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The Best Alfresco Dining in Melbourne for Spring & Summer Sunshine
Raise a glass to warmer days. From leafy courtyards to rooftop terraces, discover Melbourne’s best alfresco dining spots for spring and summer — all sunshine, spritzes and seasonal charm, served with that effortless city-meets-European poise.
Spring has a way of softening Melbourne’s edges. Sunlight spills over bluestone, plane trees dust pavements in new green, and suddenly a glass in the open air feels essential rather than optional. These bars and restaurants do the season proud: European-leaning terraces, leafy courtyards, rooftops trimmed with herbs, and wine lists tuned to brightness and bloom.
There’s polish without fuss, charm without theatre, and plates that speak fluent produce. From Fitzroy to Prahran, Abbotsford to the CBD, here are the garden-party-esque stalwarts you’ll return to all season (and summer) long.
Di Stasio — Carlton
Di Stasio Carlton is where Melbourne’s artful Italian spirit spills into the open air. Through a discreet laneway lies Il Cortile — a sun-dappled courtyard crowned by a 17th-century fountain, sandstone urns and the soft hum of lunchtime chatter. Pizza and pasta meet prosecco and sculpture; every detail feels cinematic. Long, languid afternoons unfold beneath the trees, where the light drifts just so and la dolce vita feels entirely within reach.
Sitchu Tip: No visit is complete without their famous Fior di Latte soft serve — glossy, salted, and drizzled with olive oil.
224 Faraday Street, Carlton
Napier Quarter — Fitzroy
Bluestone corner, tiny terrace, big charisma. Napier Quarter channels a back-street European daydream: espresso worth crossing town for, anchovy-topped toast that’s practically a rite of passage, and a chalkboard wine list favouring small growers and clean, mineral lines. The outside tables catch generous sun; vines and heritage textures do quiet, elegant work. Order something briny and a glass of chilled white, then let the afternoon unspool softly. It’s the rare city nook that makes time feel elastic and good taste feel effortless — spring in a few square metres.
359 Napier Street, Fitzroy
Marion — Fitzroy
Gertrude Street’s suavest mood board: whitewashed brick, timber, and shelves of bottles that promise delightful decisions. Marion moves with restaurant confidence and wine-bar ease; menus pivot to what’s fresh, plates arrive with detail rather than fuss, and the pavement tables are prime for golden hour people-watching. Start with oysters or soft cheese, then somewhere between a saline sherry and a nervy grüner, you’ll remember why this street owns your weekends. The service is warm, the soundtrack is gentle, and the whole thing plays like a masterclass in casual poise.
53 Gertrude Street, Fitzroy
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Builders Arms Hotel — Fitzroy
Builders Arms Hotel remains Fitzroy’s golden-hour classic — a sunlit courtyard wrapped in bougainvillaea, where chatter hums and glasses catch the late-afternoon light. Under Andrew McConnell’s watch, the spring menu sings effortlessly: crisp-skinned barramundi, grilled asparagus with lemon beurre blanc, and the rotisserie chicken that Melbourne will never stop talking about. It’s pub fare made poetic — best enjoyed outdoors with a chilled white in hand, the scent of herbs on the breeze and Gertrude Street quietly sparkling beyond.
211 Gertrude Street, Fitzroy
Neighbourhood Wine — Fitzroy North
Climb the stairs at Neighbourhood Wine to a room that glows like old film: dark timber, low lamps, jazz at conversational volume. In spring and summer, however, the little terrace becomes a tonic: aperitivo on the breeze, amaro catching the light. The cellar runs deep on minimal-intervention beauties, yet never feels didactic; guidance is friendly, pours are generous. Food lands in the bistro sweet spot: seasonal, comforting, quietly accomplished. Bookend a long afternoon with a vermouth and orange, graze through something savoury, and watch the neighbourhood soften into evening.
1 Reid Street, Fitzroy North
Arnold’s — Kensington
Arnold’s feels homemade in the best possible way: records spinning, artwork winking, a sliver of courtyard out back where sunlight pools like honey. The kitchen favours produce and personality — bright crudos, sharp little dressings, herbs that wake the palate. Wines lean local and lively; cocktails nod to garden flavours without turning twee. Out front, a couple of tables make the street your theatre; out back, it’s all soft chatter and shared plates. A neighbourhood bar that behaves like a favourite friend: easy, generous, seasonally switched-on.
192 Bellair Street, Kensington
Julie — Abbotsford
Inside the Abbotsford Convent’s greenery, Julie is spring written in italics. The terrace sits under trees; birds provide the house soundtrack; the wine list is thoughtful and alive. Plates read like a postcard from the garden — textures bright, seasoning assured, nothing overworked. Choose the set menu indoors or drift outdoors for à la carte and sunshine. A spritz could easily turn into a bottle of something biodynamic and elegant. Everything here champions ease and good produce, wrapped in the calm of those heritage walls and gardens.
1 St Heliers Street, Abbotsford
City Wine Shop — Melbourne CBD
City Wine Shop is Spring Street at its most continental: bistro chairs angled to the sun, Parliament and the gardens as your backdrop, and a bottle shop that doubles as dream cellar. Order steak frites or a plate of cheeses, then let a savvy staffer steer you through the shelves — maybe an alpine white, maybe old-world bubbles by the glass. The pavement seating is where Melbourne plays Paris; inside, wood and marble keep things timeless. A civilised pause between errands that somehow becomes the day’s defining chapter.
159 Spring Street, Melbourne
Union Electric — Melbourne CBD
Sneak down the laneway, climb to the rooftop, and you’ll find a tiny gin garden fizzing with good humour. Pots of citrus, trailing herbs, fairy lights swaying — Union Electric’s open-air perch was made for mild evenings and loose plans. Cocktails swing from botanical martinis to juicy, tiki-kissed numbers, always balanced, never sugary. The team are charmers, the soundtrack has bounce, and the skyline peeks in like a conspirator. When spring asks for something playful under the stars, this is your answer.
13 Heffernan Lane, Melbourne
Pepe’s Italian & Liquor — Melbourne CBD
A grand old beauty dressed for summer, Pepe’s Italian & Liquor opens onto one of the CBD’s dreamiest courtyards — a garden of coral trees, fairy lights and martinis on repeat. Long lunches blur into golden-hour spritzes as rigatoni in spicy vodka sauce and veal parmigiana parade from the kitchen. It’s a sunlit slice of La Dolce Vita hidden in the heart of Melbourne.
275-285 Exhibition Street, Melbourne
Kirbie — South Melbourne
Effortlessly cool and cheerfully unpolished, Kirbie brings Euro-caff energy to South Melbourne. Come for morning coffee in the sun, stay for laneway wines and small plates that beg for sharing — pan con tomate, cotoletta with herbed butter, or meatballs in sugo. By dusk, the courtyard hums with locals sipping spritzes on the steps. It’s breezy, buzzy and impossibly charming — the neighbourhood bar you wish was yours.
323 Clarendon Street, South Melbourne
The Alps — Prahran
Wood, stone, and a wall of bottles: The Alps feels like a mountain refuge that learned city manners. Out the back, a leafy courtyard invites long, unhurried sessions — umbrellas up, glasses clinking, pizzas arriving on a pleasant loop. The list loves altitude and freshness (hello, grüner; hello, alpine nebbiolo), but there’s range for every mood. Snacks are dialled for sipping: cheeses, cured things, simple, satisfying plates. Southside’s most convincing case for afternoon into evening, with just enough romance in the air.
64 Commercial Road, Prahran
Auterra — Armadale
Refined but relaxed, Auterra is where Armadale’s wine lovers gather under the trellis for lazy afternoon pours. The courtyard glows in dappled light, glasses clink, and artful snacks — spanner crab doughnuts, Comté éclairs — appear like edible jewels. Champagne grower or skin-contact rebel, there’s a bottle for every mood. Polished service, perfect lighting, and a dash of fine-dining pedigree make it a quietly transcendent hangout.
1160 High Street, Armadale
Harvie — Armadale
Equal parts rooftop glamour and courtyard cosiness, Harvie is Melbourne’s golden-hour darling. Downstairs, a leafy nook with a fireplace. Upstairs, a sun-splashed terrace framed by striped parasols and skyline views. Order a Sunny Arvo Spritz or the lobster-and-prawn roll — both icons in their own right — and watch the sky turn sherbet. It’s effortlessly stylish, a little flirtatious, and pure warm-weather hedonism.
109 Wattletree Road, Armadale
Clover — Richmond
Fire, wine and romance converge at Clover, Richmond’s intimate bistro with a brick-paved courtyard made for balmy nights. Chef Charley Snadden-Wilson cooks over flame — honey bread with cultured butter, ember-roasted beets, charred pork chop — all kissed with smoke and paired to low-intervention wines. It’s warm, sensory and softly lit, a pocket of Parisian charm tucked off Swan Street where evenings stretch and the conversation flows.
193 Swan Street, Richmond
Franco & Co — Eltham
In leafy Eltham, Franco & Co. proves that rustic Italian hospitality never goes out of style. Wood-fired pizzas arrive blistered and aromatic, Chianti glows in the glass, and the cottage-style terrace hums with the sound of family dinners and weekend laughter. Surrounded by greenery and strung with lights, it’s a scene lifted straight from the Tuscan countryside — minus the airfare.
720 Main Road, Eltham
Basils Farm
With its sweeping Swan Bay views, garden-to-plate ethos and slow-living allure, Basils Farm is pure Bellarine idyll. Spring breathes new life into the kitchen gardens, where chef-led dishes arrive bright with just-picked herbs and coastal charm. Sip estate wines under olive trees, wander through lavender-lined paths, and watch sunlight dance across the bay. Come for an alfresco afternoon that stretches beautifully long — where time softens, glasses clink, and everything tastes a little more vivid.
43–53 Nye Road, Swan Bay
Spring and summer favour the unhurried — a second glass, another plate, a moment stolen to watch sunlight drift across the table. These are the months made for dawdling, and our edit of the best alfresco dining in Melbourne turns that impulse into an art form. Gather your people, make the bookings, and let the city pour its sunlit best — one courtyard, one golden hour, one beautiful bottle at a time. Explore our romantic getaways and sweetest picnic spots across the state for more warm-weather inspiration.
