If you haven’t been following me on my blog or on my Instagram, you may not know that at the beginning of this year, I went on a road trip from Sydney to Melbourne and then continued on into New Zealand. I’ve posted about our stops in Canberra, Australia’s Capital, Lakes Entrance, an adorable coastal town, and today, I’m going to share my Travel Guide for Melbourne, Australia.
In Melbourne, I was fortunate enough to work with Adina Apartments Northbank and review their 2-bedroom apartment for my blog. If you haven’t checked out that post, I definitely recommend you do.
We absolutely fell in love with Melbourne for the few days that we were there. Just like Canberra, I wasn’t too excited about visiting Melbourne, to be honest. I feel like a lot of cities are pretty similar to similar places of things to do and places to eat.
With living outside of Sydney the past year, I wasn’t rushing to go see another major city. However, when we arrived in Melbourne it instantly felt completely different from Sydney and we immediately fell in love with the vibe of Melbourne.
I kept hearing that Melbourne has a completely different vibe than Sydney and I think that until you visit both places, you don’t really understand what that means. I can honestly say that just within the few days that I was in Melbourne I could tell it was a more chilled, relaxed city, something that we definitely prefer in terms of cities compared to Sydney that can seem very hectic and chaotic in parts of the city.
Where to Stay:
Overall, Melbourne is a pretty reasonably priced city in terms of accommodations and things to do. I found that especially in terms of accommodations, there were a lot of reasonably priced places to stay. As I mentioned we got to stay at Adina Apartments in Northbank during our stay in Melbourne to review their two-bedroom apartment which was great.
Adina Apartments Northbank
We really enjoyed our stay at the Adina Northbank location. It was the perfect accommodations for the four of us and the location was great. You can see a more in-depth review of all the features and amenities of our apartment and the building by checking out that blog post.
Not only was the Adina Apartment very practical and comfortable for the four of us, it was also in a perfect location. We were in walking distance to what seemed like every major landmark in Melbourne so it was great to be able to park the car and just walk around during our whole trip.
If you’re looking for affordable, comfortable accommodations, I definitely recommend checking out the Adina Apartments.
What to Do:
We were only in Melbourne for three days. During that time we were able to do so much and see so much of the city since there’s so much available in the center of the city. If you’re like us and only have a few days in Melbourne, I highly recommend doing the following.
Eureka Skydeck
One of my favorite things we did while visiting Melbourne was the Eureka Skydeck. The Eureka Skydeck allows you to go up to 297.3 meters in the air with breathtaking views of the city of Melbourne. We went right before sunset one night and in my mind, it could not have been a more perfect time to go. We were able to view the city during the day, watch the sunset, and then watch Melbourne once again light up with all the building lights coming on as it turned into night. It was beautiful and a spectacular way to view the whole city of Melbourne.
Especially if you’re planning on staying during sunset, you can grab a cup of coffee, hot chocolate, or a muffin at the café on the Skydeck while taking in the views.
Shopping the Side Streets
Melbourne seems to be famous for its adorable side streets and graffiti and they should not be missed. The first morning we had in Melbourne, we decided to go for a morning walk, get a cup of coffee and explore the city. We didn’t walk in a specific direction, just took off and explored.
There are tons of famous side streets in Melbourne like Acland Street and Brunswick Street, but if you do what we did and just set out and explore, you’ll be greeted by tons of other adorable side streets with little boutiques, cafes, and artwork.
The Royal Arcade has tons of little knick-knack boutique type shops that you could wander in for hours. There’s also delicious pastry shops and gift stores for you to find some gifts for your friends and family back home.
Admire all the Artwork
There’s tons of artwork all throughout Melbourne. There are popular side streets like Caledonian Lane and Hosier Lane, that are famous for all the graffiti artwork in the alleyway, but even throughout the city just wandering around, you’ll find sculptures and murals that just brighten up the city and make the streets come alive. 
Along with walking through all the side streets and peeking into the little boutiques, make sure to stop and admire all the street artwork.
Walk around the Yarra River
Surrounding the center of Melbourne is the Yarra River. Surrounding the river there are bike paths, restaurants, perfect spots for picnics and also beautiful views overlooking different angles of the Melbourne Skyline.
The weather was perfect at the beginning of January in Melbourne and we were able to walk around the river starting at the Adina Apartments and making our way back. The whole walk took us about over an hour, but it was beautiful and the perfect place to rent a bike and bike around or take your dog for a walk.
Shopping at Melbourne Central
Along with the Railway Arcade, there is Melbourne Central, the mall in the center of Melbourne. This mall would have your traditional stores you would find in the mall along with some chain restaurants and grocery stores. If you’re looking for anything from groceries to some new clothes, you may want to check out Melbourne Central.
Spend the Day at the Melbourne Zoo
Melbourne Zoo is apparently the oldest zoo in Australia. The Melbourne Zoo is a pretty large zoo with tons of different animals and exhibits and is the perfect place for families with small children.
Getting to the zoo was also super easy. We just took the train from Melbourne Central and rode about 15 minutes to Royal Park Station, a stop right outside the zoo entrance.
You can pack a lunch at the zoo, which is definitely something I would recommend unless you want to spend a lot of money for little proportions. However, if you’re like us and didn’t pack a lunch, there are options for burgers, wraps, pies, and other concession food items.
Although the zoo was a fun day out and definitely perfect for kids, it wasn’t as hands-on as Featherdale Zoo in Sydney or Zoodoo Zoo in Hobart. I love zoos that you can interact with the animals instead of viewing animals from behind the glass, but regardless it was a pretty nice zoo.
Where to Eat:
It seemed like during our Melbourne trip, I could not get enough of the seafood pasta which was nice since a lot of the restaurants had on the menu. However, regardless if you’re a seafood pasta lover or not, I recommend the following places to eat when visiting Melbourne.
Yarra Promenade
There are tons of restaurants on the Yarra Promenade ranging in price. There’s a combination of fast-food restaurants, burger places, and more upscale restaurants as well. We chose to eat at Hopscotch Melbourne, a trendy spot overlooking the water. I enjoyed the seafood pasta, a glass of rose and the beautiful views of Melbourne. The food was a little pricey, but since it was our first night in Melbourne, we wanted to treat ourselves to a nice dinner out.
We were traveling with my parents, however, they didn’t join us at Hopscotch. Instead, they decided to go to the grocery store and cook some dinner in our apartment. Another great aspect of the Adina Apartments is that it includes a full kitchen perfect for cooking dinner or breakfast in the morning. If you’re looking to save a bit of money when traveling, definitely staying at accommodations that include a kitchen and allowing you to cook for yourself will save you quite a bit of money!
Hardware Lane
We decided to eat on Hardware Lane. On this street, there are a lot of different restaurants to choose from. We found that walking through the street, the hostess from all the restaurants would stand by the menu and offer different specials to get you to eat at their restaurant.
If you’re looking for a good deal, hold out and see what they offer. I normally hate when hostesses are pushy or try to barter but we ended up receiving a great deal of 15% off our bill, free drinks for everyone at the table and an appetizer the share.
We ate at Vons a restaurant with a mostly Italian menu. We enjoyed a wide variety of delicious Italian food and could have not been happier- especially with all the discounts and bonuses we got! If you’re looking for a nice dinner and don’t mind bartering, this alleyway is definitely the place to go!
How to Get Around:
We drove to Melbourne and although it doesn’t seem as crazy as Sydney to drive around, it’s definitely a walker friendly city. While we were there, it seemed like a lot of people walked around. Instead of taking your car and driving, hop onto the train and easily go to different areas of the city. We only actually took the train from Melbourne Central to Melbourne Zoo at Royal Park Station. We found that we were able to walk the whole entire few days we were there to everywhere we wanted to go.
That being said, you will need to purchase a My Ki card to use public transportation like the trains. Unlike Sydney where you can get an Opal card for free and use that on public transportation, in Melbourne the My Ki card will cost you a few dollars up front just for the card itself. You can keep reloading your card or you can purchase the under $10 card that gives you unlimited travel for the day which is what we opted to do. 
That being said, there’s also the free tram that was located right in front of our hotel at Adina Apartments and would travel through a lot of the popular touristy spots for completely free.
Walking is also a great way to explore the city up close and in person– something you may not be able to do if you were behind a car. One of the nights, my partner and I just simply walked around the city. We actually ended up getting lost walking, but because of that, we got to see tons of super interesting places that we probably normally wouldn’t have seen like the Melbourne old jail and the library.
Whether you’re looking to get to one place or another or just wanting to explore, walking is a great way to travel around the city of Melbourne.
I hope you enjoyed my Melbourne Travel Guide and gave you some inspiration for what to see when visiting Melbourne. As I mentioned, we absolutely fell in love with Melbourne and definitely plan on making at least a weekend getaway back sometime this year.
Have you ever been to Melbourne before? Let me know in the comments below!
