Australia Independent Travel | Melbourne City Attractions | Queen Victoria Market | Seasonal Wednesday Night Market | A Market with Over a Century of History
Back when I was an exchange student in Europe, I often went to the local city markets to buy food and other goods. If you want to experience how the locals live, a trip to the market is a great choice.
- Address: Queen St, Melbourne VIC 3000
- Opening hours:
- Closed Monday and Wednesday
- Tuesday, Thursday, Friday 06:00–15:00
- Saturday 06:00–16:00
- Sunday 09:00–16:00
- Seasonal night market: Wednesday 17:00–22:00 (check the official website for dates)
- Official website：http://www.qvm.com.au/
🚃 Getting There
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| The entrance on Elizabeth St — this is the fresh produce and meat section |
Tram
Queen Victoria Market covers a large area, so there are quite a few tram stops that will get you there (entering from different entrances), and these stops are all within the Free Tram Zone, which is very convenient for tourists.
- Queen Victoria Market
- Queen Victoria Market/Peel St
- Peel St/Victoria St
Driving
There is plenty of parking too — two car parks in total. For details, check the official website:
🏞 Inside the Market
🥩 Fresh Produce & Meat Section
🥬 Fruit & Vegetable Section
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| The fresh vegetable section |
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| The fresh fruit section |
🏞 The Central Area
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| All sorts of quirky clothing... |
🍖 Daily Produce Hall
As mentioned earlier, there is a fair amount of ready-to-eat food scattered around the market, but most of it is concentrated in the Food Court — although when we visited, the Food Court with the seating area happened to be under renovation.
For prepared food, you can also head to the Daily Produce Hall area, where they sell cheese, hot dogs, coffee and more — you can definitely find something to eat here.
Bratwurst Shop & Co
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| There was a long queue that day too, but they serve up food quickly |
This is the queue-worthy star of Queen Victoria Market, selling German sausage rolls. There are many different sausage flavours to choose from, and you can add the toppings you want (some sauces cost extra).
Everyone online recommends this place, but personally I found it just so-so. The sausage was quite tasty, but the bread was dry — not a flavour I'd call great, especially since it isn't cheap (starting from AUD 10). It's up to you whether you want to give it a try.
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| A bratwurst roll with very tough bread |
Drago's
This place also sells German sausage rolls and has a shorter queue, and I'd seen people recommend it online. We originally wanted to buy from here, but the moment we saw a cockroach wandering across the counter, we gave up on the idea.
Other Outer Areas
The outer area also has plenty of small shops and cafés — for example, the famous Market Lane Coffee has one branch in the Daily Produce Hall and another on the outer edge. If you'd like to find a seat and enjoy a cup of coffee here, it's worth taking a stroll around the outer area.
American Doughnut Kitchen
This food van sells deep-fried doughnuts and has been in business since 1950. It's one of the must-eat treats at Queen Victoria Market — they sell out every day!
Once you step into the market, you'll spot this eye-catching van from far away, along with the queue of people out front.
They're different from the doughnuts we imagined — these are filled with jam and dusted with sugar on the outside, fried until crisp. Fresh out of the fryer they're really delicious, and impressively they aren't greasy at all, so you won't feel oily after just one. That day we bought a bag of five, and even the ones we ate after they'd gone cold were still pretty good. If you come to Queen Victoria Market and don't mind sweets, give them a try.
Another quirky thing: inside the market there was more than one stall promoting gin — not red or white wine, not whisky or beer, but gin, which is relatively less mainstream. I found that really interesting.
☀️ Summer Night Market
Every winter and summer there's a season-limited Wednesday night market. We visited at the tail end of summer and just caught the very last round of the Summer Night Market! Since it doesn't get dark in Melbourne until nearly 8pm in summer, the sky was still bright for almost half of the Night Market 😂
There are all kinds of food stalls here, and you'll see people grabbing their food and just finding somewhere to sit down and eat, or eating as they walk — it really feels like strolling through a night market in Taiwan (except for the prices)!
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| There are also quite a few stalls selling alcohol |
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| Lots of people simply sit on the ground — so relaxed and easygoing! |
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| The queues at every stall are pretty daunting — business is booming |
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| The meat was a bit dry... but let's call it an experience |
Queen Victoria Market is enormous, with over a thousand stalls in total. The whole place is fairly clean and comfortable to wander around. If your itinerary is as unhurried as ours was, I'd suggest picking a day to visit in the morning and another evening when the night market is on — not only to get a taste of local life, but also to see this century-old Queen Victoria Market for yourself!
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