The Best Markets in Melbourne

Melbourne Markets

Abbotsford Farmers market

The Abbotsford Farmers market which is held in the grounds of the old Abbotsford convent is great fun too with free music and entertainers like clowns and jugglers roaming round. This is held every Friday evening in the summer. It’s called the Supermarket due to all the great food stalls. The queues at these stalls do tend to get a bit long though so I’ve found that bringing your own picnic is a good idea. There are often free art exhibitions to see in the old convent building too if you’re lucky.

You’ll find some great markets in Melbourne and some of them have loads of free activities to do to keep you and your kids occupied.

So, whether you want to enjoy exploring the markets during the day or you want to experience the exciting twilight markets, you’re sure to have a wonderful time soaking up the atmosphere and you never know, you might even find something you want to buy!

It’s a very popular place for a good evening out. My only complaint is that it’s not on in the spring or autumn as well as the summer as these months are not particularly cold – well, not compared to England where I originate from anyway!!

Abbotsford Farmers market

A bit further out of town (well, quite a lot further actually(!) and you’ll really need a car to get there) is the Caribbean Gardens Market. On Sundays you have to pay $2.50 each but it’s free on Wednesdays and Fridays and at certain times you can also get free rides on the train and boat. The grounds and lake are great to wander round too (over 100 acres apparently). Stuff here seems pretty cheap compared to the more central markets.

Prahran Market

The Prahran Market has loads of free activities like music, chess, face painting and kids entertainment at different times of the week. At the time of writing they also have a free children’s dance class on Fridays. Unlike the two markets mentioned above, this market never seems to be busy which is really strange as it’s a really nice place to visit even if it didn’t have the free events. It’s also pretty old (for Australia anyway!) having began life in 1891 and has a lot of character.

Queen Victoria Market

Probably the most famous Melbourne market is the Queen Victoria Market. It’s enormous and is almost as old as Melbourne itself. My favorite event here is the Wednesday evening market (held in the summer months only) which is known as the Suzuki market. They have really good bands and lots of unusual stalls to potter around as well as a wide variety of cheap food stalls.