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For Sydney’s itinerary, click here.
How to Get to City from Melbourne Airport
Take Sky Bus from T1 Arrival which will take you to Southern Cross Station in 20 minutes. You do not have to pre-book this before your trip. Just purchase the tickets at the Sky Bus counter.
Once you reach Southern Cross Station, check with the Hotel Transfer Service booth if there is a SkyBus mini-bus that can drop you at your hotel/motel.
Bus Schedule: 10min interval
Sky Bus Rates: 17AUD 1 Way, 28AUD Return
It is highly recommend to book your Hotel transfer return early, i.e. from Hotel to Southern Cross Station. You can try to book it 2-3 days prior to your flight. Our flight back to Singapore was at 11am, and when we called Sky Bus the day before departure to book for the transfer, we were told the 7.30am van was full. We could only take the 8.30am van, and by the time we reach the airport, it would have been 9.30am. We were supposed to check in by 9am!
We spent approx 6 days in Melbourne, of which 2 days were planned to be out of the City and we felt that this was sufficient.
Where to Stay in Melbourne
Review of City Tempo
353 Queen Street, Melbourne, VIC 3000 Australia
Free call within Australia: 1800 CITYTEMPO (1800 248 983)
Phone: +613 8256 7555
We stayed in City Tempo for 4D3N. It is a very decent apartment, within walking distance to Queen Victoria Market and free City Circle tram 35 that offers a loop of the city, including the Docklands precinct, city train stations, Parliament, the State Library and Melbourne Central. However, the receptionist attitude can be improved. Also, when I asked for instructions on wifi connection, the receptionist gave me wrong information. Then later, they told me they will send someone to my room to help me with it, but it didn’t happen.
They also promised us a room with balcony but they gave us a room without balcony. When we requested for another room, they expected us to lug our own luggages downstairs, exchanged the access card, and lug it back up to the new room. Not that I’m being picky but I thought service could be improved if they sent someone up to bring us to the new room with the new card immediately.
Also, a translucent glass panel separates the room and the shower area, which makes it awkward when bathing. You can see the silhouette of the person in the shower, and when the glass is wet, you can see more things.
Review of Citadines
131-135 Bourke St, Melbourne VIC 3000, Australia
We moved to Citadines hotel for our last 3 days. Service and location were awesomely good. Citadines’ location is slightly better than City Tempo because it is located in the heart of Melbourne’s Central Business District, and it is very near the shopping precincts. It is just next to Collins Street, where you can find all the designer brands. You can easily catch the Melbourne Visitor Shuttle nearby. We had a kitchenette in our apartment, which comes with a cooker hob and hood, convection microwave oven, refrigerator, dishwasher, glassware, crockery, cutlery and utensils. There’s also an indoor heated lap pool. There’s a very happening club just beside Citadines but we didn’t take note of the name. It would have been so convenient to club, and just go back to the apartment upstairs.
To be continued…
Words and Photos by Chiobu.