Melbourne Holiday, HELP!!!

Hi Guys, Just wanting some help with a holiday I am hoping to go on.

In early dec I am planning(DH is yet to know LOL) a holiday to Melbourne. We are wanting to go to the werribee zoo, melb zoo, melb museum, aquariam, cbd to go to myer and also I would like to go shopping in a shopping centre where all the shops are in one place and I dont have to go walking the streets.

So firstly I need to sort out the best place to stay. I would prefer not to be in cbd. I have looked at a holiday package which includes staying at Punt Hill Stanton on St Kilda road. Is this a good area or a bad area. I will have 2 kids with me aswell and we will be using public transport so it all needs to be close.

Oh and how does your transport work. I was looking at a daily zones 1+2 thingy. Does that mean I can go anywhere? What ages do you have to pay for children? I have a 1 and 5 yr old.

What is a good shopping centre we could go to that has most shops?

All help would be muchly appreciated.

Love

St Kilda Rd is a main street out of the city... and has lots of offices. It would be handy as there are many trams that run along St kilda Road... It's not a 'bad' area. It is only 5 minutes out of the city.

If you were to stay on St Kilda Rd... I would recommend you go to Southland shopping centre as you could catch a tram as far as you can go... then a bus.

The other huge centre is Chadstone. (I think it is (or was) the biggest shopping centre in the southern hemisphere) From the city you could catch a train and go to Hughsdale station and either catch a bus.. or a 15 minute walk to the shopping centre. There would also be lots of buses to Chaddy (from various locations)... but I'm not a big public transport user.

Because Melbourne is so big... it is broken up into zones. I know they recently dropped one of the zones... so it may be just two zones now. You would only need a zone 1 ticket as that goes out a fair way. I'm not sure about kids... but I would guess you would have to pay child fare for both of them... but don't quote me on that ;)

Areas outside of the CBD that you could stay are: St Kilda (can be a bit dodgy... but very close to the beach & great entertainment area). South Yarra/Prahran (an expensive area), South Melbourne, Caulfield, Balaclava...

I would recommend the Carlton Crest on Queens rd or there are some great appartments in the CBD. Also Chadstone S/C used to run a bus from hotels it may be worth a look.

You could do most of your shopping in the cbd! Bourke street mall, Melbourne central etc have most shops you would find in a centre.

Check out the "metlink melbourne" website for fares etc relating to public transport.

St Kilda road is a perfect spot for transport :)

Thanks guys.

Jodie-Ok so St Kilda can be a bit iffy. The hotel is at 622 St Kilda rd. I looked at their website and it looks really nice. Chadstone, well I have no idea where that is but will definantly look it up. Thanks for the info.

Tiggerlinda-Thanks for the info will look up the bus service if I can. Goodluck with IVF, sending sticky vibes your way.

Danni-Thanks I have looked up the metlink site and it was really helpful. I dont have to pay for Eithan but do for Bella. I am so freaked out about trains though, I have never been on them before. Is it easy? Are there people who can help us out?


Love

Helen...

Stupid Melbourne.... St Kilda Road doesn't actually run through St Kilda.
So there is a suburb - St Kilda... and depending on what area it can be good or bad. Parts of St Kilda are like Kings Cross (prostitutes)... but other parts are the "rich & famous". Like there is a Novatel hotel right on the beach... that would be okay. But if you were to look at another hotel IN st Kilda - I would definately ask the people if it was a child friendly sort of place.

But St Kilda Road - that's between the CBD and the suburb St Kilda. Perfectly safe. No prostitutes. It's a huge main street. Like 8 car widths! St Kilda Road encompasses suburbs such as South Melbourne and "melbourne" (city). So it's not in the heart of the CBD... but just on the outskirts of it. There are a few highrise offices... but also lots of parks etc. There is the botanical gardens, and the Shrine of Rememberance. Not far from St Kilda Road is the Albert Park Lake (where they have the grand prix).
I would definately recommend St Kilda Road for accomodation if you've found a place there.


If you are on St Kilda road... you would just walk outside to the middle of the street... and wait by a tram stop. A tram will come along, and you can either pre-purchase tickets or take coins with you and purchase on the tram. You can ask the tram driver to let you know when you should get off... and he will make announcements over the speaker. Usually they are helpful. The trams all go to Flinders St Station (which is on St Kilda road)... and that is the main station that ALL trains depart from. So you can go anywhere in Melbourne from Flinders St station. People at the train station are usually helpful and there is always Tourist information Bureaus spotted around Melbourne - including that station.

There is also DFO - 'Direct Factory Outlets' at Southern Cross (used to be Spencer St) Station. They have shops such as Pumpkin Patch, Jacqui E, homewares shops that usually have discounted items.

Thanks Jodi you have been heaps of help. Now I just have to decide whether I want to catch a tram to get to everything or to stay in the cbd and walk everywhere.

Jooleshere-Thank-you so much I would definantly like to check out DFO, but I had not idea where it was until now.

Love

St Kilda sounds perfect for what you want. I think you will find there is plenty of shopping in the CBD. Punt Hill will be great. Get down Acland St is you can, very funky.

A zone one ticket is all you''ll need, I think you only pay for kids over 4, you can jump on and off trams, trains and buses on the one daily ticket. The transport staff can be really helpful for directions too.

Hi Helen P

As the others have said, St Kilda Road is in an excellent spot - close to city and there are lots of trams that will take you there. However, trams can be a nuisance with strollers as the old ones all have big steps to get into the tram. Now there are also lots of newer ones that are lower to the ground so not such a drama. If you're going to be taking the kids on your own, that's one thing to consider but if your DH will be with you then no big deal. There is lots of parkland close to St Kilda Road BUT not many food places after office hours. Not sure if you're planning on eating in or out.

St Kilda is also great but it gets v busy. It has a beach so very pretty but there are lots and lots of people around. Not sure how you feel about crowds. Don't worry about the prostitutes, they're not on the main streets anyway and hardly likely to hassle a woman with two kids!

Like someone else has already said, I'd recommend Melbourne Central in the city for shopping. It has a good range of shops and has a lot more character than most shopping centres. If you're staying close to the CBD, Chadstone and Southland will be way too far. DFO at the Southern Cross station is also good.