Queen Victoria Market

Queen Victoria Market has been trading since it officially opened in March 1878 and covers more than seven hectares on the northern edge of the city centre. It is listed on both the Victorian Heritage Register and the Australian National Heritage List, and it remains a working food market rather than a museum piece, with fresh produce, meat, seafood and deli traders alongside general merchandise.

The market is laid out in a series of open sheds and older halls. The produce sheds hold fruit, vegetables and organic growers, while the Meat and Fish Hall, on the corner of Elizabeth and Victoria Streets, dates back to a brick building of 1867 and has a facade completed in 1884. The Dairy Produce Hall is the other indoor hall to look for, and deli foods are one of the market's main categories. The general merchandise stalls sell household goods and health and beauty products, and there are specialty traders selling coffee and tea, flowers and plants.

The site has an unusual history. Part of the market was built over the Old Melbourne Cemetery, the city's first British burial ground, and around 914 bodies were exhumed and reburied between 1920 and 1922 when the later sheds were laid out on the cleared land. Some sheds were built in response to growing trade after the market opened, and a 1970s plan to replace the market with a trade centre was not carried out, partly because of a green ban. Solar panels were added to the roofs in 2003.

The market trades on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays from 6am to 3pm, Saturdays from 6am to 4pm and Sundays from 9am to 4pm, with specialty shopping opening at 9am on each market day. It is closed on Mondays and Wednesdays outside special events, so check the website before planning a visit around it, especially around public holidays.

The market runs its own tours, including educational tours for groups, and details are on its website. There is also an online shop with delivery and click-and-collect if you want to take something away without carrying it around all day. There is also a seasonal Night Market, which has its own website with dates.

The address is 65-159 Victoria Street. Allow an hour or two for a walk through the sheds and halls, longer if you plan to eat your way round. State Library Victoria and the Old Melbourne Gaol are both in the northern part of the city grid, so the market fits easily into the same morning.