Melbourne
Australia
Laneway coffee, street art and the best food in Australia, in a city that changes weather four times a day
Photo by Andy Wang on Unsplash
Photos by John Simmons, Denise Jans, Daniel Pelaez Duque and XY YEW on Unsplash
Best time to visit all of Australia
March to May, and September to November — the summer can swing from cool to fortyish in a day
Climate month by month
The next sixteen daysOpen-Meteo
Average high and low · °C
Rainfall · mm per month
Best months to visit This month · wettest 67mm in Oct
Where it is
37.81°S, 144.96°E Open in Google Maps
Things to do
A week easily- Drink coffee standing up in a laneway and take it seriously
- Go to the MCG for anything at all
- Eat along Victoria Street and pay under twenty dollars
- Take the tram to St Kilda at dusk for the penguins
- Drive the Great Ocean Road, and go past the Twelve Apostles
Melbourne travel tipsthe general rules
Currency budget Australia
Good valueEffectively a cashless country. Cards and phones work everywhere including the smallest coffee cart, and a surcharge of one to two per cent on card is normal and is signed at the till.
ATMs & cards
The big four — Commonwealth, Westpac, ANZ and NAB — charge foreign cards a few dollars. The machines in pubs and corner shops charge more and say so on screen.
Avoid these
- the machines in pubs and corner shops, which charge several dollars
Use these instead
- Commonwealth
- Westpac
- ANZ
- NAB
Effectively a cashless city. A card surcharge of one to two per cent is normal and is signed at the till.
Wherever you are: if the machine offers to charge you in your home currency, decline. That is dynamic currency conversion and the rate is set by the ATM's operator, not your bank.
Safety all of Australia
SafeA safe city. The usual late-night caution around King Street and the clubs on a weekend, and the trams take priority over everything — the hook turn, where cars turn right from the left lane, catches every visiting driver.
Where to walk, and where to pay attention (8 areas)
Worth more attention
- King Street late on a weekend — the one strip where the drinking turns into trouble
- the trams — they stop in the middle of the road and passengers step out in front of cars
- the sun in summer — the UV here burns in twenty minutes and the forecast gives an index for a reason
A safe city with an unusual driving rule: the hook turn, where cars turn right from the left lane, catches every visitor behind a wheel..
Our own assessment, not a sourced index.
Entry & visa Australia visa rules
Travel authorisation requiredup to 90 daysA$20
Electronic Travel Authority, applied for through the official Australian ETA app.
Other passports
Travel authorisation requiredup to 90 daysfree
eVisitor (subclass 651) — free, and applied for online. Valid twelve months, 90 days per visit.
Visa required in advancefrom A$200
A Visitor visa (subclass 600), applied for online.
How to get it: EU and UK passports use the free eVisitor at immi.homeaffairs.gov.au; the ETA is only available through the official mobile app. Nothing is ever stamped in the passport — it is all electronic.
Entry rules change often and depend on your passport, not where you live — the official page above is the authority, and the airline checks before you board.
Before you fly: travel authorisation
Electronic Travel Authority (ETA)RequiredAUD20
Before you fly. Usually granted quickly, occasionally not.
Have these in front of you before you start:
- passport
- a phone that can read the passport chip
- the Australian ETA app
App only. There is no way to do this from a laptop, which catches people out — install it before you need it. The AUD20 is a service charge for the app; the ETA itself is free.
Use the official link above. Sites that charge a "service fee" to submit one of these for you are not the government, and they want the same passport details the real form does.
Health & emergencies all of Australia
Good and affordableRequired to enter
No vaccinations are required for entry from Europe or North America.
Jabs worth having, and what happens if you need a doctor
Worth having
- Routine vaccinations up to date
Getting treated
Excellent. The UK, Ireland, New Zealand, Belgium, the Netherlands, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Italy, Malta and Slovenia have reciprocal agreements giving their citizens access to Medicare for immediately necessary treatment; everyone else pays and should be insured.
Sun is the underrated one — the UV index is extreme by European standards. Swim between the flags; rip currents, not sharks, are what actually drown people.
Orientation, not medical advice — entry rules change and what you need depends on your own history. Check with a travel clinic four to six weeks before you go.
Food tip
OutstandingThe best eating in the country and the most argued-about coffee. Vietnamese on Victoria Street, Greek on Lonsdale, Italian on Lygon, and a filter coffee culture that predates the rest of the world noticing.
Nightlife
Small bars behind unmarked doors, laneways that only fill after ten, and a live music scene that is the biggest in the country.
- the CBD laneways — small bars up staircases with no sign on the street
- Fitzroy and Collingwood — Brunswick Street, Smith Street and everything off them
- Corner Hotel and the Tote — the live rooms the city is known for
- Chapel Street, Prahran — the louder, glossier end of it
Closing: Bars to 1am or 3am, clubs until dawn. The last trams go around midnight and the Night Network runs all night at weekends.
A beer in a bar: A$10–14
Most small bars have no sign at all; if a staircase has a bouncer at the bottom, that is the door.
Getting around
Easy and cheap- UberWorks here
- DiDiWorks here
- OlaWorks here
- 13cabsWorks here
DiDi usually the cheapest · 13cabs the taxi fleet
- Against a taxi
- A little under the meter, and far better supplied.
Time zone and your working day
Australia/Melbourne — 14 hours ahead of you
0 hours of overlap with a 09:00–17:00 day where you are — — your time, — theirs.
No overlap with a 09:00–17:00 day where you are. Working from here means one of you keeps odd hours — their day starts at 19:00 on your clock.
office hours both at once night
Their 09:00–17:00 is 19:00–03:00 on yours.
The difference from the UK, Europe, the US and ten more
Worked out against America/New York, which is where this request looks like it came from.
Internet speedall of Australia
What these numbers mean
Home broadband — Fast. Several people on calls at once, large uploads, 4K. Broadband here runs at 1.4× the global median of 130 Mbps.
Mobile data — Good. Maps, calls and streaming, and enough to tether a laptop for an afternoon. Mobile runs at 1.3× the global median of 109 Mbps.
A median is the middle of every connection tested there, old copper and new fibre together — so in a country part-way through laying fibre it sits well below what a fibre line actually delivers, and a rental on one can run several times this number. Half of the connections are slower; a fibre flat is rarely one of them. It says what a place can do, not what your rental does, so every listing on Holistay carries its own measured speed and the date it was tested.
Getting online: Airalo or Holafly — a data eSIM for Australia, installed before you fly and working the moment you land.
Source: Ookla Speedtest Global Index · measured June 2026
Must-see
Nearby day trips
Say a few words
Australian English — local usage
- HelloHow ya going?
- Thanks / no problemNo worries
- AfternoonArvo
- Flip-flopsThongs
4 more phrases
- SwimwearBathers / Togs
- Petrol stationServo
- BarbecueBarbie
- Genuinely goodBloody good
Religion
No majority faith
Roughly 40% report no religion, the largest single group. Aboriginal spiritual sites such as Uluru carry restrictions that are legal as well as cultural.
Do's and don'ts
Do
- Sit in the front seat of a taxi if you are alone; sitting behind reads as standoffish
- Buy your round in turn — shouting is a genuine social obligation
- Swim between the red and yellow flags, always
- Wear sunscreen even on cloudy days; the UV is genuinely extreme
Don't
- Do not tip routinely; it is not expected and staff are paid properly
- Do not boast — tall poppy syndrome means standing out invites deflation
- Do not take Aboriginal cultural sites lightly; some are closed to climbing or photography
- Do not underestimate the sun, the surf or the distances
Where to stay in Melbourne
No Holistay rentals in Melbourne yet — the platform is just opening up. Every listing here will have a video tour and the option to negotiate the nightly price directly with the host.
In the meantime, here is Melbourne on the sites that do have the inventory — each search is already filled in:
- Booking.com hotels, guesthouses and apartments — the widest coverage almost everywhere
- Airbnb whole homes and apartments, and the better option for a week or more
How to get there
Fly into Tullamarine MEL
30 minfrom the airport· 19 km as the crow flies
30 min by SkyBus, 45 in traffic.
Google Flights · Rome2Rio for the trains, buses and ferries as well as the flights
