The best indoor activities for rainy days in Melbourne

Hitting the golf park is no fun when it's raining, but luckily Melbourne has a zany, pop culture-themed indoor mini golf venue. Practice your putt at Holey Moley, a huge, multi-level mini golf course complete with a bar dishing up tasty cocktails. 

Head inside the NGV International for an afternoon of world-class art. There's always something new to see, and you can spend hours getting lost in the gallery's permanent collection. 

Melbourne is lucky enough to have the southern hemisphere's largest video gaming and e-sports entertainment venue, and it's on the ground floor of Emporium Melbourne. The venue is massive and encompasses more than 2,700-square-metres over two levels. Insidde, you'll find a 200-seat e-sports arena, 160 Alienware PCs, VIP game booths, streamer pods and an area dedicated to tabletop games. 

If you haven't yet heard, getting yourself trapped in a room and being forced to solve puzzles to escape is huge right now. Escape rooms have made their way here from parts of Europe and Asia, and these days, there are plenty to choose from across the city. Some are more challenging (and terrifying) than others, and all of them are a perfect way to get away from the weather with your mates. Here's what happened when we tried some of Melbourne's best escape rooms.

Totally fair if you'd rather just curl up at home and see what's on Netflix, but if you can muster the strength to brave the cold, Melbourne has heaps of world-class cinemas to explore. Rainy days are perfect for catching up on new releases, and every movie is better when you have a bucket full of buttery and salty popcorn.

There's something about sitting by the window on a rainy day while sipping on a hot barista coffee and chowing down on a fresh, flakey pastry. If you're not much of a baker, pop down to one of Melbourne's finest patisseries and grab a couple of croissaints, old-school cakes and sweet, creamy slices. 

Rally your mates and unleash your competitive side with a couple of rounds of board and arcade games. If your games collection at home is lacklustre, head to one of these bars in Melbourne that are stocked with everything from giant chess and Scrabble to retro arcade games. 

Winter happens to be the biggest season for theatre and musicals in Melbourne, and this year, you've got a lot to choose from. It's your last chance to see Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, which is on until July 9. Lovers of classic theatre won't want to miss the magical Mary Poppins at Her Majesty's Theatre, while & Juliet is the pop-tastic new show on the scene that's Shakespeare on sterioids. There's a lot going on and it can be expensive, so here are some tips to score cheap theatre tickets.

When it gets cold and rainy, take yourself on a mini-getaway at Melbourne's best spas and bathhouses. You'll emerge feeling rejuvenated, warm and ready to take on any weather.

Imagine an old-school cruise, with shuffleboard, darts, ping pong, cabanas and plenty of food and drink. Now add virtual reality games and take away any potential seasickness, and you've got Ballers Clubhouse, a 2,500-square-metre temple devoted to fun. The venue includes six (yes, SIX) bars, ten private function spaces, 12 ping pong tables, four shuffleboard courts, six darts booths and a virtual reality games centre. That's a whole lot of fun times crammed into one space. 

To spice up a dull day inside, sneak in a game of pool at Red Triangle. The cavernous venue is open until 2am every day, and you can play pool, snooker or billiards on their full-sized tables. For the cue-challenged, there’s also a selection of board games. Red Triangle is unlicensed, but it’s famous for its outrageously good milkshakes.

For a great evening indoors, there's nothing quite like rounding up some mates, ordering a round of drinks and belting out a few hits at a karaoke joint. In Melbourne, we're lucky to have a number of spots where you can let loose, mic in hand. 

This glorious, sprawling space is a must-visit for Melburnians and tourists alike. Don't miss out on your chance to immerse yourself in the museum's top-notch permanent exhibits, including First Peoples, which presents First Nations stories through objects, music and the voices of those past and present. And Victoria's recent history is equally enjoyable, with the stuffed hide of Depression-era hero thoroughbred racehorse Phar Lap still the most popular exhibition with young and old alike. 

Who says you have to head somewhere warm when it’s raining – why not rug up and go ice skating instead? O’Brien Icehouse is also a ‘safe’ place you can be as daggy as you like and revisit your adolescent almost every night of the week – albeit on skates – without judgment.