MEDIA RELEASE
March 2014
Melbourne: must-do events and experiences
Melbourne is a stylish, sophisticated and dynamic city with hidden city laneways and arcades offering vibrant
shopping, bars, restaurants and live music venues for visitors to discover. Home to a rich calendar of theatre, sporting
and cultural events, the city boasts a lively atmosphere all year-round.
Voted as the world’s most liveable city for the third consecutive year in 2013, Melbourne is also known as the gourmet
capital of Australia with award-winning chefs and a diverse cuisine complemented by unique settings, provincial
specialities and world class wine regions within easy access of the city. Here is a look at some of the must-do
activities and events, and must-visit restaurants and bars in and around Melbourne;

World-class exhibitions reign supreme all year round, this winter sees Dreamworks Animation: The Exhibition at
the Australian Centre for the Moving Image (10 April-15 October 2014); Italian Masterpieces: from Spain’s Royal
Court Museo del Prado at the National Gallery of Victoria (16 May-31 August, 2014); and The Aztecs at
Melbourne Museum (9 April-10 August 2014). Meanwhile, the summer months will see the blockbuster exhibition
The Fashion World of Jean Paul Gaultier: From the Sidewalk to the Catwalk at the National Gallery of Victoria (17
October 2014 to 8 February 2015).
 Melbourne has long been recognized as the theatre capital of Australia, this season sees the return of Wicked the
Musical from May 2014 at the Regent Theatre, followed by the Australian premier of Les Miserable at Her
Majesty’s Theatre in June 2014.
 An entirely new museum experience and the largest exhibition ever to focus on the stories of Victorian Aboriginal
people opened at the Bunjilaka Aboriginal Cultural Centre at Melbourne Museum last September. First Peoples
tells the story of Aboriginal Victoria – celebrating the diversity, continuity, strength and vitality of Koorie people over
60,000 years.
 Year-round, Melbourne is a city that loves major events. In addition to the Formula 1® Australian Grand Prix , other
major events taking place in Melbourne each year including the Australian Open Tennis Championship (January
2015) White Night Melbourne (February 2015), the Melbourne Food and Wine Festival (28 February – 16 March,
2014),; the Ironman Asia-Pacific Championship (23 March 2014); Virgin Australia Melbourne Fashion Festival (1723 March 2014), the Melbourne International Flower & Garden Show (26-30 March 2014) Melbourne International
Comedy Festival (26 March-20 April 2014) and the Melbourne Cup Carnival (1-8 November, 2014).
 A visit to Melbourne wouldn’t be complete without enjoying the city’s renowned food scene. The highly acclaimed
Vue De Monde on the 55th floor of the Rialto building, Ben Shewry’s Attica and Andrew McConnell’s Moon Under
Water and Cutler & Co. on Gertrude Street provide sumptuous dining experiences. Newer to the dining scene
Saint Crispin, Gazi, Tonka, Fatto Bar & Cantina and Town Mouse all have locals lining up to enjoy the tasty fare.
 As a city renowned for its vibrant nightlife, new bars continue to emerge in the city-center and surrounding
precincts. New additions to the rooftop bar scene include Loop Bar, Bomba and Goldilocks. Prohibition style bars
serving up cocktails in quirky locations continue to impress the late night crowd with favorites including Bar
Ampere, Eau de Vie and The Everleigh.
 Affectionately known as the coffee capital of Australia, Melbourne has enjoyed a long and eventful love affair with
coffee. Those who want to get to the core of the city’s café culture can take one of several coffee tours including
Evolving Success and Hidden Secret Café Culture Walk. Popular haunts for coffee include Brother Baba Budan,
Dukes Coffee Roasters, and Market Lane Coffee
 Luxury retail brands continue to migrate to Melbourne. Chanel and Dolce & Gabbana both opened flagship stores
in the city recently and shoppers are eagerly awaiting the new Emporium Melbourne which will open in Apirl. In the
high street range, H&M has chosen Melbourne for its first Australian store taking over Melbourne’s iconic GPO
building, it joins Zara and local favourites Myer and David Jones in the Bourke Street Mall. Up and coming
Melbourne designers can be found in nearby Flinders Lane and surrounding laneways.
 Melbourne’s labyrinth of laneways - including Degraves Street, Flinders Lane, Curtain House and Little Collins –
are home to everything from international designer wares, to locally designed threads and housewares. Take a
Hidden Secrets Laneway Tour or a Melbourne Experience Tour to get the inside word on where to go.
 Explore the city by bike: Melbourne Bike Share offers casual bike hire and a range of touring routes whether
visitors have a passion is food, art, design or retail. Real Melbourne Bike Tours offer intriguing tours around the city
that blend sightseeing with an insightful view of the cities colourful history. The Humble Vintage offers stylish
vintage bikes and a range of curated routes along popular cycling trails.
 Melbourne is the Australian live music capital with more than 3,000 live music performances a week. A free
downloadable guide called Melbourne Music City is the perfect companion for music-lovers; it features maps of
Melbourne’s entertainment hot-spots and venues in regional Victoria.
 Melbourne is one of the only cities in the world where visitors can enjoy a hot balloon ride directly over the city visitors can gain a bird’s eye view of the famous Albert Park racetrack, Melbourne's city skyline, Port Phillip Bay
and east to the picturesque Dandenong Ranges with Global Ballooning.
 From the most luxurious suites complete with spa and city views to the simplest backpacker accommodation for
the adventurous twenty-something – travellers are bound to find what they are looking for in Melbourne.
Backpacker style accommodation can be found at Tune Hotel Melbourne, Base St Kilda, Habitat HQ and the all
new United Backpackers.
 Luxury accommodation options include the recently refurbished Hotel Lindrum, the cutting edge Art Series Hotels,
the boutique Lyall Hotel and the impressive Crown Melbourne suite of accommodation offerings – Crown Metropol,
Crown Towers and Crown Promenade. Accommodation with a delicious twist can be found at the Adelphi Hotel –
the world’s first dessert themed hotel.
 Iconic Australian wildlife can be found within easy reach of Melbourne’s city centre. Healesville Sanctuary is home
to 30 hectares (70 acres) of bushland offers a distinctly Australian setting for visitors to experience unique close-up
encounters with koalas, kangaroos, wombats, emus, dingoes, birds of prey and platypus. Heading south-east of
Melbourne, visitors can view the natural spectacle at Phillip Island Nature Parks as colonies of Little Penguins
make their nightly march up the beach to their dune burrows. Back in Melbourne, the Melbourne Zoo is also home
to a number of Australian species.
 Regional Victoria brings some of the state’s finest produce to the table. Award winning restaurants include Ten
Minutes by Tractor at Main Ridge on the Mornington Peninsula, the Healesville Hotel in the Yarra Valley,
Provenence in Beechworth, Lakehouse at Daylesford, Stefanos in Mildura or the all new Brae in Birregurra.
 Victoria is home to 21 distinct wine regions, boasting over 850 wineries, of which 650 have cellar doors. The
Rutherglen wine region is famous for its big red varieties, the King Valley for its prosecco, the Mornington
Peninsula for pinot noir and the Yarra Valley for its classic wine styles including sparkling and rose.
 Many of Victoria’s leading wineries are within a short 90 minute drive of the city-centre, options include De Bortoli,
Yering Station, Domain Chandon, TarraWarra Estate or Dominique Portet in the Yarra Valley and Montalto, Red
Hill Estate, Port Phillip Estate or T’Gallant on the Mornington Peninsula.
 There are over 200,000 kilometres of highways, roads and tracks in Victoria. For the best bits of bitumen, visitors
can follow the South East Touring Route passing by vines, penguins and beaches aplenty; take the Great
Southern Touring Route along the iconic Great Ocean Road, past the 12 Apostles and on to the Grampians; or
enjoy the lakes, beaches and national parks along the Sydney to Melbourne Coastal Drive.
 Just a 90 minute drive south from the city can have visitors relaxing in the natural hot springs at Peninsula Hot
Springs on the Mornington Peninsula. A 90 minute drive north of the city is Daylesford – the spa capital of
Australia, popular spa options include the Hepburn Bathhouse & Spa, Salus Spa at The Lake House and Mineral
Spa at Peppers Springs Retreat.
For more information go to www.visitmelbourne.com
Media contact: Madeleine Blake, International Media Manager, Tel: +61 3 9653 9773;
Email: internationalpr@tourism.vic.gov.au