Lydiard Street is the spine of Ballarat's gold-built downtown and the most consistently impressive Victorian streetscape outside the major capitals. The five blocks between the railway station and the old Mining Exchange are lined with banks, churches, hotels, theatres, and chambers in heavy Italianate and Second Empire styles, almost all in honey-coloured local sandstone.
Walk it slowly. The standouts are Craig's Royal Hotel (1853, where Mark Twain and Edward VII both stayed), Her Majesty's Theatre (1875, the oldest working theatre in Australia), the Mining Exchange (1888), the Town Hall (1872), and the George Hotel (1853). The Art Gallery of Ballarat is two blocks along. A self-guided heritage walk leaflet is available free at the visitor centre.