3 Days in Melbourne

In this blog:

Laneways by Ovolo Hotel Review

Yarra River Bike Paths

Puffing Billy Train

Healesville Sanctuary

Christmas in Melbourne

I’d been told that Melbourne is the foodie capital of Australia, so I knew we had to make a stop there on this trip.  Based on glowing TripAdvisor reviews for being one of the most family friendly hotels in the city, we booked 4 nights at the Laneways by Ovolo in one of their Memphis Penthouse suites, located by Parliament Square and Chinatown.  It’s a boutique hotel, and fairly unimpressive at check-in – the lobby is small and their adjacent bar is closed on Sundays and Mondays (we arrived on a Sunday).  The hallways were dated, and we had to lug our luggage up a few stairs once we got to our floor to get to our rooms – definitely not handicapped friendly!  But once we opened the door, our jaws dropped – our suite was almost 2,000 sqft with two bedrooms and two full baths – the kitchen and living room were huge and we had our very own pinball machine in the living room!  The patio doors opened our to our own private patio that extended the entire length of our suite, with two separate sitting areas and a hot tub that had a safety gate to prevent kiddos from getting to it.  Pricing for this massive room wasn’t crazy at all – we paid about $430 per night, including taxes, in peak Summer season.  While the amenities were definitely not 5-star, this room was absolutely perfect for us to feel at home for a few nights.  They host a happy hour between 5-7pm each night as well with free local beers and wine – and had a cute candy station that Sienna (and her Dad) loved.  There are several tram and train stations a block or two away, making the location also wonderful!  Being just a block away from Chinatown, we also had plenty of fantastic dining options within walking distance.  Overall, I’d definitely recommend splurging a little and getting a ton of space during your stay!

Here's what we did in our 3 full days in Melbourne:

Day 1 – Rented eBikes and did a 3-hour ride along the Yarra River and through the outer suburbs of Melbourne.  Melbourne is a highly bikeable city, with bike trails along the river and bike lanes on just about all of the city roads – it was a great way to see the Melbourne and its surrounding areas!  Later, we checked out Lygon Street, which is known for its high-grade ethnic restaurants and bars where you can get everything from Ethiopian to Egyptian to Mexican food.  We had an outstanding meal at Cairo Nights – as it was a Monday night, unfortunately we missed the live entertainment, but we are told that they have belly dancers and music there on the weekends!

Day 2 – We booked a day tour through Wine Hop and Coastal Tours that took us on the Puffing Billy train ride through the Yarra Valley on a 100 year-old steam engine train, then to the Healesville Animal Sanctuary where we had close encounters with kangaroos and koalas, and lastly, to the Yarra Valley Chocolaterie, where we shopped their housemade truffles and chocolates and sampled their ice cream and hot chocolate. It was pouring cats and dogs on this day, so it limited our ability to sit with our legs dangling out of the train cars, but despite the elements, we had a great time!  Sienna especially enjoyed seeing the kangaroos hop around us at the sanctuary and our tour bus driver was a hoot!  While super touristy, the chocolaterie also had some of the most delicious icecream and chocolates, I never knew Australian chocolate was this good! It was a full day – we left at 9am and got back around 6pm, just in time to grab a local dinner near our hotel in Chinatown and relax in our hot tub!

Day 3 – We originally had a tour to Phillips Island booked for this day, but after our very wet and cold day before, spending another few hours on a boat and a windy island didn’t sound like fun to us, so we skipped it and decided to explore the city’s Christmas events instead.  We hopped on and off the trams (which are free to ride within the CBD) and checked out the following:

• Christmas Square at Federation Square, where Sienna loved watching Santa’s elves working away in Santa’s workshop via a video playing at the base of the 16 meter Christmas tree

• Walked through the Christmas maze at Docklands, where Sienna insisted on doing it a second time to see if we missed any of the hidden elves throughout the maze that we tallied up and submitted for a prize at the end. Very cute and fun!

• Went up to the top of the Melbourne Sky Deck for great views of the city and a glass of wine - they also have VR experiences up there!

• Watched the Christmas laser light show at Southbank along the Yarra River that runs every 15 minutes starting at 9pm during the holiday season, which was a perfect way to cap the day!

Best things we ate in Melbourne:

• Hochi Mama – located just next door to our hotel, this was maybe my favorite meal of the trip.  Everything was fantastic here at this Vietnamese restaurant – the outdoor seating is more kid-appropriate, it looked noisy and clubby inside.  We had the Maryland fried chicken, beef curry, spring rolls and duck tacos, all of which were amazing.  Sienna liked the fried chicken and duck meat – if your child is a picky eater, this may not be a great option as they did not have a kids menu.

• Cairo Nights – fantastic Egyptian restaurant on the trendy Lygon Street, where also everything was wonderful.  We started with the 3 dip appetizer (hummus, feta/cheese, and tzasiki), had the rice claypot with lamb, and mix grill of chicken, beef kebabs, and lamb kefta.  Definitely save some of your appetizer dips for your mains, they go wonderfully with everything!  The grilled chicken, kebabs, and dips were all Sienna-friendly.

• Krabby’s Crab Boil at Docklands – had a fun, messy crab-cracking feast complete with bibs, gloves, and crab legs drowned in a garlic lemon sauce. Not gourmet, not fancy, but it was fun and delicious!

• Lune Croissanterie - known as "the world's best croissants", you know we had to come here and stand in line. I'm always skeptical about the "best" of anything, esp with food - according to who? But I will say, their traditional croissants were very good - just the right amount of butter and flaking without leaving your hands completely gross. They had a glazed round croissant that was very donut-esqoue and also very delicious - overall, I'd say yes, it's worth making a stop for! Though I did see one at the airport as we were leaving, maybe less lines there!

Overall, we really loved this city and needed another day or two there - there are so many restaurants that I had on my list that we did not hit, either because I did not plan ahead and make reservations, or just ran out of time. We definitely want to come back!