19 Best Places for Families to Go During Hot Weather in Melbourne
During summer Melbourne can sizzle and we've created a list of the best places and activities for families during hot weather. It's not necessary to trek to Chadstone shopping centre with another million people to find salvation from the heat. Whether it's a single hot day or a heatwave, this guide will have you covered.
If it is a real heat wave, avoid going out in the middle part of the day when it is hottest. Wear loose clothing, sunscreen, hat, and sunglasses. Hydrate well and enjoy the opportunities the hot weather brings.
1. Find a beach
Melbourne has a series of beautiful beaches, which ring Port Phillip Bay, which are great spots to cool off when the weather warms up. Many of the beaches are patrolled during the summer season which helps you to have a safe time near the water. There are a range of beaches to suit a variety of different requirements; there are beaches which are close to central Melbourne and public transport, others next to playgrounds and beach activities like volleyball, while others have very shallow water which is ideal for youngsters.
Guide to the Best Family Beaches in Melbourne
Guide to the Best Playgrounds Near Beaches
Review & Details of Every Beach in Melbourne
2. Find a pool
.jpg)
The ultimate activity during hot weather is spending fun time at a pool. Some aquatic centres have slides, water play areas for kids, diving pools, wave pools, inflatables and other wet and wild action. Check out these guides below to find a suitable pool anywhere across Victoria.
List of Public Swimming Pools in Melbourne and Victoria (the list links to reviews, information and photos for every pool in Victoria)
Comparison of Aquatic Centres in Melbourne and Geelong
Top 10 Family Aquatic Centres in Melbourne
Guide to Water Slides in Melbourne and Geelong
List of Swimming Waterholes in Victoria
3. Find a free water play park
One of the best places to cool off in is a free water play park. Councils have created many water play areas next to playgrounds. The most impressive are at Booran Reservoir Playspace in Glen Huntly, Riverwalk Water Play Park in Werribee and Seville Water Play Park in Seville.
We have an Enhanced Search to find all locations in Victoria with free water play areas.
100 Free Water Play Spaces in Melbourne and Regional Victoria
4. Explore a rockpool
Searching for sea creatures amongst the rockpools is fun and there is always some water to splash in to stop from overheating.
The Best Rockpools in Melbourne and Victoria
5. Try a new water sport
This might be an ideal time to try out a new water sport where the water is cool and a nice coastal breeze is blowing. Maybe try Stand Up Paddle boarding, kayaking, canoeing, yachting, sailing, scuba diving, surfing, rowing or kiteboarding.
List of Water Sport Activities in Melbourne
6. Find water play at Zoos
Lion Gorge at Melbourne Zoo, Hippo Beach at Werribee Open Range Zoo and Badger Creek at Healesville Sanctuary all have great water play areas. The zoos also have some undercover exhibits out of the sun but the animals may also be trying to find some shade so it may turn out to be a sweaty game of hide and seek. The coolest place to find creatures is Sea Life Melbourne Aquarium in central Melbourne which is indoors and air-conditioned.
7. Water Activities at Theme Parks
The three main water based theme parks; Funfields in Whittlesea, Adventure Park Geelong in Geelong and Gumbuya World in Tynong all offer a range of mega slides and other aquatic adventures such as wave pools and lazy river.
Comparison of Theme Parks in Melbourne
8. See a movie
Cinemas are another dark and cool place to seek entertainment and refuge during hot weather. There are five VJunior cinemas which provide the perfect environment for young kids with indoor slides, play zones, dim lighting and specialised menu for kids. VJunior cinemas are located at Fountain Gate, Knox, Mill Park, Southland and Sunshine.
During school terms, you can bring along your baby for special babes-in-arms / Bambini sessions at a number of cinemas including Hoyts, Palace cinemas and Sun Theatre in Williamstown.
For a mega screen experience try the IMAX in Carlton which just happens to be next to the kid friendly and air-conditioned Melbourne Museum.
Guide to Cinemas in Melbourne
9. Visit an indoor play centre
Many indoor play centres have air-conditioning and the blazing heat outside will be a dim memory while the kids enjoy themselves. See our guide below for information on every play centre.
100 Play Centres in Melbourne and Geelong
10. Find a library
You can generally rely on your local library to have fully functional air conditioning and a range of facilities and activities to keep the kids entertained such as Storytime. Our favourite library is the State Library of Victoria in Central Melbourne.
11. Visit a museum
Museums don't need to be stuffy and boring. Melbourne has plenty of fun and exciting museums which will educate as well as entertain the whole family.
The Best Museums for Families and Kids in Melbourne
The innovative Museum of Play and Art in Geelong is a specialist children's museum and another one is opening soon in Sandringham.
12. Visit an art gallery
Melbourne has a wonderful range of art galleries and admission to most of them is free. Melbourne councils have also created a range of interesting galleries across suburban Melbourne and a number of galleries cater well for children. There is always something of interest to be found at the National Gallery of Victoria (NGV) in central Melbourne.
Guide to the Best Art Galleries in Melbourne
A special type of gallery is ArtVo in the Docklands which has interactive 3D installations which are staged for spectacular selfies.
13. Visit an ice-skating or roller skating centre
Roller skating or roller blading is something old with a new twist and is lots of fun for the whole family and ice skating is a favourite activity for hot weather. There's nothing like the feeling of a damp patch on your pants after taking a tumble on the ice.
Roller Skating and Ice Skating Rinks in Melbourne and Victoria
14. Visit a bowling centre
You shouldn't perspire too much playing ten pin bowling in an air conditioned centre. There are many bowling centres across Melbourne. One of the quirkiest which is a lot of fun is Archie Brothers Cirque Electriq in the Docklands which has bowling, arcade games, gaming theatre, bumper cars and virtual realty.
Guide to Tenpin Bowling Centres
15. Visit an indoor mini golf centre
Indoor mini golf or at least one under cover might be preferable to outdoor golf during hot weather. Holey Moley Golf Club in central Melbourne is the craziest and most unique indoor mini golf venue, Par none. Play golf in the dark at Black Light Mini Golf in the Docklands. Surely it can't be too hot in the dark.
The guide below has information in all the indoor mini golf courses.
List of Mini Golf courses
16. Visit an escape room
At an Escape Room, a group of you go into a room and try and escape within a designated time (usually about 60 minutes) by solving a series of puzzles which can be multi-sensory, mathematical, lingual, spatial or even require very lateral thinking. Escape rooms are indoors and should be air-conditioned. If not, it may feel like you are escaping from a volcano.
List of Escape Rooms
17. Play indoor laser tag
There are a number of indoor laser tag locations where you should be able to battle without raising too much of a sweat. Even so, Rambo never complained about a little bit of sweat.
Laser Tag / Skirmish Locations
18. Go to an outdoor cinema
By the time the sun sets at the end of the day it can be pleasantly balmy and an ideal time to watch a film at an outdoor cinema.
The Best Outdoor Cinemas in Melbourne
19. Stay at home and do some fun activities
Check our the links at the bottom of our blog for ideas on what to do at home in hot weather (assuming the air con is working). Ideas include drawing, painting and colouring, play board games, watch a movie which the whole family enjoys, plant an indoor herb garden, read a book, play card games, make shadow puppets, have a water balloon or a water pistol fight (preferably outside), have a slip n' slide competition in the garden/back yard, make pet rocks, make something from cardboard, make a crazy Tik Tok video, craft activities, play dough, expand your Origami expertise, no-bake recipes and some easy science experiments which would make Professor Julius Sumner Miller proud.
Web Links
→ 67 Things to Do with Your Kids When Its Too Hot to Play Outside (Calgarys Child)
→ 10 Cool Kids Activities for Hot Days (Mum in the Mad House)
→ 50 things to do when its too hot to go outside (Kidspot)
→ 40 Indoor Activities for Hot Summer Days (Tiny Beans)
