Melbourne Lanes and Arcades Walking Tour

Fun and Interesting

Fiona was very knowledgable about the early days of Melbourne and the history of the Laneways and Arcades. We brought a friend who lives in Melbourne and she said she learned a lot! She was fun, interesting and a great guide overall. We got to see a very good sampling of the city. Communication was excellent. Small group is the best - we enjoyed the other travelers.

Very Fun!

Catherine was very knowledgeable, and a lot of fun. We covered a fantastic part of the history of the city.

Discovering Melbourne

We thoroughly enjoyed our tour and saw our beautiful city through the eyes of a tourist. Our guide Melinda was lovely and so informative we highly recommend her and Hidden City Tours to anyone wanting to discover the heart of the city of Melbourne.

Hidden Treasures

Thought we knew quite a bit about Melbourne but discovered so much more on this walking tour. Came across places we were totally unaware of. Our guide, Melinda, was friendly, well informed and obviously took great pleasure showing us so many hidden treasures.

We had a wonderful time...

We had a wonderful time during the tour. Melbourne now looks much more familiar and attractive. Thank you!

Great lanes and arcades tour

Dee was an amazing guide - welcoming, friendly and full of information about the history of Melbourne. She showed us lots of street art in the Lanes and walked us through the beautiful arcades. The hot chocolate stop was to die for. A great first tour to do if you’ve never been to Melbourne. She was full of tips about how to use trans/trains etc and we received a very useful map as well 😊

Not as advertised.

The guide was knowledgeable and delightful, however, this tour was advertised as a lanes and arcades tour. There were very few lanes. I could have done without the hot chocolate break in exchange for more lanes. I felt short-changed in this regard. We actually broke off early in order to go explore more lanes on our own.

Enjoyable tour

Our guide was very knowledgable and showed us some places I never would have found on my own, I really enjoyed it.

The lanes and arcades is Melbourne

Our guide provided detailed descriptions and histories of the many unique buildings and sites in the area. The lanes and arcades are beautiful in many ways. The stop at the chocolate shop was quite a tasty bonus. Our guide was well versed in the details of the area, a great tour leader, and a wonderful communicator.

Ok and a few decent things but too short and too much money

The concept of this tour is amazing as there are so many hidden ally's and gems, it's the best part of Melbourne. This tour isn't bad , but it's not great, it's ok. Definitely saw some great ally's and things I would have walked by on my own. For 3 hours, most of our time was standing around and listening to way too much history. And a long time having chocolate and tea. Which was a great spot. But we saw maybe 5 ally's , there are hundreds . The area walked was way to short , the route needs to be expanded exponentially and I would have wanted to see a lot more in 3 hours . Also it's was way too expensive for a 3 hour walking tour. It should be about $40 usd or less not $88 . I would probably do it again but feel like I paid way too much by a lot. In contrast I did an ocean road tour which was about 14 hours, the entire day and we traveled over 500 km, and it was about the same price at $98. Great idea , but could be executed much better

First class tour of some of Melbourne's hidden secrets!

Accompanied by friends from the UK, my husband and I were treated to a wonderful tour of Melbourne lanes and arcades. The pace of the tour was perfect, allowing time for us to take in the sights and soak up the information and anecdotes shared by Judy, our wonderful guide. Our stop-off for a chocolate morning tea was delicious. Highly recommended!

LANES AND ARCADES WALKING TOUR

The tour was absolutely wonderful and so very informative. Our tour guide was a wealth of knowledge.

Brought Melbourne to life

Gentle tour through lanes and streets north of railway station. Fascinating stories by Judy and got to see areas we might not have thought about. Certainly brought Melbourne to life. Lasted about 3 hours with a coffee/chocolate break.

A delightful experiencd

Fiona was an excellent guide. Very generous with her knowledge and she possessed an in-depth understanding of Melbourne’s history and culture.

Judy is one of the hidden gems!

We loved the tour & would highly recommend it. Getting a feel for the history & culture from an excellent storyteller was entertaining. Judy is a gem! Her added flair & kindness added a tremendous value to our small tour group of six. Thank you Judy!

Melbourne vibe

I highly recommend this walking tour. The guide was extremely knowledgeable and tailored the information to the groups need.

Fun, fun, fun.

Great variety and fun, very knowledgable guide. It opened our eyes to areas and history of Melbourne that you cannot find on your own.

Wonderful tour

Fabulous walking tour. Guide was wonderful and we learnt so much about Melbourne. The small group size was perfect and it is a great way to explore the history and hidden gems

Great Melbourne history

A great introduction to Melbourne with fascinating history facts. Our tour guide Dee was fantastic…so friendly, fun and knowledgeable!!

A deeper understanding of Melbourne

Saw the ins and outs of Melbourne, our tour guide was also very friendly and informative. The back story to each area we visited was much appreciated and seeing most of the laneways was very cool.

Explore Nooks & Crannies of Melbourne

Great way to get acquainted with Melbourne’s history and beauty. The coffee shot stop was a lovely addition

Our Lane and Arcade Walking Tour in Melbourne

We had a fabulous time on our walking tour on Friday with Rob. Melbourne has such a fabulous history and the architecture is incredible. Rob told us of the music /rock history in AC/DC lane ..amazing. Would have been awesome to have been there! Please Melbourne keep what is left of the beautiful old buildings you have including their interior. They are stunning and once gone.. it’s gone! Fabulous tour so informative. We learned so much. Thank you!!! Bev and Garry

Cannot recommend this trip more

This was the highlight of our trip! We have been to Melbourne many times and learnt so much. Even our 14 year old son loved it and that says a lot. Deanne was so so knowledgable and went out of her way to make the experience very personalised, Cannot recommend this more......

A Must Do If Staying in the City

We booked a small group tour and were treated to a private tour as we were the only two who booked this tour for the morning. Grateful to the company for not cancelling the tour due to us being the only two. Melinda was a terrific host and we were blessed to have her show us the city. This tour is a must if you are staying in the city as it not only taught us about the city and its history, but also allowed us to find some many shops, coffee and dining spots that we would have never found on our own wandering around. This should be one of the first things you do when visiting if you want to get your bearings.

The best Melbourne Laneways Experienc

The tour guide was the best tour guide I have ever had. This was the best introduction to a city and in particular Melbourne laneways that could be.

Fun Learning!

Learned a lot from Belinda our tour guide! It was a pleasant, fun learning experience and the tour was enjoyable, so was the crowd

Best for history food shopping and outdoor art

A very informative, comprehensive and interesting walking tour that I thoroughly recommend. I’ve been to Melbourne a few times and future trips will be so much better for the knowledge gained. Melinda is an excellent guide and I’m so glad I signed up for this.

Fun, interesting

Melinda is very knowledgeable and funny. She shared a lot of interesting stories about the lanes and arcades. Highly recommending this tour to tourists and even local who wants to know the “secrets”.

Neat experience

Wonderful learning experience of the inner workings of the city of Melbourne, our guides were very knowledgeable and friendly plus funny.

A great quirky walking tour

A quirky tour of the alley ways and unique street art of Melbourne. Quite interesting plus a stop for coffee/chocolate.

More than what the guide book gives!

We were in Melbourne only for three days and booked the tour rather than us walking about aimless. Loved the small group personal attention afforded during the tour.

Enjoyable Walking Tour

This is a nice little excursion. It's not an extensive historical immersion, but gives enough history and background, particularly of the architecture, to be both informative and entertaining. The guide was knowledgeable and friendly.

perfect way to discover Melbourne

Fiona was absolutely amazing and we would highly recommend this tour Fiona was extremely knowledgeable and made the tour so interesting The perfect way to discover Melbourne and have fun

A Beautiful Tour even for Local Melbournians

My review may be a little biased considering I'm a Tourism Student at University AND a local Melbournian, but I digress: This tour and Hidden Secrets provided an amazing and fun experience for our 3hr tour. Our tour guide, Melinda was incredibly knowledgeable about both Melbourne's history as well as recent history. Our group was small in nature, providing a more personalized style of delivery, and Melinda was quick on their feet with my questions, queries and interest in the hospitality and nightlife

A French twist

Katherine from Paris was simply amazing, we enjoyed her quirky sense of humour and genuine passion for the city. A great way to spend the morning exploring, thank you.

Fun mellow experience. Do first on your trip.

Do a walking tour early in your trip. It helped orient me for the remaining days. Isabel was pleasant and knowledgeable. The tour was fun. It was clear the guide, Isabel, did a ton of research. She tailored the tour a bit because we were all from the states.

Absolutely the Best and Most Fun Way to Learn about Melbourne!

I've got to be honest -- I thought a walking tour of "lanes and arcades" sounded sort of dull when my husband and I only had a few days to visit Melbourne but our travel agent booked it so we showed up. Well, I'm glad we did! Our guide was Melinda and she did an absolutely fantastic job of showing us all of the very interesting alley ways and gorgeous arcades that are unique to Melbourne. I've travelled all over the world and never been to a city that had so many of these old and ornate passageways for pedestrians to get around. Melinda did a great job with pacing our full small group tour, and I think everyone was able to hear her and ask any questions they wanted without slowing down the rest of us. Melinda's knowledge and background information was always on point and her dry wit added to the entire tour. AND of course we loved our stop for a hot chocolate-y treat at a historical chocolatier/cafe place. Not being a huge fan of hot chocolate, I ordered a chocolate milkshake instead and think it was the best I've ever had. I booed when the tour ended because I was sad it was over. All around great experience for us -- thank you, Melinda!!!

Great Orientation

Darcy provided an informative and engaging orientation to the history, architecture and pulse of the Melbourne cbd. Our walk through the lanes and alleys produce an appreciation that we simply could not have gotten on our own.

Fascinating 3 hrs

Melinda our Guide was excellent and most informative , learned a lot more interesting facts about Melbourne.

Amazing tour of out of the way places

Excellent walking tour, so many places of which we weren't aware, little bars and restaurants in laneways that we didn't know. Great knowledge of the features and history of the city.

3 hours of walking pleasure

I thought I knew Melbourne quite well, this tour showed me places I didn't know existed. Marvellous commentary from tour guide Harriet and highly recommend to all visitors to Melbourne, wherever you come from.

Melbourne was brought to life by this tour

We had a very busy, yet wonderful time exploring the laneways of Melbourne with a very knowledgeable and experienced guide. She brought the city to life with the tour and I’d recommend it to anyone visiting Melbourne.

Amazing tour

I booked the tour for my wife and daughter, they absolutely loved it. The tour guide was amazing and the tour excellent. I’m looking forward to take the tour myself.

Amazing tour

Fiona was amazing guiding us along Melbourne CBD. She explained everything in really good detail and took us to places we would never have discovered on our own. Thanks for an awesome tour! Can’t wait to come back bringing other family members!

Discover the history of Melbourne

Fiona was a fantastic guide who led us through arcades and lanes that we never would have seen otherwise. Wonderful history of Melbourne. Thoroughly enjoyed this tour. One of the highlights of our trip.

Hidden history

Fiona was very knowledgeable about our city’s history, sharing the ebbs and flows of our past. She showed us laneways I’d visited many times but hadn’t seen some of the hidden gems, whether be it buildings or hidden restaurants and bars.

So relaxed yet informative

Loved this walking tour . We found out so much about the street art and music culture of Melbourne along with the history and architecture highlights . Our tour guide Harriet was so easy to listen to and chat with . Her knowledge of the area was exceptional . The hot chocolate break was perfectly placed in the middle of the walk. The walk was easy and we clocked around 6 km over the three hours .

Hidden Treasures

Thoroughly enjoyed our tour. Our guide Fiona was so knowledgeable and engaging. Loved discovering the art in the laneways and the beautiful arcades and their history.

even a melbourner can discover new treats on this tour!

melbourne is my favourite city, and this tour shows exactly why. i went on this tour 15 years ago and we saw shops and secret alleys and street art, they’ve just returned now we are out of lockdown and they showed the best restaurants, street art, MORE secret alleys i never knew about, and the history of the city... you didn’t even notice the shops weren’t open, most of the cafes are, and places like CRAFT victoria are real gems you can discover through wandering these streets and laneways. this is how even a melbourner can rediscover the best of their city.

This is how you get Melbourne to open up!

A very fine tour, where our guide, Nicole, opened Melbourne for us and showed us to great spots and places of interest. Accompagnied with very relevant and interesting informations about both the history of Melbourne and and all the places we were shown. We would never have foundation the Hidden Lanes and Archades on our own!! Very much recommendable!