Melbourne is a fantastic city and a favourite of mine but one thing I found difficult when I first arrived was knowing where to go at night times, especially for bigger occasions such as birthdays and other special events.
Some cities have the obvious districts where things are always going off whereas in Melbourne you need to know about the areas, the venues, and the little treats that are happening behind the scenes that most don’t know about. Hopefully, this post gives you a few ideas of what to do for a birthday in Melbourne in both the day and night time.
1. Melbourne Skydeck Cocktails in the Clouds
A great birthday activity for day or night and you can have a drink or two as well! The Melbourne Skydeck is the highest observation deck in the Southern Hemisphere. It has great panoramic city views and you can usually enjoy a cocktail with entry at bar 88.
You may need to book in advance if you’re with a group since the attraction gets booked up in advance. There’s also a great optional VR experience in the Voyager Theatre that you can get added to your entry to make it feel like a true VIP Melbourne birthday experience.
2. Yarra river cruise
You can really pimp this one out depending on how far you want to go. The basic level would just be to go for a river cruise, though that’s cost-effective via Yarra river cruises or other providers along the river though this is more for sightseeing.
If you want to crank it up you can add drinks to it and go for a bottomless drinks cruise, which is a bit longer. They’re usually around $75 and can be booked through Yarra River Cruises.
You can go up another gear again on the river and go for a full dinner and drinks cruise. They last a bit longer and can range from $150+ but it’s a great, memorable birthday treat.
3. Peninsula hot springs
One of my favourite local activities if you like a bit of relaxation in water. The Peninsula hot springs are a little out of the way from Melbourne city. It’s down south in the Mornington Peninsula so just over an hour’s drive out of the city but well worth it.
There are loads of different spa pools built into the rocks as you climb the hill and they vary in temperature and water type. I found it was better in the cooler weather and around sunset ideally. I would recommend a stayover in a little cottage to add to the occasion and take away the need for a long return drive.
4. Wine and food tours in the Yarra Valley
Consider swapping the busy city life for a day and enjoy quality food and drink on a Yarra Valley tour. It’s a great birthday treat to indulge in Victoria’s best food and wines as you take in the views of rolling hills and vineyards.
You can get transportation taken care of so you don’t have to worry about who the designated driver is for any wine or gin tours. Killara and the Yering wineries are among the popular choices but there are over 30 good ones to choose from. Again it’s another location that’s way outside the city but around 1-hour drive will get you to most of the good wineries and great local food experiences.
5. A foodie catch-up in the city
You could go all out and splash big on the above ideas depending on how far you want to go but there are a few advantages to catching up somewhere convenient but fantastic in the city. That way you can meet a group of friends for a great value food and/or drink experience without spending hundreds of Australian dollars per head. This is a bit of a cheat option as it’s many options within one option but these restaurants won’t disappoint. You may need to book well in advance (if you can) for groups larger than 4.
A few of my favourite Melbourne restaurants and bars for a birthday would be…
- Mr. Miyagi’s – Chapel Street, Windsor
- Tokyo Tina’s – Chapel Street, Windsor
- Bistro Guillaume – The Crown, Southbank
- Da Guido La Pasta – Lygon Street, Carlton
- Scopri, – Nicholson Street, Carlton
- Movida – Hosier Lane, Melbourne CBD
I could list plenty of bars too if you’re looking for a Melbourne bar hop of a night but my recommendation if you need a one-sentence summary would be to try a rooftop bar crawl around the Collins Street area. Plenty of rooftop bars will show up on Google Maps and it’s ideal for the warmer weather. There are more than enough options here to make anyone’s birthday in Melbourne a memorable one.