Melbourne

Understand

thumb|300px|Flinders Street Station, the Yarra River and central Melbourne skyline

Get around

thumb|A Melbourne tram Melbourne's CBD is laid out in an orderly grid system, similar to Manhattan, meaning that navigating the CBD is easy. Melbourne has a comprehensive public transport system consisting of trams, trains, and buses. Trams criss-cross the city, trains extend to the outer suburbs, and buses cover the remaining destinations.

See

right|thumb|Royal Exhibition Building located in Carlton Gardens and built for the 1888 International Exhibition thumb|right|Avenue of English elm trees in Fitzroy Gardens thumb|right|Cathedral Arcade, an art deco ground floor arcade of the Nicholas Building Melbourne is a great city for arts, culture, dining, and events. Visitors frequently comment on the "good vibe" of the city, which can only be understood by experiencing it for yourself. There are a wide and varied assortment of attractions and sights, with something for every traveller. Most are in the CBD, in close reach of public transport. Melbourne is also a good base for experiencing the other attractions of Victoria, most of which can be reached on day trips.

Melbourne is Australia's best city for street art – refer to street art in Melbourne for more information.

Buy

thumb|right|Collins Street boasts many high end shops and boutiques. Shopping hours in metro Melbourne are typically 7 days a week, 9AM–5:30PM weekdays and 9AM (maybe later)–5PM weekends. Most suburban shopping centres such as Chadstone have later closing hours on Thursdays and Fridays – mostly up to 9PM. Supermarkets have extended hours 7 days, the majority opening at 7AM and closing at midnight or 1AM; there are also many 24-hour supermarkets.

Alcohol in Victoria can be purchased at licensed shops/venues, and supermarkets often have an adjoining bottle shop that closes earlier than the supermarket. Some stock alcohol in the supermarket, if they close at the same time as their licence. You must be over 18 years old to purchase alcohol. Most bottleshops close by 10PM to midnight (even on weekends), but some open until 3AM (e.g. on Riversdale road in Booroondara and Russell St Melbourne), and 24-hour bottleshops on both Chapel and Lygon streets, in Stonnington and Melbourne respectively.

Eat

thumb|230px|Cakes on display at Hopetoun Tea Room on Collins Street For the culinary traveller, Melbourne is one of the best destinations in the world. There is an abundance of affordable, high-quality restaurants representing almost every cuisine. Eating out is cheaper than in Western Europe but not as affordable as North America. The service in Australian restaurants may be more discreet than many North Americans may be used to. Service staff in Australia are paid considerably more than their North American counterparts so tipping is not customary, though you may choose to give a tip if the service was exemplary.

Excellent eateries can be found sprinkled throughout all of the inner (and some outer) suburbs, while certain neighbourhoods have become magnets for residents and restaurants of particular countries. A large range of restaurants and cafes offering high-quality food, and representing various cultures and countries, are scattered throughout the Central City, Southbank, Carlton (mostly Italian and touristy), Victoria Street in Richmond (many low cost popular Vietnamese and South East Asian restaurants), Docklands, South Yarra and Prahran. In Central City, the Queen Victoria Market's prepared-food stalls are also popular places to grab a quick breakfast or lunch. Sydney Road in Brunswick and Coburg is known for its many Middle Eastern, Lebanese, Greek and Turkish restaurants. The popular tourist area of St Kilda offers a large range of good quality restaurants and caf…

Drink

thumb|The Exford Hotel in Chinatown is a pub, not a bar - an important distinction to Melbournians Melbournians often draw a distinction between 'bars', meaning the small watering holes described above, and 'pubs', which are larger establishments in the usual Australian or British sense of the word. Melbourne's pubs, particularly those in the city and inner suburbs, usually serve restaurant-standard food and a wide range of local and imported beers. Pubs usually offer lunch from approximately noon to 2PM, and reopen their kitchens for dinner from approximately 6-10PM.

Sleep

thumb|270px|Melbourne Southbank

Stay safe

The Australia-wide emergency number is 000, with the ambulance service, fire department and police being available through this number.

Go next

thumb|190px|Beacon Cove Beach, Port Melbourne Melbourne is fairly centrally located on the coast of Victoria, and there are many natural and man-made attractions that make for a nice day trip. Another way to visit regional Victoria is utilising the public transport system. Regular train journeys leave from Southern Cross station. Regional attractions include: