Royal Arcade, Melbourne

Royal Arcade is Melbourne's oldest surviving shopping arcade, a graceful Victorian passage running between Bourke Street Mall and Little Collins Street in the central city. Opened in 1870, its glass-roofed walkway of small specialty shops set the template for the covered arcades that became a defining feature of Melbourne's genteel nineteenth-century retail.

The Gog and Magog figures are its signature. At the Little Collins Street end, two carved mythological giants have struck the hours on a clock above the passage since 1892, a beloved and much-photographed piece of city folklore. Beneath the arched glass roof, the arcade retains its original tessellated floor, slender columns and painted shopfronts.

The tenants suit the setting. Rather than chain stores, the arcade houses jewellers, milliners, watch repairers, a long-standing magic shop and small cafes, giving it an old-world, curiosity-cabinet feel. It connects into a wider warren of central-city arcades and laneways, including the neighbouring Block Arcade, forming a sheltered network of pedestrian passages through the heart of Melbourne.

Practical notes: the arcade sits in the middle of the walkable city grid, a minute from the Bourke Street trams and a short stroll from Flinders Street Station; it is flat and step-free. It is open during standard shopping hours and is quieter in the mornings, busier at lunchtime. Browsing is free, and prices in the shops range from affordable trinkets to fine jewellery. Combine it with the adjoining Block Arcade and the GPO building for a short tour of Melbourne's heritage retail before diving into the surrounding laneways. The arcade's slender ironwork, painted timber shopfronts and tessellated floor have been carefully conserved, and its enduring mix of old-fashioned trades gives it a character quite unlike the modern malls a few streets away.