Laneways are perhaps the most unique thing Melbourne has to offer in terms of tourist attractions. In the city, there are tons of laneways in between buildings that are lined with cafés, shops or graffiti art. They are usually not very wide, and are sometimes quite hidden.
If you want to go to a laneway with hole in the wall type cafés, Degraves Street or Centre Place are the ones to visit. The best time to go is for breakfast or lunch (or brunch!), as most of them close before dinnertime. It’s also typical Melbourne style to just pop in one of the cafés for a coffee and sit in the laneway to people watch! If you want to get the true experience, I’d definitely recommend going through as many laneways as you can.
Below is a picture of Degraves Street – you can see how cramped it is!
Street art in Melbourne is legal, and the government allows it as long as it is an artistic piece. Unwanted graffiti, such as a scrawled name, is illegal and the government of Melbourne removes this kind. If you want to see the beautiful and legal graffiti art in laneways, AC/DC lane is your best bet. It has beautiful murals of tons of different things, including the famous rock band it’s named after. Hosier Lane also has some wonderful street art, and it’s definitely worth checking out. However, there’s graffiti all over the city, and any alley you duck into is bound to have some kind of art.
This is one of my favorite (funny) pieces of street art:
