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What’s On in Melbourne: Your Ultimate Guide for April & Beyond
Everything to see and do this month in Melbourne (and beyond).
April in Melbourne arrives with a little more texture. The light softens, the evenings sharpen, and the city slips into its most seductive rhythm. Autumn makes everything feel a touch more cinematic, from long lunches in the last of the sunshine to gallery afternoons, red-wine nights and pop-ups worth rearranging your week for.
There is plenty competing for your attention this month: new openings, festival energy, cosy dining rooms, weekend drives and the first real excuse to reach for a coat after dark. It is the season of doing a lot, dressing well and saying yes to one more thing. Here’s everything worth seeing, sipping and doing this April in Melbourne and beyond.
Collingwood Ceramics Market at Chotto Motto
Ceramics and dumplings are a pairing we can very much get behind, and this Collingwood market makes a strong case for clearing your Sunday. Hosted at cult Japanese diner Chotto Motto, the Collingwood Ceramics Market brings together a line-up of local makers for a browse-and-buy afternoon with far more personality than your standard stall setup, from Yolk Eye Ceramics to Naru Kubota.
The April edition lands on Sunday, 19th April, from 12pm to 6pm, with Chotto Motto’s retro surrounds making the whole thing feel especially charming.
Where: 287 Wellington Street, Collingwood
When: Sunday 19th April, 12pm to 6pm
Cost: Free to view
Best For: Design lovers, pottery collectors, handmade homewares, market wanderers, and Sunday browsers
Need To Know: Runs monthly on the third Sunday
EONARIUM Enlightenment at Immigration Museum
At the Immigration Museum, Vivaldi’s Four Seasons is recast as a luminous 30-minute spectacle of sound, colour and movement. Enlightenment wraps the historic Long Room in sweeping projections and an original sense of drama, carrying audiences through spring, summer, autumn and winter in one beautifully immersive sitting. Fresh from sold-out seasons across Europe and Brisbane, it feels both transporting and intimate.
Book a beanbag seat if you can, then settle in for one of April’s most enchanting cultural outings.
Where: 400 Flinders Street, Melbourne
When : From April 2026
Cost: $44 GA
Best For: Best for date nights, culture-minded friends and anyone in the mood for a visually beautiful outing
Need To Know: It’s captivated over 2 million visitors worldwide
Check In to The Lobby by Ellison Studios
Sydney furniture and interiors brand Ellison Studios has landed in Melbourne with its first physical residency, transforming a first-floor space inside South Yarra’s landmark Conways Building into The Lobby. Part design showroom, part creative meeting place, it riffs on the mood of a great hotel lobby, with sculptural Float sofas, curated artworks from Hake House, rare books by Selected Objects and hand-restored parquetry underfoot. By day, designers can meet clients and explore the collection. By night, talks, performances, drinks and DJ sets draw the city’s creative crowd in.
Where: 1/249 Chapel Street, Prahran
When : Until June 2026
Cost: Free to view
Best For: Design afficionados, interior designers, trade partners, and the wider creative community
Need To Know: You’ll need to book an appointment to experience the space
A Giant Plush Flower Market Is Set to Bloom
Come May, prepare to step into a surreal sea of colour as artist Cj Hendry transforms The Domain into a whimsical greenhouse filled with 100,000 hand-crafted plush blooms. Like something out of a picture book, the installation is designed to feel otherworldly and larger-than-life. Better yet, it’s also free to visit and will see you taking home your very own flower (if you wish) for $10 a stem. It’s part art, part daydream, and a seriously photogenic escape from reality.
Where: Chadstone Shopping Centre
When: April 27 – May 10 2026
Cost: Free to view
Best For: Art lovers; Exhibitions; Free events; Outdoor enthusiasts; Families
Need To Know: Visitors can take home a plush flower for $10
Bubble Planet Floats Into Brunswick
Global, multi-sensory experience Bubble Planet is landing in Brunswick, and it’s set to be a full-on celebration of colour, light, and pure playful chaos. Eleven rooms are designed to make you forget the real world: bounce on giant inflatables, float through clouds of soapy bubbles, dive into Australia’s largest ball pit, and wander through infinity rooms that twist perception. With VR adventures, interactive games, and surreal landscapes at every turn, each step invites wonder, awe, and yes — a seriously good photo.
Where: Fever Exhibition and Experience Centre, 62 Dawson Street, Brunswick
When: April 1 – June 29, 2026
Cost: $33.90
Best For: Families; School holiday outings; Date nights; Big kids at heart; Photo hunters
Need To Know: Socks are mandatory for the bubble bath, so dress accordingly.
Win a Four-Day Slow-Luxe Escape to Victoria’s Heartland
What if your next long weekend came with lakefront mornings, mineral-rich soaks and vineyard afternoons already mapped out? To celebrate its new chapter, Victoria’s Heartland is giving one traveller a curated four-day immersion through its most storied corners, from Lake House Daylesford and Hepburn Bathhouse to Castlemaine creatives and Hanging Rock tastings. Think magnesium baths, lavender-lined lunches and a case of cool-climate wine to bring home.
Entries open 19th February and close 16th April. Consider this your sign to go.
Two Fashion Rebels, One Daring Exhibition: Westwood | Kawakubo at NGV
NGV’s summer centrepiece brings two fashion radicals into electrifying dialogue: Vivienne Westwood and Rei Kawakubo. Nearly 150 works reveal their lifelong practice of breaking rules, from Westwood’s era-defining punk pieces to her shimmering MacAndreas tartan gown and the corseted wedding dress later immortalised by Sarah Jessica Parker in Sex and the City.
Kawakubo’s sculptural imagination appears in full force, including the petal-like masterpiece Rihanna wore to the Met Gala and the abstract silhouettes that reshaped contemporary fashion.
Archival footage, runway moments and rare international loans make this a world-premiere exhibition that feels urgent, ambitious and utterly transportive. Don’t miss it this summer.
Runs until 19th April 2026
NGV International
Djaara Lights in Bendigo
Step into the story of the land at Djaara Lights, a mesmerising fusion of art, culture, and technology illuminating Bendigo’s Oscars Walk and Bath Lane Precinct. Through stunning Dja Dja Wurrung artwork and augmented reality, experience the six seasons of Djandak as told by the Traditional Owners. It’s immersive, moving, and a must-see this month.
Daily, 7pm to 11pm
Until March 2027
Bendigo, Victoria
Looking for more fun things to do in Melbourne this summer? We have plenty to keep you entertained. From Melbourne’s best new restaurants and bars to friendly pubs, cafes and late-night cocktail haunts, here’s all you need for an epic weekend in the city.
