Three days in Melbourne can go by in a flash — there’s so much to see and do! You can read about our adventures on Day 1 and Day 2 in other posts, but for our final set of adventures, here’s our Melbourne itinerary Day 3.

We started our morning with another delicious breakfast at Queen Victoria Market. From there, we headed south using the free City Circle Tram (don’t miss this fun, hop-on, hop-off travel service). Then we hopped off and walked down St. Kilda Road …

… and over the Yarra River.

Our plan for the day ahead featured only two attractions — one museum and one garden — but both were so large that they easily filled many hours.

National Gallery of Victoria (NGV International)

This is the Grand Dame of Melbourne’s museums, the oldest and most popular art museum in all of Australia. The NGV has earned this status for good reason; it boasts an impressive collection of Asian and European art, plus smatterings from elsewhere in the world.

We were lucky that our visit coincided with the NGV’s Alexander McQueen “Mind, Mythos, Muse” exhibition — an excellent example of the museum’s high-quality rotating shows. Say what you like about McQueen himself, but there’s no denying that he was a genius as a designer.

A few practical pointers:

• The NGV is enormous — we spent a full three hours exploring the galleries and gave most of them far less than their due.
• Aside from certain special exhibitions, the NGV is free.
• You can check the official NGV website for hours and visit planning.
• If you’re looking for Australian works, note that most are housed a few blocks north at the Ian Potter Centre: NGV Australia.
• The NGV sits in the middle of a food desert. If you want to eat outside of the museum (which we did), you may find yourself engaged in unrewarding wandering.

Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria

The Royal Botanic Gardens are giant — spread out across 94 acres, they seem to go on forever. We walked and walked and walked some more, admiring everything from elaborately tall trees to prickly cacti to unusual outbuildings.

Make sure to visit the Ornamental Lake …

… and Fern Gully, both of which are beautiful.

I would give Guilfoyle’s Volcano a miss; we thought the idea of seeing a volcano sounded romantic, but it turns out not to be all that interesting.

One thing we did love was the temporary MPavillon, a great example of Melbourne’s ever-changing, ever-amazing arts scene. The garden hosts a mix of cultural offerings, including films, theater productions, and audio series.

All of that will make for a very full day. If you’re following this itinerary, plan to spend at least three hours at the NGV, plus at least two hours at the Royal Botanic Gardens.

After a rest at our hotel, we headed out to dinner at La Cabra, which serves excellent and inexpensive Mexican food. We went to bed happy and full, but also knowing that we were going to miss all of the amazing art and culture of Melbourne!

Continuing your Melbourne trip? You can start at the beginning with Day 1, or take a look at Day 2 before wrapping things up here.