How to Spend 24 Hours in Melbourne: A CBD Itinerary from Melbourne Walk

Most guides to spending 24 hours in Melbourne have you crossing the city with Google Maps open in one hand and a coffee going cold in the other. This Melbourne itinerary keeps it simpler. 

Running from Bourke Street Mall to Little Collins Street, Melbourne Walk puts shopping, dining and two hotels in the heart of Melbourne’s CBD. Make it your base and the best things to do in Melbourne, from famous laneways to major landmarks, are within walking distance. 

Here’s how we’d spend 24 hours in Melbourne, from the first cookie to the second. 

10am: Start With Melbourne-Style Cookies at BakeStand 

Start at BakeStand, the cookie shop that’s had people queuing since it opened at Melbourne Walk. Its Melbourne style cookies come from Executive Pastry Chef Steven He, with crisp golden edges and soft centres. Flavours range from OG Dark Chocolate and Caffè Mocha to the unmistakably Australian Vegemite & Cheese. 

Pair yours with a coffee or matcha and call it breakfast. If you’re torn between two flavours, save one for tomorrow morning, because this itinerary brings you back. 

11am: Go Shopping in Melbourne CBD 

Lacoste, Timberland, Pop Mart and JD Sports all trade at Melbourne Walk, making it one of the easiest places for shopping in the Melbourne CBD, with more browsing than walking. 

Start at JD Sports, the brand’s largest store in Australia and New Zealand, spread across two levels facing Bourke Street Mall. 

From there, give Timberland’s New York inspired concept store some time, then see how long you last at Pop Mart before a blind box ends up in your bag. 

1pm: Grab a Cheap Lunch in the Melbourne CBD at Yummi Go 

By 1pm, the shopping bags deserve a seat. Duck into The Causeway, Melbourne Walk’s dining laneway, where Yummi Go sits directly opposite Myer serving Japanese street food to a lunch crowd of CBD workers and shoppers. 

The donburi bowls are priced under $10, a cheap lunch in Melbourne CBD that’s increasingly hard to find, with wagyu, chicken teriyaki and mapo tofu to choose from. Bigger appetites should go for the slow cooked Japanese curry with a crispy katsu cutlet. 

It’s the kind of laneway find Melbourne is known for, tucked just a few steps off Bourke Street Mall. 

3pm: Explore the Best Things to Do in Melbourne CBD 

This is the part where you actually leave. Melbourne Walk sits right on Bourke Street Mall, so some of the most popular things to do in the Melbourne CBD are within easy walking distance. 

The State Library, Hosier Lane and Fed Square are all under 15 minutes on foot, so the afternoon can take you wherever you like and still have you back in time for drinks. 

5pm: Pre-Dinner Cocktails at Fern Bar & Dining 

Back at base, head up to Fern Bar & Dining on Level 2 of Hotel Indigo, where a sweeping spiral staircase sets the tone for the evening. Grab a seat at the bar and watch the after work crowd filter in alongside hotel guests. 

Start with a cocktail made with Little Lon Gin, distilled just a few blocks away, and ease into the evening. 

6pm: Stay for Dinner at Fern Bar & Dining 

By the second round, the food menu will have talked you into staying for dinner. The plates are made for sharing, so order a few for the middle of the table and swap notes on the day’s best finds. 

8pm: Where to Stay in Melbourne CBD 

Once the plates are cleared, bed is only minutes away. Hotel Indigo is the boutique stay, with design drawn from the creative character of its laneway neighbourhood, while Holiday Inn Melbourne Bourke Street Mall is the more relaxed and social option. 

Between them, they have more than 450 rooms for visitors and locals making a night of it, and both have you waking up in the heart of the CBD. 

10am: Take Home a Box of Cookies from BakeStand 

Remember the flavour you skipped yesterday? Swing past BakeStand on your way out and order it, then take a box of three (or seven) home with you.