Melbourne Travel Forum

1st time to Melbourne, Will be going with family and friends.

- wondering any places of interest to visit etc....
- Any place for shopping
- Looking for 3-bedroom apartment, prefer near to city area
- Planning to self-drive around, any cheap car-rental to recommend
- Which month will be the best to go to Melbourne, Thinking of travel in Oct or Nov, during Spring Season, (dislikes Summer)
- Is it fine to fly to either Gold Coast or Sydney by domestic flight or by train (most importantly whether is it expensive_ as we have toddler.
- Any other recommendation?

Thanks.

Hi there,
Melbourne is great! There is heaps to do. I would recommend staying somewhere like Richmond or Carlton where it is a quick tram ride into the city. There are heaps of stores in the city for shopping, like Melbourne Central which has a bit of everything (clothes, shoes, housey stuff), or if your after discount shopping Bridge Rd Richmond is popular too. For more trendy stuff try Chapel St SOuth Yarra.
The airport is about half an hour from the city where you can catch domestic flights to both places.
There are lots of things to see, like Flinders St station and the arts centre, but I would recommend going up the Eureka tower...the view is amazing!
I hope that all helps!

Melbourne's a lovely city - lots to see and do, terrific food, lovely parks and gardens - don't miss
the Botanic Gardens or Fitzroy Gardens with the Conservatory and Captain Cook's Cottage.
Southgate, the Arts Centre and the Sunday market there.
The National Gallery of Victoria.
Federation Square.
The City Museum at the Old Treasury is excellent.
Melbourne Zoo and the Open Range Zoo at Werribee.
The Maritime Museum

Great shopping all over the place in and out of the city -
Block Arcade and Royal Arcades in the central city are gorgeous,
Chapel St South Yarra's very smart,
Brunswick St Fitzroy's is fun,
High St Armidale for top end homewartes and antiques.
Bridge Road Richmond for clothing factory outlet stores
Victoria Markets

Williamstown's a great place to visit for a day out.

the list goes on and on

I'd opt for October if you dislike summer and are intending to go on to Sydney or the Gold Coast. Flying is your best option for that - certainly for the Gold Coast. The train takes a full day to get from Melbourne to Sydney, and from Syney to the Gold Coast is even worse - a whole day on the train with an up to 3 hour coach connection at the end.

Have a great trip
Leyle

Adding on from previous poster.

Avoid first week of November as its Spring Racing carnival and Melb is a mad house. Both months are very changeble and old saying "4 seasons in 1 day" is correct, however Oct/Nov are the one of the best times to come here.

Suggest you don't hire car for the time you are in and around the city as a car is more of a problem than its worth - parking etc. Take public transport/taxis. Use rental car for longer trips. Lots of places of interest - check out the pages of vt for some ideas.

>Is it fine to fly to either Gold Coast or Sydney by domestic flight or by train

Forget train and particularly for Gold Coast - too far with toddler. 2 hours by air, 2 days by train (day stop in Sydney)

I googled "short stay apartment rental - melbourne" and there are heaps of places. One of the better ones is Punt Hill Apartments who are in various locations in and around the city.

There are several service apartment in Melbourne CBD area. For instant, Quest, Punthill, Somerset. Depend on your budget. Spring time in Melbourne is around 18 - 25 degree and I definitely say it is a good timing to go. You can consider to take budget airline to fly interstate. There are Jetstar, Tigerair and Virginblue. Please check their website and sometime they have special airfare.

Wow, that greats!

Thanks for all the advice :)

Try Punt Hill Appartments they have several places in and around Melbourne that have 3 bedroom appartments. We use them for interstate / Overseas visitors for work and we have never had any complaints.
Oct / November is a good time to come, Oct has our Melbourne International Arts Festival and Nov is the spring racing carnival (horse racing).
Best place to shop, you could try the Victoria Market for cheap souvenirs and clothing. Chadstone Shopping Centre is our largest mall type shopping and is not too far from the city. There is very good shopping in the city itself, look for the little collins street as this has some very good clothes shops.
The Melbourne Zoo is very good and located close to the city so I would recommend especially for children.

Hi

You have received good advice about Melbourne but I should add that it may be worthwhile renting a car for a day or so and touring the surrounding area. The Great Ocean road is most worthwhile as are the many wine producing areas around such as the Yarra Valley, Mornington Peninsular Rutherglen and Goulburn Valley to name a few.

Also, think about your routing coming in from Singapore. You could fly into lets say Brisbane (for the Gold Coast) and perhaps out of Melbourne to go home, if your ticketing allows that.

As for apartments, try the following if you have the budget: http://www.docklandsservicedapartments.com.au/

If it is mainly Melbourne, how many days is sufficient for first timer?

Hence meaning to say November will be the Summer Season?

Thanks.

Trying to predict the weather can be difficult because of local on the day variations.
This information should be used as a guide only.
Here is the average weather for Melbourne for this time of year.
Enjoy your holiday.

October.
High 67f / 20c
Low 51f / 10c
Rain 2.57in / 65.2mm
Sun % 28

November.
High 71f / 22c
Low 54f / 12c
Rain 2.24in / 56.9mm
Sun % 31

Ah Ricky - how true that is for Melbourne weather. As anybody who has been to Melbourne knows our weather is very unpredictable and temperatures can vary greatly day to day any time of the year. That time of the year we could have +20 - 30 degree c but can also drop to >20 and be cold - so bring a jacket.