For a taste of Victorian-era finery, take a stroll in St Vincent Pl, a heritage precinct in Albert Park. Consisting of a long, arch-shaped street skirting a central landscaped garden, it's considered Australia's finest example of a 19th-century residential square. The street is flanked by some of Melbourne's grandest Victorian terraces, many dating from the 1860s. Such elegance and boldness reflect Melbourne's blooming confidence during the gold rush. The precinct is 700m south of South Melbourne Market.


Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby Melbourne attractions

1. Gasworks Arts Park

0.42 MILES

This former gas plant lay derelict from the 1950s before finding new life as an arts and culture hub, with two free red-brick galleries, a theatre (check…

2. South Melbourne Market

0.56 MILES

Trading since 1867, this market is an institution, its labyrinthine guts packed with a brilliant collection of stalls selling everything from organic…

3. Albert Park Lake

0.89 MILES

Elegant black swans give their inimitable bottoms-up salute as you jog, cycle or walk the 5km perimeter of this artificial lake. Lakeside Dr was used as…

5. Starward Distillery

1.02 MILES

This sleek distillery-warehouse-bar is massive, with a public area up the front and copper stills at the rear. Sample the Distillery's Selection flight (…

6. Polly Woodside

1.06 MILES

Polly Woodside is a restored iron-hulled tall ship, dating from 1885. After circumnavigating the world 17 times it now rests in a basin off the Yarra…

7. Station Pier

1.14 MILES

Melbourne’s main sea terminal, Station Pier, has great sentimental associations for many migrants who arrived by ship in the 1950s and '60s, as well as…

8. Crown

1.17 MILES

The Crown complex sprawls across two city blocks and includes three luxury hotels, restaurants and a casino that never closes. It’s another world with its…