The best things to do in Melbourne this weekend

Are you ready to laugh so hard it hurts? One of the largest comedy festivals in the world, the Melbourne International Comedy Festival (MICF) returns next month with a program that promises to be as entertaining as it is expansive.  Since being launched in 1987 by Barry Humphries and Peter Cook, the festival has since grown to become Australia's largest cultural ticketed event offering both family entertainment and show-stopping adult performances. After Montreal's Just for Laughs and the Edinburgh Fringe, the MICF is the third-largest comedy festival in the world and attracts the crème de la crème of comedians from across Australia and around the globe.  In 2025, you can expect a mammoth line-up of international performers such as Ruby Wax (UK/US), Amy Gledhill (UK), Jin Hao Li (Singapore/UK), Ahir Shah (UK), Melanie Bracewell (NZ), Anirban Dasgupta (India), Schalk Bezuidenhout (South Africa) and more.  As for local acts, you can see the likes of Bron Lewis, Claire Hooper, Geraldine Hickey, Gillian Cosgriff, He Huang, Jenny Tian, John Safran, Lous Wall, Nazeem Hussain, Zoë Coombs Marr and so many more. Much-loved annual events such as the 35th Annual Great Debate and Upfront return, alongside the Raw Comedy competition, Deadly Funny and Class Clowns. The Asian All-Stars Gala will return for a second edition, showcasing extroadinary talent from Hong Kong, India, Malaysia, Singapore and more.  Running from March 26 to April 20 2025, the program is chock-full of stand-up...

You don't have to wait until spring to enjoy the delights of frolicking through a field of flowers, because autumn will bring the arrival of the KaBloom Festival of Flowers. Head to Melbourne's Dandenong Ranges for a festival that combines fields of flowers with spectacular circus art, from the Tesselaar team who also bring us the beloved annual Dutch tulip festival.  Wander through fields filled with sunflowers, salvias, marigolds, dahlias and more, arranged in enchanting intricate patterns. It's an Instagrammer's dream, but don't forget to bring some allergy medication if you're prone to hay fever. This year is the first that the Kabloom Ferris Wheel will allow floral fanatics to see the flower arrangements from above, making for a beautiful view. The festival also features a host of kid-friendly events among the flower fields. Keep an eye out for the flower fairies and pixies who will entertain the masses among the colourful blooms every day. Talented performers from Circus Oz will showcase jaw-dropping circus acts and lead workshops for the little ones. There'll also be a bubble show, with jaw-droppingly huge floating bubbles, and scenic rides on a tractor train.    When is the Tesselaar KaBloom Festival on?  The festival runs every day between March 29 to April 27, even on the Easter weekend public holidays. Its opening times are 10am to 5pm.  How much are tickets to the Tesselaar KaBloom Festival? Kids under 16 get free entry into the festival when accompanied by...

Put Legoland Discovery Centre Melbourne on your radar for a pit stop because the Lego F1-themed Build the Thrill event has rolled into town just in time for the Australian Grand Prix.  From now until April 27, your ticket purchase to the brick wonderland includes a pit pass to some wheel-y cool Lego of epic proportions. Check out a 3D Brick-built Lego F1 car made from more than 21,000 bricks and then build your own version.  You’ll get to choose an F1 team, build your own Minifigure driver and then pop your driver into a custom-built race car. Race on the track, claim all the glory of pole position and celebrate on the Build the Thrill podium. The fun doesn’t stop there. Guests can enjoy interactive challenges, epic photo opportunities, and an exclusive Lego F1 display in Miniland The kids-at-heart can get in on the action too, with an adults-only night on Friday, March 14. Enjoy all of Legoland kid-free and really let your competitive side loose on the track from 6pm to 9pm.  The Build the Thrill event is running at Legoland Discovery Centre Melbourne until April 27. Your pit pass is included in entry, which starts from $36 per person and is free for little ones under two. Purchase your ticket here.

Despite the Holocaust occurring halfway across the globe 80 years ago, its lessons continue to be crucially important to Australians today. Melbourne Holocaust Museum’s Hidden: Seven Children Saved exhibition is focused on educating Melburnians on the Holocaust experiences of seven (now-local) children, to inspire greater understanding of these vital lessons. Interactive displays show visitors what it would have been like for a child to hide in such a volatile time, and how acts of kindness from the community made all the difference. Replica rooms, mini towns, soundscapes, moving images and projections make it an interesting and educational display for families (with kids ten years plus) to visit during the school holidays. The immersive storytelling of the exhibition is so powerful that it won the esteemed Victorian Museums and Galleries Award and the Social Impact Award from the Australian Museums and Galleries Association in 2024. You can find the Melbourne Holocaust Museum in the vibrant suburb of Elsternwick, just 15 minutes from Flinders Street Station. Child and concession tickets are just $10, and adults $12. Book yours here.

From the story’s origins hundreds of years ago, to its transformation into the classic 1991 Disney film, Beauty and the Beast really is a tale as old as time. In its musical form, the production hasn’t been seen in Melbourne since the ’90s, when Hugh Jackman famously performed as Gaston in his first professional role. Fast forward three decades and we’re once again seeing a Melbourne stage transformed into the provincial town and Baroque castle we know so well. Only this time round, the lavish set design is augmented with cleverly integrated digital screens. It’s just one of several updates that ensure this reimagined production of the beloved fairytale keeps up with the times. From the moment the curtain rises, it’s clear this is a large-scale musical with all the belles, whistles and big bucks. Visual splendour is the MO here – think kaleidoscopic costumes, gasp-inducing illusions and spectacular lighting – and it’s easy to see why this show broke box office records at Brisbane’s QPAC.  However, all that Disney investment would be useless without the gifted cast. Shubshri Kandiah exudes whimsy-with-a-backbone as bookworm Belle, charming us with her sweet songs and sassy moments – though the folks in her provincial town just don’t get it.  Brendan Xavier’s beast is alternately ferocious and boyish. His startled squeals and hair-twirling moments help make Belle’s dramatic change in feelings a touch more believable. Both leads shine in their solo numbers, with Xavier’s ‘If...

Get your wands at the ready, because Melbourne is set to play host to the Australian premiere of Harry Potter: The Exhibition. This behind-the-scenes extravaganza will leave Potterheads spellbound, and features interactive recreations of famous film scenes, props and costumes from the Broadway production of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, a multimedia experience featuring the Whomping Willow, dementors, the Marauder's Map and the chance to conjure a Patronus charm. Budding witches and wizards will be sorted into Hogwarts houses and earn points as they explore the exhibition – it could be through a potions class, predicting the future à la Professor Trelawney in Divination or defeating a boggart in Defence Against the Dark Arts. There will also be opportunities to practice spell casting and Quidditch skills, plus win golden snitch medallions to become a model student. Each experience comes with plenty of photo ops and, of course, magical interactive moments. There's even a recreation of the Great Hall for visitors to enjoy in all its splendour, complete with floating candles.  This official Harry Potter exhibition is part of a global tour, previously selling out in cities like Boston and Madrid. It will be apparating into Melbourne on April 4, with tickets on sale now. You can find out more about this enchanting experience via the website.  Looking for more family-friendly things to do? Here's our guide to the best activities for kids in Melbourne. 

Bernie Dieter and her band of legendary misfits are descending upon Melbourne once again, to deliver a whole month of debaucherous fun and frivolity. Bernie Dieter’s Club Kabarett, starring the legendary queen of Weimar punk described as an "electrifying cross between Lady Gaga, Marlene Dietrich and Frank-N-Futer in sequins", will take over North Melbourne's historic Meat Market from April 3 to May 11. Audiences can expect riotous original songs, immense vocal talent and a jaw-dropping line-up of contortionists, sword swallowers, fire breathers and aerialists. For more info and to secure your tickets, head to the website. Read on for our five-star review of Bernie Dieter’s Club Kabarett from the 2022 Melbourne Fringe Festival. *** It’s easy to see why Dieter’s award-winning show has garnered such esteem since touching down in Australia earlier this year. Less than two minutes in and our M.C., Bernie has thrown off her tartan dress to reveal glittery tights and feather-tipped shoulder pads. Soon after, she’s straddling an audience member and enlisting the help of two others – lovingly named ‘Shaven Haven’ and ‘Silver Fox’ – to carry her back to the stage in the splits. The fourth wall is not so much brought down, as elegantly side-stepped by her sky-high stiletto heel. All the while, Bernie’s quick-wit and dirty mouth find comedic beats in the unlikeliest – or, as it were, the most unwilling – of audience members. "Tonight is about letting loose, letting go, and getting a...

Update March 28: In great news for anyone who hasn't had the chance to catch 'Yayoi Kusama' yet (or those who want to go again), the NGV has just announced that opening hours will be extended. Coinciding with the school holidays, the exhibition will be open from 8am to 6pm on April 5-16, and from 8am to midnight on April 17-21 (aka the final weekend).  If you ask us, seeing the mind-bending and deeply personal works of Kusama late into the evening sounds like the best way to spend the Easter long weekend. To book your tickets (and we highly recommend you do), head to the website. Melburnians, it’s time to get dotty, because NGV International is playing host to the largest collection of Yayoi Kusama’s work ever seen in Australia. The exhibition (aptly named Yayoi Kusama) will take over the entire ground floor of the gallery, with works from the artist best known for her unique use of dots. Opening on December 15, this world-premiere exhibition will feature more than 180 works, including an NGV-specific piece transforming the iconic Waterwall and an installation of giant balloons in the Great Hall called 'Dots Obsession'. Many of the works coming to Melbourne for this impressive exhibition have never been seen locally before, including the Australian debut of 'Dancing Pumpkin', a towering five-metre-tall bronze sculpture that visitors can view by walking underneath. As if five metres wasn’t tall enough, Melbourne will also score the Aussie premiere of Kusama’s...

In 1984, director Trevor Nunn was doing press for Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Starlight Express when he offered the perfect maxim for a Webber fan: “Here is my money. Hit me with the experience.” Arguably none of Webber’s shows have hit harder than his 1971 rock-opera, Jesus Christ Superstar, which arrives at Melbourne’s Princess Theatre after a much-lauded run in Sydney. First revived at London’s Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre in 2016 for the show’s fiftieth anniversary, it’s been restaged in Australia by director Timothy Sheader. Sheader favours a ‘more is more’ approach, leaning into every ‘Webber-ism’ that made the show a success in the first place: rock'n'roll maximalism, near-inhuman vocal lines, emotional spectacle. No crucifix is too glittery or top note too loud. Megawatt vocals and an electric ensemble cast make it a cut above the other Webber revivals we’ve seen in the last couple years. Yet its heavy-handed approach also exposes the limits of spectacle for spectacle’s sake, even when it comes to Webber. It’s a dazzling experience, but ultimately soulless.  The curtain rises on a disassembled rock concert: amps, concert speaker boxes and microphone stands peppered around a set of towering balustrades, exposed steel beams and grating that hide the band. Set and costume Designer Tom Scutt puts us somewhere between Rent’s gritty urbanism and the steampunk simplicity of Hadestown. Meanwhile, lighting designer Lee Curran adds a splash of Mad Max to things by throwing dirty...

Arrive at the corner of Flinders Lane and Hosier Lane on pretty much any day of the week and you’ll run into a throng of tourists jostling to get ‘the shot’ of Melbourne’s ever-evolving street art hotspot. No two visits to this spray can alley are ever the same, but from December 12 there’ll be another more stable artistic delight to enjoy on the famous corner. To those in the know, Sandra Powell and Andrew King have become shining lights of the Aussie street art scene, known for supporting up-and-coming artists through acquisitions for their extensive private collection 15 years in the making.  Street art legend Rone says the pair, often known as ‘Sandrew’, have been “champions of Melbourne’s street art community for over a decade”. Now, they’re drawing on their personal collection to create a ripper of a free exhibition, running from December 12 until May 2025 at 167 Flinders Lane (right on the aforementioned iconic corner).  The Outsiders Melbourne will feature more than 100 works from Sandrew’s collection, including art never before displayed in public. Expect gems from local names like Rone, Adnate, Sofles, Vexta, Fintan Magee, Meggs, Kaff-eine and more.  On the international side, feast your eyes on art from Barry McGee, Vhils, Swoon, Invader, Shepard Fairey, Ron English, Elle and an entire room dedicated to Banksy himself. Fans of the mystery artist will be pleased to know that this exhibition will also see his new work ‘Firework’ on display in Australia for the...