What is Melbourne like?

Nothing

[quote] I guess they don't shoot each other to death in the streets

Go to a gay bar and watch drag like every fucking gay bar on the planet.

I am curious too. Would love to go someday.

They got rid of guns and don't do that anymore r2

Now they use other weapons, R5.

[quote]The city is repeatedly voted one of the best places to live in the world.

Not if you asked this slave, it isn't!

"I guess they don't shoot each other to death in the streets"

I'm 68, born and raised in Chicago and no one has shot me yet 😏

People like to shit on it, but I liked it when I visited. Sydney was flashier, but Melbourne seemed more livable to me and had more of a real city vibe and better arts scene.

In Melbourne, all seems to breathe freedom and peace and to make one forget the world and its sad turmoils.

Visit during the running of the Australian Open. It's a beautifully run tournament, and you'll have a great time. Afterwards head off to vineyards and old gold mining towns. I just love it all.

Great bars, food and shopping but EXPENSIVE AF.

The number one thing to see is the Royal Exhibition Building. It’s stepping back in time to the turn of the century period of world fairs.

Melbourne is the Syndney what Philadelphia or Boston are to NYC.

Oh, and racism, especially against Asians, is so bad as to make Texas look like a wellspring of acceptance.

It's no more expensive than any other Australian city, and the $AUD is only 65 cents in the $US at the moment.

If you're American and you want to know why Australians are always going on about coffee, Melbourne is the place to visit. In a recent sitcom, a food outlet said they didn't sell barista coffee and the main character replied, "This is Melbourne. Is that even legal?" And yes, a ton of good food, both in the CBD and in the immediate surrounds. (Bowery to Williamsburg cafe and Betty's Burgers sell American-style food in the middle of the city if you want a step up from McDonalds.)

There has been real planning in Melbourne's development as a city, whereas in Sydney the authorities have been largely lazy, allowing the Opera House and the spectacular scenery to do all the work for them and seriously neglecting the public transport system. As R11 said, Melbourne does events extremely well, and it always has some going on. In addition to sport, which it does very well (the whole city lives for AFL football in the winter), there are, among other things, Food and Wine Week, Fashion Week, Open House architecture week, the annual winter blockbuster international exhibition at the Gallery, a great winter light show in the Botanic Gardens, a spring Garden Show, and a big community Carols by Candlelight on Christmas Eve. These things occur every year at the same time, so the city always has something major going on. Unless you live a long way out of the city, the public transport is terrific (trains, trams and buses). There is even a very efficient express coach service between the airport and the city.

The CBD has a lot of street art, including some (intentionally) very amusing sculptures, and designated streets which are constantly being redecorated with new street art. Additionally, they have created mini-villages within the suburbs out to about 10km from the city, each of which has a defined character. Some are funky and full of street art and hidden-door wine bars, some are all light-filled cafes and crafty boutiques, some are for upmarket fashion and fine dining, some revolve round a farmer's market, etc.

I don't live there, but I've been there dozens of times over the years and it's getting better all the time.

Actually....Melbourne and Sydney are now the same size - roughly 5 million each.

I liked Melbourne very much. Extremely strong Asian influence as you can imagine (sushi and ramen shops on every block). Very much a beach town vibe. The people are lovely and very chill. Not pricey at all. Had some great food.

What's so great about Melbourne's food? Do you have good bakery's?

Is it better than a Michelin star Parisian restaurant.

It's no Alice Springs.

Watched the Real Housewives of Melbourne. City looks liveable and beautiful. The accents can peel paint off the walls.

[quote]What's so great about Melbourne's food? Do you have good bakery's?

Didn't really get to experience fine dining for the day I was there. Lots of good cheap eats on the street.

I can't stand the accent. Imagine that during sex.

Best dick in all of Australia. Big, thick and uncut.

R17, it has several fine dining restaurants, including the one repeatedy voted Australia's best (Attica), which has made the top 20 of the World's 50 Best a few times. But also heaps of cafes with inexpensive but interesting food: far more variety and quality in the CBD than Sydney has at this level.

Australia doesn't do bakeries in the way France does, but Lune Croissanterie in Melbourne is supposed to be amazing -- I wouldn't know because every time I've been there the queue outside has been more than a block long, which is more than a croissant is worth to me. NYT said they were perhaps the world's best. As you can see from their blurb, they certainly carry on about it like French people.

Quite impressed with itself, with very cliquey, provincial gays. At least they smile occasionally in Sydney.

Provincial? Provincial? It's not filled with bogans, mate.

Check out Brunswick Street, Fitzroy for food, fashion and just a great atmosphere. The nearby area named Brunswick is great, too.

A friend's son lives in Melbourne. He's in his early 30s and doesn't even know how to drive a car, just uses public transport and Ubers to get around.

The transit system is...odd. Trams are free in the center part of the city, and you have to have a ticket if you travel out of the center or you can get fined. And I couldn't find a damn ticket vendor anywhere. Fortunately pretty walkable.

R27, they are moving towards allowing you to use your credit card/phone to pay for trips, but at the moment they have a similar system to Sydney: you can't buy a single ticket. You have to buy a MyKi card and load some money on it, then that works for all public transport. Vending machines for cards and top-ups are at most major city stops, and they are available from numerous store chains. Any hotel, no matter how ratty, would be able to direct you to the nearest one, or sell you a card themselves.

It wasn't intentional to have trams free in one zone and not others. There is a free City Circle tram for tourists which tells them where to get off to see the key sites. Ordinary Melburnians were crowding into it to get round the CBD, so they ended up making all city trams free.

What is quintessential Australian food? What is considered an Australian dìsh? Also have I have zero interest in ever visiting any city in that racist country

Then no Australian food for you!

R17, what does the bakery possess?

[quote] Visit during the running of the Australian Open. It's a beautifully run tournament, and you'll have a great time

It’s the happy slam!

[quote]What is quintessential Australian food? What is considered an Australian dìsh?

Shrimp on the barbie?

Keeping him out was a great start.

You sound very sophisticated and well-informed, R29.

[quote] What is quintessential Australian food? What is considered an Australian dìsh?

Kangaroo fondue

Vegemite sandwich

Hilarious!

Is Rebel Wilson the biggest Australian star?

Melbourne these days is like Little Beijing.

Yes, R39, much more famous than Cate Blanchett, Hugh Jackman, Nicole Kidman, Margot Robbie, Chris Hemsworth, Liam Hemsworth etc etc…

Like Vancouver? Are the home prices soaring because of rich foreign buyers buying up property they don't live in?

Very much so R42

R40 is a lunatic.

Ask the fucking queen

Like London but with less people and not as dynamic. Cold, wet winters like London, but summers are dry and hot with winds blowing in from the desert.

Fewer!

Hi, Nancy at R47. I think we have the same trigger!

R45 I am asking out of genuine ignorance. Is this the real trans housewives of Melbourne? "The testosterone levels need to come down?" Very convincing women if they are. Either way had me wondering. No offense intended.

Not R45, R49 but I am pretty sure that they are vaginaed women, or whatever the correct term is. Gina Liano is as close as you can get to being trans or drag but that’s part of her schtick- she’s a barrister and doesn’t tone anything down in court, either verbally or hair- and makeup-wise.

[quote]The City of Melbourne has severed ties with its sister city St Petersburg in protest against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

[quote]The council unanimously moved to terminate the 34-year relationship on Tuesday night following calls from the Ukrainian community.