offwegooo.com
Travel guide
Melbourne
4 days · 8 things to do
Best time to go: March to April, and November to December
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Welcome
Melbourne, in a few days
Melbourne is best seen at laneway level: a grid of wide streets threaded with narrow lanes full of coffee roasters, unsigned bars and murals repainted all the time. Five million people, a large share of them born overseas, and a calendar that runs on sport and festivals.
- Day by day
- D1 Day 1 2 things
- D2 Day 2 2 things
- D3 Day 3 2 things
- D4 Day 4 2 things
- Worth sorting before you go
- Words that help
- The practical page
- Packing checklist
The trip
Day by day
Map of the sights (numbers follow the suggested order). It prints with the base map.
D1
Day 1
2 things to do · at your own pace
- Morning · Hosier Lane and the city laneways free · about 30 minA 150-metre bluestone lane opposite Federation Square where walls, doors and drainpipes vanish under layers of spray paint that change almost weekly.
- Afternoon · National Gallery of Victoria free · about 2 hAustralia's oldest public gallery, entered through a water wall, with Leonard French's stained-glass ceiling in the Great Hall, best seen lying on the carpet.
🛏️ Where to sleep · Novotel Melbourne on Collins€145 a night
D2
Day 2
2 things to do · at your own pace
- Morning · Melbourne Skydeck · about 1 hThe 88th floor of the Eureka Tower, 285 metres up, looking out to Port Phillip Bay and the Dandenongs on a clear day.
- Afternoon · Royal Botanic Gardens free · about 1 h 30Thirty-eight hectares laid out from 1846 on a bend of the Yarra, with some 8,500 plant species and a lake of black swans and eels.
🛏️ Where to sleep · Vibe Hotel Melbourne€130 a night
D3
Day 3
2 things to do · at your own pace
- Morning · Melbourne Cricket Ground · about 1 h 30A 100,000-seat ground from 1853, home of the AFL Grand Final and the Boxing Day Test, and host of the 1956 Olympics.
- Afternoon · Queen Victoria Market free · about 1 h 30Seven hectares of sheds open since 1878, some 600 stalls, with cheese and charcuterie in the Dairy Hall and produce outside.
🛏️ Where to sleep · Rydges Melbourne€120 a night
D4
Day 4
2 things to do · at your own pace
- Morning · St Kilda and its little penguins free · an eveningAt dusk, around 1,400 little penguins, the world's smallest at about 30 cm, come ashore among the rocks of the St Kilda breakwater.
- Afternoon · The Twelve Apostles on the Great Ocean Road free · a full dayA 243 km coast road built by returned soldiers between 1919 and 1932, leading to limestone stacks some 45 metres high standing in the surf.
🛏️ Where to sleep · Hotel Grand Chancellor Melbourne€150 a night
Before you go
Worth sorting before you go
📶 eSIM data
Online the moment you land, no roaming bill.
Get one · Holafly
Online the moment you land, no roaming bill.
Get one · Holafly
🛡️ Travel insurance
Health, luggage, cancellation.
Cover it · Ekta
Health, luggage, cancellation.
Cover it · Ekta
💳 Fee-free card
Pay at the real rate, with no exchange markup.
Open one · Revolut
Pay at the real rate, with no exchange markup.
Open one · Revolut
🚐 Airport transfer
A private car at a fixed price from the moment you land.
Book it · GetTransfer
A private car at a fixed price from the moment you land.
Book it · GetTransfer
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Good to know
Flavours & local habits
🍽️ Worth tasting
- Barbecue and seafood: prawns, barramundi and oysters.
- Meat pie: the national snack, eaten standing up.
- Vegemite: a salt yeast paste on toast, spread thin if you want to finish it.
- Lamingtons and pavlova, the two desserts this country argues over.
- Flat white: the coffee this corner of the world gave everyone else.
⚠️ Best avoided
- The sun is harsh: sunscreen, a hat and shade, even under cloud.
- Swim between the flags, and take the current and jellyfish warnings literally.
- Distances are enormous: plan fuel, water and how tired you will be.
- Do not feed the wildlife, and keep your distance from it.
Getting by
Words that help
🗣️ English is the main language here, so there is nothing to learn by heart.
The essentials
The practical page
CurrencyAustralian dollar (AUD)
BudgetAbout €150 a day, mid-range
Best seasonMarch to April, and November to December
PlugI · 230V
Tap waterSafe to drink
TippingOptional, rounding up is enough
Emergency000
EntryYou need an online authorisation before you fly, applied for with a passport: eVisitor for EU and UK citizens, an ETA for US and Canadian ones, 90 days either way.
HealthNo vaccination required. Keep tetanus and polio up to date; hepatitis A is worth considering if you eat well outside the tourist trail.
Scan to open this guide online, always up to date.
https://offwegooo.com/en/guides/melbourne
Don't forget
Packing checklist
Have a good trip.
Guide made on offwegooo.com · Photos via Pexels · Details are indicative, check before you leave.