How to find the best street art: Expert travel tips

Matt Adnate is a Melbourne-based street artist, best known for his mega-murals of indigenous Australians. Art Series Hotels recently opened The Adnate, Perth's newest hotel, which is inspired by his art, and includes a 25-storey mural on its exterior, Adnate's largest work to date. His next project is… classified. See adnate.com.au, artserieshotels.com.au

STEP ONE

There's street art everywhere across Melbourne, but the hotspots like Fitzroy and the city centre are my favourite places. Maybe I'm a little biased because I grew up in these areas, but it's covered top to bottom in street art and graffiti. Sometimes, people contact me asking for a map to see all my stuff – unfortunately, it doesn't exist. Perhaps that's part of the scene: people have to find it for themselves.

STEP TWO

Walk from the start to the finish of Fitzroy Street, Fitzroy, to get a diverse range of classic graffiti work in about 20 minutes. The carpark on the corner of Fitzroy & Rose Streets is filled with lots of pieces including big murals and work from artists who've been painting since the '80s - it's a very eclectic mix. We have a lot of international artists coming through like Smug and Nychos, and a few local heroes like Sofles from Brisbane and Kitt Bennett, who's been doing these giant ground paintings. There's some work by Puzzle in Fitzroy, an old-school graffiti legend who was part of WCA crew, and Lisa King. She's a big portrait painter – you should go see her piece on the side of Brunetti café in Flinders Lane.

STEP THREE

Historically, it's worth mentioning Melbourne's train lines: get on the Hurstbridge line for a trail of high-quality graffiti, all the way out to the end of the line. It was really big in the 80s and 90s, and it really blew my mind because I could see what could be done with a spray can. The WCA crew (Wild Child Artists) you can still go out and see their stuff. You can just sit there and look out – but unfortunately, as the train's moving so fast, it's hard to get a photo.

STEP FOUR

For street art in country Victoria, Benalla's annual Wall to Wall Festival is next on April 3-5, and the same guys at Juddy Roller - also created the Silo Art Trail, a 200 kilometre trail through the Wimmera Mallee with six painted grain silos. "My" silo is at Sheep Hills, near Warracknabeal. It celebrates local indigenous culture, and before I started, a lot of people assumed there was not a lot of Aboriginal history in the area. But all this amazing knowledge came out, and it was really quite special. One of the original forms of graffiti was people painting political messages on walls: but , a portrait can have just as a strong message, walltowallfestival.com, siloarttrail.com; juddyroller.com.au

STEP FIVE

Most people would say Berlin is the best international destination for street art, but I think it's a bit thrashed now, as is Barcelona. Brooklyn is awesome, but South America is where it's going on. I did a walking tour through Rio's favelas, and the street art there is innovative.