A local's guide to Fitzroy: what to see, eat and do
Melbourne's oldest suburb is still its most characterful. Here is how to spend a day in Fitzroy, from Brunswick Street to the Saturday art market, without doing the obvious tourist loop.
The short answer: base a Fitzroy day around its two main streets - Brunswick Street for shopping and eating, Gertrude Street for galleries and design - and time it for a Saturday so you catch the Rose Street Artists’ Market. It is a walkable, browse-heavy suburb that rewards wandering over ticking off a list.
Fitzroy, immediately north-east of the city centre, is Melbourne’s oldest suburb and has spent decades as its creative heart - a place of independent shops, small bars, live music and street art. It has gentrified, and locals will tell you so at length, but it has kept its texture. This guide is how a local actually spends a day here, rather than the postcard version.
What are the main streets in Fitzroy?
Fitzroy runs on two streets, and knowing the difference saves you time. Brunswick Street is the long, busy spine - independent clothing and homewares, bookshops, cafes, pubs and restaurants stacked along its length. Gertrude Street, running off it, is the quieter, more design-led strip, known for its art galleries, boutiques and some of the best eating in the area.
Between and around them sit the side streets where a lot of the good stuff hides - small bars up staircases, galleries in old shopfronts, and the odd shop that has been selling the same specific thing for forty years.
When should you visit Fitzroy?
Come on a Saturday if you can, because that is when the Rose Street Artists’ Market is on. Held at 60 Rose Street, between Brunswick and Nicholson Streets, it runs every Saturday and Sunday and showcases scores of local makers of original art and design - it is the single best place in Melbourne to buy something made by the person selling it.
The market’s own guidance is worth following: Saturday mornings have the best selection, and Sunday afternoons are the quietest. Check the Rose Street market site for current hours before you go, as they shift for special events.
Where should you eat and drink?
Eat along Gertrude Street and drink along Brunswick Street and its laneways. Gertrude Street has built a reputation as one of the inner north’s best eating strips, and Brunswick Street’s pubs and small bars are a Melbourne institution in their own right.
A few pointers rather than a fixed list, since venues here change hands often:
- Coffee is taken seriously in Fitzroy, as everywhere in the inner north - our laneway coffee guide applies just as well up here.
- Small bars cluster off the main streets; the suburb rewards ducking up an unpromising staircase.
- Rooftops are more a CBD thing, but the fringe of Fitzroy has its own - our rooftop bar guide covers the nearest.
What is there to see beyond the shops?
Fitzroy’s street art is part of the fabric, not a set-piece - it turns up on laneway walls and roller doors throughout the suburb, changing constantly. The galleries along and around Gertrude Street run a genuine contemporary-art programme, much of it free to walk into, and worth an hour if you like your culture less institutional than the big city galleries.
For green space, Edinburgh Gardens in the north of the suburb is where Fitzroy decamps on a fine day - a big, informal park that is as good for people-watching as for a walk.
How to spend a day in Fitzroy
| Time | Do this |
|---|---|
| Morning | Coffee and breakfast on Gertrude or Brunswick Street |
| Late morning | Rose Street Artists’ Market (Sat/Sun) |
| Afternoon | Browse Brunswick Street, galleries on Gertrude Street |
| Evening | Dinner on Gertrude Street, a small bar to finish |
Getting there and getting around
Fitzroy is a short tram ride or a 20-minute walk from the city centre, and it is best explored on foot once you arrive - the two main streets are close together and the side streets are the point. Trams run up Brunswick Street and along nearby routes from the CBD; there is no train station in Fitzroy itself, which is part of why it has kept its low-rise, walkable feel.
If Fitzroy whets your appetite for the inner north, it is one of a run of connected suburbs - Collingwood, Carlton and Brunswick all sit within a short hop - and each has its own character. Our guide to Melbourne’s inner-north property market is a useful read if a day here turns into thoughts of moving here, as it often does.