Hello fellow travelers, and welcome to the most honest Melbourne guide you can find on the internet! In this article, we’re featuring a special recommendation section that can help you discover the hidden parts of the golden city of Australia!
Let’s begin our Melbournian story with a fun historical fact.
If you didn’t already know this, once upon a time, during the mid-1800’s Melbourne was wrapped up in the Victorian gold rush. Not only that the gold rush was attracting people from all over the region, but it turned the city into the main center of activity in that era. By the end of the 1880s, Melbourne was the wealthiest city in the world. As time went by, the town grew in every sense of the word until it became what it is today. A cultural and economic center, where travelers come to marvel at the wonders it has to offer.
However, most of the time, people visit different places around the globe for the immersive experience, and not only for the main sightseeing spots. Taking that into consideration, we decided to recommend you some of the legendary local places that Melbournians enjoy in the city.
If you want to know which spots around the city are the local’s favorites, you should continue reading this guide to Melbourne.
1. What to Visit
Let’s get the popular tourist attractions out of the way first so that we can move on to the hidden gems around the city. The Federation Square is to Melbourne what the Eiffel Tower is to Paris. If you’re staying in the CBD area, you’re going to come across it, and you definitely should because it is a good representation of what you’ll encounter all around the city. A charming mix of modern architectural buildings with futuristic facades, and Victorian structural design.
In the same area, you can visit the Southbank and Arts Centre, including the State Theatre, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Playhouse, Fairfax Theatre, and Hamer Hall. Furthermore, the most famous shopping streets Flinders, Collins, and Bourke are right around the corner. They feature unique shops all along the promenade and the magnificent Block Arcade in Collins Street will dazzle you!
Strolling down the docks of Yarra River, or shopping at Queen Victoria’s market is also advisable, for any tourist, including popping a visit to the glorious Royal Botanic Gardens. The gardens were established in the distant 1846, and they cover 38 hectares of land and more than 8,500 species of plants.
Now, for the hidden wonder, we recommend you to go and see the graffiti-covered walls in the Street Art in Fitzroy. If you’re an Instagram lover (and modern art lover), this place will offer you so many opportunities for cool urban photography that you won’t know what to do with so many great pictures.
It’s very easy to find because it’s a backstreet between Brunswick Street and Smith Street, and you won’t miss it because it looks like an open art gallery! The murals constantly change as street artists paint new and progressive ideas all the time. This is a testament that speaks volumes about the incredible artistic culture you will encounter in Melbourne.
2. Where to Eat
Melbourne is a great city, filled with so many architectural wonders, art, culture and finesse that people simply fall in love with its vibrant, bright colors. However, the mouth-watering food is what brings travelers back to its shores each time.
There is a huge variety of delicious cuisine you can try in the city. From locally-sourced organic fusion plates to freshly baked French pastries, you can find everything in one corner restaurant or another. As above, we’re going to start with the popular spots people love visiting while they’re here, and we’ll move on to our top recommendation!
Therefore, if you’re looking for a Middle Eastern dish, with a special Turkish touch, you should visit the famous Maha restaurant. The food is almost as good as it seems on the first glance. For a European, French flair, you can pop a visit to the French Brasserie, and try some of their signature dishes, like the Crème Brule or the French Onion soup. The atmosphere will transcend you into a bistro in Montmartre.
Another popular choice is the Il Bacaro Cucina e Bar, which you can guess by the name, it’s very Italian, and everyone knows Italy’s cuisine is brilliant! This restaurant is a good demonstration of just how delicious pasta can be!
Nevertheless, for a completely immersive local experience, you should visit the Food Truck Park! It’s quite a unique event that you can’t find anywhere else in Australia, and it’s always packed with locals enjoying a large variety of incredibly delicious food. They even feature a stellar entertainment line-up.
3. How to Enjoy It
Activities!
Melbourne is also a metropolis where fun water sports and sophisticated city tours are available to everyone who wishes to engage in them. It’s impossible to write an article about Melbourne and not mention the Yarra River cruise and the City Circle Tram. Both tours can offer you a close and fast look into the most popular spots around town. All you have to do is relax and enjoy the ride.
For the ocean enthusiasts, there are more than ten beaches where they can surf, paddleboard or snorkel, and all of them are near the city. Both tourists and locals love to take pictures of the Brighton Bathing Boxes, located at Port Phillip Bay. The boxes were built over a century ago, and they still look fresh and modern, which means they are definitely worth the visit!
As we come close to the end of this article, we’re going to finish the list with the most interesting activity in Melbourne, and that’s trivia night! It might not be everyone’s cup of tea, but if you’re interested in answering pop culture questions that test your general knowledge with a bunch of locals, then you’re going to have a wonderful time. Furthermore, some bars even organize special events focusing on history, particular TV shows, conspiracy theories, and other delightful subjects.
Fun, isn’t it?
