Nº2 · Around the CBD
Garden trail
The city's Victorian-era gardens, strung along the edge of the grid.
Draft trail. We haven’t walked this one yet to check every detail. Opening days, prices and paths can change, so check before you go.
1 / 3Melbourne’s founders ringed the new town with parkland, and the gardens that grew there are still its lungs. This loop crosses four of them, from the old signal hill at Flagstaff to the elms of Fitzroy Gardens, via the World Heritage–listed Royal Exhibition Building.
- Getting there
- Start at Flagstaff station (City Loop), across the road from Flagstaff Gardens.
- How long
- About 3½ hours, 4.5 km on foot (2 h 20 min at the stops)
- Cost
- Free (Cooks’ Cottage charges entry)
- Best time
- A dry morning in autumn, when the elms turn, or spring for the flower beds.
The stops
- 1Flagstaff Gardens · Nature · 30 min
The hill where a flagstaff once signalled ships arriving in the bay.
Directions - 2Carlton Gardens · Nature · 45 min
Home of the Royal Exhibition Building (1880), World Heritage–listed in 2004.
Directions - 3Fitzroy Gardens · Nature · 45 min
Elm avenues, a conservatory and Cooks’ Cottage, shipped from England in 1934.
Directions - 4Treasury Gardens · Nature · 20 min
A quiet finish under the elms, a short walk from Parliament station.
Directions
On the map
Tips
- Flagstaff Gardens was the town’s first cemetery and a lookout where a flag signalled arriving ships.
- Toilets and drinking fountains are marked on the map; zoom in on each garden.
Collect this trail’s stamp in your Passport by checking in at each stop.