Overview
The water is Port Phillip Bay, so it is flat rather than surf, and the sand runs from the pier south past kite-surfers to Elwood. Behind the foreshore, Acland Street keeps the cake shops of the postwar Jewish community and Fitzroy Street the bars. The suburb has been Melbourne’s seaside since the 1860s and still carries that mix of faded resort and inner city.
Highlights
The pier walk ends at the kiosk and the penguin colony on the rock breakwater; volunteers guide viewing after sunset and ask that no flash is used. Luna Park, open since 1912, still runs the Scenic Railway, one of the oldest operating wooden coasters in the world. The Esplanade Sunday market sets up along the foreshore with local craft.