Getting there & Getting around

Getting there

Most international tourists will arrive via Melbourne's Tullamarine airport which is is 22km (14mi) northwest of the city centre. There are a few ways of getting into the city from the airport but a taxi or the 24-hour Skybus are the most convenient modes. A second airport, Avalon Airport is southwest of the city; the Sunbus service meets all flights that arrive there.

Bus travel within Australia is fairly cheap but Australia is a big country and what you save in dollars you pay for in boredom, as journeys can be agonisingly long. Trains are more comfortable but the network is less extensive and they are more expensive. Of course, there's always the option of hiring a car and taking to the wide open road by hitting the (largely excellent) highways between cities.

Getting around

Melbourne's an easy city to navigate unless you need to be in the suburbs, which can get confusing. It's designed in the classic mould: the thoroughfares fan out like the spokes of a wheel from the central business district. Public transport consists of trams, trains and buses and tends to be efficient and useful - as long as your trip is along one of the spokes of the wheel. Public transport across suburbs can be a problem.