Melbourne Hotels

Melbourne is the second-largest city in Australia and the capital of the south-eastern state of Victoria, located at the head of Port Phillip Bay. Melbourne is generally regarded as Australia's cultural capital. The city's features include Victorian-era architecture, extensive shopping, many cultural institutions such as museums, galleries and theatres, and large parks and gardens. Melbourne's 3.8 million population is both multicultural (with large Greek, Italian, Jewish, Vietnamese and other immigrant communities) and sports-mad. Reasons for tourists to visit Melbourne are to attend major sporting events, to use it as a base for exploring surrounding regions such as Grampians National Park, The Great Ocean Road, and to visit Phillip Island to view the penguin parade. Many UK visitors come to Melbourne for tours of filming locations of soap opera Neighbours. Melbourne, Australia's second largest city, spreads southwards along the shoreline of Port Phillip Bay, east towards the Dandenong Ranges, westwards towards the city of Geelong and northwards towards the plains of central Victoria. Like any large city, Melbourne is divided up into many suburbs - not all will be of interest to travellers. The Melbourne city centre is a beautiful and interesting mix of the old and the new. You can't miss the Eureka Tower and the Rialto stands out as well but look closely and you will notice some intricate buildings from a bygone era.