--- title: "South Melbourne walkability score: 97/100 · How Walkable" description: "South Melbourne scores 97/100 for walkability (Walker's Paradise). What's within a walk, its street layout, and how it compares with the rest of Melbourne." url: https://howwalkable.com/cities/australia/melbourne/south-melbourne updated: 2026-10-22 license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ --- 1. [Cities](https://howwalkable.com/cities) 2. [Australia](https://howwalkable.com/cities/australia) 3. [Melbourne](https://howwalkable.com/cities/australia/melbourne) 4. South Melbourne # How walkable is South Melbourne? By [Oscar Higson-Spence](https://howwalkable.com/about#author). Updated 22 October 2026 South Melbourne has a walkability score of 97 out of 100 across the 850 m around its centre, which makes it a Walker's Paradise, where daily errands do not require a car. It is the joint 4th most walkable of the 20 neighbourhoods ranked in Melbourne, with 2 others, which scores 87 as a whole. 97 out of 100: Walker's Paradise Daily errands do not require a car. * #4 of 20 tied, in Melbourne * 87 Melbourne overall * 100 at the centre [Open on the map](https://howwalkable.com/?lat=-37.83344&lon=144.95705&q=South%20Melbourne%2C%20Melbourne) ## What's within walking distance 2,454 shops, restaurants, parks and other everyday places are mapped within a 30 minute walk of the centre of South Melbourne. The nearest grocery is about a minute away on foot. Every category earns full or nearly full points. ### Groceries 3.0 of 3 points * The South Melbourne Market Grocer, 1 min * Discount Health Foods, 3 min * Woolworths, 5 min ### Restaurants & bars 3.0 of 3 points * Big Huey's Diner, 1 min * Tipsy Village, 1 min * Woodfrog Bakery South Melbourne, 1 min ### Shopping 2.0 of 2 points * Remedy Clothing, 1 min * Inside The Looking Glass, 1 min * La Central Spanish Deli and Bodega, 1 min ### Coffee 2.0 of 2 points * Code Black Coffee, 1 min * Market Lane Coffee, 1 min * Caffe Panette, 2 min ### Banks 1.0 of 1 point * Beyond Bank, 1 min * Up Bank, 4 min * NAB, 5 min ### Parks 1.0 of 1 point * Town Hall Reserve, 4 min * Sol Green Reserve, 7 min * St Vincent Gardens, 8 min ### Schools 1.0 of 1 point * Shbg Middle School, 5 min * Galilee Regional Catholic Primary School, 6 min * South Melbourne Primary School, 9 min ### Books & libraries 1.0 of 1 point * The Merchant of Fairness, 3 min * Coventry Bookstore, 3 min * Emerald Hill Library, 5 min ### Culture & entertainment 1.0 of 1 point * The Butterfly Club, 5 min * Her Place Museum, 5 min * The Base, 6 min Measured from the mapped centre of South Melbourne at -37.8334, 144.9571. Walking times assume 80 m per minute along an estimated street route. ## Street layout Within 800 m of the centre there are about 229 street intersections per km², and blocks average 59 m long. That is a well-connected street grid, so the score is not reduced. ## Walkability across South Melbourne ![Walkability scores across the 850 m around the centre of South Melbourne. 100% of points score 70 or more; the lowest, 88, is 850 m to the west.](https://howwalkable.com/maps/australia/melbourne/south-melbourne.svg?v=acdc2efc7f5a) Each hexagon is the score at a point across the 850 m around the centre of South Melbourne. Rings mark 400 m and 850 m from the centre. Gaps are water or land without streets. ## Nearby neighbourhoods in Melbourne | Neighbourhood | Distance | Score | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | -------- | ----- | | [Southbank](https://howwalkable.com/cities/australia/melbourne/neighbourhoods#southbank) | 1.1 km | 97 | | [Albert Park](https://howwalkable.com/cities/australia/melbourne/albert-park) | 1.3 km | 89 | | [Melbourne central business district](https://howwalkable.com/cities/australia/melbourne/neighbourhoods#melbourne-central-business-district) | 2.3 km | 97 | | [Docklands](https://howwalkable.com/cities/australia/melbourne/neighbourhoods#docklands) | 2.3 km | 86 | | [Carlton](https://howwalkable.com/cities/australia/melbourne/carlton) | 3.8 km | 99 | | [North Melbourne](https://howwalkable.com/cities/australia/melbourne/neighbourhoods#north-melbourne) | 4 km | 94 | | [Fitzroy](https://howwalkable.com/cities/australia/melbourne/fitzroy) | 4.1 km | 99 | | [Richmond](https://howwalkable.com/cities/australia/melbourne/neighbourhoods#richmond) | 4.3 km | 95 | See [all 20 neighbourhoods of Melbourne ranked by walkability](https://howwalkable.com/cities/australia/melbourne/neighbourhoods). ## Questions about walking in South Melbourne ### Is South Melbourne walkable? Yes. South Melbourne has a walkability score of 97 out of 100 across the 850 m around its centre, which makes it a Walker's Paradise, where daily errands do not require a car. ### Is South Melbourne more walkable than the rest of Melbourne? South Melbourne is more walkable than Melbourne as a whole: it scores 97, against 87 for the 5 km around Melbourne's centre. It is the joint 4th most walkable of the 20 neighbourhoods ranked in Melbourne, with 2 others on How Walkable. ### What are the most walkable neighbourhoods in Melbourne? Of the 20 Melbourne neighbourhoods on How Walkable, the most walkable are Fitzroy (99), Carlton (99) and Collingwood (98). ### How is the walkability score of South Melbourne calculated? The score counts groceries, restaurants, shops, cafés, banks, parks, schools, libraries and cultural venues within a 30 minute walk, gives nearer places more weight, and deducts up to 20% where streets are sparse or blocks are long. For South Melbourne it is the average of 61 points spread evenly across the 850 m around its mapped centre, leaving out water and land without streets, using open map data from Overture Maps and OpenStreetMap. It measures what is within a walk, not what the walk is like: pavements, traffic, safety, hills and heat are not part of the score. This page is generated from open map data with a published walkability method, explained in the [methodology](https://howwalkable.com/methodology). Places from Overture Maps release 2026-09-23.1. Neighbourhood position from Overture Maps, name from Wikidata. Ask about walking anywhere in ChatGPT with the [How Walkable app](https://chatgpt.com/plugins/plugin_asdk_app_6accc634bcf8819189c1bcaf0e227f0f), for example "How walkable is South Melbourne?" Scores, rankings and text by How Walkable (https://howwalkable.com), licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/); credit How Walkable and link to this page when reusing them.