Discover Southbank Accommodation: Convenient Base For Central Melbourne Holiday
Melbourne is Australia’s second largest city, and is the capital of the state of Victoria. It is an important centre of commerce, sport, arts, entertainment and tourism. The original settlement of Melbourne was just north of the Yarra River, and is now the main commercial and business centre of the city. On the opposite bank of the river lies the area known as Southbank. The Southbank area was until recently an industrial area but since the 1990s has been transformed by an urban renewal project. Hotels located in Southbank are conveniently located for travellers wishing to experience the attractions of Melbourne city centre, and this article briefly examines some Melbourne Southbank accommodation options.
One particularly elegant Melbourne hotel is the Langham Hotel, located on the Southbank Promenade overlooking the Yarra river. The Langham is near to many al fresco cafes and restaurants, and many quality boutiques. It is also just a short distance from city centre tourist attractions such as Federation Square, the National Gallery of Victoria, the Arts Centre and the Crown Casino.
The Langham’s Melba restaurant (named after the Victoria born opera singer Dame Nellie Melba) offers guests a varied and interesting menu based on local ingredients from the state of Victoria, and sea food from the Tasman sea. The Langham also has extensive leisure facilities for the use of its guests. The outdoor swimming pool (heated) has views of Melbourne’s skyline. There is also a well equipped gymnasium, a health club which offers yoga and pilates classes, and a sauna and spa.
A budget option near to the Langham is found at 9 Riverside Quay. This is the 275 room, 4 star Travelodge Southbank Melbourne. Rooms here are air conditioned, with ensuite bathrooms. Rooms here all have a small kitchenette (microwave, tea/coffee facilities) and cable television.
Guests at Southbank accommodations are close by many of the sporting and cultural attractions of Melbourne’s city centre. ACMI (Australian Centre for the Moving Image) is found in Federation Square. ACMI’s mission is to exhibit, promote and preserve all types of moving images, from films to video games. The screen content exhibited by ACMI includes international productions as well as Australian and Victorian ones.
The ACMI facility at Federation Square is a state-of-the-art building containing the largest screen gallery in the world. ACMI hosts two multi-format cinemas, as well as hand-on zones with educational and interactive content. The large collections of film and other moving image material which are exhibited at ACMI include film posters and publicity shots, and 16mm and 35mm prints. There is no charge for entry to ACMI, but there may be charges for entry to special exhibitions and film showings. Details of special events can be found in the ACMI online calendar.
Melbourne’s Southbank district is also close to the Royal Botanic Gardens, which are widely recognized as the finest botanical gardens in Australia. These landscaped gardens cover an area of 38 hectares on the banks of the Yarra, just to the east of the Southbank district. They contain a mix of native Australian and non-native vegetation, including over 10,000 individual species. One native tree of historic interest is the “Separation Tree”, a 300 year old eucalyptus, under which Victoria was declared a separate colony.
The botanic gardens also contain a discovery area for children. The Ian Potter Foundation Children’s Garden is aimed at children of all ages and abilities.
Having resided his whole lifetime within the inner Melbourne suburbs John Theil has grown up with almost everything that is fundamentally Melbourne. John is a preferred blogger on lots of online forums and operates from his Melbourne Accommodation arranging posts for a range of publishers.