A guide to Melbourne's best winter festivals and events

Melbourne's favourite illuminated event is back again for a fourth year, with more than 20 dazzling new light installations to meander through in wonderment. From June 20 to August 10, take a nighttime stroll through the Royal Botanic Gardens and experience luminous pathways, lit-up tree canopies, soothing soundscapes and more spectacular sights.

Firelight Festival is returning to Docklands this winter from Friday, July 4 to Sunday, July 6. The surrounding streets of Victoria Harbour will be set alight, literally, with fiery installations from 5pm on each of the three nights. Expect flames in all forms, with blazing sculptures, jets and performances. 

If you're keen to head on a cool-climate caper but aren't sure where to begin, you're in luck: the East Gippsland Winter Festival is returning for its fifth iteration. Rug up and hit the road for a month-long celebration packed with lavish winter feasts, fantastical art installations, live music, lantern parades, creative workshops, wellness experiences and much more.

Every year, the Yarra City Council puts on a beloved music festival focussed on showcasing and supporting local artists and venues during the quieter winter season. This year, Leaps and Bounds Music Festival is taking place across four days and nights from Thursday, July 24 until Sunday, July 27. Anticipate parties and performances to suit all ages and budgets, including plentiful free and family-friendly gigs. It all happens in Fitzroy, Collingwood, Fitzroy North, Abbotsford and Richmond – which are some of the suburbs that make up the City of Yarra area.

Back for another big year, this after-dark light festival in Melbourne’s north is coaxing you out of the house with live music, light projections, interactive art, roving performances, food trucks and family friendly activities

On Saturday, June 21 from 6pm, the Town Hall Broadmeadows precinct will be bathed in colour while a festival of grand proportions takes place under the banner of the Hume Winter Lights Festival.

Looking for things to do now that the cool weather has set in? Rug up and head to the City of Casey, located just a 40-minute drive from the CBD, for its Winter Arts Festival from June 20 to July 20. 

This celebration of creativity, community and colour is back for another year, with a jam-packed program of performances, installations, film screenings and workshops spotlighting local talent.