There are many beaches at your disposal if you are lucky enough to be living, studying, or working in Melbourne. Most of those beaches are easily accessible by train or tram and, sometimes, there are multiple beaches on one train or tram line. Public transportation to the beach from the city is very easy and cheap, especially if you have a concession card that gives you a discounted rate if you’re a student.
Beaches by Tram
There are several beaches that can be accessed by tram, but I’m going to talk about my two favorites: St. Kilda and Port Melbourne.
St. Kilda is a short ride from Flinders Station. It’s a cute beach town that has a ton of cool shops, a small amusement park, and houses the Palais Theater where some musicians go to perform. However, there is one highly unique thing about St. Kilda. If you go to the docks just as the sun sets, you have the opportunity to see penguins coming back home to their little nests in the rocks.
Port Melbourne is a different type of beach. If you like city views, Port Melbourne is the place to be but, most of their beach is no-dogs-allowed except for one specific section. To get to Port Melbourne, just hop on the 109 tram towards Port Melbourne all the way down the line.
Beaches by Train
There are several many different beaches that can be accessed by train but the ones that I like the most are Brighton Beach, Sandringham Beach, and Frankston Beach.
Brighton Beach and Sandringham Beach are actually on the same train line—the Sandringham line. If you want to go to Brighton Beach, just get off at the Brighton Beach stop; and if you want to go to Sandringham Beach, just ride to the end of the line and get off at Sandringham.
Brighton Beach is a good, family beach. Brighton is also a fantastic place to go to if you are looking to find shells. If the wind isn’t blowing then the water is usually pretty warm. Brighton is the place to go to if you don’t want to see the city in the distance. Also, Brighton Beach has the colorful beach boxes that sometimes will end up on postcards, and is a dog-friendly beach.
Sandringham is also very dog-friendly. Like Brighton, Sandringham Beach doesn’t have a city view, but it doesn’t have the same volume of people as Brighton. Also, if you want to really be alone at the beach, there are small rock formations along the beach where you can nestle into a little nook and feel like you’re alone.
Frankston Beach is at the end of the Frankston train line. The cool thing about this beach is that it has a lot going on. You can buy food, ice cream, go parasailing, and a bunch of other things. This is a dog-friendly beach, but not the best place if you’re looking for shells.
However, regardless of what beach you end up going to, you can rest assured that it will be beautiful and you’ll have a great time.
xx
