Getting between Brighton Beach and St Kilda Pier would be very convoluted with public transport. You'd need a car or bike.

But getting from the city to both is fairly simple.

Here's the public transport site for Melbourne, so you can check routes and timetables:

http://www.metlinkmelbourne.com.au/

You can get trams 16 or 112 to St Kilda - they take about 20 minutes from the city.

To Brighton, you need to get a train on the Sandrinham line.

Also, you can use www.street-directory.com.au if you want to check distances between train stations and landmarks or streets.

Good infomration, thank you. Regarding the two beaches, how are they different? Is one better than the other. We simply just want to walk around and check out the sights.

I like Brighton Beach but I wouldn't really say there is much there in the way of sights. I suggest St Kilda - you have a lot of shops, cafes, Luna Park, the pier, palm trees. :)

http://www.lunapark.com.au/

I agree with kateoz, St Kilda is well worth the trip, as you get lots of cafes and restaurants, a nice walk along the waterfront, the amusement park, a pub, and views over the marina.

Also there are markets there which have a great range of art and craft stuff, on Sundays I think, the Melbourne folks will tell you more.

The tram trip there is interesting too. If you enjoy the trams, you might be interested in the Tramcar restaurant http://www.tramcarrestaurant.com.au/

Cheerz Wab

To get to/from St Kilda consider taking a different tram each way. There are 2 routes servicing the area; one terminates at the end of Acland Street and one at Fitzroy Street (some 2-3 kilometres away ).

I would suggest taking the #112 (you can catch this in Collins Street) that terminates at Fitroy to get there. The 112 goes through the 'back streets' of South Melbourne & Middle Park.

Catching this tram allows you to wander to the Pier/kiosk/beach and down the Esplanade to Luna Park/Acland Street where...

You can catch the #96 back from Acland Street to the city (it goes along Bourke Street). The #96 is a light rail that follows an old rail line. It goes past the South Melbourne Market & the F1 GP circuit (AKA Albert Park Lake).

HTH :-)

(if you're reasonably fit I would recommend hiring a bike and riding the trail that goes from St Kilda all the way to Brighton. If you're brave you can do the return trip on the road which is slightly quicker. Both ways are fun but you do need a good level of fitness to complete).

Hi there.

Adelaide 74 is spot on - l highly reccommend you do as suggested as you get good variety and see quite different parts of the city.

Make sure your you drop in for a beer at th Espy (The Esplanade hotel is a Melbourne icon)

Cheers

To give you the best of the best, I advise taking the #96 from any stop in Bourke Street in the heart of the city (it's parallel to Collins Street where you find the aforementioned #112) as this one takes a similar route but delivers you to the end of the recommended Acland Street (stay on till you reach the terminus), then you wander back along Acland Street, sampling what takes your fancy from the gorgeous cake shops on the beach (western) side of the street. Then wander around past Luna (fun) Park and out to the end of St Kilda Pier from where you get nice views along the foreshore of the bay. Then back to the tram line but wait for a #16 to return you to the city. This one brings you back along the length of Fitzroy Street and turns into St Kilda Road, a major boulevard and worth seeing in its own right. Doing it this way gives you a really nice round trip, taking in differing aspects of our city. You could get off at Domain Interchange, a major stop, as this gives you just a short stroll up a low hill to our war memorial, the Shrine of Remembrance. Even if you aren't interested in it as such (there are guides to answer any questions you may have), you can walk up about three flights of steps to an outdoor parapet, giving a 360 degree view over the surrounding area, much of it public gardens and landscaping. Another short stroll further on from the Shrine is one of the entrances to our Botanical Gardens, very worth seeing. If you still have the energy after walking the paths here you could walk back into the city along the banks of the Yarra River, giving good views towards the city again, but from a different angle. You can have all this for only $6.50 each for a Zone 1 Daily metcard, plus whatever you spend on refueling yourselves along the way. If the weather is nice on the day, you could easily devote most of the day to all this, but it could be contracted into about half a day, depending on what time you have available.

Re getting between Brighton and St Kilda and vv, it need not be convoluted as there are direct buses - routes 600, 922 and 923. But do check the Metlink website for timings.

--- G

We often take visitors on the ferry from Southbank to Williamstown where we have fish and chips in the park. We then catch a different ferry from Willy to StKilda Pier. You get a great perspective of Port Phillip Bay and views of the city. The only problem is that someone told me recently that the ferry either doesn't run all the time or has been cancelled. Maybe some of the locals can advise if it is still operating.

Once you arrive at StKilda, you can then cruise around the city before heading back to Melbourne via walking, taxi, tram or train.... as per the options given by the others. I will try and find out if that ferry still operates.

As for the beaches, they are much the same really. Port Phillip Bay has similar beaches running right down the east side. If it were me and it was a nice day, I would walk from StKilda along the beach to Port Melbourne. It is approx 5kms but is right on the beach the whole way and has a huge amount of people walking, running, riding or roller blading along the length of the walk. There are a number of trams that run into the beach walking track along the way.

I just found this quote.....not sure how current it is but it does seem to ring a bell with me, re. the info I was given.

"Suburban trains run regularly to Williamstown and there are regular ferry services from Southgate, Docklands and St Kilda Pier (St Kilda ferry runs only weekends, public holidays and throughout January)".