Melbourne is the European city of Australia. It's architecture is older, tends to be more stylised (and preserved) and thanks to one of the founders of the city, it has wide stretches of public parklands and greenbelts in the center of the city. Melbourne is also the city of Hidden Secrets.
Chic and Demure
Unlike her more northerly counterpart, Sydney, there is nothing obvious about Melbourne. She is a little more chic and demure, preferring to keep her allure veiled. In other words, it is not easy to find the really cool stuff to do.
Take Misty Bar for example. This hole-in-the wall bar I incredibly easy to relax in, the service is friendly and fast, they make the best 42-Below with Tonic in the city, but it's impossible to find. Standing in front of the (monstrously ugly) Federation Square, look straight across the road at the bits that AREN'T the historic Flinders St Station or winding Yarra River. You see that dirty-looking alleyway? Walk into it. Walk past Movida (the best tapas bar anywhere – try the air-cured Wagyu beef with truffle foam, or the half-quail poached in Ximijez sherry) and just there on your left is a door. It's not someone's house, and its not an opium den. It's Misty Bar – who seem so intent on keeping a low profile that even though the matchbooks have their name embossed on the front – it's in Braille. Such is the way of this gorgeous city.
Where to Start your Day
A day in Melbourne should always begin on Degraves St (just off Flinders Lane). This is where the serious breakfast is, in yet another alley that is heaving with graffiti by some of the country's best artists and homemade Raspberry and White Chocolate muffins. Melbourne has the best coffee outside of Rome too, so enjoy.
Where to Shop
Then it's time to shop. Walk up to Collins St and turn right. You are staring down the barrel of the 'Paris end' of Collins St, where Armani, Tiffany and Luis Vuitton are waiting to lighten your wallet. At the top of the city is the historic Queen Victoria Market (an entirely different price range) that has sold everything Melbournites have needed for more than a hundred years. The night market on Wednesday is the day to try every kind of food on the planet – Melbourne is an incredibly multi-cultural city.
Culture and Entertainment
Theatres, the Arts Centre, the Sidney Myer Music Bowl (an open-air amphitheatre staging ballet, opera and international acts – in fact, when the Red Hot Chili Peppers played here a couple of years ago, the bass player Flea turned up later in Federation Square for an impromptu solo gig in his home town). Melbourne has plenty of culture, but also its share of sticky-carpet live gigs. Head to 'the Espy' otherwise known as the Esplanade Hotel in St Kilda for free live music and a gently beery hour watching the sun slip into the ocean.
Hotels
Hotels in Melbourne are pretty inexpensively priced: A sea-view suite will cost you about US$120 a night (Australia's currency is also the dollar) and there are cheap and cheerful backpackers hostels for about $15 a night (no guarantees of sleep).
Use the Hotelsio Rate Finder to find top accommodation and cheap hotels in Melbourne.
(Photo:Fotolia/Lee Torrens)
