St Kilda Beach

A popular getaway from central Melbourne for more than 100 years, St Kilda Beach has a thriving parkland foreshore called South Beach Reserve that’s dotted with outdoor restaurant terraces. Additional options can be found at the end of its long pier, whose breakwater creates the harbour and provides a home for a colony of little penguins.

Particularly busy on weekends and holidays, the promenade is well-used by walkers, rollerbladers, runners, and curio hunters who come for the Sunday Esplanade Makers Market. The offshore westerlies regularly attract wind and kite surfers to its waves. Despite this, St Kilda Beach is relatively well protected from direct ocean swells.

Stretching for around 700 metres of uninterrupted sand, the waters of St Kilda Beach have the highest cleanliness rating given by the state of Victoria’s environment authorities, although it does drop for around 24 hours after heavy rain.

St Kilda Beach can be reached from Melbourne’s Central Business District (CBD) by a short six-kilometre tram ride.