"Melbourne" a Melbourne Travel Page by gmg61

The first thing you notice when you arrive in Melbourne are the big spaces; the second thing is the relaxed atmosphere, the lack of heavy traffic even during peak hours.
Melbourne is a very liveable city, incredibly vast: you can drive for hours and you are still in Melbourne! People who live there say that to own a car is a must in Melbourne, because of the great distances and because of the poor public transportation system. Well, regarding this second point I have some doubts: trains are reliable and trams travel often, the real pity is that the service stops at midnight also during weekends and that trains don't travel very often. But, honestly, I've seen cities with much worse public transportation systems!

Being such a big city, Melbourne has various sides, and many of them are attractive or fascinating. The CBD (Central Business District) is rather small, full of shops, banks and offices. On the other side of the Yarra River, a relatively new area has been built along the river bank. It's the "Southbank": bars, restaurants, a articraft market on Sunday, a nice river promenade with banks where to seat and enjoy the beauty of the area, fountains, pedestrian walks, etc. This path leads to the New Docklands area. A former Dock area, is now undergoing a massive refurbishment that will convert the whole area in a new exclusive residential district. Still some skyscrapers are finished and inhabited but a lot of works are still in progress.

On the opposite side, you walk under the St. Kilda Road Bridge and a new landscape is around you: botanical gardens along the Yarra, on the other bank the tennis stadium and Richmond (once was a sort of Greek colony, now it has changed). I think this is one of the biggest green areas in the real centre of Melbourne. If you walk for about 45 minutes you arrive to South Yarra, the road that leads to Toorak and to Chapel Street.

In Melbourne don’t miss the Victoria Market.
Also Saint Kilda is worth a visit, for its beach, it's Luna Park and the beautiful view on the bay.