Our guide to the Melbourne Cricket Ground in Australia includes information on location, events, tickets, parking, public transportation, nearby hotels and restaurants, seating capacity and more. Read on to find out how to get the most out of your gameday experience.

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There’s simply no denying the importance of the Melbourne Cricket Ground to Australia’s sports culture as a whole.

The venerable venue has been open since 1853, and as the country’s largest stadium (as well as the largest in the entire Southern Hemisphere), it has long been the choice to host the biggest events Australia has to offer.

And that lofty status will likely continue into the foreseeable future and beyond. The Melbourne Cricket Ground, as its name suggests, is an important venue in the world of cricket, and the growth in popularity of the sport in Australia can be traced directly to the site.

Meanwhile, the MCG is the cradle of Australian rules football, which for most of its long history has been centered in and around Melbourne. Each September, the stadium hosts the Australian Football League’s Grand Final, and with 100,000+ fans in attendance each year, it holds the distinction of being the most widely attended championship event in the world.

The Melbourne Cricket Ground — often shortened to MCG or simply “the ‘G” — offers numerous reasons to visit, from top international cricket events to AFL matches to rugby union, World Cup soccer qualifiers and much, much more.

And you can now add the NFL to that list, as the league will stage its first-ever game in Australia in September 2026 between the Los Angeles Rams and San Francisco 49ers.

Looking for Melbourne Cricket Ground event tickets? Search events on Ticketek Australia.

Melbourne Cricket Ground video guide

Want to see what the experience of watching an event at the Melbourne Cricket Ground is like? Check out our video below.

And subscribe to the Itinerant Fan channel on YouTube for more stadium and travel videos!

Getting to the Melbourne Cricket Ground

The way sports is ingrained in the culture of Melbourne is readily apparent in the layout of the city. Many of the city’s top athletic facilities — including the Melbourne Cricket Ground as well as Rod Laver Arena and the other courts that hosts tennis’ Australian Open — are located just a mile or so from the Central Business District (CBD).

The MCG itself is located within Yarra Park, and separated from the tennis center by a set of railroad tracks.

Visitors to Melbourne will likely find themselves staying in a hotel or other lodging within the CBD, and depending on your exact location, walking to the Melbourne Cricket Ground isn’t an unreasonable proposition. From the centrally located Princes Bridge, it’s a distance of just under a mile.

Head to the pedestrian walkway that lines the north side of the Yarra River and head east — the large and well-trafficked path will eventually cut through a park and then cross over a road and the aforementioned railroad tracks before leading to the foot of the stadium.

For fans looking to use public transit, there are two primary methods. Melbourne’s extensive Metro train system operates 16 lines, all of which pass through the central business district in some fashion. The Jolimont station on the Mernda and Hurstbridge lines is the closest stop to the MCG, just north of the Melbourne Park grounds. The Richmond station, just southeast of the stadium, serves six different lines.

Meanwhile, Melbourne’s surface-level tram system also services Melbourne Park. Line 75 connects with Jolimont station, while line 70 stops at Richmond station.

In both cases, a Myki pass is needed to ride, with fares depending on your starting point. Though central Melbourne is considered a free fare zone for tram rides, the Melbourne Cricket Ground is located just outside this zone.

Parking at the Melbourne Cricket Ground

Driving and parking for events at the Melbourne Cricket Ground is strongly discouraged and severely limited on the Yarra Park grounds. General parking is typically unavailable for large-scale events like AFL and cricket matches.

A number of independently run small parking lots and car parks are within a close vicinity of the stadium, with varying rates depending on the scale of the event. A list of nearby parking options, maintained by the MCG, can be found on this page.

Metered street parking can also be found within a reasonable walk of the stadium, though nearly always in short supply, event or not.

Want to visit the Melbourne Cricket Ground on a non-matchday? Book a stadium tour on Viator.

Melbourne hotels near the stadium

• Pullman Melbourne on the Park – 0.3 miles away
• Quest Jolimont – 0.3 miles away
• Lanbruk Richmond Hill – 0.5 miles away
Search for more Melbourne hotels on Booking.com.

Map of Melbourne’s Olympic Park

Check out rates for hotels near the Melbourne Cricket Ground below.

Things to do around the Melbourne Cricket Ground

The Melbourne Cricket Ground’s location within Yarra Park, coupled with the fact that the area to the north and east of the park is largely residential, means that there generally aren’t many restaurants and bars in the immediate vicinity.

If you’re staying in a hotel in the central business district and would like to have a sit-down meal or a drink or two before heading to the Melbourne Cricket Ground, you’ll likely have to remain in the CBD, where any number of eating and drinking establishments — many with a sports theme or at least openly catering to sports fans — can be found. From there, you can walk along the river or use public transit to head over to the MCG.

However, that’s not to say there won’t be entertainment next to the stadium. For most events, the perimeter of the ground is lined with sponsor booths, merchandise stands and food trucks, and often live music and/or a DJ.

These stands are typically most prevalent on the stadium’s north side, in front of the Olympic stand — you won’t find it on the south side since the railroad tracks limit the amount of space in front of the entrance gates.

There is also an attraction well worth visiting within the Melbourne Cricket Ground structure: The Australian Sports Museum, which showcases the country’s top achievements and figures in football, cricket, Olympic sports and much, much more. Depending on timing, the museum is sometimes open even on matchdays at the MCG.

If you wish to sign up for a tour of the stadium, they can be purchased at the museum as well.

Melbourne restaurants near the stadium

• Geppetto Trattoria – Italian, 0.4 miles away
• Il Duca – Italian, 0.4 miles away
• Cumulus Inc. – Australian, 0.7 miles away
Search for more Melbourne restaurants on Tripadvisor.

Watching a game at the Melbourne Cricket Ground

If you haven’t gotten a sense of the sheer size of the Melbourne Cricket Ground before walking up to it, you’ll get an immediate sense as you look to head inside along with the many other patrons that fill this 100,000-capacity stadium on a regular basis.

The stadium is divided into four stands, from the Shane Warne stand to the south to (moving clockwise) the W.H. Ponsford stand, the Members Pavilion and the Olympic stand. The first two stands are named after men considered to be two of the greatest cricketers in Australia’s history, with the former being renamed after Warne after his death in 2022.

Though the stands are interconnected, forming a circular structure, fans will have to enter the MCG at whichever stand their ticket is assigned.

The circular shape, necessary for cricket and Australian football, contributes to the feeling of size when you look upon the Melbourne Cricket Ground’s seating bowl. In addition, each stand has four tiers, though the Olympic and Ponsford stands have taller upper sections.

An overhang surrounds the entire stadium and protects the upper sections from any inclement weather. Meanwhile, two large screens, located opposite each other on the stadium’s east and west ends, supplement the action.

The atmosphere for AFL matches at the Melbourne Cricket Ground can vary depending on the teams involved — keep in mind that up to six clubs utilize the MCG for home matches.

Though top clubs like Collingwood and Carlton can bring huge crowds to the stadium, the “visiting” team usually also brings sizable contingents of supporters, and the two sides intermingle without issue — an unusual scene to anyone who’s used to, say, the segregation of crowds often seen in European soccer.

Food and drink at the Melbourne Cricket Ground

Concession stands are relatively easy to find at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, though perhaps not as prevalent on the concourses as many American stadiums of similar size.

Each level has its fair share of both line-up stands as well as “MCG Express” walk-in concession areas — that is, places where a visitor swipes a credit card to enter, picks items to purchase and then walks out through gates that scan the items in hand and charge them to the credit card that was used to enter.

The food items on offer are fairly typical of stadium fare in other countries — burgers, chicken sandwiches and French fries/chips can all be readily found. If you’re not Australian, you can indulge in a meat pie, a food item that’s considered typical to-go fare Down Under.

The Melbourne Cricket Ground also has several bar spaces in which beer and other drinks can be purchased. If you’re in the Ponsford stand, check out the Outer Bar, a beer garden that includes an external terrace looking out on to the central Melbourne skyline.

Original publish date: February 26, 2026

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