Melbourne hotels, you’re on notice. This new stay is literally setting the standard.
The StandardX, Melbourne is nestled in the heart of Fitzroy: a vibrant suburb bubbling with live music, street art and cafes that’ll sell you an $8 latte.
The cultural pulse is high here and the hotel’s interior, designed by firm Hecker Guthrie, reflects that. The revolving doors are bold, the ceilings are lofty, the columns are wrapped in macrame, the furniture is antique, and that’s before you’ve even checked into your room.
Whether you’re relaxing in the Cozy King or you’ve hit the Suite Spot, your senses are treated to an aesthetically pleasing colour palette, a focally placed bed you could easily get 10 hours in, a killer view of the city skyline and artwork spread across the walls by local talent.
That’s already gold standard kinda stuff, but with the addition of all-day Thai restaurant BANG, retail store The Box for all your lifestyle needs and luxe drinking spot The Roof (try and guess where it’s located), the hotel goes from above-par to off-the-charts.
Led by Executive Chef Justin Dingle-Garciyya, BANG bursts onto the culinary scene with a menu of dishes made from traditional recipes and locally sourced ingredients to bring you and your tastebuds some hibachi pork and octopus skewers, blue swimmer crab donuts and slow-cooked Wagyu beef short ribs.
The Roof is reserved exclusively for hotel guests. You’ll find all the regulars on the menu plus a few buzzworthy cocktails inspired by the hotel’s energetic surroundings.
Up there with the likes of Vivid in Sydney and Melbourne’s Lightscape, Illuminate isn’t just a snack for the senses, it’s a whole damn feast. From the colourful lights and interactive displays littered along North Terrace to the meticulously designed multi-sensory exhibits dotted around the city’s CBD, this is one innovative spectacle you’ll want to stay out late for.
Illuminate Adelaide will warm you up and ignite your imagination; perfect for solo adventurers and couples wanting to spice up date night.
This weekend is your last chance to see the lights – skip the research and read on for our top 5:
The whole installation gives off major tribal council vibes, so much so that you’ll probably be looking around for Jeff Probst before you’ve even walked through the entrance’s flaming archways. You won’t find him, but you will find around 7,000 giant handcrafted fire pots scattered throughout the Adelaide Botanic Gardens.
They’re everywhere; between the trees, in the middle of lakes, lighting up walkways and coming out of fountains. You can’t wander to one fiery sculpture without spotting several others, encouraging the imagination to run wild with thoughts of celebratory sacrifices and cult initiations – only aided by the ritualistic soundtrack reverberating through the park.
Once the sun sets, these pots are lit up by a team wearing top hats, and while they outnumber humans 456 to 1 (big guesstimation), it only takes around 10 minutes. And they never seem to go out, even in windy or wet conditions. Utter magic.
If you’re looking to get more bang for your buck, do it at City Lights. One, because it’s free, and two, because it’s so freaking cool. Gathering a collection of works by both local and international artists and spreading them into some of Adelaide’s most iconic institutions and in places you’d never think to look, City Lights is full of interactive surprises and hilarious projections.
Like the AI-generated sing-along you’ll find on the Art Gallery of South Australia’s exterior. Taking faces from portraits found inside the Reimagining the Renaissance exhibit and turning them into a choir who sing pop hits and Aussie favourites, this projection makes living in 1599 look fun. And they didn’t even have proper sewerage systems back then.
Then there’s a set of swings that emit a musical sound whenever someone launches themselves into the air on them. If your mates all get on a swing at the same time, it creates the perfect harmony, like some sort of giant xylophone. Each swing also has a colour so that the whole installation looks like the emotions from Inside Out. Who wants to be Sadness?
The most beautiful garden you’ve ever seen goes digital at EDEN.
Spanning 150 square metres of LED screens, a garden comes to life at your fingertips and takes you on a journey of growth, curiosity and movement. Watch as the seed you plant gets bigger, transforming into a lush landscape full of colourful flowers, buzzing insects and trickling water.
Move things around, raise plants from the ground and spread light through the garden as everything blooms around you – think pandora on steroids. Perfectly blending the beauty of nature with the creativity of technology, this interactive experience is one you don’t want to miss.
Step into the future at Live @ The Lab where light and sound smash into each other in a series of immersive musical events. Technology, experimentation and a commanding performance from a curated selection of eccentric local and national talents all roll into one in what is guaranteed to be a massive, mind-blowing experience.
But make no mistake, this isn’t the exhibit for a little dignified conversation. The whole time you’re there you’ll be fighting to hear your own thoughts let alone make out what your partner’s trying to say next to you.
Instead of talking about the weather, immerse yourself in the hypnotic rhythm, movement and sound coming from the performer, while also paying attention to the powerful visuals coming out of 50sqm of LED screens. If acid was an arts exhibit, it would be this one.
Luckily, the masterminds behind Illuminate Adelaide figured you would be and created a pop-up village of food trucks, cocktail gardens and live entertainment for you to enjoy pre and post festival activities.
Tuck into a German currywurst sausage from Batlic Fine Foods or smash a chilli cheeseburger from Gang Gang before finishing off with something a little sweeter, some good ol’ hot cinnamon doughnuts from Donut Diner. In need of a refreshment? Head over to Cocktail Bar for a gin & tonic from 23rd Street Distillery or quench your thirst with a beer from Bowden Brewing.
Once all that food and drink is sloshing around your stomach, dance it out to the beats from local DJs including Late Night Lenny and Research Project. Winter blues cured.
According to a new study conducted by luxury hotel MACq 01, the majority of Australians are in their ‘don’t get enough sleep’ era. And with bills to worry about, new episodes of your favourite Netflix series to watch, snoring partners and keeping tabs on Taylor Swift’s whereabouts, it’s little wonder.
Our favourite takeaways from the survey, conducted by Tasmanian luxury hotel MACq 01, include the fact that one in ten people have been kept awake because their pet sleeps in their bed, 8% of people have fallen asleep on the toilet, 4% have fallen asleep on a stranger’s shoulder, 7% have had a kip in a nightclub or pub and 5% have nodded off during sex. Wow.
MACq 01 has come up with a solution, or at least, an incentive. They care about your sleep, and the quality of it, just as much as your Apple watch does. For the next couple of months, this Hobart stay is offering travellers the chance to cut $100 off their bill for every hour of sleep they get over 6 hours. Meaning, 6 hours of sleep is the starting line, and 9 sweet, glorious hours is the finish line. The official holding the gun? A sleep analyser.
Yep, this Slumber Suite program allows you to not only get a decent, never-really-heard-of/swear-its-a-unicorn amount of sleep but to also bag your night for free. And the room does most of the heavy lifting.
The Slumber Suite is a carefully curated waterside room with scientifically backed lighting and temperature control for optimal sleepiness, a drowsy-generating bathroom set-up, a perfectly weighted blanket, a pillow menu and specially chosen room scents. If you can’t get 9 hours here, your brain hates you. Or you’re a robot.
There’s even a sleepy food and drink menu, so you can hit up room service before settling down for a marathon snooze-fest. The minimum stay is two nights, but you’ll enjoy it so much, you might never want to leave.
Forget R & R, Hoi An’s newest river retreat will have you feeling on top of the world, or at least, on top of the Thu Bon River. But that’s not what makes this place unique.
Every villa has its own private pool. As in, you don’t have to share the salt water with anyone else; not with the solo traveller from suite 29 or the OTT honeymooning couple that keep macking on in the welcome lounge.
If that wasn’t enough to get you booking a one-way ticket to Vietnam, the resort also has a saltwater swimming pool with 180-degree views of the Thu Bon River. It has a waterfall, several jets and a dedicated foot reflexology space. Talk about wiping out the competition with a single amenity.
Once your fingertips are all nice and crinkly, drag yourself out of the pool(s) to experience Namia River Retreat’s wellness therapies or take part in one of their traditional activities. From herbal hammams and riverboat dinner cruises to lantern lighting ceremonies and silent meditation walks, this place wants you to feel culturally connected, spiritually healed and deliriously happy. Mission accomplished.
There’s only one catch: you’ll have to wait ‘til December for its grand opening. On a positive note, that’s just enough time to figure out how to tell your boss you’re taking an extended break over Christmas.
This place first opened its doors in 1880 (that’s like, the year your grandfather’s grandfather was born). It was a boys-only school back then and now it’s a part of a collection of boutique apartments.
But The Rox is a tale of two halves.
Two renovated apartments sit in the original building. Yes, the wooden desks and blackboards are long gone, but the authentic sandstone, brickwork and timber floorboards remain. Along with all the amenities you’ve come to expect from accommodation in this decade—think open plan living, fully functioning kitchen and walk-in showers.
Two newer, more modern, apartments sit in the recently developed construction next door. They might not have the same history behind them, but one of them is a penthouse, so, enough said really.
But the ‘cool’ doesn’t stop there.
These four residences are in Midtown, one of Hobart’s trendiest neighbourhoods. Café-hop and eclectic-shop during the day, before heading back to enjoy dinner at your pick of the city’s most coveted hotspots: Omotenashi or Institut Polaire. One’s in-house and the other promises skip-the-line access just because you stay at The Rox.
And if you want somewhere to go after hours, there’s plenty of late-night hangouts to choose from. All within walking distance. It’s a yes from us.
From defrosting your car’s windshield in the morning to cranking the heater 24/7 (in this economy?!), winters are the worst. But don’t get angry at the drizzly weather and your skyrocketing electricity bill, get even.
Introducing Kathmandu’s newest winter-withering creation, the Any Time Down Vest.
Gone are the days of layering clothes ‘til you look like the Michelin Man or Joey in that Friends episode (you know, the one where he puts on every single piece of clothing he owns).
The Any Time Down Vest is specifically designed for fresh mornings (and fresher evenings) thanks to its 600-fill power down construction. In normal people terms that means it’s toasty, lightweight and durable. A.k.a perfect for your various adventures during the day and getting up to mischief at night – did someone say, ‘let’s go to the pub?’
It also has pockets! Two of them! For your hands! Throw out your gloves!
You don’t even have to worry about coming last in the style stakes because the vest has a cool diamond-quilted design (it’s giving wardrobe staple status) and comes in colours inspired by the wilderness in New Zealand.
If the vest’s not your thing, the same style comes in a hooded parka version and a short jacket version (for women only).
Moon Bay, Slovenia at number three. Stokes Bay Beach, Australia at number two. And coming in at number one—inserts drum roll—is Piha Beach, New Zealand.
An unlikely, but not unworthy, first placer on Enjoy Travel’s Best Beaches in the World list for 2024, Piha Beach boasts sparkling black sand, whipped white waves and the impressively shaped Lion Rock. Which may or may not look like an actual lion (it doesn’t).
While the water might entice you with its gorgeous blue colour and perfect clarity, don’t be fooled. This beach has many charms, but being swimmable isn’t one of them. Read: there’s no early-morning recovery sessions or late-night skinny dips happening here. The waves are formidably rough (sadness) and the currents are strong, like Dwayne Johnson strong, so swimming without the supervision of a lifeguard is dangerous.
But despite the conditions, it’s an epic spot to surf. It’s also a pretty good-looking one, thanks to the rugged cliffs at either end of the beach. Settling down for a picnic on the sand or abseiling down the Piha Canyon are popular ways to spend time here, along with surf fishing and taking surf lessons.
You might even see some blue penguins if you’re there after the sun goes down. Yes, Piha Beach gets to have the world’s smallest penguin species and be crowned the world’s best beach. Some beaches just have it all.
If you’ve got enough sand in your shoes (and in other places to last you a lifetime), you can wander the streets of the small coastal village behind the beach or go bushwalking through the surrounding wilderness to make your visit a full-day thing.
It rises high in the sky, just as I remember it. In fact, most Victorians would recognise it’s façade. The blue stone competes with the blue sky, and dominates. My husband and I find our way to the reception of The Interlude Hotel. We are going to enjoy a night in the plush surrounds of this unique, amazing accommodation. You might know it by its other name… Pentridge Prison.
My anticipation is a mixture of history (both mine and the building’s) and the reinvention of a space. Have they managed to incorporate luxury into something which, in its pure identity, was the antithesis?
This place closed as a working prison in 1995. Unlike many who I hope will go to enjoy this unique experience, I liken it to an old slipper finally found and slipped on. I called the prison system home most of my life. Dad was a prison officer, and so my family lived inside prison grounds between 1956 to 1980. Prisons that were and still are dotted around Victoria. He was stationed at Pentridge in the 1960’s and then returned in the 1980’s as Governor of the now infamous Jika Jika precinct.
My memories are very clear of the building in the 1960’s, including the Ronald Ryan period. The building itself impressive. Dad, as handsome as ever, would come out at the end of his shift as he started it. Spotless, full uniform, silver braid on cap and silver buttons. Shining symbols of seniority. I understand he was considered hard but fair.
I ponder on the name they chose for this Hotel; its definition means “a space in time”. Once upon a time this definition spelt misery, cruelty and despair for many.
We enter the building from the side where H division once stood. When we arrive we are greeted with a glass of champagne (not sure Ned Kelly got this when he arrived) and are ushered to a casual seating area now occupying what was B Division. An extraordinary indoor pool glistens below us within the original spaces (not sure Chopper ever had a dip in this).
Our room for the night is made up of three combined cells, retaining many of the original features. Bars on the windows and the three heavy iron doors reminds us of where we are. The luxurious bedding and beautiful amenities, however, transforms this into an indulgent area. A complete metamorphosis. Yes, the bluestone adds a moody reflection. I look up to the windows They are the same ones where thousands of prisoners would have looked out to the blue sky of the free world, their only luxury.
The other areas of B division, especially the wine bar, are so cleverly incorporated into the cells. It provides an intimate area for a drink or a unique catchup for groups sanctioned off amongst the bluestones.
History isn’t ignored here. It is a reminder of our very origins as a country, founded on the very premise of what this building stood for…punishment. It is one of the few remaining examples of the “panopticon” style of a disciplinary penal concept. There are only eight left in the world. Designed to separate and be always seen by warders.
These buildings are difficult places to re-invent. Both costly and tricky to entice the greater public to embrace a space where there was so much misery and despair. Prisons are always going to be a contested conversation. Everyone is entitled to their own personal thoughts. These prisons are dotted around the country. Some of course still working prisons and others left standing as sentinel to a harsher time lost.
The Interlude did not disappoint. Staying true to its name, it is a beautiful space that offers guests respite. A new ‘system’ offering connection and peace instead of separation and silence. This is the biggest change of all.
Hate hibernating in Winter? Got some spare annual leave? Feeling far too close to a full-on burnout? Sounds like you need to swap your day job for an Odd Job.
We don’t mean cleaning out gutters, pulling out weeds or replacing tiles in the bathroom that have been cracked for longer than you care to admit.
This winter Tourism Tasmania is offering Aussies the chance to step away from the desk in favour of doing something a little more hands-on.
And by hands-on, we mean donning a pair of waders and venturing out into Great Oyster Bay as an Oyster Organiser (apparently a thing). Or keeping temperatures warm and toasty as a Sauna Stoker (also, apparently a thing). Or Truffle Snuffling, which sounds more like a creature from The Fantastic Beats franchise than an actual job. And don’t get us started on the role of Wombat Walker, whose sole responsibility is to take them on a morning waddle.
If anything’s for certain it’s that someone in the Tassie Tourism office clearly froths alliteration. But all jokes aside, you don’t have to hibernate in front of the telly ‘til September.
Replace the daily grind for one or two days of volunteering for a local business and reconnect with nature, the community and your own sense of enjoyment; something a 9 to 5 job inevitably sucks out of us. Too dark?
As if all that wasn’t convincing enough, successful applicants also receive a selection of fine Tasmanian produce or goods, specially picked out by their Odd Job host as a ‘you did such a good job organising oysters/stoking saunas/snuffling for truffles/walking wombats’ present. Honestly, sign us up.
Time to get your paddle out. Not that kind of paddle, we’re talking about a beer paddle. Specifically, one at the Great Australian Beer SpecTAPular. A much-loved fixtured for ale enthusiasts since 2011, it is one of the best ways to enjoy the craft beer you love and discover some new favourites. With about 120 ish unique beers, you won’t be able to get through all over them (don’t take that as a challenge – it won’t end well) but keep an eye out for Banana Blueberry Pancake Smoothie beer, Sushi Beer, and possibly one for Eminem fans – Spaghetti Beer.
The world’s oldest brewery, Weihenstephan, will be out in Australia joining in on the fun and showcasing why their brewery has been at the top of the beer game for over 1,000 years. You can even enter a competition while there that could see you winning a trip to Weihenstephan, Germany to check out one of the most renowned beer festivals.
It’s not just beer that you can enjoy at GABS, there’s also cocktails, wine, whiskey and plenty of food bars at the three locations. With all this and over 500 beer taps under one roof, it’s no wonder that GABS is globally acclaimed as one of the best beer festivals in the world.
You might even be able to take part in a new World Record attempt in Melbourne with Stomping Ground Brewery looking to have the most amount of people in a beer tasting. Barcelona currently has the title, so if you want to be part of the 1,400 beer-strong crew, make sure you get a ticket.
All ticket purchasers will receive a GABS Beer Safaris booklet with over $250 in post GABS beer offers. T&Cs apply.
We’re giving away some tickets to subscribers, so make sure you’re signed up to be in the running. Must be subscribed to get lost by Sunday 27th May 11:59pm AEST
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