlic butter snails from The Little Paris. As always, you can expect roving performers, tarot reading, the famous silent disco and a rotating line-up of homegrown talent. After sipping and snacking, be sure to explore dozens of specialty stalls selling one-of-a-kind treaures including jewellery, art, vintage fashion, skincare, books and homewares.  Find out more at the Queen Victoria Winter Night Market website. Looking for more things to do? Check out our round-up of the best things happening in Melbourne this week.

The Immigration Museum on Flinders Street is getting its first major exhibition in several years and it’s all about leaning into what makes us happy. The exhibition, called Joy, will run through until August 29, 2025. Joy features seven brand new commissioned installations from leading Victorian-based creatives, each expressing the artists’ own personal joy. You can expect an emotive adventure where colour and storytelling combine, and big happy moments that sit alongside more reflective ones. Experience the vibrant power of joy as you walk amongst room-sized interactive artworks, or contribute your own joy with the collaborative ‘share your joy’ wall. Venezuelan-born Australian artist Nadia Hernández has filled the Immigration Museum’s hallway with bold collage works, ‘future positive’ fashion designer Nixi Killick has created a ‘joy generator’ and queer artist Spencer Harrison has created a runway where you can strut your stuff. Jazz Money, a Wiradjuri poet and artist, has fused sculpture, audio and mural for a work reflecting the history of the museum site, while local artist Beci Orpin has taken over a room with a giant toy rabbit made to be hugged. Afghanistan-Australian visual artist and poet Elyas Alavi and Sher Ali have also created a large-scale mural illustrating a Persian myth.  Lastly, much-loved pop artist and designer Callum Preston has constructed a full-scale replica of a nineties video store, a joy he never thought he would miss until he realised it was...

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 from July 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 weeks...

We are exceedingly privileged to live on the unceded lands of the Kulin Nation, a place dotted with marshlands and waterfalls for countless millennia before the Hoddle Grid was a thing. Perched just north of the CBD, on the spine of Swanston Street as it leads into Carlton, sits the University of Melbourne’s incredible Potter Museum of Art.  Designed by revered architect Nona Katsilidis and wearing Christine O’Loughlin’s explosive mural ‘Cultural Rubble’ on its façade, it opened in 1998 but has been closed for major renovations since 2018, leaving a big gap in Melbourne’s artistic footprint. No longer, with a revitalisation led by Wood Marsh Architects, the Potter Museum of Art reopened to the public with a spectacular new exhibition recognising the great wealth of culture in this place: 65,000 Years: A Short History of Australian Art. Celebrating the remarkable diversity of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander creativity, the exhibition showcases more than 400 artworks from the likes of Destiny Deacon, Yhonnie Scarce, Albert Namatjira and Emily Kam Kngwarray, including rare cultural works. Curated by Professor Marcia Langton AO, senior curator Judith Ryan and associate curator Shanysa McConville in consultation with Elders, 65,000 Years: A Short History of Australian Art directly addresses the scars of colonial invasion.  Six brand new commissions include Kooma artist Brett Leavy’s photo-realistic animation Virtual Narrm 1834. As part of his ongoing immersive Virtual...

Admired worldwide for its elegant silhouette and intricate details, the kimono has been an integral, yet constantly evolving, pillar of Japanese fashion for hundreds of years. The iconic straight-cut wrap with matching belt (obi) first appeared in the Heian period (784-1185) alongside the shifting of the island nation’s seat of government to Kyoto. Originally worn by working class people, they were practical and simple, but soon became ubiquitous, adopted by nobility, warriors and everyday folks alike.When Japan opened its borders to the world in the mid-19th century, stunning examples made their way out across the globe. In turn, fashion designers began putting their spin on the national dress. They’re not frozen in time at home, either, with contemporary Japanese designers throwing out the rule book and adapting the look to take it in exciting new directions, as well as honouring tradition in unique ways.  If your budget can’t quite stretch as far as a trip to Japan right now, then the next best thing is winding your way towards St Kilda Road’s NGV International instead. Dazzling exhibition Kimono, on display until October 5, showcases the extraordinary range of the once-humble outfit.  There are 70 beautiful examples on show, including seven newly acquired silk and ramie kimono, once belonging to samurai and merchant families, that date back to the Edo period (1603-1867). You’ll be able to learn about the layers of meaning stitched into recurring motifs like the eternal...