Melbourne is made up of precincts, all distinct in style. They include Fitzroy, the oldest suburb, with a thriving street art scene; St Kilda, a retro seafront area with an independent edge, and Collins Street in the CBD (central business district), home to luxury shops and exclusive cocktail bars. The planned street grid and transport system makes it simple to get around whilst the laneways in the downtown city centre are a warren of tiny alleys and arcades full of pop-up shops, independent galleries, cafes and bars. “Melbourne has a huge amount to offer culturally,” says Brett Neagle from our expert tour partner Auswalk. “There's the Australian Open tennis, Aus open golf, the Boxing day cricket at the MCG etc etc. Football matches between suburbs can draw crowds of over 90,000 people, so we're sporting mad which I feel is a good thing. There's plenty of other cultural activities: the theatre, live music, exhibitions going on all the time as well.”
This is a multicultural city with a suitably varied international dining scene. The Greek and Vietnamese communities of Richmond are full of family-run restaurants, while in hip Brunswick, Lebanese and Mediterranean cafes line the roads. Then there’s Little Italy in Carlton, Chinatown in the CBD and Ethiopian cuisine in Footscray, among many others. There are also chefs making use of native ingredients used by Indigenous Australians for hundreds of thousands of years.
Head out of town and the wilderness is right on your doorstep – within a few kilometres you'll find yourself immersed in countryside. Visit the winelands of the Yarra Valley, the quaint seaside towns of the Mornington Peninsula or the wildlife haven of Phillip Island.