Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria - Melbourne Gardens

Thirty-eight hectares of lawns, lakes and rare trees curl along the Yarra just south of the city, a landscape shaped from the 1850s by director Ferdinand von Mueller and later by William Guilfoyle into one of the great gardens of the southern hemisphere. Ornamental lakes mirror weeping willows and black swans; Fern Gully drops into cool green shade; and set pieces like Guilfoyle's Volcano and the Australian rainforest walk show the collection's breadth. The lawns host summer cinema and the long-running Aboriginal heritage walk traces the site's Kulin history. Free to enter and open daily, the gardens are Melbourne's most-loved green room.