The best things to do in Melbourne this weekend

What do you get when you cross cheese with high tea? You get High Cheese – an indulgent cheese-centric experience returning to the Westin Melbourne for its third year. Taking over the hotel’s Allegro Restaurant from May 26 to October 17, this ever-popular event sees executive chef Apoorva Kunte joining forces with Richmond specialty cheese shop Supercheese, plus Punt Road Wines for a celebration of cheese and wine. High Cheese gives your traditional high tea a delicious spin with a three-tiered menu that shines the spotlight on cheese. Think sweet and savoury bites with expertly paired wines – all designed to showcase the versatility of great (or should we say, ‘grate’?) fromage. It’s a brie-lliant excuse to spend an afternoon grazing. Supercheese owner Jeremy Spradbery has selected cheeses for their quality, provenance and personality, drawing from niche local and international producers. Guests will move through a  progression of creations by chef Kunte, including a shared centrepiece and a final sweet offering, paired with a glass of Punt Road wine. “Supercheese has an incredible eye for producers with real character,” says Kunte. “For us, it’s about showcasing cheese in a way that feels elevated, unexpected and true to the ingredient.” To keep things fresh, the experience will evolve mid-season with a refreshed menu launching in August – which gives you a gouda reason to return. High Cheese at Allegro Restaurant is available every Tuesday to Saturday from 5pm onwards...

When you think of winter in Melbourne, waterfront destinations probably aren’t the first thing that come to mind. After all, when the temperatures drop, dragging yourself out of the house is hard enough. But this season, we’ve got a great reason to rug up and head down to the water.   A new event series is bringing the heat to Melbourne’s waterfront, transforming Docklands into a lively winter destination filled with street food, live entertainment and sport. Running across three dates between June and September, The Street Social will take over Harbour Esplanade with a curated line-up of major events here to keep you out of hibernation.  This June 13-14, Waterfront Sessions is kicking things off with a weekend-long celebration featuring DJs, silent disco sessions, live AFL screenings and family-friendly activities. In between the action, refuel with bites from Little Yarra Crêperie, Paella Truck and Chef Calamari. What’s on the menu? Sweet and savoury crêpes, galettes and hot drinks to warm you up from Seven Seeds coffee, alongside flavour-packed paellas and restaurant-quality seafood, including fish and chips and calamari.  The Street Social runs across three epic weekends, each bringing a new theme and experience. Following Waterfront Sessions, Winter Warmer arrives from August 22-23, before the series wraps up with September of Sport from September 5-6.  Waterfront Sessions runs from 12pm to 7pm on Saturday, June 13 and Sunday, June 14 with free entry. Find out more here.

Prepare to enter the pearly gates of doughnut heaven, sweet Melburnians. Queen Victoria Market's free Donut Festival is making its delicious return on June 13 and 14. Back by popular demand, Melbourne's most dough-licious creators and bakers are returning in 2026, with new faces and plenty more sugary delights that will have all your cravings satisfied. The lip-smacking line-up includes Jamm'd Dessert Bar with their hot Danish dougnuts; chewy mochi bites from Mochimelb; deliciously sweet loukomades from St. Gerry's; nama-style bites from Kare Melbourne; and G-Free Donuts with tasty options for the gluten-free crowd. And for those of you who love to push the boundaries of what a doughnut can be, Pasta Face is delivering the goods with a hot honey chicken parma version; the Puff Puff Stand are offering West African-inspired puff puffs; and Mr Zeppole is serving up Italian zeppole with the choice of jam or anchovy fillings.  This free weekend-long fest is all about indulging in everybody's favourite deep-fried treat, whether you like yours simple and iced or loaded with decadent toppings. There will also be  roving performers, live entertainment, plenty of coffee and fun activations to keep the sugar high going. The Donut Festival is happening from 9am to 4pm, so all you need to do is head to the C and D sheds (Peel Street end) with your mates and a will to indulge.  For more info, head to the Queen Vic Market website. Stay in the loop: sign up for our free Time Out...

Even though temperatures are dropping, Melbourne’s culture calendar is just heating up. This winter, two of the city’s biggest cultural institutions, ACMI and Rising, are teaming up for a multi-sensory exhibition, celebrating music’s cultural impact and paying tribute to vinyl. From May 22 to August 31, The Vinyl Factory: Reverb will bring together some of the leading figures working in video and sound to deep dive into different eras of music, through large-scale moving image works, immersive sound installations and interactive vinyl experiences.  Spanning the early days of techno to contemporary digital art, you’ll see work from celebrated artists including Canadian media artist Stan Douglas; British-Nigerian filmmaker and visual artist Jenn Nkiru; American fashion visionary Virgil Abloh; US filmmaker and music video director Kahlil Joseph; London-based photographer and video artist Gabriel Moses; South African artist William Kentridge; Turner Prize-winning British artist Jeremy Deller; British poet and sound artist Julianknxx; Argentinian performance artist Cecilia Bengolea and German electronic music and sound art innovator Carsten Nicolai.  Highlights include hands-on access to Technics turntables with remixable loops; a fantasy rap battle; and access to The Vinyl Factory’s archive, which features 100 vinyl pressings with works by Marina Abramović and Thom York.  There’s also the chance to pick a record and take it into the Listening Room, which by day functions as a...

Who needs the French Alps when a charming alpine village has popped up at Fed Square this wintertime, complete with wooden chalets, fire pits and, most importantly, bubbling cauldrons of cheese and chocolate – need we say more?  From now until July 25, the Fondue Chalet pop-up invites you to gather your mates, get rounds of mulled wine to keep warm and indulge in an après-ski French village experience without ever having to leave the city.  Brought to you by the team behind the wildly popular Raclette Igloo pop-up, this foodie extravaganza is all about indulgence – there's no such thing as 'too much'.  Step inside your own cute chalet, designed for groups of six to eight, and dive into a traditional Savoie-style cheese fondue with imported French cheeses like Beaufort, Emmental, and Vacherin. Tear apart crusty bread, swirl it through the velvety, wine-infused pot, and enjoy the charcuterie boards and curated selection of French wines that come with it. Yum. And just when you think it couldn't get any better or that you can't eat another bite, dessert arrives – a decadent chocolate fondue, ready for dunking with seasonal fruits and sweet treats.  To keep the merriment going after dinner, take the party to the après-ski bar with drinks by Casa Spirits. Exclusively for fondue diners, the spot serves up French winter cocktails, mulled wine and warming digestifs. With fire pits, music and flowing drinks, Fondue Chalet is an escape that will transport you straight to the Alps –...

What do the Astor Theatre, Palais Theatre, JMC Academy, Victorian Pride Centre and St Kilda Town Hall have in common? They’re all key venues for the much-anticipated St Kilda Film Festival (SKFF). Running from June 4-14, Australia’s longest-running short film festival returns with a packed program of more than 190 flicks, celebrating the depth and diversity of Australian cinema. Expect everything from sharp comedies and gripping horror to thought-provoking experimental works, many featuring some of Australia’s most exciting talent. The festival opens in style with a red carpet gala at the Palais Theatre on June 4, followed by St Kilda Rocks at the Astor Theatre on June 5 – it's a pairing of two iconic documentaries (Punkline and Last Drinks) that explore the legacy of two local venues.  As for the short films, there’s Baby Shower starring Hugo Weaving; The CEO, directed by Michael Cusack; The Shirt Off Your Back, directed by David Robinson-Smith; All Day Breakfast by Rachel Ko; Calm the F**k Down by Helen Gaynor; Songbird by Kevin Lim; and While We Still Have Time directed by Ava Grimshaw-Hall, to mention just a few.  All the familiar favourites return in 2026, including the laugh-out-loud Australian Comedy Showcase (June 5); Pride Without Prejudice (June 13) that celebrates LGBTQIA+ voices; Shifting The Gaze that highlights films by women and gender-diverse filmmakers; and Under The Radar, the competition that champions young filmmakers.  The Big Picture (June 6),...

Melbourne's favourite illuminated event is back again in 2026, with 15 new and returning dazzling light installations to meander through in wonderment. From June 12 to August 2, take a nighttime stroll through the Royal Botanic Gardens and experience luminous pathways, lit-up tree canopies, soothing soundscapes and more sparkly sights. This year, highlights of the 2.1-kilometre trail are set to be the Australian premier of Bifröst by French studio Pitaya, which boasts a 20-arch tunnel of flowing light that you can walk through; and Firefly Field by Dutch studio TOER, where 200 glowing points of light will dart like fairies above the grass. Returning faves include a reimagined 30-metre Winter Cathedral, plus the epic Fire Garden installation, which will include a circular spiral of 150 candles. Plus, there's plenty more to discover by more local and international artists alike.  Most importantly, you'll also be able to grab a bite to eat and warming drinks, like hot chocolate and mulled wine, at the Welcome Zone or dotted along the trail. If you ask us, Melbourne is at its best in winter and events like Lightscape (which now holds two consecutive Gold wins at the Victorian Tourism Awards), where you can rug up and join friends for a magical experience, are a big reason why. Adult tickets start at $36 and are available through Ticketek – be quick as they tend to go fast.  Stay in the loop: sign up for our free Time Out Melbourne newsletter for the best of the city,...

Need a new fun family photo? We’ve got you. One of the world’s biggest immersive experiences is landing in Melbourne – serving up a fun, surreal backdrop for your Instagram grid glow-up. Bubble Planet: An Immersive Experience is opening in April at Fever Exhibition and Experience Centre, offering Melbournians a transporting, ultra-Instagrammable day out. Already experienced by more than two million visitors around the world, with sell-out runs in Milan, Los Angeles, London and Brussels, and a recent stint in Sydney, Bubble Planet is a fantastical world of optical illusions, cutting-edge virtual reality experiences, giant bubbles, and next-level immersive projections. Visitors to the Melbourne site can expect to embark on a dreamlike journey through 11 otherworldly rooms, home to giant bubble domes, LED underwater-style wonderlands, selfie hubs and VR dreamscapes. Sessions at this bizarre immersive world run for between 60-90 minutes, and the experience is suitable for people of all ages – with kids under four welcomed in for free. Keen? Bubble Planet Melbourne launches on April 1. You can learn more and snap up tickets over here.Stay in the loop: sign up for our free Time Out Melbourne newsletter for the best of the city, straight to your inbox. Want fun now? These are the best things to do in Melbourne this weekend.These are the best things to do in Melbourne this week.And these are the must-do activities to add to your Melbourne bucket list.

There’s something special about sitting your kids down to watch the same show that you and and your parents did, decades ago. Believe it or not, Play School has been captivating little eyes since 1966 and ACMI is giving you the chance to come and explore the set brought to life, for free.  You can explore the Play School: Come and Play! exhibition at ACMI in Federation Square now until July 12. The perfect outing for two- to five-year-olds, little ones have the chance to check out the Rocket Clock, meet Big Ted, Jemima and Humpty Dumpty, sing songs and learn.  Kids can play presenter, camera operator or director – whatever tickles their fancy. The exhibition also includes Auslan translations throughout, with sensory-friendly, Auslan and audio-described sessions available. Plus, a chance to see what goes on behind the scenes and even hear from hosts like Leah Vandenberg and childhood experts in the Play School Talks series throughout April, June and September. Ready to come inside? Tickets to Play School: Come and Play! are free but make sure you book your spot here. Catch the exhibition at ACMI from 10am to 5pm until July 12.

Fresh outta the oven and served up hot to an adoring audience at Her Majesty’s Theatre (complete with the mouth-watering aroma of a fresh-baked pie wafting through the air), Waitress the Musical arrives in Melbourne as a sugary slice of wholesome musical theatre – but will you want to go back for a second helping?  Adapted from the 2007 cult indie flick by Adrienne Shelly, Waitress made its New York debut in 2016 with a female-led creative team (a first in the history of Broadway). That line-up included direction by Diane Paulus, a book by Jessie Nelson, choreography by Lorin Latarro and songs by Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter Sara Bareilles (whose knack for writing catchy, melodic pop hits are on full display here). Sprinkle in a tale of female friendship, dreaming big and finding courage – with some sugar, butter and flour, of course – and it’s no surprise Waitress ran for four successful years, with a stint on London’s West End, too. What is Waitress the Musical about? Set in the American South, Waitress follows the story of Jenna (Natalie Bassingthwaighte), a small-town waitress and baker who works at Joe’s Pie Diner, alongside her friends Becky (Gabriyel Thomas) and Dawn (Mackenzie Dunn). She’s unhappily married to the ghastly Earl (a truly brutish man played with a villainous sneer by Keanu Gonzalez), but upon discovering she’s pregnant, ends up in an (increasingly awkward) affair with her obstetrician, Dr Pomatter (Rob Mills). Mix in a looming pie-making...