Melbourne’s usually abuzz with excitement in October, with festivals and other events happening almost every day in different parts of the city. This is the time when tourists come flocking in to experience the local festivities, the most popular of which is the yearly Melbourne Festival. If you’ve known Melbourne as a vibrant, pulsing, social scene hub, then expect the city to fire up a notch higher than the usual this season.
Being Australia’s cultural and style hotspot, Melbourne seems to never run out of fun, enriching, and exciting events to keep the city alive and kicking. That’s why it’s a good idea to visit this season — there’s a handful of things for you to do and discover on your vacation. But, like any busy, tourist-packed city, traffic and transportation in Melbourne during this month can be a headache for some.
Now to help you plan your itinerary better, as well as map your routes around the city to reach the venues, here’s a few things you need to know about the festivals happening in Melbourne this October:
Melbourne Festival 2016
October won’t go full circle without the much awaited and hugely popular Melbourne Festival. It happens each year and draws a large crowd every time. You shouldn’t miss this one if you’re in the city this month, but the shows and performances are actually pretty easy to catch because the entire festival runs for 17 days in different points across Melbourne, so you have more than enough time to visit most, if not all, the festival venues.
The yearly Melbourne Festival is one of the biggest multi-arts festivals worldwide. It’s a vibrant and enriching celebration of Australia’s arts and culture, showcasing talent and skills from both local and international artists. You’ll be entertained for hours on end with the fantastic dance, theatre, visual arts, and musical performances during the festival.
Celebrate culture and hail talent from the 6th of October all the way ‘til the 23rd. The Melbourne Festival is happening in these venues, and you can check out the schedule of shows and purchase tickets here.
Melbourne Shopping Festival 2016
The world’s powerhouse brands will come together under one roof in an exciting, 3-day shop-til-you-drop event happening on the 21st to the 23rd of this month. The Melbourne Shopping Festival 2016 is the most highly anticipated and biggest shopping event to hit the shores in October, bringing together some of the global brands that you’ve come to love through the years.
Clothing, perfumes, jewellery, shoes, furniture — you’ll find them all here, all at unbelievably affordable prices that you have to pinch yourself to check if they’re real.
This festival is the ultimate dream of shopaholics, with bigwigs like Alexander Wang, Adidas, Nike, H&M, Mossimo, and hundreds of other prestige labels competing for a swipe on your credit card and a spot in your shopping bag.
Whether you’re looking for the latest designer wear or a new piece of furniture, the Melbourne Shopping Festival is definitely the event that will let you shop to your heart’s content.
It’s not all about spending cash, though. The festival also brings a host of other fun-filled activities for the entire family, with the likes of a kid’s fashion show and even a tribute to the iconic Spice Girls at that.
The Melbourne Shopping Festival 2016 will be held at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre. You can check out the schedule of festival activities and book your tickets here.
Aotearoa Festival
The Immigration Museum is bringing to Australian shores the effervescent culture of New Zealand in this one-day only enriching event, the Aotearoa Festival 2016. Happening on the 16th of October, the festival celebrates New Zealand’s rich, colourful culture with live performances and acts by some of their hit local artists and groups.
Move to the beat and enjoy traditional and contemporary performances from New Zealand rock legend Jon Toogood, Samoan’s Nesian Pearl, the Pasefika Vitoria Choir, and Tahitian-Hawaiian dancers Nuholani, just to name a few. Aside from these lively performances, you can also watch short film screenings and discover the identities, cultures, and traditions of New Zealand & the Pacific Islands with movies like The Trophy, Mokopuna, Wide Eyed, and Hawaikii.
There’s also a lot of other activities to keep you entertained for hours, like the live demo of Raranga, a Maori practice of weaving from flax, a Youth Acting Class for attendees aged 12 to 25, a poi-making workshop, mythical storytelling with Maori elders, and a Haka workshop, among others.
The Aotearoa Festival will be held at the Immigration Museum on Flinders Street. You can check the event’s ticketing information here.
What’s not to love about Melbourne this October? With these enriching, exciting festivals all happening just a few days apart from each other — the Melbourne Festival spanning 17 days at that — your social and events calendar will certainly be full when you come visit the city this season. If these three aren’t enough to quench your thirst for exploring the best of Melbourne, you can check out other festivals and events as well, like the Australian Movie and Comic Expo 2016, the Halloween special over at Luna Park, or the jam session at the upcoming Melbourne Ukulele Festival 2016.
Melbourne is easily one of the best cities on the planet! We fell in love with the place – The food, the cafe culture, the art scene – Plus the public transport links are great. It’s easy to get around by car too. But getting to these venues can be tricky if you don’t have a car rental in Melbourne. As you plan your itinerary, make sure you also make arrangements for your means of transportation, since the city streets can be quite packed and busy during festival season.
Have a vehicle ready on hand so that you can venue and festival-hop without worries. But things are easy here in the city; most just go for a cheap car hire in Melbourne to solve their transportation problems.
Melbourne is easily one of the best cities on the planet! We fell in love with the place – The food, the cafe culture, the art scene – and don’t forget the festivals!
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