This expansive garden is home to a cool 8,500 plant species, zen lakes and lush lawns. Melbourne is lucky enough to have its Royal Botanic Gardens smack bang in the middle of the city. Being so accessible, the gardens are ideal for a picnic or even just somewhere different to eat your workday lunch. The expansive grounds means you’re rarely forced to awkwardly face off with someone for a good spot of turf.

The open-air Queen Victoria Market is loud and proud, packed with veteran stallholders who are passionate about fresh produce (and are happy to tell you about it). It’s popular with locals as their go-to for fresh fruit, veggies, meat and an outstanding variety of dairy and smallgoods, but has also become something of a must-visit for tourists. There are also stalls selling everything from clothes to art to souvenirs.

The MCG, truly one of the world’s greatest sporting venues, was built back in 1853 when the Melbourne Cricket Club had to find new digs because Australia’s first steam train was coming through the oval. The Melbourne Cricket Ground has been a juggernaut ever since – the first-ever cricket Test match was played here in 1877, the 1956 Olympic Games were staged here, and the AFL Grand Final is played at the G.

Underneath the famous spire of the Arts Centre you’ll find the Playhouse, Fairfax and State theatres. The grandest of these is the State Theatre, which stages Melbourne’s biggest productions. From opera to ballet, if it’s big and bold you want, the State Theatre is where you’ll find it.

This grand modernist building on St Kilda Road is Australia’s oldest and most popular art museum. That title has been won thanks to the gallery’s top-notch and diverse permanent collection, its fantastic visiting collections and an ongoing series of additional events aimed at locals and tourists alike. The permanent collection includes a Rembrandt, a Bonnard and a Tiepolo. All visitors to the NGV must pass the water wall upon entry – and yes, it is hard to resist touching it.

There’s a good reason people love the Great Ocean Road. This winding stretch of road, beginning in Torquay and ending close to Warrnambool, is an awe-inducing tour of the ocean-meets-rainforest beauty of Victoria’s southwest. But if you’re only experiencing it from behind a car window (and some scattered viewpoints along the way), you’re missing out. Another option is walking the Great Ocean Walk, a multi-day hike that includes deserted beaches, clifftop vistas and a few cheeky echidnas.

Connecting Flinders Lane and Flinders Street is Degraves Street, a pedestrianised laneway stuffed to the brim with restaurants and cafés with plenty of outdoor seating and a European feel. Degraves is also a great place to pick up a nifty gift (or something for yourself) with artisan stationery at Il Papiro and glamorous handmade jewellery at Sine Qua Non.

A trip to Melbourne Zoo done right takes a day. The largest exhibit is the majestic Wild Sea, featuring penguins and seals. Another highlight is the sprawling Orang-utan Sanctuary, where a family of orang-utans swing from tree to tree, play with each other and feed high off the ground. Then there’s the Trail of the Elephant, as well as plenty of native Australian animals.

If you like cocktails, whisky, blues, good service and eating Reuben sandwiches at 2am, Beneath Driver Lane is your basement of dreams. Occupying an old bank vault in the CBD, this bar has a Harry Potter feeling that’s rare in a city whose subterranean spaces are sorely underused.

Start with the xiao long bao – or shao long bao, as the HuTong menu phonetically insists on calling them. The Shanghainese soup dumplings with their pork and soup filling deserve their reputation: saddle up your spoon with threads of ginger and a slosh of black vinegar, nibble a hole and slurp away. The wontons with chilli sauce are breathing down their neck for line honours. You can’t go wrong here.

Melbourne’s oldest single-screen theatre has been in operation since 1936. Now owned by indie chain Palace Cinemas, the cinema continues to offer its famed double bills many nights of the week, as well as 4k projections. Look out for Duke, the Astor’s resident cat.

Opposite Federation Square and joining Flinders Lane with Flinders Street, the cobblestoned Hosier Lane is arguably the central point of the city’s street art scene. Spend a long while checking out every little bit of this overflowing art cluster – a creative mark has been left on almost anything with a surface and sometimes it’s the smaller, easily overlooked pieces that really astound.

Located amidst Melbourne’s busy cityscape, Fitzroy Gardens offer a welcome respite – an opportunity to go for a leisurely stroll, taking in natural landscapes and historic sights. Heritage highlights include Captain Cook’s 1755 family home, uprooted from Yorkshire and re-assembled here, a conservatory, and a collection of similarly strange fountains, statues, memorials and follies accumulated over the park’s 150 years.

The State Library of Victoria is a cultural landmark that houses an incredible number of books, as well as several exhibitions and galleries with a lot of history. The library was established in 1856 and is a grand presence on Swanston Street with interior spaces to match. The La Trobe Reading Room is a magnificent six-storey domed room. Beautiful artworks depicting Victoria’s history are exhibited in the Cowen Gallery for visitors to peruse.

Starward was founded in 2007, and it wasn’t long before their whisky was a bartender favourite all over Melbourne. The distillery itself is an airy and open warehouse space in Port Melbourne, within easy walking distance of the city. The bar at the front is open to the public (try a whisky and tonic – you can thank us later) and a great space to catch up with friends. It is whisky-focused, as you’d expect, with Starward as well as other Australian spirits available, along with a few craft beers.