Lying a kilometre or two north of the City Center, Carlton, North Melbourne and Parkville can be easily reached by road, tram, bus and even on foot.
By Tram
Carlton is well connected by tram from the City Center. Trams which serve Carlton are trams 1, 3, 5, 6, 8, 16, 64, 67 and 72, all of which can be caught along Swanston Street and St Kilda Road in front of Flinders Street station. All except trams 1 and 8 end at the University of Melbourne tram stop, which is just a short walk to Lygon Street. Trams 1 and 8 continue along Lygon Street albeit a little north of all the action to East Coburg and Moreland respectively in the north.
Nicholson Street for Melbourne Museum is served by Tram 96 which runs between East Brunswick in the north and St Kilda in the south. The trams can be caught along Spring Street, Bourke Street and Spencer Street in the City Center. Nicholson Street also represents the division between Carlton and Fitzroy.
For Parkville, tram 19 runs along Royal Parade from Elizabeth Street. They continue to the northern suburb of North Coburg. Tram 55 catch them along Willam Street Monday to Saturday, and along Elizabeth Street on Sunday goes through Royal Park and passes by Melbourne Zoo.
By train
Carlton is not served by Melbourne's suburban railway network while Royal Park station on the Upfield Line is the only station in Parkville. The station is next to Melbourne Zoo.
By bus
The busiest part of Lygon Street is served by buses 200, 201, 203 and 207 from Lonsdale Street in the City Center. Rathdowne Street is served by buses 250, 251 both can be caught at Exhibition and Flinders Streets in the City Center and 253 Exhibition, Russel, Flinders Streets in the City Center and Queensbridge St in Southbank.
By car
Most of the City Center's north-south streets extend into Carlton. Lygon Street is an extension of Russell Street in the city, Rathdowne Street is the extension of Exhibition Street, while Nicholson Street is connected directly to Spring Street. The city-end of the Eastern Freeway which goes out to Melbourne's eastern suburbs, is in Carlton. In Parkville, Royal Parade is the extension of Elizabeth Street.
From the airport, the easiest way to get to Carlton/Parkville would be to get off the City Link toll expressway at Flemington, proceed along Flemington Road to Grattan Street, which intersects Royal Parade for Parkville, Lygon Street and ends at Rathdowne Street.
For those walking to Carlton, the best route to take is to continue from Russell Street to Lygon Street, where you get to start from No. 1 of this popular street. It is a little too far to walk to Parkville, especially to its attractions like the Melbourne Zoo, from the city center.