MEDIA RELEASE
December, 2013
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.
Recently voted as the world’s most liveable city for the third consecutive year, 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 this summer with Spectacle: The Music Video Exhibition at the
Australian Centre for the Moving Image (until 23 February 2014); Designing 007 – Fifty Years of Bond at
Melbourne Museum (until 23 February 2014); and Melbourne Now at the National Gallery of Victoria (until 23
March 2014).
 Melbourne reinforced its position as the theatre capital of Australia with the world premiere of stage
spectacular KING KONG Live on Stage in June 2013 and will be 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 features at the Bunjilaka Aboriginal Cultural Centre at Melbourne Museum. 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 Australian Open, other major
events include White Night (22-23 February), the Melbourne Food and Wine Festival (28 February – 16
March), Formula 1® Australian Grand Prix (13-16 March); the Ironman Asia Pacific Championship (23
March); Virgin Australia Melbourne Fashion Festival (17-23 March), the Melbourne International Flower &
Garden Show (26-30 March) Melbourne International Comedy Festival (26 March-20 April) and the
Melbourne International Jazz Festival (30 May-8 June).
 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.
New to the dining scene Saint Crispin, Gazi and Tonka 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 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
 Explore Melbourne’s labyrinth of laneways - including Degraves Street, Flinders Lane, Curtain House and
Little Collins - to find 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
your 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 – you're bound to find what you're 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