The best things to do in Melbourne this weekend

Fresh spring flowers are the perfect antidote to a long, chilly winter, and thanks to the return of the Tesselaar Tulip Festival, you'll be able to get them in spades. Now in its 70th year, the bloomin' good festival has become a must-visit event, attracting around 100,000 visitors each season.  This year, the four-week floral fiesta will run daily from September 13 to October 12, with the added fun of themed events. Learn about Turkish, Irish and Dutch culture across three dedicated weekends; treat the tots to a fun day out during the school holidays; and enjoy live music across the jazz and rock'n'roll weekends. More than a million blooms will transform the fields into a vibrant kaleidoscope of colour, with everything from traditional buds to rare and exotic varieties on show. Fun fact: there will be more than 120 cultivars of tulips alone. Beyond the floral displays, the festival will feature an array of activities, delicious food options and entertainment to delight attendees. Visitors can explore the stunning gardens, take leisurely walks among the tulip fields and capture memorable moments against a backdrop of stunning blooms.  Tickets are on sale now, visit the website. Stay in the loop: sign up for our free Time Out Melbourne newsletter for the best of the city, straight to your inbox. Want the blooms to come to you? Here are the best flower delivery services in Melbourne.

The beloved regional town of Bendigo will bask in the glow of the changing seasons when this massive, colourful festival takes over the region throughout spring. This year, Bendigo Bloom is celebrating its 22nd anniversary, bathing the town in colour with more than 100 events, activations and experiences throughout the season.  From idyllic gardens and cultural tours to food feasts and after-dark events, there's so much to explore during the festival. An annual favourite is the breathtaking tulip display, with more than 43,000 tulips painting a rainbow across Bendigo’s historic Pall Mall and Conservatory Gardens. After the sun sets, the flowers are transformed into a kaleidoscopic light walk called Bloom After Dark (September 26 - October 5). For more floral fun, discover the Cornella Canola Walk – running until September 28, it provides a magical opportunity to frolic through a field of fluorescent canola crops. Other highlights include Vegecarian (November 1), a free event focused on loving food, animals and life. Held at the Great Stupa of Universal Compassion, it will feature cooking demonstrations, market stalls, live music and animal blessings. And don't miss the Loddon Valley Arts Festival (October 3-5), which will showcase regional creativity via a network of exhibitions. There are loads of events for foodies, including the Heathcote Wine and Food Festival (October 4-5), where you can sample the region's top drops and produce or Bendigo Wine Week (October 10-18)...

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...

It's been seen by more than a million people on Broadway and many more on the West End, and now the Tony Award-winning MJ the Musical is heading to Her Majesty's Theatre in Melbourne. Centred around the making of his 1992 Dangerous World Tour, MJ the Musical features more than 25 of Michael Jackon’s biggest pop hits set to show-stopping dance numbers, including ‘Beat It’, ‘Smooth Criminal’, ‘Man In The Mirror’ and ‘Thriller’. MJ the Musical is showing at Her Majesty's Theatre from September 9 until December 14. For more information and to book tickets, head to the website. *** Time Out Sydney reviewed MJ the Musical when it played at Sydney's Lyric Theatre in March. Read on for that three-star review:   If you’re of a certain age, you have history (HIStory, perhaps?) with Michael Jackson. I remember getting ‘Thriller’ on cassette as a kid. Dangerous was one of the first CDs I ever owned. I remember seeing the extended music video for ‘Thriller’ on VHS, which came packaged with a behind-the-scenes documentary. One woman, cornered for a quick vox pop at one of the filming locations, asserted that she loved Jackson because he was “down to earth”, which is darkly hilarious in hindsight.  Down to earth? The press called him “wacko Jacko” – we all did. He slept in a hyperbaric chamber. He owned the Elephant Man’s skeleton. His skin kept getting paler, his nose thinner. What a weird guy! Was any of it true? Hard to say. Even today, when a careless tweet is like a drop of blood...

The Yarra River is a beloved centrepiece of Melbourne, so it makes perfect sense that there's a festival dedicated to celebrating it in all its glory. After growing into one of the city's most beloved cultural and environmental events, Birrarung Riverfest is returning for a third year, with three weeks of events that inspire connection to Country and highlight the importance of our main waterway and all the things Melburnians love about it. The festival will run from September 6-28 (which also happens to be World Rivers Day), with more than 60 events happening all across the 242 kilometre stretch of the river, from Westgate Park at its mouth to Warburton at its source. This year, the aim is to raise awareness of stormwater pollution and the threat it poses to the health of the river. Highlights include everything from platypus spotting and sunset paddles, to gig nights and art-led sensory walks, plus talks, exhibitions, guided nature walks, tours and more. Many of these communty-led events are free to attend, too. It will conclude with the World Rivers Day Finale – a community celebration at Fed Square, with music, art, ceremony and a flotilla of boats along the river.  “After a cold Melbourne winter, Riverfest comes at the perfect time to spring us back to life,” says Janet Bolitho, president of the Yarra Riverkeepers Association. “From educational and cultural events to outdoor adventures, the Riverfest program has something for everyone.” Birrarung Riverfest is run by...

To celebrate the arrival of spring, a fun-filled festival will take over Fed Square in September, with free family-friendly events that celebrate our natural world and how to better look after it.  RESET Festival is all about starting fresh, exploring sustainability in creative waysand feeling inspired to take on new ways of living. It's about reinventing little parts of our lives to make big changes in the world.  The program features activations, markets, activities, film screenings, talks and workshops, all focused on minimising negative impacts on the environment and increasing positive impact. There's fun to be had almost every weekend for the month, especially for the little ones during school holidays.  Highlights include the Planting Party on September 7, which involves community tree planting, live music, gardening talks and seed workshops; and the Big Toy Swap on October 2, which encourages kids to reuse and recycle in practical ways. At the Zero Waste Festival on October 6, you can learn valuable tips and tricks from experts on how to lead a waste-free lifestyle through panel discussions, activites and sustainable food trucks. Fed Square's outdoor cinema will also make a return, screening flicks that pair family favourites with environmental themes – think FernGully: The Last Rainforest, Flow and Shrek. Consider this your chance to learn all about how to reduce, reuse, recycle and repair in order to take care of our precious planet. For more information on the...

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...

A blood-soaked satire on toxic masculinity, greed and Wall Street excess, American Psycho was an instant cult classic when the novel was released in 1991, and hit cinemas in 2000. Now, 25 years on, you can experience Patrick Bateman’s story like never before – live on stage, with more blood, and against a soundtrack of classic '80s hits. From September 4-12, Chapel Off Chapel is hosting American Psycho – The Musical – where you’ll never look at Bateman’s skincare routine, workout regimen, or obsession with designer suits the same way again. The plot dives into Bateman’s twisted double life: wealthy investment banker by day, brutal serial killer by night. Set against money-obsessed Manhattan in the late '80s, this production pulls no punches in skewering capitalism, consumerism and toxic masculinity, with Donald Trump (Bateman’s idol) and The Art of the Deal getting their mentions, too. Leading the charge is Conor Beaumont as Bateman, joined by a killer cast of local talent including Sam Ward (Miss Saigon), Montana Sharp (Parade), Jordan Malone (Wicked), Jake Ameduri (Sister Act) and Ellie Nunan (Mary Poppins). Directed by Mark Taylor (Next to Normal), the show blends a razor-sharp book by Riverdale’s Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa with an atmospheric score by Grammy and Tony winner Duncan Sheik (Spring Awakening). Expect moody originals mashed with '80s anthems from Phil Collins, Tears for Fears, New Order and Huey Lewis and the News – all soundtracking Bateman’s bloody...

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...

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...