If you are looking for a posh place to lay your hat during your Australian luxury vacation, Melbourne’s luxury hotels are always a good bet.

Since 1865, the Langham has been the staple in luxury hotels. You can rest assured that your every whim will be satisfied by the staff during your stay in Melbourne. Each room is elegant in design and perfect for the business traveler as your room is furnished with a large desk. Whether you are looking to book a classic suite or the presidential suite, your stay at Langham will be one you will never forget.

What’s more, the gourmet cuisine in Melbourne luxury hotels caters to even the most discriminating diner. Meals are prepared from only the freshest produce that Victoria’s farmers can grow. Fish from the Tasman Sea is just a taste of what will be served in the area’s best restaurant, Melba. This gourmet restaurant, which is named after famous opera performer Dame Nellie Melba, makes your dining experience come to life as the restaurant

Also at the Langham, there are on-site spa and fitness centers that will give you the kind of tranquility that you can only find at great establishments like this. The fitness center boasts top-of-the-line exercise equipment and weights. Just because you are on your Australian luxury vacation doesn’t mean that your fitness routine has to be postponed. After you work up a sweat in the fitness center, you can head to Chuan Spa for a total relaxation period to let those muscles get a break.

Chuan spa is a state-of-the-art facility in the Melbourne luxury hotel that will treat your mind, body and spirit to total luxury. You can pamper every part of your being at Chuan, where a balance of tranquility and exhilaration is the staff’s main purpose. Your Australian luxury vacation wouldn’t be complete without enjoying your time at Langham hotel in Melbourne.

When it comes to planning a luxury travel tour, Australia is certainly overflowing with options. Home to outstanding scenery and vistas that can’t be had anywhere else in the world, the country is perfect for seeking out every sort of terrain on Earth to explore from the seat of a luxuriantly comfortable vehicle. A favorite tour for fans of sea and coastline is the Sydney to Melbourne Coastal road trip, a week-long excursion traveling around the country’s southeastern quarter.

The seven-day journey takes travelers from some of Australia’s more famous cities to places that may not leap to the traveler’s mind and yet are worth the trip all the same. The week begins in Sydney, home of the famous opera house, leading on to Norwa and its famous local pub culture. Day two heads for Bateman’s Bay, home to riverside cruises and delicious oysters. Then it’s off to the aptly-named paradise of Eden, where visitors can engage in whale-watching as the evening draws to a close. The fourth day ends among the mountains of Bairnsdale, in the fresh high air. Wilson’s Promontory and Phillip Island lay between, offering unique insights into the local animal life. Finally, there’s the metropolis of Melbourne, with a bustling nightlife and friends to share the story of your travels with.

Along the way, of course, there are landmarks and experiences aplenty, but the iconic view and portion of the trip is without a doubt the Sea Cliff Bridge. Hugging the coastline south of Sydney, the bridge stands an impressive 665 feet in the air — at a full quarter-mile over the ocean below, it is a feat of human engineering that is awe-inspiring to see. After traveling this soaring bridge, many visitors take the time to have a picnic on the beaches and admire the path they just traversed, a metaphor for the rest of the exciting journey ahead.

All-inclusive vacations in Australia often focus around a particular theme for the journey. For example, one of the most popular all-inclusive packages is the concept of the food and wine tour — a city-by-city and region-to-region journey that allows visitors to sample the wide variety of Australian food and drink for themselves. Australia is an enormous country, with different climates, soil types and overall environments in its many locales. These differences create remarkable variations in the food available, and touring through this experience is a great way to get to know the country and its people.

When it comes to Australian wines, the Yarra Valley is the place to be. Home to more than 55 wineries and more than 100 vineyards, the valley encompasses everything from the small-scale micro winery to the massive, famous chateaus that serve the needs of high-class restaurants around the world.

Alternatively, there’s the practice of cellar-hopping in Barossa. Quite different from the classic winery experience, cellar visits are much more personal and low-key, allowing people to sample a number of surprising local secrets while getting to know the growers and bottlers on a one-on-one basis.

Climate has an important effect on wine, something that Coal River takes advantage of. Specializing in cool-climate wines, Coal River produces local varietals that are uniquely different to the offerings from the more traditional warm areas in Australia. Similarly, the cuisine of Tasmania is unique and different compared to the main island’s offerings, allowing clever seafood and south Pacific pairings sure to delight.

These are only three of the exciting destinations available to visitors eager to sample the food and drink of this beautiful country, and don’t even touch on the many ways to get to these places. There are cruise ships, ferryboats, luxury train rides and high-end road journeys that can be planned for an exciting food tour. Whatever way one chooses to travel and wherever one wishes to go for his next meal, Australia offers many choices to satisfy the body and spirit alike.

When considering the destination for your Australia honeymoon vacation, don’t forget the supremely romantic locale of Melbourne. Home to exquisite hotels, a thriving arts and culture scene, a beautifully scenic riverfront and situated amid some of Australia’s most beautiful wine country, Melbourne is an outstanding choice for a romantic honeymoon getaway. Just three days in the Melbourne area will provide delights and adventures that you’ll be talking about for a lifetime.

For the first day, there’s the city itself, full of activities to spark whatever interests you. Consider the Queen Victoria Market, where you can find any number of gifts or items to commemorate your visit. There’s the arthaus scene amid the Laneway area, offering you the choice between artistic galleries showcasing exciting new styles or live jazz performances to share a drink over. In the evening, there’s all manner of food ranging from local specialties to expatriate diners and cafés to choose from, ensuring that you won’t go hungry for want of quantity or variety.

On day two, you should continue your exploration of the city, moving to the riverside areas and the beaches. There are a number of cultural enclaves in Melbourne, showing it off as one of the truly multicultural cities of the world. Or if sun and fun are more your speed, there’s a spectacular surfing and sunbathing culture down at St. Kilda Beach. There’s always room for newcomers to have a go at any kind of surfing, and it makes for great picture opportunities when building those critical honeymoon memories. In the evening, consider seeing a ballet or artistic demonstration at the Arts Centre to round out the day’s events.

A good honeymoon isn’t complete without a visit to Melbourne’s beautiful wine country, so for your third day consider hiring a car to head out and visit the Mornington Peninsula. Vineyards and olive groves alike abound, and are replete with caretakers eager to show you the finest of their product as you tour the gorgeous countryside and relax before preparing for the return trip.

So whatever your fancy, Melbourne has an attraction for you. As destinations go, there are few places in the world as exciting as Australia, and Melbourne promises to deliver a romantic time for couples of any inclination.

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Melbourne Skyline with Yarra River

Much of the real fun of an Australia package vacation lies in experiencing the many elements the culture has to offer, and there are few events more quintessentially cultural than Melbourne’s annual International Arts festival. This year’s festival, scheduled for October 8 through October 23, is set to be a multimedia experience encompassing lightshows, musical compositions, science and emotion, and will be sure to leave no heart unmoved.

There is no way to list all of the events, because there are literally dozens of performances scheduled for the festival. Pieter De Bussyer and Jacob Wren will be conducting a performance and lecture combination discussing the role of optimism in an ever more difficult world. Taryn Simon will give a multimedia tour of places that the public rarely gets to see, so guests of the festival can get a glimpse of what goes on behind the scenes of the everyday. Opera group Hotel Pro Forma will engage a piece called Tomorrow, in a Year that takes a look at the influence science and evolution have had on the world we live in. If there is a single theme running through the whole event, it is the complexity of life and the power of the human experience, a motif sure to elevate the spirit.

A vacation package set in Melbourne around the festival of course requires first class accommodations, and Melbourne can deliver with pride. There are numerous high class, luxurious hotels in the city, many within walking or short transit distance of the festival’s grounds. The festival homepage also lists a number of dining establishments ranging from the excitement of low-cost pubs, to the more intimate and sumptuous extravagance of high dining. Foods and wines from all over the world, particularly the legendary local wines and cuisine are all at hand for the taking, meaning guests will neither go hungry or without delight as they take in all that Melbourne’s musical legends have to offer.

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When it comes to Luxury travel vacations, a great deal of focus is put on planning how to spend the day — as it should be. However, one must not discount the possibilities of a city’s wonderful nightlife as part of a rich opportunity to enjoy a good vacation. Melbourne, in particular, has a reputation as a spectacular place to be after dark, with food, fun and festivity around every corner for the discerning traveling cadre.

This is the kind of tour that thrives on having an experienced local guide to show you all the ins and outs of a proper Melbourne evening. A good guide will always direct travelers to the impressive Eureka Skydeck 88. This is an experience that seems simple enough at first, but is truly a wonder to behold. Stepping into a glass cube suspended nearly 900 feet above the city, with an unobstructed view of the entire cityscape below and before you, lit up in the night is a wonder to behold.

The evening also is a time to engage in fine dining and the sampling of Australia’s justifiably famous wine varieties. For those eager to enjoy the nighttime atmosphere in the open, sidewalk dining is a common practice in Little Italy. Melbourne is home to one of the South Pacific’s oldest Italian immigrant populations, which manages to both honor the traditional foods of Italy while putting a local spin on things with native ingredients and drinks.

After dinner, parties and cocktails await in Federation Square and Southbank Promenade. These locales offer a number of clubs and social halls, with entertainment to suit every stripe. Whether you’re looking for quiet drinks in a comfortable atmosphere or a bit of dancing and cutting loose with the more energetic set, there is something for everyone.

Melbourne arguably is one of the best nightlife cities in Australia, and a good vacation should include at least one hedonistic night out on the town in this wonderful place.

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