Melbourne is one of the cities in the world that’s well-loved by many tourists and locals. Australia is a beautiful country that offers so many wonderful destinations like their white pristine beaches and warm weather. However, Melbourne which is a popular city in Australia provides travellers with a much more rare and special experience.
According to Global Victoria, Melbourne is announced as one of the world’s top three most liveable cities since the index started in 2002. The city is absolutely a magnificent city in which to work, study, and live. Of course, there are some letdowns in every city, and Melbourne is not an exemption to that. Every destination has its own downfalls that come along with it. Whether it’s the tiring traffic, the expenses of living in a major city, Melbourne is not perfect as you think it is.
With that being said, here are the top 5 letdowns Melbourne has that you should know about if you plan to travel to this amazing city.
1. The weather sometimes sucks
The not so great weather is one of the most complained facets of the city. Melbourne is popular for experiencing four seasons in just one day, with extremely unforeseeable and temperamental weather. Drastically, the weather can change quickly from one hour to the next, with your beach day rapidly fizzles in a short amount of time.
Although the summer can provide sunny, warm days, the winter can be a bit rainy and cold. You might even question some days if you are still even in Australia anymore. If you want a more tropical Australian getaway for your next vacation, then Melbourne isn’t exactly the right place for you.
2. The beaches are not the super white sandy beaches with crystal clear water
Although Australia has plenty of white sandy beaches, Melbourne is not the ideal place if you’re looking for that perfect white sandy coasts and crystal clear water. Yes, the city is home to numerous beaches, but these are not known as great as places like Perth and Sydney. So keep this in mind if you’re planning to book a flight to Melbourne.
St. Kilda’s beaches are sub-part, with the better ones being located afar outside the city. Having sunny beach days here don’t come as often unlike in more northern areas where beach days can be enjoyed in not only summertime but in winter also. But, of course, Melburnians insist that even if the beaches aren’t that renowned, the city life definitely makes up for it!
3. Life is quite expensive here
Sydney is the top city in Australia that is known to have the most pricey city to live in. Meanwhile, Melbourne comes second close to the list. The city has one of the highest costs of living in the world, with items like housing, food, rent, and daily goods being pretty expensive.
Although affordable rent is possible to find, you will most likely live farther outside of the downtown centre. If you try and work hard enough, it would be easy for you to live on a budget in this city. However, if you are looking for a luxury lifestyle, then you better have the money to live here in Melbourne.
4. The traffic is not that friendly to everyone
Melbourne is definitely your normal bustling city, it comes with annoying traffic on the regular which is difficult to deal with, right? Many people think that Sydney has the worst traffic, well, that is not true, it’s actually Melbourne that is on top. If you’re coming from outside suburbs, it’s hard to get in and out of the city, particularly during peak hours. It doesn’t matter if you avoid the CBD or downtown, the surrounding areas are still suffering from bad traffic and can get a bit congested.
If you want to stay in the city short term, it’s ideal that you get a hotel accommodation that is downtown. However, if it’s for the long term, you might want to take public transport which is your best bet.
5. It’s actually a remote location
Yes, if you only know Melbourne by its name, well, it’s actually a remote city. It has its own tiny world in the Land of Oz. Since it is located at the bottom of the country, the city is a bit far away from the rest of the hot spots on the east coast, together with the opposite side of the country from places on the west coast.
This is why the climate in Melbourne is different to the rest of Australia since it’s located so far away. If you are travelling to a tropical spot like Cairns, it will cost you a four-hour flight coming from the bottom of Australia to the very peak, and it’s surely not an easy drive to get to Sydney either 8 hours minimum.
