WHAT TO DO IN MELBOURNE WITH THE KIDS

It is entirely possible to spend just a few days in Melbourne with your kids to get a real flavour of the city. It doesn’t feel that different to when I lived here years ago – although a lot of the older style weatherboard houses with wrought iron fronts have been knocked down and replaced by incredibly modern style houses. They look good though – the old and new mixed together.

We’ve done loads whilst we’ve been here. But if you need a few tips, then here are some suggestions:-

Most importantly, you can get good coffee just about anywhere. All the cafes have great cakes and coffee. The Botanical Hotel does particularly good cakes and you can stop here before heading off across the road to the Botanical Gardens.

Melbourne Zoo is great, as is Melbourne Old Gaol where you get to learn all about Ned Kelly. Healesville Sanctuary is fantastic, but quite far out of the city.

We spent a lot of time walking along the seafront around St Kilda. Here there is the Stokehouse Restaurant which is fantastic for lunch or dinner (you need to book) and there are lots of great little cafes. We had breakfast one morning in Brighton not far from the beach in a lovely, very simple small cafe called “The Little Ox” – bit out of the way but look at what we got to eat:-

Chapel Street is great for shopping and people watching and eating. The Jam Factory has a great cinema complex and Prahran has a good market. Armadale High Street has lovely boutiques for clothes and Chadstone shopping centre is a little mini Westfields with all the top labels.

Obviously the Neighbours tour is worth doing if you have any major fans in your midst. The Arts Centre always has a lot on that you should check out as does the National Gallery. There’s a Comedy Festival on at the moment, but again, generally lots of music and theatre going on. You could maybe travel by tram too.

If anybody else has any other suggestions, feel free to add a comment. All helps to make a plan. If you want any more information on the zoo, the Botanical Gardens or The Neighbours tour, I have written about them all in some of the last few posts, so you’ll just have to scroll down a bit.