Akoonah Park Market

Three hundred and fifty stalls, half of them under a roof, every Sunday morning on the Princes Highway side of Berwick. Akoonah Park Market is one of the biggest weekly markets in Melbourne's south east and it has the range that only a market of that size manages.

A market for jobs, not just browsing

The stall list gives it away: alongside food, fresh produce, flowers and plants sit tools, work gear, pet supplies and eco products. This is a market people come to with a list. Handcrafts and artwork are well represented, bric-a-brac fills a good share of it, and pony rides and jumping castles handle the children while the adults get on with it.

Rain, hail or shine is the market's own line and the indoor pavilions are what let it hold. A wet Sunday thins the outdoor rows and pushes everyone inside rather than cancelling the morning.

Good to know before you go

The 8am start is worth taking seriously at a market this size, both for the bric-a-brac and for the car park, which fills steadily through the morning. Akoonah Park sits just off the Princes Highway, so it is straightforward to reach from either direction and the signage is good. Bring cash and bring bags. One-thirty is a genuine finish rather than a slow fade, and stallholders start packing before it, so arriving after midday means seeing a market already on its way out.