Australia, Melbourne

The city is famous for its crowd-pleasing events – from the Melbourne International Comedy Festival to the Melbourne International Flower and Garden Show, the Melbourne Fashion Festival and Spring Racing Carnival.

Melbourne loves its sport and every year plays host to international tournaments and grand prix events at world-class venues around the city. And in 2006 Melbourne will take its turn to host the Commonwealth Games, an event that is set to be the largest sporting and community event ever staged in the city.

With more than 3,000 restaurants, cafés and bars representing about 75 different ethnic cuisines, Melbourne is always at the forefront of food fashion. Head out in any direction for a meal and you will come across distinctive dining precincts and award-winning epicurean icons.

The wide Yarra River runs through the city, connecting parks and gardens with sports and entertainment venues and arriving at Port Phillip Bay where, at Station Pier, the Spirit of Tasmania berths between trips across Bass Strait.

Dining alfresco is popular at Southbank, where a diverse choice of restaurants fronts the Yarra. Cross the river to the bars and award-winning restaurants of the striking Federation Square, including Jacque Reymond’s Arintji.

Head to the central Chinatown precinct to Australia’s most awarded restaurant, Flower Drum, and the iconic Mask of China and Bamboo House. And Victoria Street in Richmond is the place for pho and all things Vietnamese.

Two Italian restaurants in the CBD are the venerable Grossi Florentino and Becco. Lebanese cuisine is the specialty of Greg Malouf’s MoMo, and Teague Ezard conjures original fare at adelphi. The NewQuay precinct at Docklands has outstanding new restaurants such as Live Bait.

On Fitzroy Street in St Kilda, Café Di Stasio is a haven for pasta lovers, while the Melbourne Wine Room serves fine food at the George Hotel. Around the corner in Acland Street, Circa’s classic food reflects the interests of its British chefs, hopeful diners wait to be retrieved from the bar by the friendly staff at the ever-popular Cicciolina, and Donovans offers Italian fare beside the beach.

Carlton’s Lygon Street area is famed for kerbside Italian dining, including Jimmy Watson’s and Brunetti. Vibrant Brunswick Street, Fitzroy, has the acclaimed Piraeus Blue, while Antipodes is a gem in the Greek precinct of Lonsdale Street. Alfresco eating at Williamstown, cafés in South Yarra and Prahran, and intriguing bars in city laneways make the options endless.

Melbourne is home to many markets, including the legendary Queen Victoria Market, an institution since 1878. Choose from fresh produce, seafood, jewellery, clothing and authentic Australian souvenirs.

The tradition of architecture and innovation continues to flourish with the recent renovation of the National Gallery of Victoria building, originally designed by Roy Grounds. The beautiful new park precinct of Birrarung Marr is a gateway to Federation Square, a stunning complex that has assumed its place as the 'heart' of the city and that houses restaurants, cafés, bars and shops, the Australian Centre for the Moving Image, and the Ian Potter Centre – National Gallery of Victoria: Australian Art.

Other new city precincts that are pushing ideas of leisure, community and building a more liveable city include the QV and GPO, sophisticated shopping and eating precincts on historic sites, the waterfront NewQuay precinct at Docklands, and the soon-to-be-completed Spencer Street station with its serpentine silver roof.

Melbourne has something for any budget or fashion inclination. For international couture, head to the 'Paris end' of Collins Street, Toorak and South Yarra or the boutiques at Crown Entertainment Complex. The outlets along Bridge Road draw bargain hunters, and the young and funky head to treasure trove retro clothes shops around Fitzroy, the hub of the student and art communities.

Melbourne CBD has recently undergone a renaissance and is no longer the domain of department and chain stores. Three exciting new shopping precincts have opened their doors to the discerning. Explore the renovated Melbourne Central, home to over 300 outlets offering a mix of leading Australian and international labels and cutting-edge street wear. QV is Melbourne's new inner city laneway shopping precinct featuring a diverse mix of high end fashion and lifestyle retailers, and the refurbished former GPO building in the heart of the city is a fashion, food and shopping precinct of serious sophistication. Covering an entire city block it houses more than 60 stores that span the spectrum of the Melbourne shopping experience.

For an undeniably Melbourne experience, explore historic arcades and hidden laneways where unique meets exotic and quirky. Small boutiques sell everything from fashion by Melbourne designers, to Russian dolls and hand-rolled lollipops.

First stop should be the prestigious National Gallery of Victoria - which houses works by famous Australian artists and European masters. It also has a fabulous collection of Asian and colonial Australian art, and is the best place in Victoria to see Aboriginal artefacts.

Other places well-worth visiting include the Centre for Contemporary Art in South Yarra, and the Makers Mark Gallery, which showcases jewellery and other design.

As far as performance art goes - you only have to look around at the number of performance artists in the streets to know there's a healthy scene.

Melbourne traditionally supports dance, and is home to the Australian Ballet, one of the world's leading traditional ballet ensembles. There's also an abundance of young, new, irreverent groups who are taking dance a step further.

The Victorian Arts Centre acts as Melbourne's premier performance art space, and features the Melbourne Theatre Company, the Australian Opera, and the Melbourne Symphony.

Elsewhere, the Playbox Theatre in South Melbourne is fiercely dedicated to the creation, interpretation and performance of Australian theatre, while several restaurants around town put on shows along with meals too.

Events you should try not to miss are the Melbourne Fringe Festival in October - featuring many top-ranking local and international acts - and the hilarious Melbourne International Comedy Festival, in April.

Melbourne is famous for its innovative event venues and is the only city in the world with five world-class sporting facilities on the fringe of its CBD. All are linked to a comprehensive public transport network. And if tickets are scarce, make your way to Federation Square in the city centre to catch all the action of major events on the live site big screen.

Melbourne is home to the Melbourne Cricket Ground, Melbourne Exhibition and Convention Centre, Telstra Dome, Albert Park Sports and Aquatic Centre, Rod Laver Arena, Vodafone Arena and the Grand Prix circuit at Albert Park.

Australian Open Tennis Championships

The international grand slam tennis season opens every January in Melbourne. See the world’s best players battle it out at the nation’s biggest sporting event, held at Melbourne Park. (January)

Australian International Airshow

The biggest and best in aviation soar across the skies of Avalon at this biennial event, which showcases classic aeroplanes and the most innovative aircraft from around the world. (February – biennial)

Foster’s Australian Formula One Grand Prix

See the chequered flags fly as the biggest names in international motor racing go through their paces at Albert Park. Join four days of high speed glitz and celebration. (March)

Melbourne International Comedy Festival

Have a laugh at one of the world’s biggest annual celebrations of humour. Feast on Australia’s funniest plus the finest international acts at over 200 shows in venues around the city. (March–April)

The Melbourne Food and Wine Festival

Melbourne is always at the forefront of food innovation. This three-week festival highlights Victoria’s quality produce and culinary talent, and includes the World’s Longest Lunch. (March–April)

Australian Football League Finals Series

In 1835 the first white settlers sailed up Port Phillip Bay, however it was not until the gold rush of the 1850s that Melbourne started to grow quickly. Those lucrative years and the ensuing land boom have left Victoria with an outstanding legacy of fine architecture, causing visitors to the region in the late nineteenth century to label the city as "marvellous Melbourne" and "the jewel of the Southern Hemisphere".

See many of the most famous buildings of that period along the Golden Mile Heritage Trail. The four-kilometre walk has brass markers describing points of interest, important buildings and other attractions so you can take a self-guided walk or if you prefer there are also guided tours available.

Among the highlights of the walk is the world heritage nominated Royal Exhibition Building, one of the world's largest and oldest exhibition pavilions, symbolising the great 19th century international exhibition movement.

The National Trust also owns and operates a number of outstanding and architecturally significant historic homes and museums. Among the best are Como house (a colonial mansion set in five acres of garden at Toorak) and Rippon Lea (the last of Australia’s great privately owned nineteenth century suburban estates).

Following the end of World War II immigration increased dramatically, with migrants and refugees arriving in large numbers, particularly from Greece, Italy, Yugoslavia, Poland and Turkey - these days Melbourne is home to more people of Greek descent than any other city in the world apart from Athens.

Subsequent waves of immigrants from Vietnam and Cambodia have brought elements of their own culture, architecture, cuisine, entertainment and festivals to the city.