The City Circle is Melbourne’s free heritage tram: it runs a loop around the centre, from Flinders Street past Parliament, the old gaol, the market and out to Docklands. Ride it with the guide and each place is narrated as the tram goes by — what the building was, who built it and why it is worth getting off for.
A few sights just off the loop, like the Royal Exhibition Building, come with a note on how far to walk from the stop.
Every place on the map
Each red dot is a place with its own story. The story starts by itself when you reach it — on foot, by bike or by car.
All 33 places in this guide
Here is every place the guide tells you about, with the first line of its story:
- Flinders Street Station — Flinders Street Station, with its copper dome and the row of clocks over the entrance.
- Melbourne Skydeck — Melbourne Skydeck is at the top of Eureka Tower, the tall tower across the river with the gold crown.
- Banana Alley Vaults — Banana Alley Vaults are the row of brick arches under the railway viaduct, facing the river.
- Immigration Museum — The Immigration Museum is housed in the Old Customs House. When the building was finished in 1876, the river wharves were right outside, and every ship's cargo, and every new arrival, passed through customs here.
- SEA LIFE Melbourne Aquarium — SEA LIFE Melbourne Aquarium sits on the riverbank beside the King Street bridge.
- Southern Cross Station — Southern Cross Station is the long, rolling roof a short walk up Spencer Street.
- DFO South Wharf — DFO South Wharf is the outlet shopping centre across the river, set in and beside the old cargo sheds of South Wharf.
- Marvel Stadium and Docklands — Marvel Stadium is the arena with the retractable roof, home ground for several Australian football clubs.
- Melbourne Star Observation Wheel — The Melbourne Star Observation Wheel stands 120 metres tall in Docklands.
- Victoria Police Museum — The Victoria Police Museum is a few steps from the Spencer Street stop, at 313 Spencer Street.
- Flagstaff Gardens — Flagstaff Gardens is the green hill between La Trobe and William Streets.
- Queen Victoria Market — Queen Victoria Market is about five minutes' walk north, up William or Elizabeth Street.
- Melbourne Central and Coop's Shot Tower — Melbourne Central is the shopping centre on the corner of Swanston and La Trobe Streets, with an old brick tower inside it.
- RMIT University — RMIT University spreads along Swanston Street. It began in 1887 as the Working Men's College, teaching trades at night to people who worked all day, and it is still a university of the city streets rather than a campus behind gates.
- State Library Victoria — State Library Victoria is the domed building with the lawn out front on Swanston Street.
- Chinatown Melbourne — Chinatown is Little Bourke Street, about five minutes' walk south down Swanston or Russell Street.
- Old Melbourne Gaol — The Old Melbourne Gaol is the bluestone walls on Russell Street.
- Carlton Gardens — Carlton Gardens is about a five-minute walk north up Nicholson Street from the stop.
- Royal Exhibition Building — The Royal Exhibition Building stands in Carlton Gardens, about five minutes' walk from the Nicholson Street stop.
- Melbourne Museum and IMAX — Melbourne Museum and the IMAX cinema stand beside the Exhibition Building in Carlton Gardens, a five-minute walk from the Nicholson Street stop.
- Princess Theatre — The Princess Theatre is the ornate front on Spring Street. It opened in its present form in 1886, and it has a ghost.
- Parliament House of Victoria — Parliament House of Victoria is the columns and the great flight of steps at the top of Bourke Street.
- The Hotel Windsor — The Hotel Windsor faces Parliament across Spring Street. Opened in 1883, it is one of the last grand hotels of the Victorian age still in business in Australia.
- Old Treasury Building — The Old Treasury Building stands at the top of Collins Street.
- Treasury Gardens and Fitzroy Gardens — Treasury Gardens is the park behind the Old Treasury Building.
- Forum Theatre — The Forum Theatre is the Moorish towers and domes on the corner of Flinders and Russell Streets.
- The Ian Potter Centre: NGV Australia — The Ian Potter Centre: NGV Australia, on Federation Square, is the part of the National Gallery of Victoria devoted to Australian art.
- Hosier Lane — Hosier Lane is the cobbled laneway covered wall to wall in street art.
- Federation Square — Federation Square is the city's public square, opened in 2002 on the corner of Flinders and Swanston Streets.
- ACMI, Australian Centre for the Moving Image — ACMI, the Australian Centre for the Moving Image, on Federation Square, is Australia's museum of film, television and videogames.
- St Paul's Cathedral — St Paul's Cathedral is the Gothic spires on the corner of Flinders and Swanston Streets.
- Young and Jackson Hotel — The Young and Jackson Hotel faces Flinders Street Station across the intersection.
- Arts Centre Melbourne — Arts Centre Melbourne is the spire across Princes Bridge, 162 metres of steel lattice that lights up after dark.
Between the places: podcasts
The guide does not fall silent between the places. In the gaps it plays podcasts about Australia — more than 9 hours in this guide: the history of the city and the country, the people, the animals and nature, and life in Australia today. You can listen to them on their own too, before the trip or on the way.
Get the full guide
Access is sold by time, not by tour. One pass opens every guide we have — Sydney, the Sydney Light Rail, the Blue Mountains, the Hunter Valley, Melbourne, the City Circle tram, the Great Ocean Road and the Dandenongs with the Yarra Valley — in English and in Russian. The time starts when you first open your link.
↓ Tap a price to pay — every pass opens every guide
Secure payment via Square • card, Apple Pay and Google Pay
Free without signing up: the map, 5 places and 5 minutes of the podcast. The full audio unlocks from A$35.
Runs in the browser of your phone, nothing to install. For playing with the screen off there is the app: App Store · Google Play.
Other guides
By Andrew Sorokin, Sydney guide since 2006.