Chapel Street 6.05

Chapel Street is essentially straight and runs for over 4.13 kilometres along an approximate north-south alignment from the Yarra River in the north to Brighton Road in the south, traversing the south east suburbs of South Yarra, Prahran, Windsor, St Kilda and St Kilda East. Major street crossings are Alexandra Avenue, Toorak Road, Commercial Road, High Street, Dandenong Road, Alma Road, Inkerman Street and Carlisle Street. To the north of Dandenong Road, Chapel Street is one of Melbourne’s premier shopping and entertainment strips with over 980 shops, street cafés, restaurants, bars, pubs and nightclubs. It has a reputation as Melbourne’s fashion and style capital. South of Dandenong Road is predominantly a residential area.

Tram routes 78 and 79 travel along the entire length of Chapel Street, between Richmond and St Kilda. Tram routes 3, 5, 6, 8, 64 and 72 all intersect Chapel Street. The Sandringham line railway stations of South Yarra, Prahran, Windsor and Balaclava are all within 300 metres of Chapel Street.

The section of Chapel Street between Toorak Road and Dandenong Road is often completely filled with traffic from around midnight to 3 a.m. each Friday and Saturday night. This is partially due to the large number of clubs, bars and restaurants along Chapel Street, but also to owners of modified cars cruising this section, without a specific destination. This practice is known in Melbourne as "Laps of Chaps" or "Chap Laps", and is generally confined to Chapel Street, although this behaviour originated on Lygon Street, Carlton.