Insight Guides - Insight Guides Explore Melbourne

How To Use This E-Book

This Explore Guide has been produced by the editors of Insight Guides, whose books have set the standard for visual travel guides since 1970. With top-quality photography and authoritative recommendations, these guidebooks bring you the very best routes and itineraries in the worlds most exciting destinations.

Best Routes

The routes in this book provide something to suit all budgets, tastes and trip lengths. As well as covering the destinations many classic attractions, the itineraries track lesser-known sights, and there are also excursions for those who want to extend their visit outside the city. The routes embrace a range of interests, so whether you are an art fan, a gourmet, a history buff or have kids to entertain, you will find an option to suit.

We recommend reading the whole of a route before setting out. This should help you to familiarise yourself with it and enable you to plan where to stop for refreshments options are shown in the Food and Drink box at the end of each tour.

Introduction

The routes are set in context by this introductory section, giving an overview of the destination to set the scene, plus background information on food and drink, shopping and more, while a succinct history timeline highlights the key events over the centuries.

Directory

Also supporting the routes is a Directory chapter, with a clearly organised AZ of practical information, our pick of where to stay while you are there and select restaurant listings; these eateries complement the more low-key cafs and restaurants that feature within the routes and are intended to offer a wider choice for evening dining. Also included here are some nightlife listings, and our recommendations for books and films about the destination.

Getting around the e-book

In the Table of Contents and throughout this e-book you will see hyperlinked references. Just tap a hyperlink once to skip to the section you would like to read. Practical information and listings are also hyperlinked, so as long as you have an external connection to the internet, you can tap a link to go directly to the website for more information.

Maps

All key attractions and sights mentioned in the text are numbered and cross-referenced to high-quality maps. Wherever you see the reference [map] just tap this to go straight to the related map. You can also double-tap any map for a zoom view.

Images

Youll find hundreds of beautiful high-resolution images that capture the essence of the destination. Simply double-tap on an image to see it full-screen.

2018 Apa Digital (CH) AG and Apa Publications (UK) Ltd

Table of Contents

Recommended Routes For...

BarFlies

Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world Melbourne has some of the best. Hit Brunswick Street ().

Virginia Star/Apa Publications

Bohemian Melbourne

Call it bohemian, grungy or alternative, this city has art, fashion, music and literary subcultures like no other. To experience them, hang out in Carlton ().

Jerry Dennis/Apa Publications

Ethnic enclaves

Few cities are as ethnically diverse as Melbourne. Enjoy an espresso in Little Italy ().

iStock

Foodies

This food- and coffee-obsessed city promises a gourmet experience par excellence. The best eateries are in the central city, but there are also gems on Southbank ().

Jerry Dennis/Apa Publications

History devotees

See where bushranger Ned Kelly was hanged ().

Getty Images

Modern architecture

Melbournes Victorian-era buildings are marvellous, but the citys modern architecture is even more eye-catching. Dont miss Federation Square or the constructions along Swanston Street ().

John Gollings/Fed Square

The seaside

If you do love to be beside the seaside, dine overlooking fashionable St Kilda Beach ().

Jerry Dennis/Apa Publications

Sports fans

Test cricket was born in Melbourne ().

Jerry Dennis/Apa Publications

Explore Melbourne

Melbourne is a multi-faceted, multi-cultural, modern metropolis, populated by close to five million people who hail from across the globe. Much more laid-back than Sydney, Melbourne has many layers for the inquisitive visitor to unwrap.

The Melbourne Safe Deposit Building in Queen Street

Jerry Dennis/Apa Publications

The city has come a long way since 1835, when farmer John Batman and businessman John Pascoe Fawkner laid down their hats to call it home. It wasnt long before the fledgling settlement became a town and the town became one of the great cities of the southern hemisphere, sped on its way by the discovery of gold and an influx of people from every corner of the globe. Their optimism, ambition and hard work have made Melbourne what it is today.

Geography

Melbourne is the largest city in the state of Victoria, which occupies the southeastern corner of Australia. It is arranged around the shores of Port Phillip Bay, a large inland bay separated from Bass Strait by two elegant arms: the Bellarine Peninsula in the southwest and the Mornington Peninsula in the southeast. Roughly equidistant between the two peninsulas is the mouth of the Yarra River, where Europeans first settled and where the CBD (Central Business District) is located today.

City layout

The inner city covers an area radiating out approximately 7km (4 miles) from the CBD and has an extremely high population density, particularly in the CBD and St Kilda. It is very easy to navigate, with the CBD on the northern banks of the Yarra having been laid out in a grid pattern by surveyor Robert Hoddle in the 1830s.