Southbank Melbourne Free Things to Do

You can fill a whole day in Southbank without spending a cent: the National Gallery of Victoria, the Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, Buxton Contemporary and the Arts Centre Melbourne foyers are all free to enter, the Yarra River promenade is free to walk, and the Crown Melbourne gas fire towers run free every night. The trick is knowing which doors cost nothing and which parts of the precinct are worth your time on a given day. Southbank by the River has grouped the best free options by zone so you can move between them on foot, starting from Flinders Street railway station and working south along the water and up St Kilda Road.

Southbank, Victoria sits directly across the river from the Melbourne central business district. It is small, flat and dense, which is why a free day here works so well. Nothing on this list is more than a 20 minute walk from anything else. For a wider look at the area, start with the Southbank by the River home page.

Where should a free day in Southbank start?

Start at Flinders Street railway station and cross Princes Bridge on foot. This puts you at the top of the Southbank Promenade with the whole free circuit laid out in front of you. Trains, trams and buses all converge at Flinders Street, and the station steps are the easiest meeting point in the city.

One detail most visitors get wrong: the Free Tram Zone ends at Flinders Street. The tram stops on St Kilda Road beside the Arts Centre Melbourne spire are outside the zone, so touching on there will charge your myki. Walking across the bridge takes four minutes and costs nothing. From the south end of the bridge you can turn right along the river towards Southgate and Crown, or continue straight up St Kilda Road into the Melbourne Arts Precinct.

Before you cross, look left. Federation Square and the parkland of Birrarung Marr, Melbourne's riverside park below Federation Square, are both free and both sit within sight of the station. Save them for the end of the day when you loop back over the river.

Which Southbank galleries are free to enter?

Four, and they are within ten minutes of each other.

National Gallery of Victoria

NGV International on St Kilda Road has free general entry to its permanent collection. That includes the Great Hall with its stained glass ceiling, the European paintings, the Asian art galleries and the design and decorative arts floors. The water wall at the entrance is a landmark in its own right. Only the major ticketed exhibitions carry a charge, and the free collection is large enough that most people run out of time before they run out of rooms. Check the NGV website for opening days, as the gallery closes on some public holidays and for installation changeovers.

Australian Centre for Contemporary Art

ACCA sits in the rust coloured steel building on Sturt Street behind the Melbourne Theatre Company. Entry to all exhibitions is free. The programme changes every few months and leans towards large scale commissioned work by living artists, so it looks completely different from the NGV collection down the road. Note that ACCA closes between exhibitions, so check the dates before you walk over.

Buxton Contemporary

The University of Melbourne's contemporary art museum on the corner of Southbank Boulevard and Dodds Street is free and often overlooked. It is smaller than ACCA and quieter than the NGV, which makes it a good place to slow down between the bigger venues.

Arts Centre Melbourne

The building under the spire is a performance venue, so most of what happens inside is ticketed. The foyers, however, are public spaces with changing displays, and Hamer Hall beside the river has its own foyer that opens onto a terrace above the water. Parts of the Theatres Building are being redeveloped as part of the Melbourne Arts Precinct Transformation, so confirm what is open on the Arts Centre Melbourne website before you plan around it.

What is the best free walk along the Yarra River?

The Southbank Promenade from Princes Bridge to the Seafarers Bridge, roughly two kilometres one way. It is paved, flat, lit at night and lined with buskers, public art and places to sit.

The route breaks into distinct stretches. The first section past Southgate is the busiest, with the Evan Walker footbridge crossing to Flinders Walk on the city side. Next comes Queensbridge Square and the Sandridge Bridge, a former rail bridge now carrying The Travellers, a set of large moving steel sculptures that mark the arrival of migrants to Melbourne. The bridge deck has panels explaining the history, which turns a river crossing into a free outdoor exhibition.

Past Queensbridge Street the promenade runs along the front of Crown Melbourne, then continues west past the convention centre and the Polly Woodside tall ship (the ship itself is ticketed, but you can see it clearly from the wharf). Beyond that the path becomes the Yarra trail proper and carries on towards Docklands and Port Melbourne for anyone who wants a longer walk.

For a loop rather than an out and back, cross the river at any of the footbridges and return along the north bank. Flinders Walk and Birrarung Marr on the city side are quieter than the promenade and give you the Southbank skyline as a backdrop.

When do the Crown fire towers go off?

Every night from dusk, on the hour, with the last show usually around midnight. The eight gas brigades along the Crown Melbourne riverfront fire bursts of flame several metres high and you can feel the heat from the promenade. It costs nothing and you do not need to enter the casino complex to see it. The display is cancelled in high winds or total fire ban conditions, so if you are visiting in summer, check the Crown website on the day.

The best viewing spot is on the promenade directly opposite the towers or from the Sandridge Bridge, where you can see the full line of flames at once with the river in front. Arrive five minutes before the hour. Winter shows are more dramatic because the sky is fully dark by early evening.

What else is free inside the Melbourne Arts Precinct?

More than most people realise, because the precinct is built around performance venues that also run public programmes.

• Melbourne Recital Centre on Southbank Boulevard schedules free and low cost events across the year, including open rehearsals and foyer performances. The free dates are listed on the venue website under What's On, and they book out, so register early.
• Boyd Community Hub on City Road houses the Southbank library branch, free wifi, a reading room and a small park behind it. It is the easiest place in the precinct to sit indoors for an hour without buying anything.
• Southbank Theatre foyer and the Victorian College of the Arts campus around Dodds Street regularly host free student exhibitions and end of semester showings. The VCA noticeboards and website list them.
• Public art is dense here. The Sturt Street and Southbank Boulevard streetscapes have been rebuilt with wide footpaths, sculpture and planting, and the area is designed to be wandered rather than driven through.

The Melbourne Arts Precinct Transformation is adding a large public garden between the NGV and the new NGV Contemporary building. Parts of the precinct are fenced during construction, so some paths between Sturt Street and St Kilda Road change from month to month. The City of Melbourne and Development Victoria publish current detour maps.

Which free gardens sit on the Southbank edge?

Queen Victoria Gardens and the Kings Domain run along the east side of St Kilda Road directly opposite the NGV. They are technically in the suburb of Melbourne rather than Southbank, Victoria, but they are a two minute walk from the gallery and fully free. The Floral Clock near St Kilda Road is replanted twice a year and the Sidney Myer Music Bowl lawns are open to walk through when no event is on.

Keep walking south and you reach the Royal Botanic Gardens, which are free, open daily from 7.30am and large enough to absorb an entire afternoon. Alexandra Gardens between Princes Bridge and the Music Bowl has lawns on the river and a free public skate park.

Is anything free directly across the river?

Yes, and it rounds out the day without adding much walking.

Federation Square faces Flinders Street railway station and is free to enter. Inside it, ACMI has a free permanent exhibition, The Story of the Moving Image, which covers film, television and games across several floors. The Koorie Heritage Trust in the Yarra Building has free gallery spaces showing work by Victorian Aboriginal artists. The square itself hosts free screenings, cultural festivals and live events on the big screen, especially during summer and major sporting finals.

Birrarung Marr, Melbourne's riverside park between Federation Square and the sports precinct, holds the Federation Bells, 39 upturned bronze bells that play composed pieces at set times each day. The park terraces give the best ground level view back towards Southbank, Hamer Hall and the Crown towers.

Can you extend the free day into South Melbourne or Port Melbourne?

You can, and both work on foot or by tram.

South Melbourne Market is a 20 minute walk south west along Clarendon Street or City Road. Browsing is free and the market runs Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. The surrounding streets around Coventry Street and Cecil Street have free galleries and Victorian era shopfronts worth seeing even if you buy nothing. Southbank by the River has a separate guide on eating in South Melbourne, so this article stays with the free options.

Port Melbourne is further, about five kilometres, so take the Route 109 tram from Collins Street in the city or the light rail along the old rail reserve. The beach, the Station Pier foreshore and the Bay Trail are all free, and the trip back along the river trail from Port Melbourne to Southbank is a flat walk or ride for anyone with the legs for it.

What do most free Southbank lists get wrong?

Three things come up again and again.

They assume everything in the Arts Centre is open. The Theatres Building redevelopment means some foyer spaces and exhibitions that appear in older lists have closed or moved. Check the venue site on the day rather than trusting a guide from two years ago.

They treat the river as one straight walk. The promenade is different at each stage. The Southgate stretch is crowded and commercial, the Sandridge Bridge section is historical, and the stretch past the convention centre is quiet. Knowing this lets you pick the part that suits your mood rather than walking the whole length because a list told you to.

They ignore weekday timing. The NGV and ACCA are far quieter on a Tuesday or Wednesday morning than on a weekend. The promenade is busiest between 5pm and 8pm when office workers from the Melbourne central business district cross for dinner. A free day planned around those gaps feels like a different place from the same route on a Saturday afternoon.

How do you put a free Southbank day together?

A workable order that avoids backtracking:

1. Arrive at Flinders Street railway station and walk over Princes Bridge.
2. Spend the morning at the National Gallery of Victoria while it is quiet.
3. Cross St Kilda Road to Queen Victoria Gardens for a break on the lawns.
4. Walk through the Melbourne Arts Precinct to the Australian Centre for Contemporary Art and Buxton Contemporary.
5. Drop into Boyd Community Hub on City Road to rest indoors.
6. Follow the Southbank Promenade east along the Yarra River past Crown Melbourne to the Sandridge Bridge and read the Travellers panels.
7. Cross to Birrarung Marr and Federation Square, visit ACMI's free exhibition, then return over Princes Bridge.
8. Finish on the promenade opposite Crown for the first fire tower show after dark.

Before you go, check three websites: the NGV for opening hours, ACCA for exhibition dates and Crown Melbourne for any fire display cancellations. Those three checks remove almost every reason a free day in Southbank goes wrong. Everything else on this route is open, outdoors or both, and it starts the moment you step off the train.

Related guides: Southbank Melbourne Rainy Day Activities, Southbank Melbourne Evening Activities.