Melbourne : Getting There
By plane
Melbourne International Airport at Tullamarine provides regular access from national and international destinations across the South Pacific region. American and European flights tend to go via Sydney or an Asian hub. The airport is 22km north-west of the city center.
A taxi between the airport and the city center costs $30+.
Skybus
,ph 9670 7992, runs a 24x7 shuttle to and from the Spencer St coach terminal at the west end of the Central Business District, just north of Lonsdale St. The trip takes 20 minutes and costs $13 adult, $5 child 17 and under, $26 family. There are two airport pickup locations. One is outside the South (Virgin Blue) terminal, 50m from the international terminal. The ticket desk is just inside the South terminal. The other ticket desk and shuttle stop are outside the Qantas domestic terminal. Frequency ranges from hourly during the wee hours to quarter hourly from about 6:30am-7:30pm (always on the quarter hour). They also run a connection service between the terminal and central hotels during the day (M-F 6am-8pm, Sa-Su 8am-6pm). Book hotel pick-up 3 hours ahead. Bookings are not needed for travel from the airport to hotels. http://www.skybus.com.au/
If you're flying with budget carrier Jetstar, Avalon Airport may be your port of call. Avalon Airport is located 55 km to the south-west of Melbourne. Sun Bus Australia operates a shuttle service to Melbourne's CBD at $19 per adult one way. The Avalon Airport Shuttle provides a service to other areas of Victoria from $12 per adult one way.
By train
Train rides from major cities will take about 10 hours. CountryLink operates a twice daily service from Sydney (10½ hours away), though this may soon be cut to daily. Great Southern Railway run four services a week from Adelaide (10-11 hours away).
Services from cities within Victoria are operated by V/Line Passenger (see V-Line timetables). These services operate from regional centers such as Geelong, Ballarat, Albury or Bendigo.
All intercity rail services from interstate and intrastate destinations operate to and from Spencer Street Station, located on the western edge of Melbourne's central business district.
VicLink will presumably become a handy website to manage your state-wide travel on trains and buses at some point in the future. Metropolitan travel can be planned on the MetLink website.
By car
From Sydney, the quickest route is the Hume Highway, which takes about 11-12 hours (non-stop). A more popular, longer route is along the coast on the Princes Highway. This adds several hours to the journey as it is longer in distance and there are fewer bypasses. Adelaide is slightly closer, and can be reached in 9-10 hours. Once again, it is possible to go inland or along the coast - the coast is very scenic, but will add a couple of hours to the journey.
By bus
Bus services to Melbourne from out of state are provided by Firefly Express and McCafferty’s Greyhound. Greyhound is now owned by McCaffertys, though their services are not entirely integrated yet.
By boat
Melbourne can be reached from Devonport, Tasmania by car/passenger ferries run by Spirit of Tasmania.
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