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Where public transport is actually cool, cafes function as second living rooms, and the streets are paved with art...
In its almost 200-year history, Melbourne, in the state of Victoria in southeastern Australia on the traditional lands of the Kulin Nation, has evolved into Australia's cultural capital.
The city-Australia's second-biggest-has one of the highest densities of art galleries in the world and more cafes per person than any other Australian city. It's no wonder creative types (dressed head-to-toe in black, the city's unofficial uniform) descend in droves.
Melburnians joke that their city has "four seasons in one day," and there's some truth in that statement. While winters are cool and summers warm, we recommend that whatever your plans are, to always take a jacket. It really could be sunny one moment and hailing the next.
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Keep your SSN off the dark web
Every day, data brokers and scammers profit from your sensitive info-phone number, email address, DOB, SSN-and sell it to the highest bidder. And who's buying it? Best case: companies that target you with ads. Worst case: scammers and identity thieves. It's time you check out Surfshark's free Data Leak Checker and get the first glimpse if your data was exposed.
Get the Surfshark ONE+ security suite to protect yourself online and scrub your personal data from data brokers' databases. Unlike other services, Surfshark not only protects but also helps to remove your sensitive information from all broker types, including those tricky People Search Sites.
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Footy fever
In Melbourne, the Australian Football League-usually called "AFL" or "footy"-is practically a religion. A bit like a cross between soccer and rugby, the game involves two competing teams trying to kick an oval-shaped ball between goalposts at either end of the field. Players are allowed to touch the ball to "punt" it to teammates, but they're not allowed to throw it. As the name suggests, the sport is played all over the country, but fans in Victoria, where the game was invented in the mid-1800s, are some of the most vocal supporters.
All winter long, men's and women's leagues lace up their boots for four-quarter matches featuring plenty of mud, team-branded knitwear (in the audience), kicking, and handballing. The largest are held at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG), a cultural destination in its own right (it's the largest stadium in the southern hemisphere) and home to the National Sports Museum.
If you do get along to a match, indulging in an Aussie meat pie (ground beef and gravy in a pastry casing) is practically an entry prerequisite.
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Coffee capital
Melbourne is arguably home to some of the best coffee in the world. When the first wave of post-WWII immigrants arrived from Italy and Greece in the 1950s, they brought coffee culture with them. Before long, the tradition of sipping espresso was as Aussie as a sausage in bread.
In the years since, Melbourne's coffee scene has evolved into a "third wave" of refined brews served in architecturally designed cafe spaces that draw lengthy queues for fine-dining riffs on avocado toast (a local fave). Some of the top players include Higher Ground in the Central Business District (CBD), and CIBI, a Japanese-styled coffee spot in the back streets of Collingwood, an artsy suburb in Melbourne's inner north.
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Trusted Housesitters connects homeowners and house and pet sitters so you can work remotely without paying for accommodations.
Right now, Going members can get 20% off all new subscriptions of any membership tier with the code GOING20.
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Ding ding!
Trams (aka trolley cars) rolled out across Australia in the 1880s but fell out of favor everywhere but Melbourne when buses became more cost effective. As Sydney and Hobart filled in their tracks, Melbourne's growing fleet shaped the city's center as a place of business while designating its suburbs as residential. Even today, most routes run in and out of the city but rarely across the 'burbs.
The zero-fare City Circle Tram, serviced by "retired" cars from the 1960s, offers free travel with audio commentary on points of interest along the route which, as the name implies, makes a rough circle around the city center. You'll soon become accustomed to the "ding ding" sound the metal cars make as they woosh by errant motorists and pedestrians lost in their cell phones.
Read more
- The city's ever-evolving collection of street art
- A multicultural dining scene built by immigrants
- Festivals, festivals, and more festivals
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MEL flight price history
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$743 Average Going deal
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$1,500 Normal ticket price
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Interested in a trip to Melbourne?
Premium and Elite members can find, watch, and get alerts for specific destinations on their Watchlist.
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With local expert:
Nola James
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Nola James spent her formative years working in Melbourne's restaurants, drinking in its bars, and staying out too late. These days, she writes about food and wine for Good Food (The Age/Sydney Morning Herald), Delicious Magazine, Halliday Wine Companion, and Australian Traveller, among others.
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