Things to do in Melbourne today

The Mornington Peninsula, Great Ocean Road and Yarra Valley Chocolateries are famous for their month-long festival dedicated to hot chocolate in all its irresistible forms, and this year’s no different. A total of 31 limited-edition flavours will be available to try throughout August, with decadent options loaded with everything from giant marshmallows to golden syrup dumplings. Some of the flavours already revealed include Tipsy Lemon, which features a white chocolate cup filled with Limoncello ganache, piped meringue and a side of fresh biscotti; and Dot Cake, a take on the viral foodie trend complete with a polka dot-covered vanilla and white chocolate disc atop a milk chocolate hot chocolate. Heaven!  “This year’s Hot Chocolate Festival flavours are next level – we’ve been inspired to create adults-only ways to whisk with boozy accompaniments and extra decadent ingredients for melting, as well as whimsical ways to delight the kids with cute additions to dunk and slurp,” said head chocolatier, Allan Grandjean.  Can’t decide on just one hot choccie? Then the tasting sessions have your name on it. At $28 per person, it’s an opportunity to sample eight different flavours. You'll also get the chance to flex your culinary chops by choosing from different ingredients to make three bespoke creations. Throughout the festival, there’ll be a range of exclusive products available for purchase online, including DIY kits to recreate the hot chocolate magic at home. And you can also...

It’s lights, camera, action for the Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF) this August, when a red carpet will be rolled out for a massive eighteen days of cinematic revelry. The festival celebrates Australian and international filmmaking with a huge program of flicks. With so much to see, we've cut through the curtain to unveil everything you need to know.   What is the Melbourne International Film Festival? Now in its 74th year, MIFF is one of the oldest film festivals in the world, alongside Cannes and Berlin. The annual festival is held over three weeks each year throughout Melbourne and surrounds. Founded in 1952, the festival presents a curated global program of screen experiences and the world's largest showcase of Australian filmmaking.  When is the Melbourne International Film Festival? Running between August 6 and 23, MIFF will include 18 days of bold in-cinema programming with star-studded events, world premiere screenings, headline features and filmmaker talks.  What sort of things can we expect from the program? At this stage, we've only just scored a first look at the MIFF line-up for 2026, but let's just say it's already getting a standing ovation (Cannes style, of course) from us. Here are some of the highlights so far. MIFF will host the world premiere of The Airport Chaplain, a drama series set in Melbourne Airport, starring Hugo Weaving and Shabana Azeez, and inspired by a real encounter with Tullamarine's own chaplain. Straight outta Berlinale...

There’s something so comforting about a pie. What’s not to love about the flaky, flavour-packed pocket of joy, warmed to perfection and slathered in tomato sauce? It’s little wonder, then, that one of the region’s most beloved winter drawcards is all about the hearty pastry. Returning for its fourth year this August 1-31, Ballarat’s Best Pie will see 30 bakeries, cafes, restaurants and pubs battle it out for the coveted title.  Take your pick from savoury and sweet (or both), with twists on traditional favourites and brand-new creations competing for the crown. This year’s line-up might be the most inventive yet, featuring everything from a chicken parma pie to a cheeseburger pie and an ice-cream pie inspired by Wagon Wheels.  Judging will take place on August 1, with a panel awarding winners across six categories before the full line-up is made available to the public, who have the entire month of August to try them out and vote for the People’s Choice. Better still, anyone who casts a vote will go in the draw to win a getaway to Ballarat.  Whether you’re a pie connoisseur or simply looking for a foodie getaway, there’s plenty to do in Ballarat this winter as the city warms up with a jam-packed program worth rugging up for. From a short film festival to a jousting championship, it's easy to see why Ballarat was recently named Australia’s happiest place with so much fun to be had. You can view the map of participating venues and follow the pie trail here.

In a year when Melbourne Theatre Company has committed to programming mostly new works by local writers, this production of Uncle Vanya by Russian playwright Anton Chekhov bucks that trend a little bit – with a new adaptation by world-renowned Aussie writer, Joanna Murray-Smith. Murray-Smith has dedicated much of her career to analysing the frailties and blind spots of middle-class Australians and is perfectly suited to tackle this particular Chekhov adaptation – freely adding in the occasional f-word and making concrete the comedy in a play that focuses a lot on boredom. A play about boredom? Is it a bore? Chekhov’s work has lived in a complicated space between comedy and tragedy and each production has to give his text a tweak to figure out where it will land each time. Murray-Smith turns up the comedy, without losing sight of the inherent drama, while also giving female characters like Yelena and Sonya more clear interior lives and agency than the original suggests. This version of the play is masterful, crafting a new vision, without compromising what Chekhov was exploring. Uncle Vanya focuses on the owners and managers of a Russian estate, dissecting the deep-seated feeling they have wasted their lives. Enter Yelena, married to esteemed professor Alexandre Serebryakov, whose first wife used to own the home. Vanya, brother to Alexandre’s first wife and manager of the estate, and local doctor, Astrov, fall for Yelena and try to seduce her in an attempt to add some...

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...

In a world where misinformation travels faster than facts, photojournalism is the need of the hour. A powerful photograph bears witness, challenges perceptions and captures history in a unique, compelling way. The World Press Photo exhibition is coming to Victoria for the first time in a decade, with the Art Gallery of Ballarat presenting the acclaimed showcase at the Ballarat Mining Exchange from August 8 to September 20. And, yes, entry is completely free. Run by the World Press Photo Foundation, this year's showcase features work selected from an astonishing 57,376 photographs submitted by 3,747 photographers across 141 countries. The 42 winning images range from defining global news events to stories that have flown under the radar. From conflict and courage, resilience and resistance, climate change and conservation, gender politics and human rights – the photos offer an unflinching snapshot of our times. Australian audiences will also find a local story among the winners. Sydney Morning Herald photographer Edwina Pickles is recognised for her powerful image documenting last year's Bondi Beach terror attacks, while fellow Sydney Morning Herald photographer Nicky Catley serves as one of this year's judges. The exhibition travels to more than 60 cities across the globe and this is a chance for Victorians to experience it in all its guts and glory. The World Press Photo exhibition runs from August 8 to September 20 at the Ballarat Mining Exchange. Entry is free, and you...

As Jane Austen wrote in Northanger Abbey, “The person, be it gentleman or lady, who has not pleasure in a good novel, must be intolerably stupid.” So bookworms and bibliophiles, this one's for you. World of the Book, Australia’s largest and longest-running rare book exhibition, returns to State Library Victoria with more than 300 extraordinary works spanning from around 2000 BCE to the present day. This year's exhibition shines a spotlight on some of literature's most influential women writers. We're talking rare and remarkable editions by Jane Austen, Agatha Christie, Octavia E. Butler, Virginia Woolf and the Brontë sisters, including a newly acquired first edition of Jane Austen's Emma (1816) in its original Regency-era binding. You'll also be able to admire special versions of Austen's Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility and Persuasion, alongside rare editions of Agatha Christie's best-loved mysteries featuring her legendary detectives, Miss Marple and Hercule Poirot. Head to the beautiful domed La Trobe Reading Room to check out everything from intricate miniature books to Australian punk music fanzines, early comic books and centuries-old treasures. One must-see is The Mystery of a Hansom Cab (1886) – Melbourne's first publishing blockbuster, which famously outsold Sherlock Holmes. “The Fund’s first ever purchase, A Room of One’s Own by Virginia Woolf, will be displayed in a space intentionally designed to celebrate extraordinary women writers,” said State...

There’s only one reason you’d venture into a water park in winter. Adventure Park Geelong's Winter Glow Festival is back, and taking place from June 20 to August 29 this year. So, are you ready for 300 tonnes of real snow, plus glowing lights, live entertainment and two brand new rides?  Perfect for families looking for a budget-friendly taste of the snow, tickets start from just $42 per person – with little ones under 90cm scoring free entry. At the heart of the festival is Victoria’s largest indoor snow play zone, where you can build a snowman, make snow angels and launch snowballs at the dedicated Snowball Throw Zone. Outside, a dazzling light trail shines bright with more than three million twinkling lights and more than 1,000 installations, creating a glowing winter landscape. New for 2026 are two adrenaline-pumping rides: the Ice Toboggan, a 45-metre frozen slide, and the Drop Zone, a 20-metre tower offering a true alpine-style thrill. These join a full line-up of thrilling rides, including the Wave Swinger, Crazy Coaster and the much-loved Ferris Wheel. Beyond the rides and snow, kids will love watching the ice sculpting performances, meeting the Ice Princess and roasting marshmallows by the fire. You can also upgrade by hiring a VIP Winter Igloo to keep cosy while younger guests can indulge in a makeover at the Enchanted Snow Salon. The Winter Glow Festival runs from 4-9pm, Monday to Thursday and from 3–9pm Friday to Sunday (including daily during the July school...

From Cleopatra and Mark Antony's empire-toppling romance to Romeo and Juliet's family-defying affair, love has often been an act of rebellion. Rebel Heart: Love Letters and Other Declarations takes matters of the heart seriously in this sweeping, immersive new exhibition at the State Library, drawing on its extraordinary archives to trace how people have dared to love across centuries of Australian history. The exhibition runs for almost a year and brings together handwritten letters, private diaries, rare manuscripts and deeply personal objects to weave a tapestry of passion, heartbreak and devotion. You’ll encounter Victorian-era same-sex couples living together against the odds, a mid-century interracial marriage that challenged the White Australia policy, and the prison romance between bushrangers Captain Moonlight and James Nesbitt. Fragile keepsakes are also featured in the show, including a haunting 1853 mourning brooch woven from lovers’ hair, alongside letters that read like a late-night confessional. What makes Rebel Heart especially distinctive is how it bridges the past with the present. Historical stories are amplified by newly commissioned music from Australian artists Angie McMahon, Mindy Meng Wang, Mo’Ju and Amos Roach, each responding to real love stories held in the library’s collection.  The exhibition also explores how rebellion and romance play out today – from DMs and fandoms to fan fiction and even AI relationships. It’s set to be a smart,...

Do you consider yourself somewhat of a Monet maestro, or even a Degas devotee? You can thank Paul Durand-Ruel, the dealer who backed the Impressionists when no one else would dare. A major new exhibition at Geelong Gallery puts the man who made the movement possible in the spotlight. Discovering the Impressionists: Paul Durand-Ruel brings together more than 70 paintings across five galleries, many from private French collections and never before seen in Australia. Alongside household names like Claude Monet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Berthe Morisot and Camille Pissarro, the show celebrates a second generation of artists long overlooked, including Albert André and Gustave Loiseau, whose work expands and reshapes the way Impressionism has been looked at in its later years. At the centre is Paul Durand-Ruel, the visionary dealer who staked everything on a movement once ridiculed by the establishment. Over his lifetime, he bought thousands of works, championed their artists and helped transform public taste across Europe and America. Without him, Impressionism as we know it might not exist. Beyond the works on display, highlights in the exhibition will include rare decorative panels created for Durand-Ruel’s Paris apartment and a partial recreation of the salon where he hosted collectors, offering a glimpse into the world that helped shape modern art.  Marking Geelong Gallery’s 130th year, this is its most ambitious exhibition to date, and the only Australian stop for a show...