St Kilda

St Kilda is located on Port Phillip Bay, approximately 10km south of the City. Since it’s a beachy area, there are many backpackers seeking sun, and an abundance of the fun activities associated with the beach - mainly eating, drinking and partying. During the summertime, the streets are alive with buskers, tourist and locals.

Once upon a time, St Kilda used to be the centre of the gay and lesbian community in Melbourne, and before that, notorious for street prostitution, which is still visible, but more on the back streets now. In the early 1990’s the area became gentrified, yuppies moved in and so did many of the shops, cafes, bars and restaurants.

There are two main streets in St Kilda. Fitzroy Street is ploughs into the beach, from St Kilda Road, while Acland Street is basically parallel, the beach connects both streets. The light rail (tram that has a dedicated track, instead of sharing it with cars on a road) goes directly here from the city, take number 91 from Bourke Street). You can walk, skate, blade or bike along the esplanade, as there are dedicated pavements for all these activities, and there is a great pier which goes on for what seems likes miles. This is good for the romantically inclined, those who want to burn some calories or if you just want to strut your stuff.

Fitzroy Street has many attractions, but nothing more fun than people watching. For some reason, this area attracts a lot of good looking people. Maybe it’s the beach, maybe it’s the bars, restaurants and clubs, maybe it’s just where they live. On the weekends, you’ll see the cafes full of people having a lazy brunch, reading the paper and walking their dogs. It feels like a neighbourhood where everyone knows everyone else’s name.

Some highlights of Fitzroy St are the great restaurants; some of the best in Melbourne are here, including Termini, Café di Stasio and Circa, at the Prince. You’ll need to book these ones early if you want to eat on a weekend. The restaurant, Pelican, is more relaxed and serves tapas and has friendly service and is very busy during the warmer weekends. There’s a cinema here, the George, and the Prince complex, which has a hotel, gig venue, pub, bar and a swank but great restaurant. Mink is not what it used to be, but it’s still a great place to feel like you know the nooks and crannies of St Kilda. Don’t worry about the door-bitch, they always have them there, even if there are no people inside. The Esplanade Hotel (the Espy) is as great gig venue and most nights, have a live band playing in the three designated areas, Front Bar, Gershwin room or the Public Bar. You can also have a meal here, which is great value for money, or just laze about in front of the huge bay windows overlooking the Bay.

Along the beach, there’s the Palais Theatre, which used to be a cinema, but now is predominately used for gigs. It’s attached to the Palace nightclub, which is the local retro trashy nightclub. On the next lot, there is Luna Park, a theme park in the grand old seaside theme park style. The rickety white timber rollercoaster is thrilling, but for the wrong reasons. This side has more casual dining, but with a couple of exceptions, there’s Cicciolina and the Stokehouse, which are the finer places to dine. The Vineyard Café (right next to Luna Park) is a popular place to have a drink and some tapas with your mates and the locals, good place to people watch too. For the tourists, this place is famous for the cake shops. Personally, I don’t think the cakes are good, in fact, I’d rather go to good restaurant and order the dessert, but some of them are ok. They are all about the same, but the window displays are impressive.

Each year, on the second Sunday in February, the St Kilda festival takes over the streets. There are huge music stadiums on the beach with free concerts all day and night, it’s a great street party, with all sorts enjoying the Melbournian summer.

St kilda Info

• LOCATION: 10km South, along Port Philip Bay
• TO GET THERE: Take the 91 tram from Bourke Street