Mention about tourist attractions in Melbourne Australia, you might not know Block Arcade, Royal Arcade, Federation Square, Emporium or Eureka Sky Tower 88, but surely, you heard about Queen Victoria Market (QVM) before.
What make it so special, and why you should put it into your must-go attraction when visiting Melbourne? Read on.
1. The market is more than 100-years old. Specifically, turning 140 years in 2018.
Queen Victoria Market began its operation since 1859, flourishing the city of Melbourne as an important market place for over a century.
2. Queen Victoria Market is listed in Victorian Heritage Register
It is now included under Victorian Heritage Register, a move to recognize its historical value and heritage significance .
3. Queen Victoria Market is the largest open-air market in Southern Hemisphere.
Besides being a heritage rich landmark in Australia, QVM also prides as the largest open air market in Southern Hemisphere, covering an area of 7 hectar. A reason that is strong enough to lure us for a visit. =D
Travel tips: Queen Victoria Market opens for 5 days a week in general. Closed on Monday and Wednesday. So plan your trip ahead.
4. The market has over 600 shops for your shopping & dining experience
It houses more than 600 retailers across its two main blocks, Big enough to make you spend a half day here~
Upper Market bound by Franklin Street, Peel Street, Victoria Street, and Queen Street
Lower Market bound by Queen Street, Victoria Street, Elizabeth Street and Therry Street
5. Great place for wholesale, leisure and specialty shopping
So whether you are here for fresh vegetables, seasonal fruits, artisan cheese, meat & poultry, seafood, clothing, jewellery, kitchenwares, deli, beer, wine, coffee, etc., Queen Victoria Market has them all under-one-roof. It fits well for wholesale, leisure and specialty shopping.
All kinds of fruits and vegetables
Pastries
Hello flowers. #EndlessLove
Awww…all the meats!
And all seafoods are so fresh!
Travel tips: Go early, as it can be crowded especially during weekend. Not too early though, as most shops open after 9AM.
6. Queen Victoria Market is a clean, organized-market (can refer https://qvm.com.au/shops-and-stalls/)
Another thing we love about this place is, it is clean and well-organized.
This is especially easy for shoppers who are looking for specific items. Such as, if you are looking for sausages, look for the Deli Hall. For cheese, go to Dairy Hall. For Meat & seafood, check out Meat & Fish Hall.
They even have a map in the website. So if you have special items to source on, you might want to go through the map and pin the location of the hall you want to go to avoid confusion, as it is not a small market.
Travel tips: It is advisable to read the map. This is the mistake we did as we didn’t go through the map, not even once. Ended up walking aimlessly in a rather big market and wasted quite a lot of time.
7. QVM is a food mecca for food lovers
We spent some time figuring out the structure of the market, but thankfully, the signs and directions are clear. We managed to reach the Deli Hall and bought the famous gourmet sausages.
Big fat juicy bratwurst with lots of cheese and saurkraut! Nice sausage, but forget the bread. Lol.
Look at the array of mouth-watering tarts, pastries, breads, roasted chicken, gourmet sandwiches, burgers, chocolate that stretch out throughout the food court and dairy hall!
All looks so tempting. Too much food, too little stomach space.
8. Get Your Jam-Filled Doughnut from the American Doughnut Kitchen
The highly recommended doughnut in Queen Victoria Market. There’s always queue seen at this charming American Doughnut Kitchen van but it doesn’t take you long to get a packet of fresh, pipping hot sugar-coat doughnut, AUD6 for 5.
Fluffy and doughy soft, scores on freshness. It is filled with strawberry jam. But if you are looking forward to oozing-jam, you might be disappointed as the filling is quite miserable.
9. Find the famous Market Lane Coffee
Market Lane coffee, one of the main reasons that led us here. Therry Street has relocated to Elizabeth Street but not too sure why we couldn’t find it even after walking back and forth for few rounds. #Sad
Ended up at their kiosk at Dairy Hall inside Queen Victoria Market. People here is very friendly! Love their current coffee blend too. It has a subtle floral hint!
10. Cafe vibes in next to Elizabeth Street
Our favourite street in Queen Victoria Market. There’s a whole row of cafes with lovely breakfast & brunch menu. Coffee, egg benedict, scrambled egg on toast – fuel up before your morning shopping in the market.
Overall review: While many says that Queen Victoria Market is way too tourist-y, we still find this a very nice market to visit, especially for first timer to Melbourne like us. It is very easy to reach, plenty of things to see, many food to eat.
We bought only a KG of oranges here, so we aren’t too sure if price for things here are considered reasonable or expensive. We suggest to spend a half day here, as it is quite fun to feel the market vibes! Very different from markets we went to in Malaysia, Japan and Korea.
If you prefer to shop like locals, markets in sub-urb such as Prahran Market and South Melbourne Market are good options. We hope to visit these two next time too.
How to go Queen Victoria Market?
Queen Victoria Market is located within the Free Tram Zone of Melbourne CBD. Good for tourists like us, as we can reach the market for free from the city centre easily.
Just look for:
1. Tram 19, 57 or 59, go down at Stop 7, Elizabeth St
2. Tram 58, go down at Stop 9, Peel St.
Address:
Queen Victoria Market
Corner of Elizabeth & Victoria Streets,
Melbourne 3000 Australia.
Business Hours:
Specialty Shopping:
Monday: Closed
Tuesday: 8am – 2pm
Wednesday: Closed
Thursday: 8am – 2pm
Friday: 8am – 3pm
Saturday: 8am – 3pm
Sunday: 9am – 4pm
Market Produce:
Monday: Closed
Tuesday: 6am – 2pm
Wednesday: Closed
Thursday: 6am – 2pm
Friday: 6am – 5pm
Saturday: 6am – 3pm
Sunday: 9am – 4pm
