Youth experiences - Victoria
Melbourne is a fun, young, exciting city with a thriving bar, restaurant and live music scene.
City slickers will love exploring Melbourne’s hidden laneway cafes and bars, which can be discovered in the most unlikely of locations – upstairs, downstairs, in shipping containers and in retail stores.
Those looking for a more country experience will love getting out to country Victoria, with landscapes including wine and fruit regions, farm land, mountain ranges and coastal areas – there are a wide range of options for working holidays.
Destination Highlights
Hosier Lane, Melbourne, Victoria
Frequently voted as one of the world’s most liveable cities, Melbourne is well known for its culture, shopping, music and nightlife, and revered for its unique laneways and creative communities.
Each year, Melbourne is abuzz offering a packed agenda of food, wine sports, entertainment and arts which add to the city’s atmosphere, appeal and awesomeness. Whatever the season, Melbourne's busy events calendar is sure to excite. The city is buzzing with theatre, exhibitions, concerts, festivals and sporting events.
Experience Melbourne's mix of cultures in its myriad restaurants, cafes, and bars. Melbourne's eclectic food and wine scene offers an array of the world's great cuisines, from popular favourites to the truly groundbreaking.
Explore historic arcades and laneways lined with on-trend restaurants, hipster cafes, hidden bars and fashion boutiques, and take inspiration from Melbourne’s world-famous street art.
Just 90 minutes away, indulge in a seaside holiday on Phillip Island to experience iconic Australian wildlife (check out the penguins!), stunning white beaches and surf culture. Explore pristine wilderness in Gippsland, with its unspoilt beaches, lakes and mountains. Inhale the air up there in the Grampians and be dazzled by its diverse natural attractions – the walking tracks, wildlife, lookouts and waterfalls.
Accommodation
St Kilda, Melbourne, Victoria
Great value quality accommodation can be found in the city and regions with options ranging from dorms to private and family rooms with ensuites. Whatever the budget, there will be something for all.
- Base St Kilda: rated by Lonely Planet as one of the top Hippest Hostels in the world, it’s both stylish and hip with great facilities throughout
- Habitat HQ , St Kilda: stay 'guilt free' in the first carbon neutral backpacker hostel in Melbourne, share their love of music and experience the best that St Kilda and the city has to offer
- United Backpackers Melbourne: situated in one of the best locations in the city, opposite the iconic Flinders Street Station, with brand new facilities, heaps of spaces to chill or play including a cool basement bar.
- Apollo Bay Eco YHA, Great Ocean Road: eco-certified with a range of energy and water saving techniques to reduce its impact on the environment, it’s the perfect hostel for a road trip along the famous Great Ocean Road.
- The Island Accommodation, Phillip Island: an eco-friendly accommodation ideally located just a short stroll to glorious beaches, public transport, nightlife, cafes, restaurants and shopping.
Local Immersion
Brunswick Street in Fitzroy, Melbourne, Victoria
Immerse in the suburbs of Melbourne and take in the sights, sounds and flavours like a local.
Fitzroy
The suburb of Fitzroy reflects the ‘Bohemian’ side of Melbourne. Brunswick Street is the focus, with a vast smorgasbord of tastes and experiences. Second hand furniture shops are everywhere, as are welcoming bookshops, antique clothing and retro shops, turning yesterday's fashions into today's fad.
St Kilda
Melbourne's famed beachside neighbourhood, St. Kilda's outdoor pubs and cafes invite visitors to sip a glass in the sun and watch windsurfers brave the waves. Despite the proximity to the bustling city centre, the area paints a relaxed picture with its antique theatres, historic amusement park, and classic beachside kiosks. Come dusk, St. Kilda comes alive with music and night-time revellers.
Central Business District
The CBD means business, but also knows how to relax – an abundance of hidden cafes, restaurants, and bars pack its narrow laneways. Every weekday, business people, trams, and tourists rush through frenetic streets. The much-welcomed weekend signals the change from business attire and briefcases to casual clothes and cocktails. With its nonstop activity, the CBD offers endless amusement for locals and tourists alike.
Brunswick
In Brunswick, grandmas compare tomatoes in Mediterranean grocery stores while young songwriters busk outside. Most mornings, the smell of Middle Eastern spices wafts from bakeries down cobblestone alleyways and past restored workers' cottages. On the weekends, students queue for vegan brunch while the aroma of roasting coffee pervades the streets.
Carlton
Carlton’s residents don’t cut their pasta; in this neighborhood’s outdoor restaurants, spaghetti is twirled expertly with a fork and savoured to the last bite. Centrally located Lygon street boasts espresso and pastries just like a nonna made them. Seeking hideouts to quietly canoodle, couples picnic in Princes Park, and longtime residents sidestep college kids for the relatively calm oasis of Rathdowne Street.
Nightlife
Rooftop Bar, Melbourne, Victoria
Experience Melbourne's eclectic spirit with a night out exploring the wonderful nightspots peppering the city's streets and laneways. Up a flight of stairs, down a laneway, on a rooftop or behind a bookcase, Melbourne sure knows how to hide a bar.
Cocktail Bars
- Black Pearl: If bar tending was an academic pursuit, The Black Pearl would be Harvard, Yale and Oxford combined. The bar staff all have PhDs in cocktails (and at least one Bartender of the Year award).
- Eau De Vie: Intimate, dimly lit, jazz infused and its delectable cocktails, Eau De Vie is an absolute pleasure. When the bartender has to don gloves and goggles to prepare a flammable mix, it’s clear this is something they take very seriously.
Laneway Bars
- Bar Americano: Bar Americano fits maximum 15 patrons and the squeeze holds the key to its charm, but the polished wood, pressed aluminium and checkerboard tiles also endear. Knock back daytime espressos and by night sip on unadulterated cocktails.
- Whitehart: Perch in this two-storey container bar and sip on craft beer, cocktails, boutique wines and feast on bar snacks from a rotating line-up of local food vendors.
- Section 8: A uniquely Melbourne bar experience, Section 8 is on the surface at least, two shipping containers in a car park. When dusk settles and the bar's Chinese lanterns start glowing, the nearby art frescoes light up a fascinating microcosm of Melburnians enjoying unpretentious drinks and delectable audio offerings.
Rooftop Bars
- Naked in the Sky: Head upstairs to Fitzroy favourite Naked in the Sky for spectacular rooftop views of the city and the Dandenong Ranges. Scour the drinks list for a choice of vodka, craft beer or Spanish rosé to accompany crispy quail and beans or slow-cooked cider beef cheek.
- Rooftop Bar: A beloved Melbourne institution, Rooftop Bar is set seven storeys atop the popular Curtin House. With jaw-dropping views of the CBD skyline, it's little wonder that during the summer months the venue also hosts movies after sunset.
- Madame Brussels: where cocktails, drinks, refreshing punches, cupcakes and cucumber sandwiches can be taken upon the rather fancy terrace. Should the weather prove too cold for outdoors, simply move to the indoor garden settings upon lush green grass lawn.
Useful Links
Destination Highlights
Accommodation
- Base St Kilda
- Habitat HQ , St Kilda
- United Backpackers Melbourne
- Apollo Bay Eco YHA, Great Ocean Road
- The Island Accommodation, Phillip Island
Local Immersion
Nightlife
