Prahran: Melbourne Neighbourhood Guide

Prahran (pran) is a quintessential Melbourne neighbourhood, home to cool wine bars, intimate and inventive restaurants, quirky boutiques, and more smashed avo than you could eat in a lifetime. It’s one of the best neighbourhoods to visit in Melbourne, if you want to experience a bit of Melbourne’s famous cafe culture, despite Chapel Street being a little tired around the edges these days. You’ll find the heart of the neighbourhood around the intersection between Melbourne’s famous Chapel Street, the recently developed Greville Street precinct and the Prahran Market. It’s a busy area, and is relatively tourist-free, compared to neighbourhoods like Fitzroy and St Kilda. I lived in this area for two years, and have so many favourite haunts in the neighbourhood.

PS: Planning a trip to Melbourne? Check out my Melbourne Travel Guide.

The Best Things to Do in Prahran

Breakfast at the Prahran Market

The Prahran Market is one of my favourite places in Melbourne, and while it’s technically on the South Yarra side of the Prahran/South Yarra border, it’s at the starting point of Prahran. The Prahran Market is one of Melbourne’s three major covered markets, and it’s open several days a week with stallholders selling fresh produce, meat and fish, gourmet food and homewares, along with several hot food stalls & coffee shops. I love the spinach & cheese gozleme from Anatolia Gozleme Kitchen and the decadent grilled cheese toastie from Maker & Monger. My favourite coffee is from Q le Baker.

prahran market south yarra

Humming Puppy yoga

This custom-built yoga studio has to be experienced to be believed. In an incredibly “southside” fashion, yoga has transformed from a humble practice in a sweaty hall to a luxurious and serious practice in a futuristic yoga studio that feels part day spa, part space ship. Classes are around $30, but they’re pretty amazing.

Shopping on Greville Street

Greville Street’s shopping precinct has been recently redeveloped, and has seen an influx of boutiques, bars and cafes as a result. There’s a small garden here, which was one of my favourite spots in the area to relax with a book or a coffee.

greville street prahran melbourne_7

The Best Bars in Prahran

The Smith

The Smith is a modern Australian pub, with great food, a lively bar scene and a famous Gospel Brunch every weekend. If you’re in town for it, try and get to the Gospel Brunch which includes a bottomless spritz package, otherwise come in for dinner during the week.

Photo: The Smith Prahran

Neptune Food & Wine

Neptune Food & Wine is a gorgeous wine bar & restaurant from some of the people behind my favourite restaurants in Melbourne. Nic Coulter & Simon Blacher from Tokyo Tina and brothers Dave & Michael Park from Pastuso (one of the best restaurants in Melbourne, according to me), joined forces to bring coastal Italian vibes and a refreshingly unpretentious attitude to hospitality (people & product first, Instagram moments…last). Come for aperol spritz, Italian wines and small plates like charred octopus, stracciatella with heirloom tomatoes and vitello tonnato.

One of the best bars in Prahran, Neptune windsor

The Alps

Wine bar slash wine shop The Alps is a cute and cosy spot for catching up with friends over a bold red on a dreary winter’s day.

The Alps Wine Bar Prahran

The Best Restaurants in Prahran

Borscht, Vodka & Tears

Opened by a trio of Polish expats, Borscht, Vodka & Tears serves homestyle Polish cuisine and more than 100 kinds of vodka. It’s a mainstay in Melbourne’s dining scene, and the cosy, well-loved restaurant is a refreshing break from

L’Hotel Gitan

Renowned chef Jacques Reymond runs this charming bar & restaurant with his wife and three of his four children. L’Hotel Gitan is a more relaxed sibling to their other restaurant, Bistro Gitan in South Yarra, and is the perfect spot to catch up with friends over a glass of wine and a few French bites.

Cafes & Brunch in Prahran

Tall Timber

Tall Timber is my favourite cafe in Melbourne, which probably means it’s my favourite cafe in the world. It’s small and unpretentious, with a permanently busy dining room and a small, charming courtyard. The menu is vegetable-forward and perfectly balances meeting your classic brunch cravings and offering a little bit of creativity and novelty.

tall timber cafe prahran melbourne

St Edmond’s Cafe

My second-favourite cafe in all of Melbourne, St Edmond’s Cafe is a pocket-sized cafe tucked away in Edmond’s Place, just off the Greville Street Precinct. Housed in a graffiti-covered former garage (very Melbourne) and with a tiny courtyard covered in fairylights, St Edmond’s is always busy with active-wear clad Melburnians and four-legged friends on a weekend morning, but there’s never a huge wait for a table. Unlike Melbourne’s most famous cafes, St Edmund’s is tourist free and has a really lovely neighbourhood feel to it.

st edmunds place cafe prahran

Hotels in Prahran

Due to Prahran’s envious inner city location, the few hotels in Prahran tend to be expensive. The Cullen by Art Series Hotels is a stylish option, conveniently located on Commercial Road near the Prahran Market and Chapel Street. There’s a second outpost of Art Series Hotels, The Olsen, just up the road in South Yarra. For more affordable accommodation, Hotel Claremont on Toorak Road in South Yarra is only a short walk from Prahran, and South Yarra is a lovely neighbourhood in its own right.

Have you been to Melbourne? What are your favourite things to do in Prahran?

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