Queen Victoria Market, Melbourne, Guida per visitatori e cosa fare nei dintorni

Queen Victoria Market is a large open-air and covered market in Melbourne, Australia, on the edge of the city centre at Elizabeth and Victoria streets. It has traded since the 1800s and is one of the biggest markets of its kind in the Southern Hemisphere. Locals shop here for fresh produce, and visitors come for the food, the heritage sheds and the atmosphere.

The story behind it

The market sits on land that was once the Old Melbourne Cemetery, used for burials from the city's earliest years in the 1830s and 1840s. When the cemetery closed, the site was reused for markets, and the Queen Victoria Market took its name and opened in 1878. Many graves were never fully cleared, so parts of the market stand over the old burial ground. A memorial on the site recalls this.

Over the following decades the market grew into a collection of long sheds and halls, each with its own trade, such as meat and fish, fruit and vegetables, and dairy and deli produce. Many of these historic buildings still stand and the market is protected for its heritage value. It has stayed a working market rather than a museum piece.

What to look for

• The long open sheds with their pitched roofs, where fruit and vegetable stalls line up in rows under the old iron-framed canopies.
• The Meat and Fish Hall, with its high ceiling and its traditional butchers and fishmongers at work.
• The Deli Hall, where cheeses, cured meats, olives and pastries are piled up in the stalls.
• The memorial to the Old Melbourne Cemetery, a quiet reminder that the market stands on a former burial ground.

Tips for your visit

• Walking in is free, but the market does not open every day of the week, so check current opening days before you go.
• Go early in the day if you want the best choice of produce and fewer crowds. Allow at least an hour, or longer if you plan to eat your way through the food stalls.
• Bring a bag and some small change, as many stalls are happy with cash and you will want to carry things around.
• Trams run along Elizabeth Street and the edge of the city grid is a short walk away, so it combines easily with a stroll through the nearby streets.

Explore it on a quest

Seeing the market is better when you have a route and something to look for. Questo offers self-guided quests across the city, where the app leads you on foot from place to place, tells you about each stop and sets a puzzle in what is in front of you. Browse the quests in Melbourne to find a walk that suits you, then start whenever you like, with no guide and no group to join.