Melbourne Travel Guide
Melbourne Itineraries
WEEKEND IN MELBOURNE
Itinerary
48 HOURS FOR FOODIES
Itinerary
Stay in Melbourne
Where to Stay in Melbourne – Best Melbourne City Centre Hotels
While we’re big fans of holiday rentals and serviced apartments for stays longer than a few days, and for shorter periods we’ll opt for a boutique hotel, we do see the advantages of staying in [...]
Where to Stay in Melbourne – Best Melbourne Boutique Hotels
The Best Melbourne boutique hotels include everything from stylish art hotels themed around great Australian painters to renovated heritage pubs with chic contemporary rooms and buzzy bars downstairs. Where to stay in Melbourne depends on how you're [...]
Book Melbourne Accommodation
Eat in Melbourne
Melbourne Food and Wine Festival 2019 Guide – What to Do, Eat, Drink, See, and More
Melbourne Food and Wine Festival 2019 kicked off yesterday on Friday 8 March and will run for 17 days until Sunday 24 March. This year the programme features some 250 events, including not-to-be-missed chef lunches [...]
Contemporary Australian Cuisine, Food Worth Flying For
Contemporary Australian cuisine is best exemplified in the inventive dishes served in its best restaurants, where in recent decades a unique form of fusion cuisine has emerged, rooted in Australia's multicultural heritage, global flavours and techniques, and beautiful home-grown [...]
Drink in Melbourne
A Melbourne Cafe Culture Walk in the Land of the Long Flat White
A Melbourne cafe culture walk to get a taste of Melbourne's coffee history should be high on your to-do list when you're in the Land of the Long Flat White, as we like to call our [...]
Coffee Cupping at Market Lane Café in Melbourne
Coffee cupping at Market Lane café in Melbourne had been recommended to us by a guide on one of the market tours we did. Melburnians are obsessed with their coffee and cafés and see Melbourne as a global coffee-making capital. Does [...]
Explore Melbourne
Things to Do in Echuca, Victoria – Where to Stay, Cruise, Eat and Explore
Things to do in Echuca on the Murray River in Australia’s southern state of Victoria, include taking a cruise on a paddle steamer, learning about the trading history of the once-bustling river, and sampling fresh [...]
Things to Do in Daylesford, Victoria – Where to Stay, Cook, Shop, Stroll, Sip and Eat
Things to do in Daylesford range from browsing one of Australia’s finest regional art galleries and learning to cook with local produce at the legendary Lake House to indulging in spa treatments at nearby Hepburn [...]
Experience Melbourne
Things to Do in Echuca, Victoria – Where to Stay, Cruise, Eat and Explore
Things to do in Echuca on the Murray River in Australia’s southern state of Victoria, include taking a cruise on a paddle steamer, learning about the trading history of the once-bustling river, and sampling fresh [...]
Things to Do in Daylesford, Victoria – Where to Stay, Cook, Shop, Stroll, Sip and Eat
Things to do in Daylesford range from browsing one of Australia’s finest regional art galleries and learning to cook with local produce at the legendary Lake House to indulging in spa treatments at nearby Hepburn [...]
Book Melbourne Tours
Absorb Melbourne
Best Melbourne Museums for Learning About the History and Culture of the City
A priority for us on trips back to Australia is soaking up as much culture as we can. After we’ve caught up on the newest restaurants, we can be found in museums and galleries catching [...]
Meandering the Masala Trail in Dandenong in Melbourne
Meandering the Masala Trail in Dandenong in Melbourne provides a taste of Little India in one of the world’s most cosmopolitan countries. Nowhere is Australia's ethnic diversity felt more than in multicultural Melbourne and outer-suburb Dandenong where 55% of residents [...]
Shop Melbourne
Melbourne Shopping: The Most Eclectic Boutiques Of All
Melbourne shopping is some of the best shopping there is in Australia, especially for idiosyncratic fashion, jewellery and accessories. Designers are hand-making beautiful pieces while boutique owners are carefully curating eclectic collections. While most visitors make [...]
A Local Guide to Vintage Shopping in Melbourne
That we needed to provide you with a local guide to vintage shopping in Melbourne quickly became apparent after spotting some Melbourne locals in beehives, cats eye glasses and bobby socks. After meeting vintage princess [...]
Melbourne Festivals & Events
Melbourne Food and Wine Festival 2019 Guide – What to Do, Eat, Drink, See, and More
Melbourne Food and Wine Festival 2019 kicked off yesterday on Friday 8 March and will run for 17 days until Sunday 24 March. This year the programme features some 250 events, including not-to-be-missed chef lunches [...]
River Graze, a Celebration of Food and Wine from Victoria
River Graze, which sprawls along the banks of Melbourne’s Yarra River on Southbank Promenade, is a celebration of food and wine, from across the Australian state of Victoria. Launched on Friday night and running through [...]
Melbourne Local Knowledge
Will Studd, the Cheese Guy and the Story of Australian Cheese
When chatting with chefs around Australia for the feature stories we’ve been working on, one man’s name comes up repeatedly when talk turns to cheese — Will Studd. Or, Will Studd, "the cheese guy". Studd arrived [...]
Matt Skinner on Melbourne, Wine, Bars and Food
Melbourne wine guy Matt Skinner may be a comparatively young bloke as far as Australian wine icons go, but with a handful of wine books, an annual wine guide and a television series under his belt, he’s [...]
Melbourne Resources
Monday Memories: Sublime Sunset at St Kilda Pier, Melbourne
We were blessed with brilliant weather during our Melbourne stay. No, really. While our Sydney friends griped about having experienced one of the worst summers ever, we were soaking up the sunshine in a city [...]
Melbourne on a Budget – How to Experience Melbourne More Affordably
Australia is an expensive destination to visit, regardless of the drop in value of the Aussie dollar, and the capital of its southern state Victoria is no exception, but it is still possible to do Melbourne [...]
Melbourne Essentials
WHEN TO GO
Dec-Feb Can be extremely hot, but that doesn’t stop tennis, F1 and music fans from flocking to the city.
Apr-Sep April has the best walking weather, getting crisper as winter begins.
Oct-Nov Can be cool but is busy due to football finals and horse racing fanatics.
Health
Melbourne has a very good healthcare system, but of course always buy comprehensive insurance. Despite its reputation for dangerous creatures, you won’t find many of these in urban areas, apart from the ocassional spider. Given Melbourne’s liberal drinking hours, hangovers are your main concern. Recommended Vaccinations
Visas
Only New Zealanders do not need a visa for Australia. There are myriad classes of visas, but if you’re coming for a holiday (depending which passport you have) and you are staying for less than three months, apply for an ETA (Electronic Travel Authority) with a cost of UAD$20. For other visas visit the visa finder page of the Australian Government.
Insurance for Melbourne
CURRENCY
CURRENT EXCHANGE RATES
$1.00 USD = 1.46 AUD
€1.00 EUR = 1.63 AUD
£1.00 GBP = 1.89 AUD
The Australian currency is the Australian Dollar (AUD).
ATM machines are all over Australia and generally dispense AUD$10, $50 and $100 notes. Credit and debit cards a almost universally accepted and paying by cash is almost considered quaint on restaurants, supermarkets and hotels. If heading ‘outback’ carry extra cash in case of ATM unreliability.