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Did you know that Melbourne has Australia’s largest hotel market, with over 26,000 rooms available? Well, it’s true! If you’ve found yourself getting overwhelmed and frustrated by the choices available, this may be why.
It’s not easy finding places to stay in Melbourne because of the sheer amount of options to sift through, and if you’ve never been to the city before, it’s even harder knowing where to base yourself.
That’s where we come in. As Aussies, we know Melbourne well, and so to save you some time, and hopefully some money, I’ve put together what I think is the best accommodation in options in Melbourne to remove the headache for you.
If you want to know what our criteria is for what makes the best accommodation, scroll to the end of this guide to see how we selected these properties.
The Best Melbourne Accommodation
If you are planning to visit Melbourne for the first time, below are our choices for places to stay from budget to luxury.
We begin by sharing our favourite hostels, as these are usually the cheapest, before moving on to 3, 4, and 5 star hotels, finishing with self-serviced apartment rentals.
YHA Melbourne Central

If you’re backpacking to Melbourne, then there’s no better place to stay than the YHA Melbourne Central.
This hostel boasts a gorgeous rooftop terrace with BBQ facilities and a large communal area on the ground floor – both excellent places to meet likeminded travellers.

There’s also a shared kitchen, a TV room and an onsite café/bar.
It’s also ideally located close to Federation Square, and the free City Circle Tram.
They also put on activities for guests such as movie nights, walking tours, pub crawls and more.
Roamer Melbourne – formerly Selina Central Melbourne

Roamer is a more high-end hostel with swanky dorm rooms and luxurious furnishings and finishes.
It’s location opposite Flinders Street Station means it’s easy to explore anywhere in the city, plus the free tram is just a stone’s throw away.
It has free WiFi throughout the property and shared kitchen facilities. Meet likeminded travellers in the communal area, and binge-watch Netflix together in the TV/lounge area.
Mercure Welcome

If you prefer the privacy of a hotel room, the Mercure Welcome is a comfortable, budget-friendly 3 star hotel with an ideal location.
Located on Bourke Street Mall, it’s ideally located for shopping sprees in the city, and many of Melbourne’s major attractions, such as Rod Laver Arena and Melbourne Convention Center, are within walking distance.
It has an onsite restaurant, Louden Kitchen and Grill, where you can get a great breakfast each morning, made with fresh fruit, baked goods and more.
Rooms are air-conditioned, have a private bathroom with free toiletries, and have a mini fridge.
YEHS Hotel Melbourne CBD

Another great budget-friendly option in the heart of Melbourne CBD is YEHS, which has spacious air-conditioned rooms.
The hotel boasts a fitness center and a rooftop terrace where you can relax with a good book.
The rooms at YEHS are some of the largest we have seen for this price point, and we love the large floor-to-ceiling windows and work area.
Crowne Plaza

Crowne Plaza is a 4-star hotel on the banks of the Yarra River. It boasts luxury furnishings and spacious suites, plus a 24-hour fitness center, heated rooftop pool, and several onsite restaurants.
The hotel’s signature restaurant, Ottie’s, is open from breakfast to dinner, and the Dove Bar and Pow Wow, are where to go for refreshments.
Each room comes with huge panoramic windows, a desk with free WiFi.
Causeway 353 Hotel

Little Collins Street is one of our favorite streets in Melbourne CBD – it’s where you’ll find some of the best entertainment and nightlife in the city, as well as lots of shops, restaurants, and quirky cafes.
Causeway 353 Hotel is right in the thick of the action, but it’s still quiet and peaceful at night.
It has modern guest rooms and with private bathrooms and air conditioning. It also boasts a gym, steam room and a business center.
The only downside is there’s no restaurant.
Quincy Hotel

The Quincy Hotel is located on Flinders Lane, just a short walk to Hosier Lane, known for its street art.
You can tell this hotel is located in the art district by its fun and colorful decor, which is evident in both guest rooms and throughout the hotel.
Stand out features of this hotel are the indoor rooftop pool, which has incredible city views, plus a fitness center, and a restaurant and bar.
QT Melbourne

QT Hotel is one of the best hotels in the CBD for its comfort value. It has comfortable and stylish rooms, with lots of space and soundproof walls.
Its within minutes of Regent Theater and Collins Street shopping district.
Some of the best parts of the QT Melbourne are the terrace with amazing views of the city, the on-site restaurant, cafe and rooftop bar, and fitness center.
Adelphi Hotel

Our favourite boutique hotel in Melbourne is the Adelphi, which has individually styled rooms with quirky decor and artistic touches.
Nestled on Flinders Lane, it’s right in the artsy precinct, and is like a work of art in itself!
Each room comes with a refrigerator, work desk and a Lavazza coffee machine, plus in room snacks.
It has an outdoor swimming pool and onsite cocktail bar.
Grand Hyatt Melbourne

Also on Collins Street is the 5* luxury Grand Hyatt, which has large, luxurious guest rooms and suites, all of which come with their own spectacular views of Melbourne’s skyline or the Yarra River.
Rooms comes with a marble bathrooms with deep soaking tubs.
It has world-class facilities such as couture boutiques, a health and fitness center, indoor swimming pool with sauna and open-air tennis courts, and of course, its signature restaurant, Collins Kitchen.
Whether you’re in town for luxury shopping or to visit the music venues, Grand Hyatt Melbourne is perfectly located for both.
The Westin

The Westin is a homely, 5* hotel with a fitness center, indoor pool and its own art collection.
It has a wellness center with a 20-yard lap pool, bubble pool, and sauna.
The onsite restaurant, Allegro Restaurant, has a deliciousbuffet breakfast each day.
You can also enjoy afternoon tea at the lounge bar beside the fireplace.
Sofitel Melbourne on Collins Street

Also on Collins Street is Sofitel Melbourne, which has 363 luxurious rooms and suites, which comes with floor-to-ceiling windows offering dazzling views of the city, Yarra River and Port Phillip Bay.
It was refurbished back in 2022, with high-end, chic furnishings in all rooms, and an in-room tablet for ordering Room Service.
Guests can enjoy the exclusive 35th floor executive lounge, Club Sofitel, the highest lounge in the city, for breakfast, afternoon tea or evening drinks.
The onsite restaurant, No35, boasts numerous awards and incredible city views.
Hotel Collins

Hotel Collins is right in the heart of the CBD, just meters from Federation Square and Bourke Street Mall, as well as the shopping on Collins Street.
This aparthotel offers apartments with contemporary furnishings, air-conditioning, self contained kitchenette, laundry, and complimentary high-speed WiFi.
Suites come with a separate dining and living area and a private bathroom with a shower.
Ritz-Carlton

The Ritz-Carlton is a five star hotel with a fitness center, incredible indoor pool with hot tub, and onsite spa.
It has a lovely onsite restaurant with incredible city views, and there’s also a concierge service for guests.
Rooms are spacious and comfortable, with air conditioning, a seating area, and a good-sized private bathroom.
Langham Melbourne

Another hotel with incredible views of the Yarra River is the Langham. This opulent hotel offers an incredible indoor swimming pool with sweeping views of the Melbourne skyline, the luxurious Chuan Spa, sauna, steam room, and state-of-the-art fitness center.
As soon as you walk through the door, you’re greeted by a grand marble staircase, dazzling fountains and chandeliers, and the elegance doesn’t stop there.
Each room has been meticulously designed for an elegant stay. Rooms come with a well-stocked mini-bar, complimentary Wi-Fi, and a large bathroom.
For dinner, head to Melba Restaurant, for exceptional fine dining and panoramic views, or enjoy an afternoon tea at Aria Bar & Lounge.
We had an enjoyable high tea experience here when visiting Melbourne with kids.
Melbourne Marriott Hotel Docklands

Another one of the best luxury hotels in Melbourne is Marriott Hotel Docklands. It features an outdoor swimming pool, fitness center, and onsite restaurant and bar which serves a buffet or a gluten-free breakfast each morning.
Rooms are spacious and well appointed, with all the amenities you need for a comfortable stay.
We particularly love the floor-to-celing windows allowing in plenty of natural light.
Hilton Melbourne Little Queen Street

The Hilton is another luxury 5* hotel with a central CBD location and well-appointed rooms.
It has a fine dining restaurant, Luci, which serves a buffet, continental or vegetarian breakfast every day.
Each room comes with plenty of space, a work desk, and a huge bathroom.
The Cullen Melbourne – Art Series

Located right next door to Prahran Market, The Cullen is a 5-star hotel with spacious and trendy rooms, with a fully contained kitchenette and dining area. Some rooms also come with balconies.
It also has several onsite restaurants, including Golda, where you can indulge in Mediterranean cuisine, and the authentic Chinese restaurant, HuTong Dumpling Bar.
Treasury on Collins

The Treasury is a unique hotel in that it’s set inside the historic former Bank of Australasia building, which was built in the 19th century.
Today, this boutique aparthotel offers self-contained rooms with their own kitchenette, living area, and washing machine and dryer – how many hotel rooms offer you this in your room?
For even more luxury, The Heritage Balcony Suites come with incredible views overlooking Collins Street.
Flinders Landing Apartments

If you want a fully self-contained apartment, head to Flinders Landing Apartments, which is just 100 metres from Flinders Street.
All apartments come with their own kitchen with laundry facilities, spacious living areas, separate bedrooms, and private bathroom.
As well as enjoying the benefit of having everything you need for a home away from home, there is also hotel services such as dry cleaning, luggage storage, and even babysitting!
What’s more is that if you eat at certain restaurants nearby, there’s the option to add your food bill to your hotel bill, and there’s also a shopping service so you can order items to be put in your room when you get there.
Citadines on Bourke

Citadines on Bourke is a modern apartment rental option in the CBD, just 200 metres from Chinatown.
Each apartment comes with air conditioning, a open-plan living area, kitchenette, and dishwasher.
As well as having a self-contained apartment, you can also enjoy resort-like facilities, such as an indoor swimming pool, sauna, fitness centre, and private on-site parking.
Mantra Southbank

Mantra is where we stay when we visit Melbourne because they have the largest apartment rentals for the price, in our opinion.
The apartments come with lovely soft beds, tons of space, incredible views, and lots of natural light which we love.
We also love the services in the building, such as the heated indoor pool and spa on level 18.
It also has a gym and an onsite restaurant, Mezzi Bar & Restaurant, which has a delicious fresh buffet breakfast each day.
Read our review of our stay at Mantra Southbank Melbourne here.
What Is Our Criteria For The Best Accommodation In Melbourne?
The criteria for each property depends on the budget and style of accommodation – you get what you pay for, is how I look at it.
All of these properties have a location within Melbourne Central Business District (CBD) which is right in the heart of the city.
This means you can walk to the main attractions, restaurants, cafes, bars, and have easy access to Melbourne’s public transport system.
You can stay further out of the city to save some money, but sometimes the trade-off between saving money and cost of transport evens out – plus staying central saves time on commuting.
As well as being central, all our accommodation choices need to have a review rating of 7+ on Booking.com, as these are verified reviews by guests who have actually stayed there.
Criteria for hostels
For hostels, our criteria is that rooms need to be clean and quiet.
We feel the value in hostels comes in having amenities that allow you to save money – such as a kitchen where you can cook for yourself, and laundry facilities, so we always look for these features.
We also think hostels should be social, as they primarily attract solo travellers and backpackers who want to meet other likeminded travellers.
Criteria for hotels
Hotels are a step up from hostels in terms of price, and so our expectations are a step up too.
We think a good hotel needs to have a restaurant and breakfast included, as well as comfortable and spacious rooms with the bare essential amenities – a tea/coffee station, air conditioning, private bathroom, and wi-fi.
We also like to pick hotels with a gym as we like staying active on our vacations, but this is more of a nice to have than a necessity.
Another nice to have is parking. You don’t need a car in Melbourne, but if you’re on a road trip, parking is at a premium in the CBD so having free parking included is a huge win!
Criteria for apartments
For an apartment, we feel it needs to have everything you need to feel at home.
This includes a fully equipped kitchen with pots and pans and plates and bowls. The amount of apartments we’ve stayed in that doesn’t even have a spoon is astounding! So when we say fully equipped, we mean fully.
We also think a good apartment rental needs free WiFi, air conditioning, and laundry services.
We also look for living areas or family rooms where we can relax after a day of exploring, and just like a hotel, parking is a nice to have.
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What do you think of these places to stay in Melbourne? Let us know what you think in the comments.