Here is a sampling of the many tours available in Melbourne Australia. Explore the City and Surrounds, learn about and experience Aboriginal culture, foods and lifestyle, sample some fabulous Australian wines and find Melbourne’s secret spots.
Melbourne Private Tours
MPT has taken a new approach to its popular tour itineraries - the focus is now very much on experiencing, meeting, learning, tasting and indulging. The City Sights tour has been relaunched as two very different experiences. Melbourne After Dark focuses on the seductive side of the city, with visits to romantically lit landmarks, the Rialto Observation Deck for dramatic night views and Federation Square’s new rooftop jazz bar, Transit Lounge, for cocktails.
A Cultural Journey takes in the Aboriginal sights of the city as well as precincts like Lygon Street for Italian, Victoria Street for Vietnamese, Sydney Road for Middle Eastern, the Greek Precinct and Chinatown.
MPT have also refreshed their Mornington Peninsula and Daylesford tours, creating fantastic full-day and overnight itineraries that showcase the best the regions have to offer, such as historic homesteads, lovely gardens, rugged coastlines, thermal spas, food and wine.
Hidden Secrets Tours
Feel like a local on Hidden Secrets’ fantastic city tours, which help you uncover the unique and quirky attractions of Melbourne. Hidden Secrets Tours are led by in-the-know locals and focus on the alternative, unusual and cutting edge in design, fashion, art and cuisine. The Lanes and Arcades Tour has become legendary, with the three-hour amble taking you to more than 50 unique shops tucked away down Melbourne’s laneways.
Other tours include Gertrude’s Corner, which brings fashionable Gertrude St, Fitzroy, to life, and the Fashion Triangle Tour, which takes in the GPO, Melbourne Central and QV shopping precincts. The Art and Design Tour explores the creative elements of the city, from hidden art galleries to commissioned graffiti, mural art, and art installations in the laneways. For food lovers, the Progressive Dinners Tour introduces you to some of the city’s best chefs and sommeliers as you sample great dishes and wines.
New City Sommelier Tours
Melbourne is a city of discovery, and its food and wine scene is continually evolving. Hidden Secrets Tours harnesses that creative diversity, with scheduled and private half-day itineraries that reveal the seemingly hidden corners of Melbourne. New is the Hidden Secrets’ two and three-hour early evening City Sommelier Wine Tours, which provide an insight into the city’s great love of food and wine and the importance of a good sommelier. Wine tastings are included.
Coast to Country Touring
Coast to Country Touring offers all-inclusive, small-group tours of Victoria’s Great Southern Touring Route. New for 2007 are half and full-day tours of the Grampians and a Melbourne to Adelaide three-day tour that takes in the best of the Great Ocean Road, Grampians and Coonawarra wine region. All trips are geared towards letting visitors get close to nature and indulge in great food and wine. Tours are in luxury 4WD or 12-seater vehicles. The company is an Italian market specialist, able to provide Italian speaking driver/guide.
Australian Wine Tour Company
The Australian Wine Tour Company is a wine tour specialist providing expert guided tours of Victoria’s stunning wineries. Join the daily, small-group Yarra Valley Tour, which includes tastings at four wineries, a delicious lunch, afternoon tasting platter and a glass of bubbly. Or take an exclusive private tour for up to six people in a luxury vehicle to either the Yarra Valley or Mornington Peninsula. Both public and private tours are hosted by real wine enthusiasts who can educate you about Victoria’s cool climate varietals.
Victoria Winery Tours
Choose from four daily tours to Melbourne’s easily accessible wine regions, including the Yarra Valley, Macedon Ranges and Mornington Peninsula. The daily Wine and Wildlife Tour combines a visit to Healesville Sanctuary wildlife park, lunch at Fergusson’s Vineyard and a tour and tasting of Domaine Chandon. Two-day touring packages focussing on the best food and wine regions are also available. The small-group tours travel in a luxury, air-conditioned mini-bus and larger groups are also catered for.
Hidden Secrets Tours
Feel like a local on Hidden Secrets’ fantastic city tours, which help you uncover the unique and quirky attractions of Melbourne. Led by in-the-know locals the tours focus on the alternative, unusual and cutting edge in design, fashion, art and cuisine. The Lanes and Arcades Tour has become legendary, taking you to more than 50 unique shops tucked away down Melbourne’s laneways.
New tours include Gertrude’s Corner, which brings fashionable Gertrude Street to life, and the Fashion Triangle Tour, which takes in the GPO, Melbourne Central and QV shopping precincts. The Art and Design Tour explores the creative elements of the city, from hidden art galleries to commissioned graffiti, mural art and installations. For food lovers, the City Sommeliers Tour introduces you to some of the city’s best wine venues.
Koorie Heritage Trust
Several new Koorie Heritage Trust tours help visitors peel back the layers of modern Melbourne, including walks along the Yarra River, in the Flagstaff Gardens and at Melbourne Observation Deck. A new self-drive tour, Botanic Dreaming, lets visitors take in KHT, the Royal Botanic Gardens Cranbourne and an Indigenous massage at Peninsula Hot Springs.
Storytelling, didgeridoo lessons, boomerang painting, dance performances and Indigenous food can also be booked as add-ons to tours. At the Cultural Centre on King Street you can trace the history of the oldest living culture through exhibits, touch a possum-skin cloak, play clap sticks or hold a spear-thrower. www.koorieheritagetrust.com
Showing the location of Inner City Melbourne attractions, shopping areas and places to see - see the Map of Melbourne.
