Cosmopolitan Melbourne is arguably Australia's most exciting urban adventure. Famed for its food, sport and obsession with artisanal coffee, it's a city that never stands still. The Central Business District (CBD) mixes Victorian architecture with the steely glint of a skyscraper skyline, carved up by tram lines and the Yarra River, making it a handsome place to wander and easy to travel around. You could try to catch an Aussie Rules match at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, or pay your respects to Australia's top artists at the National Gallery of Victoria — but many of the city's greatest delights are hidden down its skinny laneways and ornate arcades, where locals nurse flat whites at hole-in-the-wall cafes splashed with street art, or while away hours dipping in and out of small independent shops.
Climb a rickety staircase off Somerset Place to find Captains of Industry, an achingly hip cafe that also operates as a bespoke bootmaker, unisex barbershop and purveyor of grooming goods. Enjoy a coffee and smashed avocado on toast while watching the morning crowds from large windows overlooking Elizabeth Street, near Melbourne Central station.
Melbourne’s architecturally stunning arcades are a great way to traverse the city under cover while exploring boutique fashion outlets, chocolate shops and homeware stores. Start at Royal Arcade — one of the oldest in the country — where you can see the giant, medieval-style, mechanical Gog and Magog strike their clock on the hour. Cross into the Block Arcade to admire the opulent 19th-century glass canopy and mosaic flooring, then follow Centreway Arcade until you emerge for refreshment in the narrow, cafe-lined Degraves Street.
Ride the tram to Spring Street Grocer, opposite Parliament House. There you can gather a gourmet picnic of dips, salads, pasta and cheeses sourced from independent dairy farms across Victoria. Look for a concealed staircase that leads down into the cheese maturation cellar — the first of its kind in Australia. When you’re done browsing, enjoy your feast in the shade of the nearby Treasury Gardens.
The Koorie Heritage Trust at Federation Square is a bastion of Aboriginal history, culture and creativity. Their one-hour guided Birrarung Wilam (River Camp) walks by the Yarra River on weekdays offer insight into Melbourne’s past as an important meeting place for the Indigenous Kulin nation. After taking the tour, stick around to explore the crafts shop and rotating art exhibitions in the trust’s newly expanded headquarters, which are due to reopen in December across all three floors of Federation Square’s Yarra Building.
Stroll along Southbank until you reach the white arches of the Evan Walker Bridge. Huddled around the bridge’s southern
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New Year’s Eve can be an expensive affair if you plan on traveling—even, as it turns out, if you plan on doing a staycation stateside. In a recent study conducted by TravelMag.com, New Orleans was found to be the priciest city in the world to book a hotel room on New Year’s Eve.
Homes & Villas by Marriott Bonvoy recently relaunched its Curated Collections – hand-picked selections of incredible homes and destinations from around the world – to inspire travelers as they begin planning their 2024 journeys. For the nearly four out of 10 prospective travelers for leisure in the next 12 months who are still deciding where they want to travel 1 in 2024, according to a recent YouGov study (conducted on behalf of Marriott), Curated Collections will spark and satisfy wanderlust for travelers with their new collections.
Long-haul flights are generally considered to be those eight hours and over, while any that stretch past a grueling 16 hours are nicknamed “ultra long-haul.” The longest nonstop commercial flights currently available include New York to Singapore (18 hours and 50 minutes; 9,530 miles) and Perth, Australia, to London (17 hours and 45 minutes; 9,010 miles). Qantas Airways, Australia’s national airline, plans to operate two even longer direct flights in 2025: Sydney to London and Sydney to New York — routes that will take up to 20 hours.
An Aboriginal healer, dressed as a Jedi and wielding a glowing blue boomerang like a lightsaber, beckons to me. Inching my way along the shadowy corridor of Flinders Street Station’s third floor, I find twisted tree roots carved into haunting sculptures, ancient spirits cast in red neon lights, and an ochre termite mound rising from the centre of a cavernous ballroom. A woman’s mournful singing floats in the darkness.
A new piece of luggage is a great gift for the traveler in your life. You may not know where and when they will set off in 2024, but a new suitcase will certainly help them get there.
Alaska Airlines’ proposed $1.9 billion acquisition of Hawaiian Airlines, announced earlier this week, has the potential to alter the existing U.S. air travel landscape significantly. Whether that would prove to be for better or worse remains to be seen, but plenty of experts are already weighing in with predictions.
When shopping for travel and outdoor clothing, keep this golden rule in mind: An article of clothing, be it a shirt, pant, or jacket, must combine four important attributes to make it worthy of a spot in your suitcase or backpack: Versatility, packability, performance/function, and appearance.
After dropping visa requirements for Americans in 2019, Brazil will resume such for Americans, Australians and Canadians wishing to visit the country starting next month.
As part of the expanded partnership announced in September 2023, Air France-KLM and Etihad Airways customers now have access to more than 60 new routes beyond Abu Dhabi, Paris and Amsterdam.
With their endorsement, IOSCO called on 130 world securities regulators, which together regulate more than 95% of global financial markets, to incorporate the new standards into their regulatory frameworks.
Today, the Belizean Ministry of Tourism and Diaspora Relations is calling on COP28 to put tourism centre stage at the summit and has announced its own ambitious initiative to update its National Sustainable Tourism Master Plan. This process was carried out by a collaboration between the University of Belize and the University of Melbourne, with the primary objective of ensuring Belize remains on a path of sustainable growth. As a result, the updated National Sustainable Tourism Master Plan has prioritized the need to plan and develop within a future that demands climate resilience and has developed an adaptation strategy for the tourism sector.
“He’s in here, in the kitchen every night and he’s smiling. He’s so happy to be doing this,” explains one of the managers of Café Carmellini. He is chef Andrew Carmellini, well known around New York the past 15 years for his respected but more casual restaurants Locanda Verde, Lafayette, The Dutch, Carne Mare and Bar Primi. This restaurant, which opened November 1st in the new Fifth Avenue Hotel, marks his return to fine dining with reinterpretations of French and Italian classics and as his most personal restaurant is the first one that bears his name. It’s been packed since opening night and looking around the Gilded Age style dining room with its oversized bronze and seeded glass chandeliers suspended from double height ceilings, plush blue banquettes and sculpted trees in the middle of the floor, the chef isn’t the only one smiling.