Things to Do at Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne

Thirty-eight hectares of green space curving along the south bank of the Yarra, planted with 8,500 species and old enough (established 1846) that some of the English elms have canopies the size of houses. The Royal Botanic Gardens feel less like a botanical collection and more like Melbourne's backyard - joggers circle the Tan Track at the perimeter, office workers read on the lawn at lunch, and the black swans on Ornamental Lake have stopped noticing people entirely. The landscape shifts as you walk. A formal rose garden with 4,500 bushes transitions into an Australian rainforest gully where tree ferns drip in the shade. The Arid Garden has desert plants from five continents arranged on sand and gravel. Guilfoyle's Volcano - a 19th-century reservoir disguised as a landscaped hill - gives you the best free panoramic view of Melbourne's skyline from south of the river. Most visitors find it by accident. The Ian Potter Foundation Children's Garden (free, timed entry for families) lets kids splash in water channels and dig in dedicated garden beds - the best free activity for children in Melbourne.

Walk 10-15 minutes south from Flinders Street Station along St Kilda Road. Tram Route 8 along Domain Road stops at the Observatory Gate entrance. Routes 3, 5, 6, 16, 64, 67, and 72 along St Kilda Road stop within 5 minutes of the main entrance on Birdwood Avenue. All within the free tram zone. Street parking on Domain Road and Alexandra Avenue is metered (AUD 5-7 per hour) and fills fast on sunny weekends. The main entrance on Birdwood Avenue has the best signage; the Observatory Gate entrance on Domain Road is closer to the Children's Garden and the Shrine of Remembrance.