Melbourne 7-Day Itinerary: Great Ocean Road and Penguins

What is the best way to spend 7 days in Melbourne?

Split the week into four city days and three days out. Ease in along the river, give Carlton and the Queen Victoria Market a day, take the Great Ocean Road by tour or car, slow down in the gardens and at Brighton’s bathing boxes, visit Healesville Sanctuary, see Phillip Island’s penguins and finish around the MCG.

The Melbourne 3-day itinerary covers the laneways and galleries, the market with Carlton and Fitzroy, and the gardens with St Kilda. This plan assumes you want more than a city break: it moves at half the speed in town, swaps St Kilda for Brighton, and adds the three trips that each need a full day.

It is built from sources checked on 16–17 October 2026, including the Victorian Government, V/Line, Metro Trains, SkyBus, the City of Melbourne, Museums Victoria, Zoos Victoria, Phillip Island Nature Parks, the Great Ocean Road Coast and Parks Authority and the FCDO; we have not travelled it ourselves. Pick a CBD base with where to stay in Melbourne and check the calendar in the best time to visit Melbourne.

How should you pay for transport, and what should you book, for a Melbourne week?

Buy a myki and use free trams inside the city’s Free Tram Zone. Until 1 January 2027, half-price fares cap a full-fare day at $5.70 instead of $11.40, and V/Line fares are halved too; SkyBus is excluded. Book the Penguin Parade, any Great Ocean Road tour and an MCG tour ahead.

The Victorian Government says public transport is half price for everyone from 1 June 2026 until 1 January 2027: the maximum full-fare daily cost falls from $11.40 to $5.70, V/Line regional trains and coaches are included, and SkyBus, ferries and non-subsidised regional buses are excluded. A myki costs $6 (Metro Trains), and under-18s travel free with a Youth myki.

In the centre you may not need a fare at all. The City of Melbourne says the Free Tram Zone covers the central city and Docklands, bounded by Spring, Flinders and La Trobe streets plus the streets around the Queen Victoria Market, and that you need no myki if you travel only inside it; trains and buses still need a valid ticket.

Bookings matter for three things: Phillip Island Nature Parks says Penguin Parade bookings are essential, guided Great Ocean Road days need a seat, and MCG tours need booking and run only on select event days. Check fixed-date events too: the Australian Open runs from 11 to 31 January 2027, and Formula 1 lists the Australian Grand Prix on 2–4 April 2027.

• Before you fly: an ETA or eVisitor, which the FCDO says British citizens need; see our Australia ETA guide
• Book: Penguin Parade, Great Ocean Road tour or hire car, MCG tour if one runs
• Avoid: the market on Monday or Wednesday
• Keep flexible: days 3, 5 and 6, which depend on fire danger and weather

Day 1: how do you ease into Melbourne after a long flight?

Take SkyBus to Southern Cross, $25.90 one way, drop your bags and stay close to the river. Cross Princes Bridge to NGV International, free and open daily from 10am to 5pm, then walk the Southbank promenade at dusk. Leave the laneways and the market for the days when you have slept.

SkyBus charges $25.90 one way or $43.40 return for an adult on the Melbourne City Express, which runs from 4am to 1am with an average journey of 30 minutes (timetables) and departures every 10 minutes (SkyBus). It is excluded from the half-price fare offer. For door-to-door alternatives, see Melbourne airport to city: SkyBus vs transfer.

NGV International at 180 St Kilda Road is free, with charges for some special exhibitions, and opens from 10am to 5pm daily. It is a short walk over the river from Flinders Street, so day 1 needs no tram fare at all if your hotel is in the CBD.

If you arrive in the evening, the river walk is enough. The 3-day plan’s laneway morning and Federation Square fit easily into day 7 or any wet afternoon, because ACMI is free and open from 10am to 5pm daily.

Day 2: how do you combine the Queen Victoria Market with Carlton?

Reach the Queen Victoria Market early on a Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday or Sunday; it lists no trading on Mondays or Wednesdays. Then take the tram to the Melbourne Museum, open 9am to 5pm daily and free for children, beside the Royal Exhibition Building. Finish with dinner on Lygon Street in Carlton.

The Queen Victoria Market trades from 6am to 3pm on Tuesday, Thursday and Friday, 6am to 4pm on Saturday and 9am to 4pm on Sunday, with speciality shops opening at 9am on market days. The Free Tram Zone takes in the streets around the market, so the ride from the CBD is free (City of Melbourne).

The Melbourne Museum at 11 Nicholson Street, in Carlton Gardens opposite the Royal Exhibition Building, opens from 9am to 5pm daily except Good Friday and Christmas Day. Adults pay $18 and seniors $12, while children up to 16 and concession holders enter free; Phar Lap remains its most popular exhibit (Museums Victoria). Yarra Trams lists route 96 past the museum and Carlton Gardens.

For dinner, route 1 serves Lygon Street. Carlton is outside the Free Tram Zone, so tap on; with half-price fares the whole day costs no more than $5.70 (Victorian Government). On a Monday or Wednesday, swap this day with day 4.

Day 3: should you do the Great Ocean Road by tour, car or public transport?

Take a tour or hire a car. V/Line’s timetable shows one coach past the Twelve Apostles, on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, reaching the Apostles at 2.35pm, and the eastbound coach passes in the morning, so a same-day round trip is impossible. Leave early, check fire danger and expect a very long day.

On V/Line’s Great Ocean Road timetable, effective 23 August 2026, the coach that continues west of Apollo Bay runs on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays: it connects with the 9.10am train from Southern Cross, reaches the Twelve Apostles at 2.35pm and carries on to Warrnambool. The eastbound coach passes the Apostles at 10.40am. Services may not run while a Catastrophic fire danger declaration is in place.

Without a car, a guided coach day is the realistic option; read is a Great Ocean Road tour worth it? and our Great Ocean Road guide before choosing. If you drive, renting a car in Australia covers the rules, and a night in Lorne or Apollo Bay turns one rushed day into two easier ones.

At the coast, the Great Ocean Road Coast and Parks Authority says the Loch Ard Gorge beach access steps are closed because of geological instability until remediation works are finished. The FCDO advises walkers to prepare for the terrain and weather, and says rip currents are the main hazard for swimmers.

Day 4: how do you spend a slow day in the gardens and at Brighton?

Walk the free Royal Botanic Gardens, open daily from 7.30am, and the Shrine of Remembrance, open 10am to 5pm. After lunch, take a Sandringham line train from Flinders Street to Middle Brighton or Brighton Beach for the 82 bathing boxes on Dendy Street Beach, then return for an early dinner.

The Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne are free, cover 38 hectares and open every day, currently from 7.30am to 7.30pm. The Shrine of Remembrance opens daily except Christmas Day and Good Friday, from 10am to 5pm, with free entry and guided tours on the hour. The two are a short walk apart, and the gardens’ getting-here page lists trams 3, 5, 6, 16, 64, 67 and 72 to the Shrine stop.

Metro Trains lists Middle Brighton and Brighton Beach stations on the Sandringham line from Flinders Street, and Visit Melbourne places the 82 bathing boxes on Dendy Street Beach, describing timber huts with weatherboards and corrugated-iron roofs, each decorated by its licence holder. Plan the walk from your chosen station in the journey planner before you go.

The boxes belong to their licence holders, so admire them from the sand. This replaces the 3-day plan’s St Kilda evening with a quieter bayside one. On a hot day, reverse the order and leave the gardens until late afternoon. The FCDO says rip currents are the main beach hazard, so take care if you swim.

Day 5: how do you visit Healesville Sanctuary and the Yarra Valley?

Take a Lilydale line train and bus 685 to Healesville Sanctuary, or drive about an hour from the CBD through the Yarra Valley. The sanctuary opens every day of the year from 9am to 5pm. If you want winery tastings as well, book a guided tour so nobody has to drive afterwards.

Zoos Victoria says to catch a train to Lilydale station and then bus 685 to Healesville Sanctuary, checking times in the journey planner, or to drive: it calls the sanctuary a one-hour drive from the Melbourne CBD through the Yarra Valley wine region. Healesville Sanctuary is open 365 days a year from 9am to 5pm and sells tickets online.

Pay for the train and bus with myki; until 1 January 2027 fares are half price (Victorian Government), which makes this the cheapest of the three days out. Allow most of the day for the round trip and the sanctuary, and check the last bus back from Healesville before you set off.

Wine tastings and driving do not mix, so for cellar doors join a guided Yarra Valley tour or keep the day to the sanctuary. Families should also read Melbourne with kids.

Day 6: how do you see the Phillip Island Penguin Parade?

Leave Melbourne after lunch by car or on a guided coach evening, because the penguins arrive at sunset and the island is about 90 minutes’ drive away, plus 20 minutes from the bridge. Bookings are essential, and you should reach the visitor centre about an hour before the penguins come ashore.

Phillip Island Nature Parks says penguins arrive at sunset every evening, the Penguin Parade visitor centre currently opens daily at midday, and visitors should arrive about an hour before the penguins. It puts the island 90 minutes’ drive from Melbourne, plus 20 minutes from the bridge, and warns of heavy traffic from mid-December to late January, at long weekends and in school holidays.

Sunset moves a long way through the year, so the drive back can be late in summer. Keep the morning in the city, at State Library Victoria, open from 10am to 6pm daily, or in a laneway café, and plan a slow start on day 7.

Without a car, a guided coach evening is the practical choice; check whether the parade ticket is included before paying. Victorian school holidays fall from 21 December 2026 to 27 January 2027 and from 26 March to 11 April 2027 (Victorian Government), which are among the busiest weeks on the island road.

Day 7: how do you finish around the MCG before flying home?

Spend the last morning in Richmond and East Melbourne: take an MCG tour if one runs that day, from Gate 3 between 10am and 3pm, or walk the sports precinct and Melbourne Park. Tram route 70 stops beside the MCG. Then collect your bags and take SkyBus from Southern Cross.

MCG tours leave regularly between 10am and 3pm from Gate 3, need booking and run only on select event days, so check before you plan around one. Yarra Trams names route 70 stops at Rod Laver Arena and MCG Gates 1–3, and at MCG Gates 4–7 and John Cain Arena.

Cricket and tennis change this day. The MCG hosts the Boxing Day Test from 26 December 2026 and the 150th Anniversary Test from 11 March 2027, and the Australian Open fills Melbourne Park from 11 to 31 January 2027. If your last day falls on a match day, the atmosphere is the attraction; a match ticket replaces the tour.

For the airport, SkyBus leaves Southern Cross every 10 minutes and takes about 30 minutes on average (SkyBus). Standard tickets stay valid for 12 months (SkyBus), so a return bought on arrival covers the trip home.

How should you adjust a Melbourne week for heat, rain, smoke and big events?

Keep days 3, 5 and 6 interchangeable with the city days. In summer, check fire danger and VicEmergency before driving to the coast or ranges; in winter and spring, expect frequent light rain. Around Cup week, the Australian Open and the 2–4 April 2027 Grand Prix, book rooms and tours early.

The FCDO says bushfires can start and change direction very suddenly, that the risk peaks from November to February, and that extreme heat is a serious risk; it names VicEmergency as Victoria’s warnings app. The WMO-published 1981–2010 normals give August the most rain days, 15.3, but only 50.5 mm, so winter rain is frequent and light.

Events fill rooms and roads. The Victoria Racing Club lists the Melbourne Cup Carnival from 31 October to 7 November 2026, with Cup Day on Tuesday 3 November; the Australian Open runs from 11 to 31 January 2027; and Formula 1 lists the Australian Grand Prix on 2–4 April 2027, inside the autumn school holidays (Victorian Government). For wet-day ideas, see Melbourne in the rain.