Southbank to Royal Botanic Gardens Walk

The walk from Southbank to the Royal Botanic Gardens is about 2 kilometres, takes 25 to 35 minutes at an easy pace, and you never need to cross the Yarra River. Start at the arts precinct end of Southbank Promenade, near Hamer Hall, and head east with the river on your left. From there you have a choice. Follow the water along Alexandra Avenue, or climb gently through the parkland behind it to the Shrine of Remembrance. Both options land you at a Gardens gate. Which one you pick decides what you see on the way, how much shade you get, and which part of the Gardens you walk into first. This guide from Southbank by the River covers both.

Why is this walk different from the other Southbank riverside walks?

Most walks that begin in Southbank, Victoria run west, past the casino towards South Wharf, where the attraction is the river itself. This one runs east, and the river is only the first act. After Princes Bridge the promenade ends, the crowds thin, and the path turns into a string of public gardens that were laid out in the 1800s. You pass through four of them in a row: Alexandra Gardens, Melbourne, then Queen Victoria Gardens, then Kings Domain, and finally Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria. Each is older and more formal than the one before.

That change in character is the point of the walk. You leave the busiest stretch of Melbourne's riverfront and finish inside 38 hectares of planted landscape with an ornamental lake, where the loudest sound is usually a bird. For a walk of this length, that is a large shift.

Where exactly should you start?

Begin at Arts Centre Melbourne, where St Kilda Road meets the river. Hamer Hall sits right on the water, and the promenade in front of it is the last of the café strip. If you are coming from a hotel or apartment further west along Southbank Promenade, just keep walking east along the river until you reach it. Add 10 minutes if you start near the Crown end.

Standing at Hamer Hall, look up at Princes Bridge. It opened in 1888 and carries St Kilda Road into the city. Do not cross it. The Gardens are on your side of the river. Walk under or beside the bridge and continue along the south bank. The path here is called Alexandra Avenue, and it marks the start of the garden chain.

Which route should you take: river or parkland?

Take the river route if you want flat ground, a pram-friendly surface and the rowing sheds. Take the parkland route if you want the Shrine of Remembrance and the better views back towards the city. The parkland route has one real hill. The river route has none.

Both are close to 2 kilometres from Hamer Hall to a Gardens entrance. The difference is about five minutes and one slope. You can also combine them: go out along the river and come back through the parkland, which is the most interesting way to do it if you are walking both directions.

The river route, step by step

1. From Hamer Hall, pass under Princes Bridge and continue east on the riverside path along Alexandra Avenue.
2. You are now in Alexandra Gardens, Melbourne. The boathouses and rowing club sheds line Boathouse Drive on your left. Early mornings bring crews onto the water, and this is the best people-watching stretch of the walk.
3. Keep the river on your left. The path is wide and shared with bikes, so stay to the left side and let riders pass on the right.
4. After about a kilometre the Gardens' iron fence appears on your right. The first entrances sit along Alexandra Avenue near the corner with Anderson Street. Enter here and you arrive at the northern end of the Gardens, close to the Ornamental Lake.

The parkland route, step by step

1. From Hamer Hall, walk south along St Kilda Road for about 200 metres, keeping the Arts Centre spire on your right, then cross into Queen Victoria Gardens on your left.
2. Walk through Queen Victoria Gardens past the floral clock and the memorial statue of Queen Victoria, unveiled in 1907. This garden is small, formal and planted with seasonal beds, and it is at its best in spring.
3. Cross Linlithgow Avenue into Kings Domain. Head uphill with the Sidney Myer Music Bowl on your left. The Shrine of Remembrance stands at the top of the rise.
4. From the Shrine, follow Birdwood Avenue a short distance south. Observatory Gate, the main visitor entrance to the Gardens, is on your left. La Trobe's Cottage sits just before it, on the Domain side of the avenue.

What is worth stopping for on the way?

On the river route, the rowing sheds are the stop. Melbourne's school and club crews have rowed from Alexandra Gardens since the early 1900s, and on a weekday morning you can watch boats go in and out from a few metres away. There is a kiosk near the boathouses for a coffee before the Gardens.

On the parkland route, the Shrine of Remembrance deserves 20 minutes even if you plan to spend the day in the Gardens. Built in 1934 as Victoria's memorial to the First World War, it is free to enter, and the balcony gives a straight line of sight down St Kilda Road to the city. The Galleries of Remembrance below hold a permanent collection. Note that the Shrine has its own opening hours, so check them if you are walking early.

La Trobe's Cottage, a few steps further on, is easy to miss. It is the prefabricated timber home of Charles La Trobe, Victoria's first Lieutenant-Governor, shipped from England in 1839 and later moved to this spot. The National Trust runs it and opens it on limited days, usually Sundays, so treat it as a bonus rather than a plan.

One name worth knowing on either route is Kings Domain. Visitors often confuse it with The Domain, Sydney, which is a separate parkland next to Sydney's own botanic garden. Melbourne's Kings Domain is the hill between St Kilda Road and the river that holds the Shrine, the Music Bowl and Government House. The Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria sit at its southern edge.

Which Gardens gate should you aim for?

Aim for Observatory Gate on Birdwood Avenue if it is your first visit. It is the main entrance, with the visitor centre, toilets, a café, and the Melbourne Observatory buildings from 1863 right beside it. Guided walks leave from here. The parkland route delivers you to this gate directly.

Aim for the Alexandra Avenue gates if you have been before and want to go straight to the lake. The river route drops you at these gates, and from here it is a short walk to the Ornamental Lake, Guilfoyle's Volcano and the Terrace Tearooms. The downside is that you miss the visitor centre, so pick up a map on the Gardens' website first.

Opening hours matter more than most people expect. The Gardens open at 7.30am every day and close at sunset, which means a closing time that moves with the season, from around 5.30pm in winter to 8.30pm in summer. The exact time for the day is posted at the gates and online. If you set off from Southbank at 4pm in June, you will have less than an hour inside.

Why does the Gardens look the way it does?

Two directors made the Gardens you walk into, and knowing which one did what changes how you see it. Ferdinand von Mueller ran the Gardens from 1857 to 1873. He was a botanist first, and he treated the site as a scientific collection, planting in rows and founding the National Herbarium of Victoria that still stands near Birdwood Avenue. His Gardens were full of plants and short on views.

William Guilfoyle took over in 1873 and stayed until 1909. He was a landscape designer, and he tore up much of Mueller's layout to create the sweeping lawns, the curving paths and the framed views across the lake that visitors photograph today. Guilfoyle's Volcano, the rebuilt reservoir garden on the high ground, carries his name because he built it in 1876 to store water for the beds below.

The practical result for a walker: the Gardens reward wandering more than a fixed route. Guilfoyle designed the paths so that each bend opens a new view. Give yourself at least an hour inside after the 30-minute walk from Southbank, and more if you want the whole 3.8 kilometre Tan Track that loops the outside fence.

When is the best time to walk it?

Early morning is the best time, for three reasons that have nothing to do with crowds. The rowers are on the river between 6am and 8am. The light on the Shrine and the city is low and clear. And the Gardens are quietest in the first hour after the 7.30am opening, before the school groups arrive.

Late afternoon works in summer, when the Gardens stay open until after 8pm and the walk back along Alexandra Avenue catches the sunset over the city. In winter, do the walk before midday so you are not racing the gates.

Avoid the hour before a major event at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl or Hamer Hall. The parkland route runs straight through the Music Bowl grounds, and those paths close or fill up on concert nights. Check the Bowl's calendar if you are walking on a summer evening.

Is the walk easy with a pram, a wheelchair or small children?

The river route is fully accessible. The path along Alexandra Avenue is sealed, wide and flat the whole way, and the Alexandra Avenue gates lead onto sealed Gardens paths. Inside, the Ian Potter Foundation Children's Garden sits near Observatory Gate and is the single best reason to bring children here, though it closes for a few weeks each winter for maintenance.

The parkland route is harder. The climb through Kings Domain to the Shrine is steady rather than steep, but the paths include steps near the Shrine forecourt. Wheelchair users can avoid them by staying on Birdwood Avenue, which has footpaths on both sides. If you are pushing a pram, it is doable, but the river route is the kinder choice.

How do you get back to Southbank?

Walk back the other route. That is the best answer for most people, because the full loop is only 4 kilometres and you see everything once. Leave by Observatory Gate, walk down through Kings Domain and Queen Victoria Gardens, and you are at Hamer Hall in half an hour.

If your legs are done, take a tram. Leave by Observatory Gate, walk 300 metres to St Kilda Road, and catch any northbound tram from the Shrine of Remembrance stop. Routes 3, 5, 6, 16, 64, 67 and 72 all run past Arts Centre Melbourne. The ride is about five minutes. This stop is outside the Free Tram Zone, which ends at Flinders Street, so you need a myki card or a contactless bank card to tap on.

If you came along the river and want to return by water, the city ferries stop near Federation Square and Southgate rather than at the Gardens, so the tram remains the practical option.

Your plan for the walk

• Start at Hamer Hall. Check the Gardens' closing time for today before you leave.
• Walk out along the river through Alexandra Gardens. Stop at the rowing sheds if boats are out.
• Enter at the Alexandra Avenue gates and head for the Ornamental Lake, then climb to Guilfoyle's Volcano for the view.
• Leave by Observatory Gate, pass La Trobe's Cottage, and spend 20 minutes at the Shrine of Remembrance.
• Walk down through Kings Domain and Queen Victoria Gardens to St Kilda Road and back to Southbank, or tap on a tram at the Shrine stop if it is raining.

Allow two and a half hours for the full loop with time inside the Gardens. Do it on your first morning in Southbank, before the day warms up, and you will have seen the best stretch of Melbourne's riverside and its oldest garden in a single walk.

Related guides: Southbank to South Wharf Walk, Melbourne Skydeck Visitor Guide.