What To Eat, Drink and Do on a Luxury Melbourne Getaway

Melbourne has never needed to prove itself. While Sydney flaunts its sparkling harbour and Brisbane basks in near-constant sunshine, Melbourne quietly carries on with being one of the world’s most liveable cities.

That understated confidence is exactly what defines luxury here – and the kind of travel curated by the Luxury Travel Event, where the world’s leading luxury travel experts help travellers plan bespoke journeys across Australia and beyond.

Everyone loves to plan a holiday, and this special event showcases the best luxury travel experiences on offer right now, with rare access to the expert advisors and global brands who can bring them to life. Take it as an opportunity to book your next holiday and have something to look forward to – and while you’re waiting, here’s how you can still indulge in a slice of luxury a little closer to home, right here in Melbourne.

Whether you’re planning a holiday or looking to play tourist in your own city, here’s how to experience Melbourne through a luxe travel lens – from striking fine diners tucked into city gardens to designer bathhouses hidden in the wilderness.

Eat

If it’s good enough for Barack and Michelle Obama (who ate here in 2023), it’s worth adding to your hit list. Gimlet is Andrew McConnell’s love letter to grand hotel dining, complete with a statement marble bar, plush booths and art deco lighting. Start with just-shucked oysters and the bright, citrusy Gimlet that gives the place its name, then move on to Southern rock lobster or a generously sized charcoal-grilled T-bone.

A few blocks north in Chinatown is the ever-opulent Flower Drum – the city’s gold standard for Cantonese cuisine since 1975. Those who know know to order the signature Peking duck, wrapped tableside in impossibly thin handmade pancakes. Pair it with lamb spring rolls, seafood fried rice finished with Italian black truffle, or mud crab plucked from the tank.

To escape from the CBD without actually leaving it, book Yiaga. The restaurant makes an impression before you even step inside: 13,000 ochre tiles clad a striking building in the verdant Fitzroy Gardens. Chef Hugh Allen (also executive chef at Vue de Monde) serves a dozen-plus courses over a few hours. Think one-bite Blackmore Wagyu steamed buns or caviar with coconut tofu. Master sommelier Dorian Guillon – one of just 300 in the world – curates the wine pairings, if you’re ready to really commit.

Also on this side of the city is Fitzroy’s Gaea, a 16-seat degustation restaurant by Mo Zhou (ex- Attica, Vue de Monde). It’s quiet and dimly lit, but audible gasps ripple through the room as Zhou’s artful dishes arrive (he works with local ceramicists to custom design everything from butter spoons to bowls). Expect 10 loosely Japanese courses – a recent standout is the unlikely (yet unreal) pairing of bluefin tuna with breadcrumb-topped bone marrow.

Beyond the city limits, find stunning regional restaurants with a sharp focus on hyper-local produce. About an hour south in Red Hill, Tedesca Osteria sits on a property that you’ll wish you grew up on. Chef Brigitte Hafner (who ran now-closed Fitzroy icon Gertrude Street Enoteca) cooks from an early 20th-century weatherboard house overlooking a kitchen garden and rolling farmland. It’s the kind of place where lunch can easily take up half a day, and where almost everything on your plate was grown right outside. Book ahead – this isn’t a drop-in kind of spot.

In the opposite direction, Chauncy in Heathcote is worth the 90-minute drive north. Just 14 diners a day can score a seat at this French-leaning fine diner in a stately 1854 sandstone building. Michelin-trained chef Louis Naepels (ex-Florentino) might serve pasta made with eggs laid on-site, or asparagus with goat’s curd, nettle sauce and hazelnuts. After lunch, wander the bucolic gardens and imagine you’re in Provence – it’s surprisingly convincing.

Do

Theatregoers and art lovers can find a base in Southbank’s Arts Precinct, home to the Arts Centre Melbourne, Malthouse Theatre and the National Gallery of Victoria. Before a show, duck into Eau De Vie for a drink. This is the Melbourne outpost of Sven Almenning’s acclaimed Sydney bar, where the bartenders have a near-psychic ability to know what cocktail you want before you do. There are hundreds of whiskies on pour. Plus, a snacky menu spanning from charcuterie and whisky-brined pickles to Angus porterhouse.

Early risers should book a hot-air balloon ride over the CBD. Yes, it requires a pre-dawn start, but floating above Melbourne as the sun rises – with views stretching to distant mountain ranges – quickly makes up for lost sleep. Afterwards, there’s a buffet breakfast at the five-star hotel Pullman Melbourne On The Park to ease you back to reality.

You can fly even higher with a private helicopter transfer to Levantine Hill, which cruises over the vineyard-rich Yarra Valley before landing at the top winery (designed by the same architect behind Hobart’s Museum of Old and New Art). The Mediterranean-leaning menu features charcoal-grilled lamb skewers and vine-leaf-baked Murray cod atop sumac-spiced pilaf, with each dish matched to a recommended wine to streamline decision-making.

For something more hands-on, join an intimate ring-making class at Blonde’s Fitzroy studio. Over two hours, jewellers guide you through the basics of silver or goldsmithing – no experience required, just a steady hand. You’ll leave with two handmade rings, a far better souvenir than anything from the airport gift shop.

If travel fatigue sets in, remedy it at Alba Thermal Springs and Spa, a designer day spa of wood and limestone set among lush green wilderness on the Mornington Peninsula. Phones stay in the change rooms as you rotate between saunas, steam rooms, geothermal pools and cold plunges. Between sessions, refuel at the on-site restaurant, where fluffy white robes are appropriate attire and the food is curated by Karen Martini. The general baths are luxe, but if you’re going all-out, book in time at one of the private rooftop pools, or enjoy a restorative spa treatment.

Stay

Hannah St Hotel is Southbank’s latest newcomer, and it’s already making waves with its work-hard-play-hard approach. Check into one of 188 rooms – designed by the same studio behind Sydney’s Ace Hotel and Troye Sivan’s impossibly chic home – then decide whether you’re here to hustle or relax. There’s a co-working space with a podcast studio for the former, and a rooftop garden terrace with cocktails for the latter. Nathan Toleman’s Mulberry Group is in charge of the hotel’s five hospitality venues and room service, so you’re in good hands.

If you’re looking for a sustainability-focused stay in the CBD, consider 1 Hotel Melbourne, which is also home to Mike McEnearney’s latest venture. The design leans into natural materials and greenery, with an emphasis on environmentally conscious details throughout.

For something less polished but still sophisticated, book The StandardX in Fitzroy – the first Aussie outpost of the cult international hotel chain that starred in Sex and the City. The 125 rooms feature local artworks, Hay’s Scandi-style furniture and built-in beds dressed in Egyptian cotton sheets. With an on-site restaurant and buzzy rooftop bar, you may never leave – though Fitzroy’s cafés, bars and boutiques are right outside.

For a slower pace, book a room at the Jackalope Hotel on the Mornington Peninsula, which earned an inaugural Michelin Key last year. There are just 45 boutique rooms here, some of which offer deep-soak stone baths, lush private terraces, fireplaces and peaceful vineyard views. And there’s a trifecta of dining options suited to different needs – whether it’s a degustation at Doot Doot or cocktails at Flaggerdoot, a bar set in an old Edwardian homestead.

This article is produced by Broadsheet in partnership with Luxury Travel Event (presented by Luxury Travel Collection). The Luxury Travel Event brings global travel experts and leading brands together to facilitate premium, personalised holidays, from Melbourne to the Maldives and beyond. The event will take place on February 22 in Melbourne and on May 3 in Perth.