We’ve had some pretty exotic anniversaries in the time we’ve been together. For our first anniversary Dan surprised me with flights to Paris and for our second anniversary we treated ourselves to an unforgettable holiday to snowy Grindelwald in Switzerland! We’ve only fairly recently arrived back in Australia and so when we found out that JETGO Australia had recently launched flights from our hometown of Port Macquarie to Melbourne we were sold! We spent ages trying to find a nice hotel but as it was so last minute and so close to Christmas a lot were sold out! We then found a fantastic deal on Groupon for the Melbourne Parkview Hotel which is a luxury, 4.5 Star hotel that was ideally located and offered stunning views of Melbourne’s Parks and the city skyline.
The Melbourne Parkview Hotel is located just a short tram ride from the CBD. Ideally located along St Kilda’s famous tree lined Boulevard, it is directly on the tram line to the centre of the city. We often prefer to stay just outside of the CBD so that we can visit all the sights and then escape the crowds to our relaxing hotel which is close enough but not smack bang in middle of all the hustle and bustle. The hotel ticked all these boxes, in less than 10 minutes we were in the middle of the city, and in the opposite direction we were only 15 minutes by tram to St Kilda Beach! The hotel is in the perfect location to enjoy the very best Melbourne has to offer.
We arrived about 9pm on a Friday evening flight with JetGo out of Port Macquarie. JetGo were fantastic and I still can’t believe we can fly direct from our coastal town to the big smoke (and Melbourne folk can easily visit the beautiful Mid North Coast in less than two hours)! We’ll be writing more about our JetGo experience in our next post so stay tuned, but for now if you’re considering the trip – book it, it was amazing!
When we arrived to the hotel we stepped into the lovely, festive lobby and were greeted warmly by the staff who proceeded to promptly check us in and issue us with our room keys so that we could head out in search of dinner and live music!
On the top floor of the hotel is the Atrium which boasts a spa, plunge pool, gym and sauna…oh and breathtaking views of the city! If you’re regular readers of the blog or follow us on Instagram then you’ll know that any chance we get to take a swim in a pool, a spa or sweat it out in a sauna then we jump at the opportunity! The facilities were fantastic and the views unforgettable. We recently wrote about our top 20 hotel pools from our travels and I think we’d happily add the wellness area at the Melbourne Parkview Hotel to this list! We stayed at the hotel for two nights and visited the Atrium three times!
A buffet breakfast was included in our booking which could be enjoyed in either Woods Cafe or Restaurant. We decided to eat in the sun drenched cafe as the restaurant was quite full with a tour group! The buffet had an excellent selection of cooked foods as well as freshly baked pastries and breads, along with cereals, cheeses, cold meat and fresh fruit. There was plenty of choice for even the fussiest of eaters and there was even a machine where you could make your own freshly squeezed orange juice, yum! On our second morning we had a very early flight and so couldn’t make breakfast but the hotel put together a breakfast box with cereal, juice and a muesli bar for us which we certainly appreciated at the airport at 6am!
In addition to Woods Cafe the hotel also has Woods Restaurant, Bar and Lounge which offers a contemporary menu with both old favourites and new, exciting dishes! We didn’t get a chance to dine in the Restaurant but the menu looked great! We did have a few drinks in the bar one evening and really enjoyed the relaxing atmosphere and bar staff who certainly knew their drinks and cocktails!
We were staying in a City View Room which offered both city and park views and was enormous for a standard hotel room! When we booked we considered upgrading to a Deluxe Room but decided against it as we thought we probably wouldn’t actually spend a great deal of time in the hotel because we would be too busy out exploring! I’m glad we didn’t upgrade because our room was fantastic! It was spacious, had gorgeous views, a wonderfully comfortable bed with a pillow menu, armchairs and a desk. After a big day of sightseeing we really enjoyed relaxing in our lovely King sized bed whilst we watched a movie on the 32″ LCD TV. The hotel also provides guests with broadband internet but I can’t comment on how well it worked as we just used our own phones during our stay (the joys of travelling in your own country)!
After all the travel we’ve done over the last few years, including living in hotel rooms for half of this year we’re quite picky when it comes to what we like and don’t like. I really like hotels that have a separate wardrobe and dressing area to the bedroom. If we’re staying in a hotel that has just one room then within minutes of arriving everything we own seems to explode out of our suitcase into the room, so it is nice to keep it contained to a dressing area. Tea and coffee making facilities were also provided, along with an iron and ironing board which we find is a nice touch as we hate having to pay extraordinarily high prices to have items ironed before we attend events or posh dinners!
Our modern bathroom was clean and stylish, with toiletries, fluffy towels & lovely linen robes provided.
Our room was on the 9th floor of the building and had fantastic views of the park, cricket pitch below and the city skyline! We really enjoyed relaxing in our comfortable lounge chairs watching the cricket below, and later on watching the city come to life as the sun set!
We loved our stay at the Melbourne Parkview Hotel and felt it really added to our entire experience in Melbourne. We particularly loved the location, the rooftop spa, pool and sauna facilities and the city views from our room. The staff were also really friendly and helpful which ensured we enjoyed our stay. The hotel was fantastic and we spent two wonderful nights there for an amazing price of $300 (for a stay that was normally worth over $800)! Obviously we got our stay for a fantastic price through Groupon, but on a future visit to Melbourne we would certainly return to the hotel and would be more than happy to pay full price as we felt the hotel was worth every cent!
Melbourne Parkview Hotel
562 St Kilda Rd
Melbourne VIC 3004
(03) 9529 8888
http://viewhotels.com.au/melbourneparkviewhotel/
PIN FOR LATER:
