Melbourne rewards a thin wallet better than almost any city its size: state-funded galleries and libraries charge nothing, the CBD tram zone is fare-free, and the best meals come from market stalls and Chinatown canteens rather than white tablecloths.
Twenty-six hectares of elm avenues laid out in 1848, open 24 hours with no gate or fee. The Conservatory's five annual flower displays, Ola Cohn's 1932 Fairies Tree carving and the Model Tudor Village all cost nothing.
Free entry since 1856. The octagonal La Trobe Reading Room seats 320 readers under a 34-metre glass dome, and the Victoria Gallery upstairs displays Ned Kelly's actual 1880 armour. Open 10:00-18:00, Thursdays to 21:00.
Victoria's 1934 war memorial, modelled on the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus, charges nothing. Descend into the Galleries of Remembrance, then climb to the Balcony for an uninterrupted sightline north up Swanston Street to the CBD towers.
Free parkland wrapped around the 1880 Royal Exhibition Building, the first building in Australia given UNESCO World Heritage listing. The French parterre, Hochgurtel Fountain and double elm avenues catch low light, and the grounds never close.
Seven hectares trading since 1878. The cheap wins: a $2.20 spinach borek in the Deli Hall, hot jam doughnuts from American Doughnut Kitchen at roughly $6 for five, and produce sellers shouting dollar-a-bag clearances after 14:00.
Ten minutes west of Southern Cross on the Werribee line. Nhu Lan Bakery on Hopkins Street sells crackling pork banh mi for about $8, while the market's Vietnamese, Chinese and East African stalls trade under one tin roof.
Melbourne's original Vietnamese strip runs 1.5km of pho houses, grocers and sugarcane juice carts, reached on tram 109. A large bowl at Thanh Ha 2 or Pho Chu The costs $14-16, and a ca phe sua da adds about $5.
A Chinatown dumpling canteen serving until 21:30 or later. Twelve pan-fried pork sheng jian bao or a bowl of hand-pulled noodles lands between $12 and $16, ordered from a tablet at the table with no service charge.
Route 96 tram from Bourke Street runs to the sand for a $5.50 two-hour Myki fare. The 700-metre foreshore, the free outdoor gym rings and the 1920s Catani Arch are all ungated, and swimming costs nothing year-round.
Luna Park's 1912 Mr Moon face is free to photograph from the Lower Esplanade gates. Two blocks on, Acland Street's Jewish-Viennese cake shops — Monarch, trading since 1934, and Le Bon — sell kugelhopf slices for $6-8.
Eighty-two Victorian-era boxes line the sand, all timber, all hand-painted, all privately owned and none open to the public. Free to walk among; take the Sandringham line to Middle Brighton, then 1.2km downhill on Male Street.
Roughly 1,400 little penguins nest in the bluestone breakwater and swim back at dusk. Earthcare volunteers staff the boardwalk nightly with red-filtered torches, viewing is free, and the CBD skyline lights up across the bay.