One of the best tips for visitors to Melbourne is the City Circle Tram—it's the cream one, and runs a free hop on/hop off service past some of Melbourne's most famous sights, from Federation Square to Melbourne's Parliament House, Princess Theatre and the Old Treasury Building.

The Melbourne City Tourist Shuttle is another free service—this time a bus—which has hop on/hop off stops by the Melbourne Museum and the Carlton Gardens, Lygon Street (for the best Italian cafes and restaurants), Queen Victoria Market, the courts, Southbank, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne Botanical Gardens, MCG or Melbourne Cricket Ground, Chinatown, and La Trobe Street for the Old Melbourne Gaol. If you're really strapped you can not only get a free ride to some of these top attractions, you can also get free entry; in the heart of the city, architecturally dramatic Federation Square, just across the road from architecturally traditional Flinders Street Station, has two major free attractions lining its sides: the Ian Potter Centre—the Australian Art section of the National Gallery of Victoria—and the Australian Centre for Moving Image.

Major sporting events are also usually shown gratis on the big screen in the middle of the square. The National Gallery of Victoria is one of the feathers in the bow of Melbourne's boast at being the Australian Capital of the Arts, and its art is free for all to enjoy—with the exception of some exhibitions. The quiet, botanical pleasures of Melbourne's Royal Botanic Gardens are also free to all—as is the contrasting hustle and bustle of the Queen Victoria Market.
So visitors could easily find themselves with plenty left over in their pockets at the end of the day for a meal at one of Lygon Street's famous restaurants, a walk along the beach at St. Kilda, a trip to Luna Park and then a show on the Southbank.