47 things to do in Melbourne this weekend

Firelight Festival is returning to Docklands this winter from June 30 until July 2. NewQuay Promenade, Harbour Esplanade, Victoria Harbour Promenade, Buluk Park and Docklands Central Park will be set alight, literally, with fiery installations from 5pm on each of the three nights. In fact, this year’s iteration will feature more than 40 fire pits and 35 flame jets. The free festival is a celebration of winter with a focus on family, community, food, music, fire and light. There’ll be African drumming, roving performers to delight the little ones, warming foods and plentiful fire installations. 

Moama Lights is an immersive sound and light event that runs from June 30 to July 23, and takes visitors on a powerful journey through the elements of air, fire, water and earth. It will take place at the Horseshoe Lagoon, and the show will be split into seven zones that all help tell an interactive story about the wonders of the Earth and the beauty of the bush. In addition to this artistic display of cutting-edge light technology, there will also be an ice skating rink, kids entertainment and food trucks.

Experience the sights and sounds of Australia’s First Nations artists like never before with Connection, the latest immersive experience at the Lume. Opening on June 23, get ready to step inside the iridescent world of First Peoples art and culture, displayed on a scale that needs to be seen to be believed. Spanning 3,000 square metres of gallery space, Connection will feature projections four storeys high and an awe-inspiring display of original art.

For the tenth year, Fitzroy's beloved Builders Arms Hotel is once again devoting ten days to sausages in June, celebrating everything from classic British bangers to stuffed pigs' trotters. Make a lunch or dinner booking anytime from Friday June 23 to Sunday July 2 to taste your fave sossies from the special festival menu. 

Choo choo! The Train of Lights is back on the tracks for 2023 and ready to captivate passengers with a magical winter journey through the Dandenong Ranges. Australia’s favourite steam train Puffing Billy will be your conductor for this two-and-a-half-hour round trip that illuminates the natural beauty of the region with thousands of dazzling lights.

After a hugely popular debut in Melbourne last winter, Lightscape has announced its return to Melbourne. From June 16 to August 6, take a nighttime stroll through the Royal Botanic Gardens and experience luminous pathways, lit-up tree canopies and soothing soundscapes. 

There’s something a bit magical about this historic regional town in the dark, cold months – and this is exactly what the Ballarat Winter Festival seeks to capture. From June 24 to July 8, the Gold Rush town will come alive with food and wine events, gigs and performances, an ice rink, a huge market and (our particular favourite) Winter Wonderlights at Sovereign Hill. The festival will include more than 40 events, and it's anticipated around 100,000 visitors will visit the city during the three-week festival. 

Winter is here but that doesn’t mean you and the family need to stay at home. Rug up and head west to Grazeland to find your fave foodie precinct utterly transformed into a winter wonderland that will impress both kids and the young at heart. Each weekend from June 23 to July 30, the epic culinary playground will be decked out with dreamy white snow, the biggest snowman in Melbourne at ten metres high, neon lights and eye-popping balloon displays. 

The powerful songstress behind hit songs like ‘Respect’ and ‘A Natural Woman’, global superstar Aretha Franklin was a force to be reckoned with who left an indelible mark on the music landscape. Excitingly, an epic new concert event celebrating the life and music of one of the greatest voices in history will arrive to the Arts Centre Melbourne's Hamer Hall for two performances on July 2.

If you've been needing a bit of magic in your life, then we've got good news for you: Disney on Ice is returning with a special anniversary show, 100 Years of Wonder. See your favourite characters from films like Moana, Frozen, Coco, Toy Story and more come to life and skillfully navigate the rink with a flurry of special effects like fake snow and pyrotechnics. 

Calling all insomniacs with a penchant for round-the-clock revelry, the Sleepless Footscray Festival returns to transform Melbourne’s inner west into a creative hub of art and performance. Running from June 17 until July 1, Sleepless Footscray Festival features an eclectic line-up of immersive experiences, lively performances and installations. The community arts festival will see hidden alleys become inviting nightscapes and derelict buildings repurposed as hives of art and performance. 

A new enchanting production of the beloved Cinderella story is bibbidi-bobbidi-boo’ing its way to the Comedy Theatre this June for a strictly limited season. Loosely inspired by the classic story, Midnight follows Ella, a feisty heroine who doesn’t want – or need – a Prince Charming to woo her.

Whether you’re yet to grace restaurateur Chris Lucas’ opulent Society with a visit or you’re a die-hard dinnertime loyalist, it’s well worth a look in for a weekend lunch. From Friday to Sunday in the afternoons, the swish restaurant is hosting the Society Social, an extravagant multi-course affair featuring a generous array of savoury dishes and a roving dessert trolley to dazzle you at the end. 

Get ready to bring out some sick slides and crooked grinds because the District Docklands entertainment precinct is playing host to a pop-up skatepark this winter school holidays. That’s right, from June 24 until July 9, you can bring the kids along to the district to have a skate at a skatepark powered by Rampfest. 

Looking for a nearby winter getaway? Or need plans to keep your kids occupied over the school holidays? Eynesbury Homestead has got you covered with a two-week winter festival that's guaranteed to be snow much fun (see what we did there?!). Entry to the festival won't cost you an icicle (aka it's free), and once you're on the property, you'll have an abundance of activities to choose from. Hit the ice-skating rink while listening to pumping tunes by a local DJ, test your general knowledge at the trivia night, shop up a storm at the market stalls and enjoy a mean feed from a variety of food trucks and stalls. 

One of Victoria’s most highly lauded chefs, Annie Smithers (du Fermier), has joined forces with the NGV Garden Restaurant this winter to offer foodies and art lovers alike a bespoke French farmhouse menu. Running for a limited time only, the much-anticipated restaurant collaboration coincides with the world premiere of the NGV’s latest exhibition, Pierre Bonnard: Designed by India Mahdavi. 

Ever wondered what it's like to be hypnotised, or if it's possible for someone to read your mind? Or maybe you're fascinated by sleights of hand and trying to figure out how they were accomplished. Whatever form of magic you're interested in, the Melbourne Magic Festival is sure to cast its spell on you when it arrives in Melbourne on June 26. 

Wander slightly off St Kilda Road and watch as The Rink at Birrarung Marr materialises in front of you, frozen over to make room for ice skaters of all ages and abilities to glide at their own pace. Kicking off on June 1 to celebrate both Rising and the beginning of Melbourne’s winter, this pop-up invites visitors to carve up the glacial arena under a blanket of glimmering lights that mimic and augment the night sky. 

Adventure Park's Winter Glow festival is bringing lights, fire, ice and snow to the amusement park this winter. The festival (which runs from June 16 to July 16) features large glowing installations, fire twirling, ice sculptures and lights that will twinkle all around the park. While real snow might be a rare sight in Geelong, there will be a big snow play zone where kids can make snowmen and snow angels (warm gloves, gumboots and jackets are recommended!). 

If you're keen to head on a cool-climate caper but aren't sure where to begin, you're in luck: the East Gippsland Winter Festival is returning for its third iteration. Rug up and hit the road for a month-long celebration packed with lavish winter feasts, fantastical art installations, live music, lantern parades, creative workshops, wellness experiences and much more.

After being postponed for three years, the ‘painter of happiness’ Pierre Bonnard (1867-1947) will finally get his airtime at the NGV. Opening on June 9, the blockbuster Melbourne Winter Masterpieces exhibition will display more than 100 works by Bonnard alongside immersive scenography by award-winning designer India Mahdavi.

Celebrating the oldest living culture is at the heart of Rising, with fantastic works by exciting First Nations creatives taking over the centrepiece of the city – Flinders Street Station’s sprawling attic rooms. These vaulted spaces will host eye-popping works by the likes of game-changing Wiradjuri artist and storyteller Karla Dickens, Possum cloak maker and multi-disciplinary artist Vicki Couzens (Keerray Wooroong/Gunditjmara) and even Sweet Country filmmaker and Kaytej man Warwick Thornton.

The grounds of Abbotsford Convent have long played host to a farmers market, which sadly closed down in February after 20 years of operation. Now, a different farmers market with a regional twist has swooped in to fill the gap. Prime your appetites and grab your wicker baskets, because the Abbotsford Regional Farmers Market has arrived. From 8am until 1pm on the second Saturday of each month, this sustainably focussed market will bring more than 45 stallholders to the Convent.

 Jane Campion – Her Way will encompass screenings of all nine of Campion's feature films, as well as a selection of her short films, and the Australian premiere of a new documentary about her life and career; screening as part of the 70th Sydney Film Festival (SFF) in Sydney first before making its way to ACMI in Melbourne from June 15 until July 2. 

While a trip to Hogwarts or London's Natural History Museum may not be within reach, Melbourne Museum's newest exhibition brings the magic closer to home. Step into a world where mythical creatures and real animals converge at Fantastic Beasts: The Wonder of Nature, which is exclusively on display until October 8.

Whack on something dazzling and dust off your dancing shoes as the much-loved NGV Friday Nights returns this winter. The popular event returns for 19 weeks after another sell-out season for the Melbourne Winter Masterpieces exhibition.

Spanning Rembrandt’s four-decade-long career, Rembrandt: True to Life is the most comprehensive exhibition of the Dutch artist’s work held in Australia in more than 25 years. This NGV exhibition will emphasise the prolific artist’s innovations in printmaking, showcasing more than 100 etchings drawn from the NGV Collection with important loans of paintings from public collections worldwide, like the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam and the Louvre Museum in Paris. 

It’s time to dig out your silliest festive sweater and make the short drive to Ballarat, because Sovereign Hill is hosting an illuminated Christmas in July extravaganza this winter. That’s right, the annual Winter Wonderlights program is back for another year and this edition promises to bring a bumper schedule of both daytime and nighttime activities. From June 24 until July 16 (including the winter school holidays), the much-loved outdoor gold rush museum will once again transform into a whimsical winter wonderland, with activities, performances and displays that should impress kids and grownups alike. 

It is in fair Melbourne that we lay our scene for & Juliet, a pop-fuelled retelling of the Shakespearean tragedy that celebrates girl power, LGBTQIA+ pride, autonomy and love in all of its shapes and forms. This is Shakespeare yassified. 

What better way to hold a mirror up to society than with an exhibition of pictures reflecting our innermost thoughts and feelings? Mirror: New views on photography is a free exhibition at the State Library Victoria featuring 141 images from the photography collection that explores and expands on the meditative theme of ‘mirror’.

Lovers of the written word rejoice; a free exhibition over at the State Library Victoria is spotlighting the history of book design, production and illustration from the Middle Ages to the present day. World of the Book features more than 300 rare, remarkable, historically significant items in the State Collection, each unravelling a unique story from its pages. 

In an Australian first, the Pre-Raphaelites: Drawings and Watercolours exhibition will take up residence at the Art Gallery of Ballarat from May 20, offering a rare opportunity for visitors to see these awe-inspiring works on paper. Running until August 6, Pre-Raphaelites: Drawings and Watercolours will offer an intimate and rare peep into the world of the Pre-Raphaelite artists and their works, including portraits they made of each other, studies for paintings and commissions, and subjects taken from history, literature and landscape. 

Victoria by Farmer's Daughters is hosting a new Saturday bottomless brunch at its stately Fed Square venue this Autumn and Winter - and you're warmly invited. The restaurant has linked with Starward Australian Whisky for the offering so you can expect a boozy one. 

Get ready to go on a journey through living light when Sea Life Melbourne Aquarium unveils its new interactive digital experience in mid-February. 

Marking the major attraction’s first foray into this ever-evolving art form, Submerged is inspired by the bioluminescent underwater world and will tell the story of the mysterious firefly squid (which emits a glowing blue light from its body) and other majestic ocean creatures. The exhibition will also explore magical locations such as a glittering shoreline in the midst of spawning season and a moonlit deep dive into the depths of the bioluminescent unknown.

Suitable for all ages, Submerged will run until December 2023 while the 2.2 million litre Oceanarium undergoes a massive renovation. During this time, the larger sharks and rays will not be on display – but rest assured there will still be thousands of marine animals and freshwater animals to discover during your visit. 

“As one of Melbourne’s top tourist attractions, we are excited to be diving into new depths with the launch of Submerged," says Claire Burrell, general manager of Sea Life Melbourne. “The digital experience will captivate guests with its vibrance and hyperrealism, providing them with an alternative but no less engaging ocean experience while our Oceanarium is upgraded.”

Access to Submerged is included in the price of your admission and will be open to the public until December 2023. For more information, head to the website.

ICYMI: three adorable baby elephants were just born at Melbourne Zoo – and you can now see them!

Running until October 1, 2023, this ACMI exhibition celebrates the daring and disruptive women on and off the screen. This landmark exhibition will unveil, examine and celebrate the shifting representation of femininity across film history through provocative cinematic moments.

Have you ever wanted to walk the hallowed halls that once housed notorious criminals like Ned Kelly and Mark 'Chopper' Read? Well, soon you'll have your chance: the historic Pentridge Prison in Coburg is reopening for public tours this month. 

The inaugural Melbourne Now launched in 2013 and was an unprecedented display of some of the most exciting local contemporary artists. Now, a decade later, it returns to once again highlight Victorian-based artists, designers, studios and firms whose practices are shaping the cultural landscape of our city.

Step back in time to 1920s Melbourne with this highly anticipated exhibition at Geelong Gallery. Atmosphere showcases more than 60 exceptional paintings spanning 1919 to the early 1930s by a pioneering member of Australia’s tonalist movement, Clarice Beckett.

Catherine Martin's costumes from Baz Luhrmann's acclaimed movie Elvis have arrived at the National Film and Sound Archive in Canberra, joining the exhibition Australians and Hollywood as a major drawcard.

Listen up, muggles! Harry Potter and the Cursed Child will finish its record-breaking stint on July 9, 2023. After four magical years at Melbourne's Princess Theatre, the longest-running play in Australian theatre will finally come to an end and depart the country for good. If you want to catch this spellbinding production before it pops on its invisibility cloak and disappears forever, head to the website and snap up a ticket.

Set in the pastoral oasis that is the Collingwood Children's Farm and open the second Saturday of each month, this gourmand's paradise offers a fleeting taste of country life in the heart of Abbotsford. The Collingwood Children's Farmers' Market was dates back to 2002 and was actually the first farmers' market to hit the inner suburbs of Melbourne. 

Head to Scienceworks for a brand new exhibition focusing on the science of light. Kids and adults alike will love this exploration of light and colour, featuring interactive exhibits, neon displays, and even an invisible laser sensor chamber.

This tour of Victoria’s most history-steeped seaport will take you through abandoned morgues and forgotten burial grounds, as well as streets once frequented by convicts and drunken sailors. These days though, these alleys are home to far more apparitions. Book via Lantern Ghost Tours.

Since the 1990s, the photographer Catherine Opie has used her camera to challenge and illuminate our understanding of the personal and the political. In what will be the first survey of the artist's work in Australia, Catherine Opie: Binding Ties is coming to the Heide.

Saw, arguably, is the original escape game. Heck, the film franchise’s Jigsaw Killer even infamously says “I want to play a game”. So it makes perfect sense that Rush Escape Game drew inspiration from the classic horror film to create an escape room for its second venue. Hacksaw is the first escape room built at Rush Escape Game’s second venue in Hawthorn (the original Rush is still open for business in South Yarra). As with the movie it’s inspired by, you’ll start Hacksaw chained up and will have to solve some very creative riddles if you want to escape alive (don’t worry, for legal reasons all guests do escape alive).