In The City

Join us inside the most expensive and exclusive city hotels in the country – from the secret room in Melbourne you’re not supposed to know about, to sleeping under a bridge in Sydney the millionaires’ way.

It’s the stereotype of countless films. A massively opulent suite taking up the very top floor of a five star hotel. The kind of room occupied by James Bond types or evil tyrants looking to rule the world while stroking a white cat. The sort that require your own special lift pass. Or, in the best cases, your own special lift.

So, what’s life like when you push the last button on the elevator and get whisked up to the very best the hotel has to offer?

They were once called “penthouses" but now they go by different names. Sky Villa. Roof Pavilion. Whatever. We’re only interested in the most expensive room at the hotel. So what do you get for your money?

It’s the little things

The first thing is service. Regardless of the hotel, when you book the most expensive suite in the place you’re entering a different level of service. For starters you have a dedicated staff, generally a butler and at least a maid, whose job it is to go to extraordinary lengths to anticipate anything you might require.

The second important element involves the accoutrements to your stay. Hotels figure if you’re going to spend more than $20,000 on a room you can afford a bit more on some extras. Take Australia’s most expensive city hotel,Crown Towers in Melbourne. If you’re feeling like a bit of bubbly with your suite you can opt for a bottle of the Heidsieck & Co Monopole 1907 Gout Americain.

This apparently very good champagne was earmarked for the Russian military during WWI but was sunk by a German U-boat enroute toFinland. In 1997 salvage divers recovered the champagne to discover that, through a confluence of sturdy crate construction, constant temperature and uniform pressure, the bottles had been perfectly preserved. And you can order yourself a bottle for $13,200 if you wish.

If you’re the type who can afford $27,500 a night for the best room at Crown, you’re not about to blink at another $13k for a bottle of champagne.

Stay for the legroom

And then there’s the space. These hotel rooms are like nothing you’ve ever seen; they’re more like luxury apartments. It’s as though the actual hotel is just an enormous edifice hanging off the hotel room in order to feed it the service it requires.

They’ll all come with at least two bedrooms, a dining room and a vast lounge area at an absolute minimum. Interestingly, the Park Hyatt in Sydney has received council approval to add another suite onto their roof. Each room will have its own plunge pool. Given the hotels location and unbeatable view, these suites will come close to being the best (and most expensive)Australia has to offer.

Maybe it’s just the power these suites represent – the prestige of occupying the most expensive room in the building. Whatever the reason, we can understand why there will always be villains doing battle with James Bond types. They have a set of standards to which they’ve become accustomed and a lifestyle to defend.

Crown Towers, Melbourne

When it comes to the most expensive city hotel in Australia, this is it. We’ve been reliably informed that their über-suite will set you back some $27,500 per night. The best rooms at Crown are called Villas, of which there are 31, beginning at lofty level 30 of the hotel.

The very best Villas are Presidential Villas, the cream of which is room 3918, which will cost you that aforementioned $27,500 per night. Crown are very tight-lipped about this particular Villa. In fact, their public relations GM, Anne Peacock, refused to comment publicly on this particular room, citing the discretion and privacy of their extreme high rollers for the no-comment policy.

That said, we know that if you place $27,500 on the table and ask for the best room in the hotel, you should be given the keys to room 3918. Keep in mind that this isn’t just the most expensive hotel room in Australia; this is one of the most expensive in the world. By comparison, the priciest room in all of Sydney is a paltry $6950 a night.

Look at it this way: go out, come back to your room late and get a solid eight hours sleep. By the time you wake up for breakfast, you’ll have spent nearly $1 for every second you’ve been asleep. But, then again, if you can afford this suite you’re probably going to have some very cool dreams anyhow.

To get to your suite, you’ll take a lift to the Crystal Club on level 29, which is where you check in if you’re rich. No hanging around the foyer with the riff raff for you! The Crystal Club offers amazing views of Melbourne and is like having a very, very posh boutique hotel tucked inside a much larger one. The Crystal Club offers complimentary breakfast, afternoon tea, evening cocktails and canapés. Most other hotels would configure level 29 as a sophisticated cocktail lounge.

Which, in part, this is. However, this is also the lobby within the hotel to access the best Crown Towers Suites. After swiping your diamond, ivory or obsidian Amex, your butler will take your bags to the 39th floor where room 3918 awaits. And what a room it is.

We can confirm that the three-bedroom suite takes up the entire floor. We’ve also been advised that it’s “around" 400m2 and has one of Melbourne’s best views. We just don’t have photos to share. Perhaps we have a reader out there who’s been lucky enough to stay in room 3918 that can send us some photos? We’d all be very keen to see them. Call (03) 9292 8888 or check out www.crowntowers.com.au for more.

Park Hyatt, Sydney

Sitting proudly beneath theHarbourBridgeand directly across from the Opera House, the Park Hyatt Sydney has probablySydney’s best views – and surprisingly is in a quiet part of The Rocks, with the hotel itself being relatively unimposing.

Where Melbourne’s Crown Towers stands tall, flashing neon and belching flames as a good casino should, the Park Hyatt is a touch more serene, subdued and understated.CrownTowersparties on. Park Hyatt considers. It’s also home toSydney’s most expensive hotel room.

This 185m2 suite costs around $6975 per night and has recently undergone a refurb. It has the most extraordinary views of the Opera House, the Bridge andSydneyHarbour, containing a dining table that seats 12. Extensive balconies (six in total) frame the unforgettable view.

Naturally the suite has a separate very large living room that’s equipped to be commensurate with the sort of entertaining that people spending $6000 a night require. The suites are stocked with all the latest technology and there’s nothing wanting. Forgot your camera? There’s one there to use. Need a meal? Get the chef to come cook one for you. It really is a relaxing way to unwind after a day of plotting world domination. Call (02) 9241 1234 or check out www.sydney.park.hyatt.com for more.

Abandoned mills and forgotten paper plants are finding second lives – and helping redefine a city long underestimated.

Just 15 years ago, Federal Mills was a very different place. Once among the most significant industrial sites in Victoria, the historic woollen mill was one of a dozen that operated in Geelong at the industry’s peak in the mid-20th century, helping the city earn its title as ‘wool centre of the world’. But by the 1960s global competition and the rise of synthetic fabrics led to the slow decline of the industry, and Federal Mills finally shuttered its doors in 2001. Within a few years, the abandoned North Geelong grounds had become makeshift pastoral land, with cows and goats grazing among the overgrown grass between the empty red-brick warehouses. It was a forgotten pocket of the city, all but two klicks from the bustle of the CBD.

Geelong cellar door wine bar — Geelong has shed its industrial identity to become an innovative urban hub with reimagined heritage spaces. (Image: Ash Hughes)

Federal Mills: from forgotten factory to creative precinct

Today, the century-old complex stands reborn. The distinctive sawtooth-roof buildings have been sensitively restored. An old silo is splashed with a bright floral mural, landscapers have transformed the grounds, and the precinct is once again alive with activity. More than 1000 people work across 50-plus businesses here. It’s so busy, in fact, that on a sunny Thursday morning in the thick of winter, it’s hard to find a car park. The high ceilings, open-plan design, and large multi-paned windows – revolutionary features for factories of their time – have again become a drawcard.

Paddock Bakery andPatisserie — Paddock Bakery and Patisserie is housed within the historic wool factory. (Image: Gallant Lee)

At Paddock , one of the precinct’s newer tenants, weaving looms and dye vats have been replaced by a wood-fired brick oven and heavy-duty mixers. Open since April 2024, the bakery looks right at home here; the building’s industrial shell is softened by ivy climbing its steel frames, and sunlight streams through the tall windows. Outside, among the white cedar trees, families at picnic benches linger over dippy eggs and bagels, while white-collar workers pass in and out, single-origin coffee and crème brûlée doughnuts in hand.

Geelong: Australia’s only UNESCO City of Design

Paddock Bakery can be found at Federal Mills. (Image: Gallant Lee)

“A lot of people are now seeing the merit of investing in Geelong,” says Paul Traynor, the head of Hamilton Hospitality Group, which redeveloped Federal Mills. A city once shunned as Sleepy Hollow, and spurned for its industrial, working-class roots and ‘rust belt’ image, Geelong has long since reclaimed its ‘Pivot City’ title, having reinvented itself as an affordable, lifestyle-driven satellite city, and a post-COVID migration hotspot.

And the numbers stand testament to the change. In March 2025, and for the first time in its history, Greater Geelong became Australia’s most popular regional town for internal migration, overtaking Queensland’s Sunshine Coast. Current forecasts suggest Geelong will continue to outpace many other Australian cities and towns, with jobs growing at double the rate of the population.

Tourism is booming, too. The 2023-24 financial year was Geelong and The Bellarine region’s busiest on record, with 6.4 million visitors making it one of the fastest-growing destinations in the country. It’s not hard to see why: beyond the city’s prime positioning at the doorstep of the Great Ocean Road, Geelong’s tenacity and cultural ambition stands out.

As Australia’s only UNESCO City of Design, Geelong is swiftly shaking off its industrial past to become a model for urban renewal, innovation, sustainability and creative communities. The signs are everywhere, from the revitalisation of the city’s waterfront, and the landmark design of the Geelong Library and Heritage Centre and Geelong Arts Centre, to the growing network of local designers, architects and artists, and the burgeoning roster of festivals and events. That’s not even mentioning the adaptive reuse of storied old industrial buildings – from Federal Mills, to Little Creatures’ brewery ‘village’ housed within a 1920s textile mill – or the city’s flourishing food and wine scene.

The rise of a food and wine destination

Restaurant 1915 is housed within a restored former boiler house. (Image: Harry Pope/Two Palms)

Traynor credits now-closed local restaurant Igni, which opened in 2016, as the turning point for Geelong’s hospo industry. “[Aaron Turner, Igni’s chef-patron] was probably the first guy, with all due respect, to raise the bar food-wise for Geelong,” he says. “People now treat it really seriously, and there’s clearly a market for it.” While Igni is gone, Turner now helms a string of other notable Geelong venues, including The Hot Chicken Project and Tacos y Liquor, all within the buzzy, street art-speckled laneways of the CBD’s Little Malop Street Precinct. Many others have also popped up in Igni’s wake, including Federal Mills’ own restaurant, 1915 . Housed within the cavernous boiler house, 1915’s interior is dramatic: soaring, vaulted ceilings with timber beams, exposed brick, a huge arched window. The share plates echo the space’s bold character, playing with contrast and texture, with dishes such as a compressed watermelon tataki, the sweet, juicy squares tempered by salty strands of fried leeks, and charred, smoky snow peas dusted with saganaki on a nutty bed of romesco.

The Woolstore , one of The Hamilton Group’s most recent hospo projects, opened in February. It occupies a century-old riverside warehouse and exudes a more sultry, fine dining ambience. Much like Federal Mills, the blueprint was to preserve the original brickwork, tallowwood flooring and nods to the building’s former life. That same careful consideration extends to the well-versed, affable waitstaff as well as the kitchen. Head chef Eli Grubb is turning out an eclectic mix of ambitious and indulgent mod Oz dishes that deliver: strikingly tender skewers of chicken tsukune, infused with hints of smoke from the parrilla grill, and glazed with a moreish, sweet gochujang ‘jam’; nduja arancini fragrant with hints of aniseed and the earthy lick of sunny saffron aioli; and golden squares of potato pavé, adorned with tiny turrets of crème fraîche, crisp-fried saltbush leaves, and Avruga caviar, to name but a few stand-out dishes.

Woolstore menu — Woolstore’s menu is designed for sharing.

Breathing new life into historic spaces

On the city’s fringe, hidden down a winding side road with little fanfare, lies a long-dormant site that’s being gently revived. Built from locally quarried bluestone and brick, and dating back to the 1870s, the complex of original tin-roofed mill buildings is lush with greenery and backs onto the Barwon River and Buckley Falls; the audible rush of water provides a soothing soundtrack. Fyansford Paper Mill is one of few complexes of its time to survive intact. It feels steeped in history and spellbindingly rustic.

“We were looking for an old industrial place that had some charm and romance to it,” explains Sam Vogel, the owner, director and winemaker at Provenance Wines which moved here in 2018. When he first viewed the building with his former co-owner, it was in such a state of disrepair that the tradie tenant occupying the space had built a shed within it to escape the leaking roof and freezing winter temperatures. “To say it was run down would be an understatement,” he notes. “There was ivy growing through the place; the windows were all smashed. It was a classic Grand Designs project.”

Provenance Wines moved to Fyansford Paper Mill in 2018. (Image: Cameron Murray Photography)

The team has since invested more than a million dollars into their new home. Where paper processing machinery once sat, wine barrels are now stacked. Vaulted cathedral ceilings are strung with festoon lights, and hidden in plain sight lies a shadowy mural by local street artist de rigueur Rone – one of only three permanent works by the artist.

While the award-winning, cool-climate pinot noir, riesling and chardonnay naturally remain a key draw at Provenance, the winery’s restaurant is a destination in itself. Impressed already by whipsmart service, I devour one of the most cleverly curated and faultlessly executed degustations I’ve had in some time. It’s all prepared in a kitchen that is proudly zero-waste, and committed to providing seasonal, ethical and locally sourced meat and produce under head chef Nate McIver. Think free-range venison served rare with a syrupy red wine jus and a half-moon of neon-orange kosho, shokupan with a deeply savoury duck fat jus (a modern Japanese take on bread and drippings), and a golden potato cake adorned with a colourful confetti of dehydrated nasturtiums and tomato powder, and planted atop a sea urchin emulsion.

handcrafted pieces — Bell’s handcrafted functional pieces on display.

The complex is home to a coterie of independent businesses, including a gallery, a jeweller, and its latest tenant, ceramicist Elizabeth Bell, drawn here by the building’s “soul”. “There’s so much potential for these buildings to have new life breathed into them,” says Bell, whose studio is housed within the old pump room. “Even people in Geelong don’t know we’re here,” she says. “It’s definitely a destination, but I like that. It has a really calming atmosphere.”

A Melbourne transplant, Bell now feels at home in Geelong, which offers something Melbourne didn’t. “If this business was in Melbourne I don’t think it would’ve been as successful,” she notes. “It’s very collaborative in Geelong, and I don’t think you get that as much in Melbourne; you’re a bit more in it for yourself. Here it’s about community over competition.”

Join us inside the most expensive and exclusive city hotels in the country – from the secret room in Melbourne you’re not supposed to know about, to sleeping under a bridge in Sydney the millionaires’ way.

It’s the little things

Stay for the legroom

Crown Towers, Melbourne

Park Hyatt, Sydney

Two Aussie hotels make World’s 50 Best Hotels 2025 list

Central Queensland’s first five-star hotel is a coastal gateway

This off-grid Blue Mountains cabin was just crowned Airbnb’s best nature escape

Once just for holiday rentals, Airbnb now plans your whole trip

Inside Geelong’s glow-up from factory town to creative capital

Abandoned mills and forgotten paper plants are finding second lives – and helping redefine a city long underestimated.

Federal Mills: from forgotten factory to creative precinct

Geelong: Australia’s only UNESCO City of Design

The rise of a food and wine destination

Breathing new life into historic spaces