With its stately mansions, vast parklands, the biggest lake in the city, warehouse conversions, inner-city lanes, co-working spaces for start-ups and pubs everywhere, this precinct is nothing if not eclectic.
There’s St Vincent Place, which “looks as if it belongs in some BBC costume drama, with hansom cabs rushing through the streets and Sherlock Holmes about to welcome a visitor to the door,” says Nick Gadd in Melbourne Circle.
There’s the South Melbourne Market, where “he city’s best food vans serve fast and fresh snacks to hungry families while the young and hip peruse the artisan jewellery and vintage stalls,” writes Julietta Jameson in Travel Insider.
And there’s St Ali, the South Melbourne café institution which is a “hideaway warehouse conversion where the coffee is carefully sourced and guaranteed to be good,” reports the Lonely Planet Melbourne Guide.