The Best Markets in Melbourne to Get Lost in Every Weekend

Celebrating local artisans, makers, collectors and artists, Melbourne’s market scene offers a rich bounty of clothing, accessories, and homewares, from pre-loved threads to upcycled gems. What’s more, you’ll save a tonne of cash, support local businesses and do your bit for the environment.

So, after brunch this weekend, why not skip the usual shopping haunts and head straight to the best markets in Melbourne instead? We guarantee the weekend pilgrimage is well worth the trek.

The Best Farmers Markets in Melbourne

Slow Foodscray

Footscray has always understood that the best way to get to know a neighbourhood is by eating through it, preferably with something hot in one hand and a tote bag steadily filling in the other. Slow Foodscray arrives in Maddern Square this September with 30-plus stalls spanning takoyaki, crêpes, momos, gözleme, pastries, Victorian produce, pickles, spice pastes and sourdough, alongside live music and family activities. Run with Slow Food Melbourne, it returns on the first Sunday of every month, putting growers, street food and the neighbourhood’s many food cultures in the middle of Footscray CBD.

When: First Sunday of every month, 10am–2pm
Where: Maddern Square and Nicholson Street Mall, Footscray
Entry: Gold-coin donation

Regional Farmers Market at Abbotsford Convent

There are worse Saturday-morning habits than arriving at the Abbotsford Convent with an empty basket and leaving with it nudging against your knees. On the second Saturday of every month, more than 45 Victorian farmers and producers spread out across the grounds with whatever the season has been generous enough to provide: fruit and vegetables, cheese and dairy, bread, preserves, condiments, honey and something sweet for the walk home. The stallholders change with the month, which is half the pleasure, and the Convent gardens make a particularly lovely place to eat whatever never quite makes it into the basket.

When: Second Saturday of every month, 9am–2pm
Where: Abbotsford Convent precinct, 1 St Heliers Street, Abbotsford
Entry: $2, with proceeds supporting Abbotsford Convent
Good to know: More than 45 stallholders; outdoor areas are wheelchair accessible

Carlton Farmers Market

There is something deeply satisfying about doing the week’s shopping in a schoolyard, coffee in hand, while somebody else’s dog strains hopefully towards the cheese stall and children disappear towards the playground. Every Saturday, Carlton Farmers Market takes over Carlton North Primary School with Victorian farmers and producers carrying whatever is particularly good that week: tomatoes still smelling of the vine, apples, mushrooms, eggs, wheels of cheese, sourdough, honey, olive oil, pastries and cuts of meat destined to decide Sunday dinner for you. Bring several bags. One is never enough.

When: Every Saturday, 8am–1pm
Where: Carlton North Primary School, O’Grady Street entrance, Carlton North
Entry: Voluntary $2 donation, card only
Good to know: Dogs are welcome on leash, there’s a playground and outdoor seating, and the stallholder list changes weekly.

Slow Food Melbourne Farmers Markets

Some markets are for grazing; these are for knowing exactly who grew the tomatoes. Slow Food Melbourne’s long-running farmers markets bring Victorian growers, bakers, cheesemakers and small producers to West Footscray and Spotswood each month, with eggs, bread, honey, preserves, fruit, vegetables and whatever else the season has decided to send along. There are no mystery middlemen here: the person behind the table is usually the person who grew, baked, bottled or fermented what is sitting on it, which makes asking questions part of the shopping.

SloFo WeFo
When: Second Saturday of every month, 9am–1pm
Where: Johnson Reserve, 154 Essex Street, West Footscray

Slow Food Spotswood Farmers Market
When: Last Saturday of every month, 9am–1pm
Where: Spotswood Primary School, 600 Melbourne Road, Spotswood

Sitchu Tip: Stallholders rotate with the seasons, with a strong focus on Victorian produce and food sold directly by the people who grow or make it.

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The Best Night Markets in Melbourne

Stay Soft Night Market

By mid-afternoon, the Collingwood Yards courtyard has changed personality. Clothes rails appear under the brick arches, records are being thumbed through, somebody is getting a stick-and-poke tattoo and a local designer is selling something you’ll almost certainly ask about later when they become enormous. Stay Soft Night Market corrals 70-plus independent makers, bakers, collectors and vintage sellers into one very Collingwood evening, with jewellery, recycled fashion, books and homewares alongside food, local wine, tinnies and music. It can be dinner, drinks and shopping all at once, which is a rather brilliant use of a Saturday.

When: Monthly; next market Saturday 12 September 2026, 2–9pm
Where: Collingwood Yards, 35 Johnston Street, Collingwood
Entry: Free
Good to know: Stay Soft keeps the stall mix deliberately independent, prioritising original, vintage, recycled and upcycled goods over mass-produced resale. Collingwood Yards has step-free access to the courtyard and accessible toilets.

Soul Night Market

There is a point on a warm Brighton evening when Green Point Reserve starts turning gold, the city sits hazy across the bay and suddenly dinner from a food truck feels like an excellent life choice. Soul Night Market returns through summer with more than 60 makers and food stalls scattered across the headland, spanning jewellery, art, fashion and homewares alongside street food, cocktails, wine and live soul music. Take something to sit on and stay for sunset; this is one market that improves as the light disappears.

When: Third Friday of November, January, February and March, 5–9pm
Where: Green Point Reserve, Esplanade, Brighton Beach
Good to know: Brighton Beach Station is directly opposite, with paid and street parking nearby.

Coburg Night Market

Coburg saves one of its biggest market nights for that strange, lovely pocket of December when nobody quite knows what day it is and dinner outdoors becomes the obvious answer. For three days, Coburg Night Market spreads through Bridges Reserve with street food smoking away under the trees, local artists and makers, pop-up bars, DJs and bands carrying on as daylight slips out of the park. Come hungry, find a patch of grass and allow the Christmas shopping to happen somewhere between dinner and the next song.

When: Thursday 17 and Friday 18 December, 5–10pm; Saturday 19 December 2026, 2–10pm
Where: Bridges Reserve, Bell Street, Coburg
Good to know: Entry is free; the 2026 food, maker and music line-up is still to be announced.

The Best Makers Markets in Melbourne

Melbourne Makers’ Market

For seven years, Melbourne walked around this particular piece of Swanston Street behind hoardings. Now City Square is back, trains are arriving underneath it, and from September there will be ceramics on top. Melbourne Makers’ Market launches with up to 40 emerging artists and designers chosen by the Rose Street Artists’ Market team, spanning sculptural ceramics, fine jewellery, textiles, prints, fashion and small-run design. The scale is intentional: fewer stalls, no resellers and a completely new line-up selected each month, which feels rather right for a city square learning how to be a city square again.

When: Selected Saturdays each month, 10am–3pm. Launches 19 September 2026
Where: City Square, Swanston Walk, Melbourne CBD
Entry: Free
Good to know: Each edition features up to 40 curated makers. Upcoming markets include a Melbourne Fringe edition on 31 October, Kraft Werks on 28 November and a Twilight Christmas Market on Friday 18 December. Town Hall Station opens directly onto the square.

Younghusband Market

There are buildings that make you want to know what they were doing before you arrived, and Younghusband, all red brick, old wool pulleys and cavernous rooms that once held some of Victoria’s finest fleeces, is one of them. More than 120 years later, the historic Kensington woolstore spends the third Saturday of each month filled with an entirely different cargo, as the team behind The Rose Street Artists’ Market gathers independent makers selling ceramics, jewellery, fashion, prints, art and beautiful objects you had absolutely no intention of buying until five minutes ago. There’s food, music and room to wander, and because the whole thing is undercover, Melbourne weather is welcome to do whatever it likes.

When: Third Saturday of every month, 10am–3pm
Where: Younghusband, 2/50 Elizabeth Street, Kensington
Good to know: The market is completely undercover, with on-street parking nearby. Melbourne Farmers Market also hosts separate brunch markets at Younghusband on selected Sundays.

Southbank Makers Market

The Yarra does a lot of the staging here. Southbank Makers Market runs along the river promenade beneath Southgate, with Melbourne makers setting out ceramics, jewellery, illustration, art and homewares against the slightly surreal Sunday backdrop of rowers on the water, buskers on the pavement and the city rising directly opposite. It moved here after years beside Arts Centre Melbourne, and the new position suits it: less destination shopping, more something discovered halfway through a walk that was supposedly headed elsewhere.

When: Sundays, 10am–4pm
Where: Southgate Promenade, between Evan Walker Bridge and Princes Bridge, Southbank
Entry: Free
Good to know: The market is currently running through winter and into spring; it will not operate on Sunday 13 September 2026 due to Connor’s Run.

Kensington Market

Kensington Market has the lovely feeling of having been organised by people who actually live nearby, which, in this case, it has. Once a month, the old Kensington Town Hall fills with ceramics, knitted things, jewellery, prints, children’s clothes, soaps, candles, homemade treats and all the other small objects that make a Sunday disappear rather nicely, with live music somewhere in the background and coffee doing its essential work. It has been supporting local makers since 2015, and the grand old hall, with its high ceilings and slightly improbable sense of occasion, makes even buying a new mug feel like an event.

When: Selected Sundays each month, 10am–3pm
Where: Kensington Town Hall, 30–34 Bellair Street, Kensington
Entry: Free
Good to know: The market is indoors and accessible, and Kensington and Newmarket stations are both nearby. Check the official calendar before heading out, as some 2026 dates fall outside the usual third-Sunday pattern.

Rose Street Artists’ Market

The best thing about Rose Street Artists’ Market is that the person standing behind the table usually knows exactly how the thing on it came into existence. Since 2003, the former Fitzroy junkyard has spent its weekends in the hands of artists and designers, with up to 120 makers showing ceramics still bearing fingerprints, hand-cut jewellery, paintings, prints, fashion and pieces made in studios scattered across Melbourne. Questions are encouraged, commissions are possible and occasionally a five-minute chat about a vase becomes a surprisingly detailed education in glazing temperatures.

When: Every Saturday and Sunday, 10am–4pm
Where: 60 Rose Street, Fitzroy
Entry: Free
Good to know: Around 120 makers can appear across a weekend, and you can commission or buy works directly from many of the artists themselves. Tram routes 11 and 96 stop nearby.

Finders Keepers Market

Once the doors open at the Royal Exhibition Building, scale becomes the story. Finders Keepers puts more than 230 independent designers and makers beneath that enormous nineteenth-century dome, their stalls running from small-batch ceramics and jewellery to textiles, art, fashion, stationery and furniture. It has been doing this for 18 years, long before “shop small” became a useful caption, and part of its staying power is the sheer concentration of good design: tiny labels beside established studios, new graduates beside people who have been returning for years.

When: 9–11 October 2026; returns in July 2027
Where: Royal Exhibition Building, 9 Nicholson Street, Carlton
Entry: $7 daily or $10 weekend pass; children under 13 free
Good to know: Sunday begins with a low-sensory hour at 9am. The market is indoors, wheelchair accessible and entirely on one level.

Heide Makers’ Market

The stalls at Heide Makers’ Market have some fairly serious competition for attention: McGlashan Everist architecture, sculpture appearing between gum trees and the museum itself sitting just beyond the lawns. On market Saturdays, around 120 independent artists and designers join the landscape with ceramics, jewellery, textiles, art and small-run homewares, turning the sculpture park into something between an exhibition and an outdoor shop. Hot food appears among the makers too, and the grass has more than enough room for lunch afterwards.

When: Second Saturday of the month, 10am–3pm, September to May
Where: Heide Museum of Modern Art Sculpture Park, 7 Templestowe Road, Bulleen
Entry: Free to the market and sculpture park; museum admission separate
Good to know: Dogs are welcome on leash, parking is limited on site and in adjoining Banksia Park, and the market pauses over winter.

St Kilda Esplanade Market

For more than half a century, Sunday mornings on the Upper Esplanade have involved a long line of white marquees facing Port Phillip Bay. St Kilda Esplanade Market began in 1970 and now counts 131 stalls, with painters, jewellers, ceramicists, leatherworkers, knitters and other craftspeople selling work they have made themselves. The distinction matters here; this is not imported souvenir territory. Palm trees lean over the road, Luna Park sits behind it and the sea keeps flashing through the gaps between stalls, which is quite a lot of Melbourne iconography for one kilometre of Sunday shopping.

When: Every Sunday, 10am–4pm
Where: The Esplanade, St Kilda
Entry: Free
Good to know: Dogs are welcome on leash; trams 16 and 96 stop nearby. The market doesn’t trade on St Kilda Festival Sunday and may close in extreme weather.

The District Makers Market

Docklands weather has never been especially interested in anyone’s Sunday plans, which makes the fact that The District Makers Market happens entirely under cover feel unusually thoughtful. Once a month, the Rose Street crew fills The District with local makers selling jewellery, art, fashion, homewares, prints and edible things to carry around while deciding if another pair of earrings is technically necessary. Dogs are encouraged too, with treats and accessories among the stalls, so this is one Sunday shop nobody needs to be left at home for.

When: Last Sunday of every month, 11am–4pm
Where: The District Docklands, 440 Docklands Drive, Docklands
Entry: Free
Good to know: Completely undercover and pet-friendly, with 90 minutes of free parking and tram routes 35, 70 and 86 stopping at The District. December 2026 markets fall on 13 and 20 December.

Melbourne Book Market

Second-hand booksellers know that the best stock is rarely the thing displayed at eye level. At Melbourne Book Market, more than 5,000 new and pre-loved titles fill A Shed at Queen Victoria Market each weekend, with long-time booksellers joined by authors, illustrators and rotating traders. Literature and history sit beside cookbooks, art monographs, travel guides, children’s books, records and CDs, and there is always the possibility that somebody will produce the exact out-of-print edition being discussed from a box underneath the table. It rewards nosiness.

When: Saturday and Sunday, 9am–4pm
Where: A Shed, Queen Victoria Market, Peel Street end, Melbourne
Entry: Free
Good to know: More than 5,000 titles are on offer each weekend, with established booksellers joined by rotating traders.

The Best Fashion Markets in Melbourne

Round She Goes

There are few shopping victories sweeter than finding the coat somebody else inexplicably decided they were finished with. Round She Goes gathers more than 60 handpicked sellers inside Coburg Town Hall three times a year, their racks loaded with vintage from the 1940s onwards, preloved designer pieces, excellent high-street cast-offs, handbags, jewellery and accessories. Prices can start around $10, there are change rooms for the inevitable try-on, and coffee and baked goods wait inside for the point at which one more rack becomes absolutely necessary.

When: Three Sundays each year, 10am–3pm. Next market: 13 September 2026
Where: Coburg Town Hall, 90 Bell Street, Coburg
Entry: $4, cash or card
Good to know: Completely indoors and wheelchair accessible, with free parking behind the Town Hall. Pets aren’t permitted.

Fitzroy Market

Rose Street has a way of making a quick browse impossible. Fitzroy Market fills the old Fitzroy Mills site every weekend with more than 70 stalls, some run by serious vintage hunters, others by locals finally parting with the good coat, the old denim, the silk shirt they swore they would wear again. There are records, jewellery, flowers, handmade pieces and enough wardrobe curveballs to send the day in a completely different direction. On Saturdays, The Fitzroy Mills Market joins in with bread, produce, pantry goods and local growers, so somewhere between trying on a jacket and buying tomatoes, the morning tends to disappear.

When: Saturday, 9am–3pm; Sunday, 10am–3pm
Where: 75 Rose Street, Fitzroy
Entry: Free
Good to know: The Fitzroy Mills produce market runs alongside Fitzroy Market on Saturdays from 9am–2pm.

Camberwell Sunday Market

Camberwell has been setting the alarm early for this one since 1976, and half a century later the appeal remains wonderfully unchanged: rows of trestle tables, boxes of records, old crockery, racks of coats, dog-eared books, watches, lamps and objects whose original purpose may require a conversation with the person selling them. Camberwell Sunday Market is less about arriving with a list than being willing to follow a hunch, preferably before the serious collectors have already done a lap. Somewhere along the way there should be a hot jam doughnut, because some Melbourne traditions have earned the right to stay exactly as they are.

When: Every Sunday, 7am–12.30pm
Where: Camberwell Junction car park, corner Station Street and Market Place, Camberwell
Entry: Gold coin donation
Good to know: The market runs rain, hail or shine, with proceeds supporting Balwyn Rotary’s community and humanitarian projects. Free all-day parking is available on Inglesby Road, around five minutes away.

Fashion Thrift Society

Fashion Thrift Society feels less like a flea market than a very large wardrobe temporarily emptied into MSAC. More than 250 sellers arrive with vintage denim, old sportswear, designer resale, contemporary labels, jewellery and accessories, while DJs and food trucks keep the room moving around them. Fashion Thrift Society now operates across six countries, and the Melbourne editions are big enough to reward some strategy: the serious vintage people arrive early, the bargain hunters know later entry gets cheaper, and by mid-afternoon prices can become considerably more negotiable.

When: Selected dates throughout the year, 10am–4pm. Next: 3 October and 19 December 2026
Where: Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre, 30 Aughtie Drive, Albert Park
Entry: Ticket prices vary by arrival time; October tickets range from $15 at 10am to free entry from 3pm
Good to know: More than 250 curated stalls span vintage, preloved, designer and independent brands, with food trucks and DJs alongside the shopping.

The Best Food & Drink Markets in Melbourne

CERES Market

CERES has always been very good at turning a simple Saturday errand into half a day. You arrive for vegetables and sourdough, then there is a ceramic cup to inspect, a rack of vintage, somebody playing music nearby, children making a determined escape towards the playground and, somewhere below the Grocery, rows of herbs and vegetables growing at Honey Lane. On the first and third Saturday of each month, CERES Market folds local makers, artists, secondhand sellers and small labels into all of this, with handmade wares, vintage finds and things made in Melbourne rather than shipped halfway around the world. Come hungry; the bakery and Merri Cafe are right there, ripe for the picking.

When: First and third Saturday of every month, 12pm–6pm
Where: CERES, corner Roberts and Stewart streets, Brunswick East
Entry: Free
Good to know: The market mixes indoor and outdoor stalls and runs in most weather. The CERES Grocery & Bakery is open from 9am on weekends, and the No.96 tram stops a couple of minutes away.

Queen Victoria Market

Queen Vic has been part of Melbourne life since 1878, which is long enough for generations to have their own route through it. Queen Victoria Market still sprawls across two city blocks, from pyramids of whatever fruit is having its moment to the marble counters of the 1927 Dairy Produce Hall, loaded with cheese, salami, olives and things bought by weight and eaten before they make it home. There are more than 600 traders now, but certain habits remain beautifully difficult to improve upon: the early produce run, a bratwurst eaten standing up, and a paper bag of hot jam doughnuts from the American Doughnut Kitchen leaving a dusting of sugar down somebody’s coat.

When: Tuesday, Thursday and Friday, 6am–3pm; Saturday, 6am–4pm; Sunday, 9am–4pm
Where: Queen Victoria Market, Queen and Victoria streets, Melbourne
Entry: Free
Good to know: Specialty shopping opens from 9am on all market days. The market is closed Monday and Wednesday, with public-holiday hours varying.

South Melbourne Market

South Melbourne Market has been feeding this corner of Melbourne since 1867, and some Saturdays seem to require several breakfasts to get through it. Oysters are shucked at Aptus, Turkish mums roll gözleme to order at Köy, burrata is split open at UGO and Agathé’s pastry counter has a habit of derailing whatever sensible shopping list existed on arrival. Beyond lunch are fishmongers, butchers, grocers, delis, flowers and bottles for later; the trick is accepting that the groceries may become secondary somewhere around the first croissant.

When: Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday, 8am–4pm; Friday, 8am–5pm
Where: Coventry and Cecil streets, South Melbourne
Entry: Free
Good to know: The main market is closed Monday, Tuesday and Thursday, although selected Coventry Street traders now open on Thursdays and several Cecil Street restaurants trade beyond market hours.

Prahran Market

Prahran has been buying dinner here since 1864, and Prahran Market still rewards anyone who arrives with a loose shopping list and a willingness to be talked into things. There is Maker & Monger’s seven-metre window of cheese, whole fish and sashimi at Claringbold’s, spanakopita and weekend loukoumades from Sweet Greek, flowers, wild mushrooms, butcher-paper parcels and vegetables that make whatever was planned for dinner feel suddenly inadequate. On weekends, live music drifts through the market from midday and the grocery run has a habit of acquiring lunch, several snacks and a much more ambitious evening ahead of it.

When: Tuesday and Thursday, 7am–4pm; Friday and Saturday, 7am–5pm; Sunday, 8am–4pm
Where: 163 Commercial Road, South Yarra
Entry: Free
Good to know: Closed Monday and Wednesday. Live music runs Saturdays and Sundays from 12pm–3pm, and individual trader hours can vary.

Preston Market

Preston Market still has edges, thankfully. More than 100 traders operate beneath its sheds, and the pleasure comes from how little the categories behave: fishmongers beside spice shops, bakeries beside butchers, kitchenware next to flowers, fruit stacked high enough to require some engineering and lunch arriving in several languages. Preston Market has served the north since 1970, but it has never calcified into heritage theatre; people are here because they actually need coriander, a kilo of mussels, twenty dumpling wrappers or something good for dinner.

Sitchu Tip: Contraband Coffee Traders is still a very good first stop, although the newly opened Publique Bakery now makes a strong case for arriving early too.

When: Wednesday and Thursday, 8am–3pm; Friday, 8am–6pm; Saturday and Sunday, 8am–3pm
Where: 30A The Centreway, Preston
Entry: Free
Good to know: Closed Monday and Tuesday. Parking is free for the first two hours on market days, then $2.50 per additional hour, up to four hours.

Footscray Market

The seafood counters tell you almost everything you need to know about Footscray Market: oysters opened to order at Yue Kong, mud crab and calamari at Gold Star, whole fish gleaming on ice at John & Kevin’s, a stall that has managed for more than 40 years without so much as a freezer. Then the aisles keep going: tropical fruit, bundles of unfamiliar herbs, goat, pork belly, wafer-thin hotpot meat, Filipino longganisa, spices, noodles and enough ingredients to send dinner somewhere entirely different from where it started. Footscray cooks well because it shops well, and this is still one of the best places in Melbourne to understand why.

When: Tuesday and Wednesday, 7am–4pm; Thursday to Saturday, 7am–5pm
Where: 18 Irving Street, Footscray
Entry: Free
Good to know: Closed Sunday and Monday. Footscray Station is directly opposite, and the market has more than 800 undercover car spaces.

The Best Markets Just Outside of Melbourne

St Andrews Community Market

By nine on Saturday morning, St Andrews is already well underway. Someone is pouring chai, a busker has claimed the veranda, dogs are nosing around under tables and the gum trees are doing what gum trees do while the market carries on beneath them. St Andrews Community Market has been here since the early ’70s, and its charm lies in the fact that almost anything might turn up: homegrown vegetables, sourdough, honey, pottery, seedlings, old clothes, herbal teas, beeswax candles, crystals and things with stories attached that are sometimes longer than the transaction itself. It feels less curated than accumulated, shaped over decades by the people who keep showing up.

When: Every Saturday, 9am–2pm
Where: Corner Kangaroo Ground–St Andrews Road and Heidelberg–Kinglake Road, St Andrews
Entry: Free
Good to know: The market closes on Total Fire Ban days. Dogs are welcome on leash and cash is worth carrying, as not every stall takes card.

Did you love our edit of the best markets in Melbourne and want to engage in more retail therapy? Check out our guides to Melbourne’s best bookstores and places to buy pre-loved vintage furniture.