Melbourne: Essential Tips for a Base Trip
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Australia sits at a normal, low-drama advisory level, so this is a practical list for a city-plus-day-trips trip rather than a warning label.
Entry: sort this before you fly
⚠ Australia requires an electronic visa for every visitor, there’s no visa-free entry. The ETA (subclass 601, around AUD $20 via the Australian ETA app) covers the US, Canada, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, and Hong Kong. The eVisitor (subclass 651, free, applied for online) covers EU and UK passports. Get whichever applies to you sorted before you fly, both are required in advance, neither is available on arrival.
Money and tipping
Australia uses the Australian dollar and is heavily cashless, tap-and-go works almost everywhere. ⚠ Tipping is not expected anywhere, a genuine cultural difference for US visitors used to tipping by default. Displayed prices already include the 10% GST, and Australia is expensive by international standards, budget accordingly, especially once day-trip tours and fuel are added to the city costs.
Getting from the airport
⚠ Melbourne Airport (Tullamarine, MEL) still has no train link, and one isn’t expected before around 2033. Use the SkyBus (around AUD $25.90 one-way to Southern Cross) or a taxi/Uber, roughly AUD $65-75.
Trams, trains, and the Myki
⚠ The Free Tram Zone covers the CBD and Docklands, every tram inside it is free, no card needed, plus the free City Circle Tram (route 35). Outside the zone you need a Myki for trams and buses. Metro trains have taken contactless bank cards since June 2026, but trams and buses are still Myki-only, load one as soon as you land if your day involves anything past the free zone.
Before you head out on a day trip
Book Phillip Island’s penguin tickets and any Great Ocean Road tour ahead, both sell out. If you’re driving yourself, remember Australians drive on the left, and check whether your day trip (Puffing Billy, Ballarat) actually works by train before assuming you need a car, several of Victoria’s day trips genuinely don’t.
Seasons are flipped
⚠ Summer runs December-February in Australia, not the Northern Hemisphere’s calendar, and Melbourne is famous for “four seasons in one day” regardless of the month. Pack layers even in what should be the warm season, this applies on day trips as much as in the city.
Sport and everyday etiquette
Sport, especially AFL, is genuinely central to Melbourne’s identity, expect conversations about it more than in most cities. Silence your phone on trams and trains, and approach Aboriginal culture and sacred sites with the same respect you’d bring to any living, ongoing culture rather than treating it as historical background.
Read more: our main Melbourne, Australia guide ties all of this into a full city-and-day-trips trip plan.