Queen Victoria Market

Why it matters

The Queen Victoria Market was officially opened on 20 March 1878, though traders were selling on the site before that, and the Meat Hall on Elizabeth Street dates from 1869. The Victorian Heritage Register describes it as the only major 19th-century market in Australia to survive intact and still trading. It was added to the National Heritage List in 2018.

Under part of the market lies Melbourne's first cemetery. The Old Melbourne Cemetery took burials from 1837 until 1854. About 10,000 people are thought to have been buried there, an estimate, since the records were lost in a fire in 1864. In 1920–22, 914 graves with monuments were moved; the remains of most of the others still lie beneath the open-air car park and some of the sheds. The market's own history notes that the site includes an Aboriginal historic place, and that the land was part of the estate of the Wurundjeri-willam clan of the Woi-wurrung people, of the Kulin Nation.

The market survived because Melburnians fought for it. Chinese, Greek and Italian market gardeners played a large part in its trade, and it kept its retail trade when the wholesale market moved to Footscray in 1969. In the early 1970s the council planned to redevelop the site; by February 1972 about 18,000 people had signed against it, and the plans were shelved in 1975.

That history explains what you find now. The open-sided sheds and the halls are 19th-century buildings, restored rather than replaced, and the market is part-way through a long programme of works. Ten of its twelve historic sheds have been restored. The car park is to become a public square, Market Square, though not before about 2028.

What it's like

We came in February 2026, with one easy change of tram inside the free city zone. It is an absolute leviathan of a market: fruit, fish, meat, cheese, clothes, the full spread, and shoppers packed shoulder to shoulder. We bought ice cream, and it took us far longer to get round than we expected.

The scale is the first thing to understand. The market's own figure is around seven hectares, about 17 acres, or roughly ten football pitches: two indoor food halls and a dozen long, open-sided sheds, lettered A to L, with more than 500 traders between them. The market calls itself the largest open-air market in the Southern Hemisphere. We found no independent measurement of that, but for a British comparison, Leeds Kirkgate Market, often called the largest covered market in Europe, is home to almost 200 independent businesses by Leeds City Council's own count.

It draws crowds to match. Before the pandemic the market counted more than 9.1 million visits a year, Melburnians and visitors together. Of those, Tourism Research Australia's surveys counted about 2.7 million tourists staying overnight in 2019, 1.2 million of them from overseas, which made it the fourth most visited attraction in Melbourne for that group. We found no more recent published count.

The market has two characters. The food is under cover in the halls: the Meat and Fish Hall, with its long lit counters of meat and seafood, and the Dairy Produce Hall, the deli, for cheese, smallgoods and deli food. Beyond them run the open-sided sheds, stall after stall of fruit and vegetables, and then the general merchandise: clothes, gifts, souvenirs and homewares.

Visitors' reviews describe the same mix of pleasures and frustrations. They praise the atmosphere, the range of food and the Wednesday night market. They complain about the crowds, the shortage of places to sit, the souvenir stalls that repeat one another, and prices that are not always marked. We found the seating problem for ourselves: after hours of walking, by lunchtime we were desperate for somewhere to sit, and it was hard to find. The food halls are where the market is at its best; the general-merchandise sheds are where opinions divide.

Weekend mornings are the busiest. Tuesday, Thursday and Friday mornings are the quietest, and the market's own guidance puts the calmest hours at 7 to 11am outside the school holidays.

What to do at the market

Most visitors simply walk, eat and shop on a market day. Three other ways to see it are worth knowing about: the night market on summer and Christmas Wednesdays, a guided tour that brings the traders and their food to you, and a free trail you can follow on your own through the old buildings.

The day market

Start with the food. In the Meat and Fish Hall and the Dairy Produce Hall you can buy for a picnic or a self-catering kitchen, or simply eat as you go. The deli stalls are known for cheese and smallgoods. Outside, the American Doughnut Kitchen van sells the hot jam doughnuts the market is famous for, and Time Out describes a queue that moves fast. There is a food court for something more substantial.

The shops along Victoria Street sell cookbooks and kitchenware. The general-merchandise sheds are best for cheap clothes, gifts and souvenirs. Do not expect to haggle; Time Out advised against it.

The Wednesday night market

On Wednesday evenings in season, when the day market is closed, the sheds fill with street-food stalls, pop-up bars, artisan stalls and live music. The night market began in 1998; the summer of 2025–26 was its 25th season. This season it is split into a short Christmas run and a longer summer run, and the winter version ran from June to August 2026. One family writer found it crowded by about 7pm, so come early.

A guided food tour

The market runs its own Ultimate Foodie Tour: about two hours on foot with tastings, the market's history and introductions to traders, in groups of about ten. Its two booking pages give different prices and days, from about A$95 to A$110 an adult, with a lower child price. Book ahead and check the price when you do.

The heritage trail

The market publishes a free self-guided heritage trail, a leaflet of eleven stops that turns a market morning into a walk through its history. It dates from 2019, and one stop, the organic aisle in I Shed, is inside a shed that is now closed. The rest can be seen on any market day.

Look at the Meat Hall, the oldest building on the site, whose later Elizabeth Street front carries a frieze of farm animals on the pediment, with the City of Melbourne's coat of arms on the iron gates, marking the market as the city's own. Inside, the Dairy Produce Hall is intact art deco, with marble counters chosen to keep the food cool and a brass plate in each shopfront from an old ventilation system. F Shed was built in 1878 as a barrier between the market and the cemetery, and C Shed stands on the line of a vanished street. One stop is on Peel Street, beside the old cemetery ground.

How to visit

When it is open

The market trades five days a week. It is closed on Mondays and on Wednesdays by day, and the Wednesday night markets run only in their seasons. Stalls open early; the specialty shops open at 9am.

Getting there

The market is on the north-west corner of the city centre, inside the Free Tram Zone, so the tram there costs nothing from anywhere inside the zone. Trams 19, 57 and 59 stop at the market on Elizabeth Street, and tram 58 on Peel Street; both stops are step-free. Flagstaff and Melbourne Central stations are about seven minutes' walk away. Our guide to getting around Melbourne explains the trams and fares.

If you drive, both car parks are entered from Queen Street. On market days parking is free from 6 to 9am, then A$8 for the first two hours and A$4 for each hour after, up to A$40 a day; on Wednesday night-market evenings it is A$15. The open-air car park closes at 7pm; the undercover one is open all hours.

Access, children and facilities

The site slopes gently down from Peel Street to Elizabeth Street. The Meat and Fish Hall can be entered step-free from both Elizabeth and Queen Streets. Wheelchairs can be borrowed free from the Information Hub on the corner of F Shed and Queen Street, first come, first served. There are accessible toilets in several places, and assistance animals are welcome.

With small children, the market is easiest on a weekday morning. One family writer found pushchairs hard going in the sheds and the Dairy Produce Hall at busy times. The market does not say where there is baby-change. A family room is planned in the new Trader Shed, with no date given. The market is free of plastic bags, so bring your own bag; trolleys can be hired. Bring some cash for the smaller stalls: we could not find the market's own statement on which stalls take cards.

Making the most of it

Nearby

The market is a short walk from the heart of Melbourne's city centre: down Elizabeth Street to the laneways and arcades, or across to Chinatown on Little Bourke Street for lunch. Our guide to where to eat in Melbourne puts a market morning and soup dumplings in Chinatown first for any visitor, and they make a good day together. Flagstaff Gardens, a few blocks south-west, is the nearest green space for a picnic.