Whatta you reckon are the best places to stay & best places to go in Melbourne Australia?

Question

What is the best hotel to stay in - in Melbourne for the dollar.
Best location, amenities & price...

Also what are the top "must do"activities to do when visiting Melbourne?

Answer 1

Must do activities:
Things that I would recommend -

***Werribee Zoo (most of it is a 1 hour trip on a bus through a "safari") The end of June is usually pretty wet so at least you are safe in a bus.
***A footy game at the MCG or Telestra Dome, depends of you already follow AFL - if not try and get to a Collingwood or Essendon match, they usually have the biggest crowds so you will get more atmosphere.
***Look around Crown and have dinner there one night - then have stage shows there so you could always do that, or there is bowling, cinemas, bars ect, so you could just hang out and have a good time
***Day trip to Great Ocean Road, I would suggest take two days, so drive out stay down there for a night and drive back. Because it's June you won't be able to swim or anything but it's a beautiful drive
***Aquirium in Melbourne, it will only take a few hours but i enjoy going in and having a look around
***Day trip to the Dandenongs, it's a lovely drive out, if you leave Melbourne about 9.30am have a drive and look around, find somewhere to have lunch - make sure you go to Sky High, and you would be back in the city by dinnertime. You can always stay in the Dandenongs the night, but it's only a hours drive from Melbourne so the choice is yours
***Daytrip to Ballarat to the Gold Mines. I would almost suggest staying in Ballarat the night, so you can travel out to Ballarat in the morning, go to Sovingren Hill for the day, have dinner and stay in Ballarat the night, then the next day head out to Bendigo for a day trip before heading back into Melbourne.
** You could spend a few days just exploring Melbourne - jumping on trams and seeing where you end up. If you are into shopping then Smith Street Collingwood and Bridge Road Richmond are good for bargin shopping.
** Dinner in St Kilda, I love either Circa or gee, can't remember the name of the other restaurant, but it's down near St Kilda Marina, beautiful views of the bay.
** If you like wines then it may be worth booking yourself onto a winery tour in the Yarra Valley - you get to see the beautiful Yarra Valley and taste and purchase wines, plus usually there is dinner as well.

Best places to stay -
Sofitel - I love it, beautiful Hotel
Crown Promiade - I haven't stayed there but have heard wonderful things about it
Eden on the Park - stayed there on my wedding night, beautiful hotel, wonderful food.
Sebel Hertitage - in the Yarra Valley, again is suppost to be really really nice
Cheateau Yering - my brother-in-law works there, very very expensive, but if you were going to splash out, i would do it here.
The Loft in Olinda - again i haven't stayed here but have wanted to book it for a long time

i would check out this website for accomadation:
http://www.wotif.com/search/Simple?refine=simpleSearch&country=1®ion=1758&viewType=all

Answer 2

If you want a really exciting town to spend your vacation then that city is Melbourne, learn that city with hotelbye . One of the top tourist attractions in Melbourne could be the Royal Botanic Gardens. Recognized in 1846, the Royal Botanic Gardens is rated as among the best of their sort in the world. Protecting a place of 40 hectares and with more than 50,000 crops, including several rare species, the gardens are visited by 1.5 million persons annually. Yet another place worth visited is Federation Square exposed in 2002 to remember a century of federation. The ultra-modern design of open and shut spaces juxtaposes the encompassing Victorian architectural buildings. That place may hosting more than 2,000 events annually, tourists can generally discover leisure in the key outside efficiency space and romantic indoor venues. Federation Square also houses the Ian Potter Gallery focused on Australian artwork and the Australian Centre for the Moving Image.

Answer 3

There's some good tips from other folks here.

Tourism Victoria have a great website which is well researched for questions like yours. There's a lot of resource that's been poured into it.

It's he official travel website for Melbourne, for festivals and events, attractions and touring routes in Melbourne,

Once you've worked out what you're going to do - to save time it's good to locate close to the action. The heart of Melbourne would be good for staying. I've given you some links which hopefully will help you out:

Answer 4

Accomadation wise it depends if your doing sort of a back packers I reccomend the carlton hotel if you want tp of the line definetley the grand hiat but otherwise use a earch engine on a travel sites there ussually efficent and tayloring to your every demand

Must do things
Day trip: Great ocean road very scenic also you can stop of at one of the beaches

Go to a Footy match: AFL a very different game but deffintly at the mcg or you dont get the fulll atmosphere

also try the tourism victoria website it has many great ideas

Answer 5

You have to see the Puffing Billy Railroad. We also went to see the old Melbourne Gaol and the Flinders Street Station. We stayed at the Southern Cross Hotel which wasn't bad. We enjoyed walking around the city and opal shopping.

Answer 6

I would for sure go on a drive along the Great Ocean Road and visit the Twelve Apostles. I love Apollo Bay. It is on your way to the Twelve Apostles. It has a quaint and romantic feel. Try to make reservations at your hotel early in the day because the rooms are limited.

Here are a couple of sites to help you.

Answer 7

you have not stated the place you're making plans to stay at. it would be stupid to tell you approximately some lodge once you decide directly to be on the different fringe of Melbourne. are you able to edit and let us know whilst you're coming for any specific purpose so as that we are in a position to offer you some clever suggestions

Answer 8

See a live band at the Corner Hotel, Richmond or the Espy (Esplanade) Hotel in St. Kilda.

Answer 9

http://www.visitvictoria.com/ http://www.melbourne.com.au/