Things to do in Melbourne today
Wondering what to do in Melbourne today? We can help. Check out our curated guide to all the fun things to do in Melbourne, including free attractions, art exhibitions, theatre shows, activities for kids and so much more. If it's a rainy day, consult our guide to Melbourne's best indoor activities instead.
Things to do in Melbourne today
Rosé and Cheese Party
Does anything pair better than rosé and cheese? Well, OK, cheese and anything. And... rosé and anything. But the point stands: they are a great combo. The clever folks at Welcome to Thornbury certainly think so, as they are holding an all-out rosé and cheese party. What's on offer? Well, Milk the Cow is serving rosé and cheese boards, Frencheese is serving raclette, Mamasita is serving nachos with heaps of cheese, Sparrow's Philly Cheesesteaks is serving Savoryard Cheesesteaks, and Jamm'd is serving cheesecake on a stick. The weirdest thing on the menu could well be the brightly hued cheese sanga served by Rainbow Toastie. Does it taste as wild as it looks? You'll have to buy one to find out. OK so that's the cheese, where's the rosé? The bar will be serving up 14 kinds of rosé from around the world, available by the glass or the bottle. There is also a housemade frozé if you want your rosé to feel more like a Slurpee.
Swell 4.0 – Music as Medicine
Six rooms at the Espy are being transformed into an immersive, interactive live music and art experience. The grand old Espy has always been a big supporter of live music, the weirder the better. Heck, it was even home to the largest philanthropic arts donor in Australia, Alfred Felton. So we’re not surprised that the Swell live music and art team have chosen the new and improved Espy as the home. This time around Swell is converting six rooms at the Espy (including rooms usually closed to the public) into six different music and art experiences centred around the concept of “music as medicine”. For those unfamiliar with Swell’s wild live music and art events, we’ll explain: each gig (there are five for this iteration) is a bit like a musical, arty choose-your-own-adventure. For two hours you can wander between the six rooms, where you’ll get up close to the musicians. While we don't want to spoil the experience too much, we can tell you that Swell 4.0 involves sensory deprivation, musical buckets of water, a confession booth and dozens of glowing tealights (among other weird and wonderful things). The line-up for Swell 4.0 includes Hayden Calnin and Nick Acquroff (n.y.c.k), Edd Fisher (of Waxo Paradiso), the General Assembly, Naretha Williams, Loose Tooth, Go Get Mum, David Sauvage (NYC), Hybrid Man, Deep Soulful Sweats and DollFace. Swell 4.0 is the latest in the series of live, site-specific gigs – previous iterations of Swell have taken place inside secret rooms a
Melbourne Book Market
The famous weekly Fed Square book market shut up shop in 2017, much to the despair of Melbourne's bibliophile community. But the closure was only a temporary one, with the free market now open at Queen Victoria Market every Sunday till April 14. Whether you eat, sleep and breathe books or are just curious, the market has over 5,000 new and second-hand titles to browse from. From sci-fi to non-fiction, the Melbourne Book Market has every genre presented by a revolving cast of veteran Melbourne booksellers. Tweed jackets are encouraged, but not compulsory. There will be around 20 pop-up stalls giving bibliophiles plenty of options to spend all their life savings on, including stalls by the founding members of the book market. After deciding on your next bedtime read take some time to stroll around the market and check off your grocery list with the fresh produce or go into one of the cafés and satiate your hunger. For more information on the next market visit the Queen Victoria Market website or the Melbourne Book Market Facebook page.
Pixar Putt
Kick some serious putt at Pixar Putt, a new pop-up mini golf experience that’s landed in Melbourne. The experience is inspired by some of Disney Pixar’s most famous films, including classics like Toy Story, The Incredibles, Finding Nemo, A Bug’s Life, Ratatouille, Monsters Inc, Wall-E, and new hits like Inside Out, Coco, The Good Dinosaur and more. Pixar Putt completes its run at River Terrace at Federation Square on Sunday, February 3 before heading to St Kilda Triangle from Friday, February 15 until Sunday, March 31. You can choose between playing a nine-hole round or go to infinity and beyond with the full 18-hole course. Tickets will be $24.90 for adults, $19.90 for children or $79.50 for families doing the nine-hole course, or $39.90 for adults, $29.90 for children and $119.60 for families doing the 18-hole course. Best to buy tickets in advance via the 'buy tickets' button above.
Mickey Mouse in the Arthouse
Did you know that 2018 marks Mickey Mouse's 90th anniversary? To celebrate this major milestone, Disney has announced a big art exhibition opening in Melbourne this summer that will honour the cartoon mouse’s legacy. The Mickey-inspired art exhibition has been unveiled at Melbourne Central’s Shot Tower and is set to stick around all summer. The exhibition includes the work of 90 different artists who have created 90 original pieces all celebrating Mickey and his ongoing footprint (or should we say ear-print?) The exhibition has been produced by Radio Velvet and includes work from a host of local and international talent. For the super fans, there will also be a range of Mickey-inspired merchandise for sale at the Arthouse.
Cupid's Undie Run
This is not your average fun run. For one thing, the 'run' component is more like a big old dance party, as the course is only 1.5km long. And secondly, most participants walk, run or dance the course in their underwear. The after party is the real name of the game, with food, entertainment and a dance party at the finish line. Cupid's Undie Run aims to raise money for the Children's Tumour Foundation and awareness of neurofibromatosis, a disease that causes tumours to grow all over the body. The idea of the run is to celebrate the diversity of bodies and encourage participants to let go of their insecurities and just have fun. Those who take part will get a special pair of Calvin Klein undies in addition to some other swag. You can also run in whatever makes you comfortable (costumes encouraged!), with prizes for best (least?) dressed.
Chinese New Year Festival Melbourne
Colourful traditional dances, spectacular light shows, Chinese food stalls and family-friendly celebrations will light up the city for Chinese New Year. The Year of the Pig festivities will take place from February 2 until February 17, with February 5 as Chinese New Year's Day. Every day during the festival there will be performances, street food, firecrackers, acrobatics and dragon dance workshops from the Queen Victoria Market to Docklands. Events include cultural performances by community groups from 11am on Saturday February 2, including the Lion Dance and light installations, and the official opening of the festival at Queensbridge Square at 8pm. MasterChef 2017 winner Diana Chen is giving cooking demonstrations on Saturday and Sunday February 2-3, 6-7pm at Queensbridge Square. If you prefer eating to cooking there will also be lots of Chinese food to snack on like dumplings, spring rolls, savoury pancakes and sweet rice cakes. Melbourne Museum will be hosting a family day on Saturday, February 9 where you can try out a bunch of hands-on activities (like lantern-making, calligraphy and paper-cutting) as well as enjoy cultural performances from local and international artists. The popular Dragon Boat Regatta is on Saturday and Sunday February 16-17 at the Harbour Promenade, Docklands. There's a social competition on the 16th where anyone is welcome to form a team and participate. Sunday, February 17 is when the real action happens however with dragon boat clubs com
The Theatre is Lying
If the emergence of “fake news” and “alternative facts” have proven anything, it’s that truth is far from a binary state. But while our recent political history may have revealed the more problematic corners of truth’s subtleties, the blurred boundaries between fact and fiction are by no means a recent phenomenon. From cosplayers to LARP enthusiasts, drag queens to war reenactors, our culture is littered with examples of how fantasy and illusion are every bit as real as the unvarnished truth. When it comes to entertainment, suspending our disbelief is a vital prerequisite. The pathos, humour, fear or exhilaration provoked by a film or a play can feel as authentic a response as if we were experiencing that heartbreak or hilarity firsthand. And yet, theatre is a sort of deception, albeit one we are complicit in. This paradox – that we embrace certain fictions while rejecting others – sits at the heart of The Theatre Is Lying, a major showcase of five newly commissioned works at the Australian Centre for Contemporary Art. Structured in “five acts,” the show riffs on various ideas about the malleable qualities of truth, while exploring the distorting mediums and sleights of hand used to warp our perceptions of reality. Six artists – Sol Calero, Consuelo Cavaniglia, Matthew Griffin, Daniel Jenatsch, and collaborators Anna Breckon and Nat Randall – were invited by ACCA director Max Delany and senior curator Annika Kristensen to be part of the inaugural exhibition of the Macfarla
Gaytimes
Pass under the giant rainbow in the middle of a clearing alpine forest and enter the wonderful world that is Gaytimes. Held at Lake Mountain Alpine Resort, Gaytimes is the country’s first queer camping music festival. The festival is restricted to 1,000 people and offers three days of broad-ranging live music and DJs, visual and performance art, and freedom of self-expression for everyone under the LGBTQIA rainbow. Gaytimes aims to provide a platform for emerging queer and gender diverse artists to shine, and they aim to create a safe space for LGBTQIA people to come together and be themselves. This weekend getaway curates an eclectic and diverse lineup that features anything from visual art to light projections, yoga classes to speed dating and more. In 2019 punters can look forward to Mojo Juju, Flint Eastwood, Electric Fields, Ella Hooper, Kira Puru, Cash Savage and the Last Drinks plus more. Gaytimes will also have two indoor club stages with big east coast DJs like Brooke Powers and Jennifer Loveless. As if life couldn't get any sweeter, the entire festival is BYO and there are gender neutral toilets.
Rooftop Cinema
Grab a deckchair and make yourself comfortable – Melbourne's Rooftop Cinema at Rooftop Bar in the city hosts an impressive roster of cult classics and new releases each summer. The first part of the season a run of this year's biggest flicks including A Star is Born, Bohemian Rhapsody, Blackkklansman, Avengers: Infinity War, Mission: Impossible – Fallout and Suspiria. Classics like Napoleon Dynamite, Heathers, What's Eating Gilbert Grape, The Crow, Casablanca, Clueless and more will bring up those retro feels. Fuel up from Rooftop Bar’s burger stand, where you can also get your choc-top and popcorn fix ahead of the screening. The venue is fully licenced, so you can sip on Rooftop Bar's wide selection of beers, wines, ciders and cocktails.
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