Easy-going Melbourne puts a high value on the good life. Book a Melbourne hotel and put style, sport, food and drink top of the agenda on a Melbourne city break.Melbourne prides itself on the quality and variety of its food. ‘Mod Oz’ cuisine takes European techniques and adds an Asian twist at restaurants like Southbank down by the Yarra River. Bohemian Degraves Street is the place to head for cafes, tapas joints and wine bars serving up cool-climate wines from the local Yarra Valley. For global flavours try Peking duck and noodles in Chinatown, Vietnamese pho soup in Richmond’s Victoria Street and platefuls of pasta in Lygon Street, Melbourne’s Little Italy.
Designer boutiques, specialist shops and homeware stores lie just outside the door of your Melbourne hotel. A network of lanes and French-style arcades weaves its way from the Yarra River through to Bourke Street Mall, home to department stores Myers and David Jones. Browse the latest fashions in the revamped GPO shopping arcade. Find everything from tea shops to cosmetics, chocolates, shoes and creations by up-and-coming local designers in the roofed Melbourne Central and QV retail centres.
Catch a Broadway-style show at the glittering Princess Theatre and enjoy opera at the Arts Centre off Southbank on a Melbourne city break. Watch a fast and furious game of Australian Rules Football at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. Cultured Melbourne has two heavyweight art galleries. Australian art goes under the spotlight at the Ian Potter Centre on Federation Square while international work is showcased at the National Gallery of Victoria on St Kilda Road. Melbourne’s festivals year begins with the Comedy Festival in April and carries on through to the International Arts Festival in October.
