Stylish, cosmopolitan and fabulously eclectic, Melbourne is urban Australia at its most inspiring. Forget glittering surf and endless sunshine: this moody, bluestone city is a well-read, macchiato-guzzling beast more akin to Berlin than Bondi. Down here, gritty, art-strewn alleys (known as laneways) harbour maverick cafés and restaurants, while unmarked stairwells lead to avant-garde ateliers, sharply curated bookshops and buzzing rooftop bars.
In a few short decades, the feverish Victorian gold rush of the 1850s transformed Melbourne – Naarm to its traditional owners, the Wurundjeri and Bunurong people – from a dusty settlement into a wealthy, worldly metropolis. This gilded period lives on in the city’s prolific heritage architecture, from rows of ornately decorated Victorian terraced houses to cathedral-esque banks. In sharp contrast is contemporary Melbourne – an edgy, ever-evolving hotbed of creativity, where boundaries are constantly pushed, from couture to cocktails and cuisine.
