You have to arrive through Port Phillip Bay to grasp the place the sea holds in Melbourne's history. Station Pier, where cruise ships moor, has been welcoming travellers since 1854: gold seekers, soldiers, and then hundreds of thousands of postwar migrants who set foot in Australia here for the first time. Disembarking here means coming through the same door they did — with, as a bonus, a creative metropolis of five million people less than half an hour away by tram.

Getting to the Heart of the City

From the terminal, a walk of a few hundred metres leads to the Beacon Cove stop, from where tram 109 speeds to the centre in about twenty minutes. Taxis and ride services round out the options. Good to know: the heart of the central business district is a zone where trams run free of charge, which makes a day of exploring easier. The local network is one of the largest tram networks in the world, and hopping on board is one of the local pleasures, just like a strong coffee.

The Laneways, a City Within the City

Melbourne reveals itself through its in-between spaces. Between the main avenues laid out in a grid in the 19th century, lanes and arcades slip in where the real life of the city beats:

• Hosier Lane, whose walls change face to the rhythm of the street artists;
• Block Arcade and Royal Arcade, Victorian galleries with carefully crafted mosaics;
• Degraves Street and its cafés packed tightly together, the realm of the baristas;
• Centre Place, a tiny passage where people eat lunch standing up amid the hubbub.

No official route links them all: you get lost, push open a door and start again. That is the local way of getting acquainted.

Around Federation Square

Facing Flinders Street Station, whose yellow domed façade has become the city's emblem, Federation Square gathers museums and cafés in angular architecture that is still debated — Melburnians love to argue about it. Nearby, the National Gallery of Victoria, the oldest public art museum in the country, deserves an hour if only for its great stained-glass ceiling. Across the Yarra, the Royal Botanic Gardens spread out their lawns, lakes and eucalyptus-lined paths a few minutes from the bustle: cockatoos put on a show without being asked, and the waterside paths offer a welcome break before diving back into the street grid.

The Belly of the Metropolis

At the Queen Victoria Market, an institution operating since the late 19th century, cheesemongers, fishmongers and greengrocers carry on the spirit of the market halls beneath long glass roofs. You can put together a formidable picnic here — Australian cheeses, jam doughnuts famous throughout the city — before heading to the banks of the Yarra to enjoy it. The local food scene, nourished by waves of Greek, Italian, Vietnamese and Chinese immigration, has long since outgrown comparisons: it embraces its own style, relaxed and demanding.

Time to Head Back

Tram 109 brings you back toward Port Melbourne facing the setting sun, as the bay takes on pewter hues. On the beach next to the pier, locals walk their dogs where migrant liners once docked. There are a few minutes left to take stock of what made this day special: Melbourne doesn't try to dazzle with a single gesture. It distils — a coffee, a laneway, a market — and it is as you walk back up the gangway that you realize how much it has poured out.