Southbank Melbourne Layover: Skydeck and NGV
Part of the full Melbourne Layover: Arcades and Trams From MEL
Southbank runs along the south bank of the Yarra opposite central Melbourne, with the Skydeck on level 88 of Eureka Tower at one end, the National Gallery of Victoria’s water wall and the Arts Centre’s lattice spire on St Kilda Road, and eight gas towers on the promenade that fire on the hour after dark.
The Edge, a glass cube that slides out of Eureka Tower
Eureka Tower went up on Riverside Quay between 2002 and 2006, 297 metres and 91 floors of apartments by Fender Katsalidis, and everything about its colouring is a reference to the Eureka Stockade of 1854, the goldfields rebellion it is named after. The gold-plated crown at the top is the gold rush, the red stripe cutting through it is the blood spilt, the blue glass is the ground of the Eureka Flag and the white lines across it are the flag’s cross, doubling as the markings on a surveyor’s staff.
Melbourne Skydeck is level 88, at 285 metres. The Edge is the add-on people queue for: a glass cube that pushes three metres clear of the building with you inside it, opaque while it is moving and turning clear only once it is fully out. Entry at the door costs about 15 percent more than the online rate, so a ticket bought ahead through a tours and activities platform is the cheaper way up.
The lift lobby and the deck itself are standing-room spaces with no cloakroom and nowhere along the glass to put anything down, which is worth knowing before you carry a suitcase up 88 floors and spend the visit holding it.
The water wall at the National Gallery of Victoria’s entrance
Roy Grounds finished the gallery at 180 St Kilda Road in 1968: a long bluestone box with a single arched opening in the middle of the facade, and in that opening a sheet of water running down plate glass from ceiling to floor. It is there to be touched, and most people going in put a hand through it on the way past.
General admission costs nothing and the doors are open 10am to 5pm daily. Inside, the Great Hall’s ceiling is a field of stained glass laid flat overhead by Leonard French, finished the same year as the building, and the floor under it is carpeted so that people lie on their backs and look up. Only the big touring exhibitions charge, and those are ticketed separately from the collection.
The Arts Centre’s lattice spire over St Kilda Road
A white steel lattice spire stands over the theatres building on St Kilda Road, 162 metres above the street with a ten-metre mast on top of that. The present one was completed on 12 January 1996, replacing an earlier version on the same footing, and it is lit at night by thousands of metres of optic fibre.
Underneath it sit the State Theatre, the Playhouse and the Fairfax Studio, with Hamer Hall and the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra in the round building nearer the river. There is usually something on in one of them at lunchtime, and the foyers are open to walk through whether or not you have a ticket.
Eight gas towers on Southbank Promenade fire on the hour
The promenade runs the full river frontage from Princes Bridge west past Crown, restaurant tables on one side and the water on the other, and it is flat the whole way. Eight ten-metre towers stand along the Crown stretch and release fireballs on the hour once it is dark: the first show is at 9pm from 1 December, 8pm from 1 March, 6pm from 1 April and 8pm from 1 October, and the last is at midnight most nights, 1am on Fridays and Saturdays. A total fire ban across Victoria’s Central Region cancels them outright.
Halfway along, the Evan Walker Bridge crosses to Flinders Street, and a staircase drops from the middle of the span onto the bridge’s mid-river pier, where a bar called Ponyfish Island has been trading since 2010. It opens at 11am, takes walk-ins only, and is the one place on this side of the river where you are sitting in the Yarra rather than beside it.
Getting back across the river and out to the airport
Nothing on Southbank is inside the free tram zone, which ends at Flinders Street and the river, so a tram along St Kilda Road or across Princes Bridge needs a fare. Walking is quicker anyway: five minutes over Princes Bridge or the Evan Walker Bridge puts you at Flinders Street, and about fifteen more west along Flinders Street reaches the coach terminal at Southern Cross Station.
The SkyBus Melbourne City Express to Melbourne Airport (MEL) goes from Bay 75 there, from about 4am to 1am, every 10 minutes at peak and every 15 outside it, for A$25.90 one way. The ride averages 30 minutes and closer to 45 in the morning and evening peaks. If the sunset slot at the top of the tower is what you came for, work backwards from that: the fireballs and the last lift down leave very little room before a 10pm departure, and the arcades and market on the north side of the river are a better fit for an afternoon that has to end early.
Frequently asked questions
What should I do during a layover near Southbank in Melbourne?
Start high and work down to the water. Melbourne Skydeck occupies level 88 of Eureka Tower at 285 metres, and it is the one stop here that wants a ticket held in advance. The National Gallery of Victoria on St Kilda Road is free to walk into and its water wall is out front before you even pay attention to the collection, and the Arts Centre's lattice spire stands a minute further along the same road. Southbank Promenade runs the whole length of the river frontage below all three, and after dark eight gas towers on it fire on the hour.
Is Southbank inside Melbourne's free tram zone?
No. The zone stops at Flinders Street and the river, so everything on the south bank, Southbank Promenade, the Arts Centre, the National Gallery of Victoria and St Kilda Road, sits outside it. A tram across Princes Bridge needs a myki fare card touched on, which is why most people walk it: the crossing from Flinders Street to the promenade takes about five minutes on foot and costs nothing.
When do the fireballs at Southbank go off?
On the hour after dark, from eight towers standing along the promenade outside Crown. The first show of the evening moves with the season: 9pm from 1 December, 8pm from 1 March, 6pm from 1 April and 8pm from 1 October. The last one fires at midnight Sunday to Thursday and 1am on Fridays, Saturdays and the night before a public holiday. They do not run on days of total fire ban for Victoria's Central Region, or when the weather is against them.
When is the best time to go up Melbourne Skydeck?
Half an hour before sunset, which gets you the city in daylight, the sun going down over Port Phillip Bay and the lights coming on, all in one visit. The trade-off is the queue for the lifts, which builds through the late afternoon for exactly that reason, and the door price runs about 15 percent above the online one. Buying entry before you get there is worth it on price alone. Allow about 45 minutes upstairs, more if you add The Edge.