Welcome to Hotel Addict, a monthly column where I check into Australia’s best hotels and share what makes them worthy of your wishlist.
Pulling up to The Ritz-Carlton, Melbourne, someone is waiting for me. “Rachael?" he asks as the driver opens the car door. I’m taken aback by the promptness and personal recognition – a level of service I hope I never get used to. The tone is set for the rest of my stay, which people have told me to expect will be exceptional.
It’s exciting that a wave of design-forward hotels has opened in Melbourne in recent years, from the cool 1 Hotel to the stylish Hannah St Hotel, raising the bar for established properties. It’s no longer enough to simply exist as a luxury hotel – you really need to impress. The Ritz-Carlton, Melbourne opened its doors in March 2023 in the heart of the city’s central business district, near the Yarra River and Southbank arts precinct, and immediately asserted itself as the tallest hotel in Australia.
The glamorous entry level features a striking gold staircase.
Melbourne-based architecture firm Cottee Park and Melbourne interior design firm BAR Studio were called upon to create this sleek hotel, featuring a quilted facade of glass and metal and a contemporary interior with a distinctly Melbourne feel that nods to the city’s architectural heritage and cosmopolitan spirit. While the entrance is at ground level, the main Sky Lobby and reception are on Level 80, a layout that’s common in Tokyo hotels and one that ensures every guest begins their stay on a high note. The journey from the ground floor showcases a golden spiral staircase, a Swarovski chandelier and a curated mix of Indigenous and contemporary artworks.
The main Sky Lobby and reception are on Level 80.
My ears pop as we ascend to reception for a seamless check-in. I head to the high-end, apartment-style Club Lounge for a glass of bubbles and nibbles. Where many hotel lounges feel stuffy and underwhelming, The Ritz-Carlton, Melbourne’s outpost shines. For starters, the view is incredible. On the 79th floor, it offers 180 -degree vistas of Melbourne’s east coast. Design-wise, it’s sleek, modern and flooded with natural light. As per usual, (see: my review of The Tasman), I order my obligatory cheese plate. It’s so generously portioned, I feel slightly guilty I don’t have a partner to share it with me. I overhear a conversation between staff and the couple sitting next to me, who are travelling from overseas. Their favourite thing about their stay has been the quality of the food.
The Club Lounge has the feel of a high-end apartment.
The Club Lounge offers breakfast, lunch, afternoon tea, evening hors d’oeuvres with drinks, and desserts.
I make my way to my Victoria Harbour King Room, which exudes understated luxury elevated by gold accents. I’m delighted to find a bottle of Moreau-Naudet Chablis and another cheese plate (my needs were definitely anticipated) waiting for me on the table. After all, part of the brand’s service philosophy is to go above and beyond to impress guests (see: the “$2,000 Rule").
The bathroom is spacious, stocked with Diptique products and featuring a bath and large double vanity. In true Ritz-Carlton fashion, there’s a walk-in wardrobe which adds to the feeling of luxury. Floor-to-ceiling windows that make way for the east-facing view make the room nice and bright.
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AI Prompt
East-facing rooms boast spectacular views out to the ocean.
Bathroom's are designed to take advantage of the view.
Melbourne is renowned for its hospitality scene, so staying in a hotel to dine feels almost sacrilegious. But someone’s got to do the hard work, and I willingly oblige, heading to dinner at the onsite modern Australian restaurant, Atria. Dining alone (especially without a book) can sometimes feel awkward, but staff are intuitive and ask if I’d like to sit at the chef’s table so I can watch the choreography of the kitchen while I dine. Again, the views are incredible (we’re looking out to the Dandenong Ranges now), which I enjoy while working through an indulgent seafood medley.
The spectacular The Ritz-Carlton Suite.
It begins with a scallop and caviar tartlet paired with Suenen Champagne (the sommelier’s choice, and a good one at that), followed by tuna with pickled citrus, river mint, tuna bone cream and shiitake oil. But it’s the paperbark baked half rock lobster with mandarin, heirloom tomato vinaigrette and finger lime that makes me take out my phone to show my family. At $170 a pop, it’s not the cheapest item on the menu, but it’s a dish I’m unlikely to forget anytime soon. The sommelier guides me through a tasting of Chablis and Sancerre, cementing this as one of my favourite hotel meals I’ve ever had.
I collapse into my room’s plush bed and enjoy a luxurious, uninterrupted sleep before being woken up by the sun rising over the water.
Paperbark baked half rock lobster with mandarin, heirloom tomato vinaigrette and finger lime.
The next morning, I head to the wellness area for a quick dip in the indoor, heated infinity pool. The modern design and skyline views make me feel like I’m in Tokyo. There is also a sauna, steam rooms and vitality pools to round out the wellness offerings, or for a more indulgent experience, you can book a treatment at the spa.
I’m warmly welcomed back to the Club Lounge for breakfast. There’s a mix of small buffet bites and an à la carte menu spanning a pulled pork bun, caramelised honey toast and salmon benedict.
I’m feeling sky high after this stay and reluctant to head down in the lift and back to reality.
The heated infinity pool is the ultimate place to unwind.
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Details
Best for: Business travellers, hotel aficionados, couples and those looking for a stylish staycay.
Highlights: Service, views and dining.
Address: 650 Lonsdale St, Melbourne VIC 3000
Accessibility: Accessible rooms with roll-in showers, lowered hooks, and space for wheelchairs are available. All venues offer accessibility.
Price: From $650 per night
Club Lounge access: Only open to guests who book a room or suite that specifically includes Club Lounge access
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Rachael Thompson is Australian Traveller's Evergreen Editor and Hotel Addict. She's responsible for the foundational content on AustralianTraveller.com, helping to manage and grow the brand’s destination guides. With a background in design and travel media, Rachael is dedicated to curating content that is as much informational as it is beautiful. She began her career at Belle magazine, before taking up editorial roles at Homes to Love and Bed Threads. When she's not writing, editing or optimising content, Rachael enjoys exploring the city's newest restaurants, bars and hotels. Next on her Aussie travel wish list is Lord Howe Island.
Located just an hour north-west of Melbourne, the largely undiscovered Macedon Ranges quietly pours some of Australia’s finest cool-climate wines and serves up some of Victoria’s best food.
Mention the Macedon Ranges and most people will think of day spas and mineral springs around Daylesford, cosy weekends away in the countryside or the famous Hanging Rock (of enigmatic picnic fame). Or they won’t have heard of the Macedon Ranges at all.
But this cool-climate destination has been inconspicuously building a profile as a high-quality food and wine region and is beginning to draw serious attention from oenophiles and epicureans alike.
The rise of Macedon Ranges wine
Barrels of liquid gold at Kyneton Ridge Estate Winery. (Image: Chloe Smith Photography)
With elevations ranging from 300 to 800 metres, Macedon Ranges vineyards are among the highest in the country. This altitude, combined with significant day/night temperature swings, makes for a slow ripening season, in turn nurturing wines that embody elegance and structure. Think crisp chardonnays, subtle yet complex pinot noirs and delicate sparkling wines, along with niche varietals, such as gamay and nebbiolo.
Despite the region’s natural advantages – which vary from estate to estate, as each site embodies unique terroir depending on its position in relation to the Great Dividing Range, soil make-up and altitude – the Macedon Ranges has remained something of an insider’s secret. Unlike Victoria’s Yarra Valley or Mornington Peninsula, you won’t find large tour buses here and there’s no mass marketing drawing crowds.
Many of the 40-odd wineries are family-run operations with modest yields, meaning the wineries maintain a personal touch (if you visit a cellar door, you’ll likely chat to the owner or winemaker themselves) and a tight sales circle that often doesn’t go far beyond said cellar door. And that’s part of the charm.
Though wines from the Macedon Ranges are just starting to gain more widespread recognition in Australia, the first vines were planted in the 1860s, with a handful of operators then setting up business in the 1970s and ’80s. The industry surged again in the 1990s and early 2000s with the entry of wineries, such as Mount Towrong, which has an Italian slant in both its wine and food offering, and Curly Flat, now one of the largest estates.
Meet the new generation of local winemakers
The Clydesdale barn at Paramoor. (Image: Chloe Smith Photography)
Then, within the last 15 years, a new crop of vignerons like Andrew Wood at Kyneton Ridge Estate, whose vineyard in 2024 was the first in the Macedon Ranges to be certified by Sustainable Winegrowing Australia; Geoff Plahn and Samantha Reid at Paramoor, who have an impressive cellar door with a roaring fire and studded leather couches in an old Clydesdale barn; and Ollie Rapson and Renata Morello at Lyons Will, who rapidly expanded a small vineyard to focus on top-shelf riesling, gamay, pinot noir and chardonnay, have taken ownership of local estates.
Going back to the early days, Llew Knight’s family was one of the pioneers of the 1970s, replacing sheep with vines at Granite Hills when the wool industry dwindled. Knight is proud of the fact that all their wines are made with grapes from their estate, including a light, peppery shiraz (some Macedon wineries purchase fruit from nearby warmer areas, such as Heathcote, particularly to make shiraz) and a European-style grüner veltliner. And, as many other wineries in the region do, he relies on natural acid for balance, rather than an additive, which is often required in warmer regions. “It’s all about understanding and respecting your climate to get the best out of your wines,” he says.
Curious residents at Kyneton Ridge Estate. (Image: Chloe Smith Photography)
Throughout the Macedon Ranges, there’s a growing focus on sustainability and natural and low-intervention wines, with producers, such as Brian Martin at Hunter Gatherer making waves in regenerative viticulture. Martin previously worked in senior roles at Australia’s largest sparkling winemaking facility, and now applies that expertise and his own nous to natural, hands‑off, wild-fermented wines, including pét‑nat, riesling and pinot noir. “Wild fermentation brings more complexity,” he says. “Instead of introducing one species of yeast, you can have thousands and they add different characteristics to the wine.”
The estate’s vineyard, where cool-climate grapes are grown. (Image: Chloe Smith Photography)
Most producers also focus on nurturing their grapes in-field and prune and pick by hand, thus avoiding the introduction of impurities and the need to meddle too much in the winery. “The better the quality of the fruit, the less you have to interfere with the natural winemaking process,” says Wood.
Given the small yields, there’s also little room for error, meaning producers place immense focus on quality. “You’re never going to compete in the middle [in a small region] – you’ve got to aim for the top,” says Curly Flat owner Jeni Kolkka. “Big wineries try to do things as fast as possible, but we’re in no rush,” adds Troy Walsh, owner and winemaker at Attwoods. “We don’t use commercial yeasts; everything is hand-harvested and everything is bottled here, so we bottle only when we’re ready, not when a big truck arrives.” That’s why, when you do see a Macedon Ranges product on a restaurant wine list, it’s usually towards the pointy end.
Come for the wine, stay for the food
Dining at Lake House Daylesford is a treat. (Image: Chloe Smith Photography)
If wine is the quiet achiever of the Macedon Ranges, then food is its not-so-secret weapon. In fact, the area has more hatted restaurants than any other region in Victoria. A pioneer of the area’s gourmet food movement is region cheerleader Alla Wolf-Tasker, culinary icon and founder of Daylesford’s Lake House.
For more than three decades, Wolf-Tasker has championed local producers and helped define what regional fine dining can look like in Australia. Her influence is palpable, not just in the two-hatted Lake House kitchen, but in the broader ethos of the region’s dining scene, as a wave of high-quality restaurants have followed her lead to become true destination diners.
The hatted Midnight Starling restaurant is located in Kyneton. (Image: Chloe Smith Photography)
It’s easy to eat well, whether at other hatted restaurants, such as Midnight Starling in the quaint town of Kyneton, or at the wineries themselves, like Le Bouchon at Attwoods, where Walsh is inspired by his time working in France in both his food offering and winemaking.
The beauty of dining and wine touring in the Macedon Ranges is that it feels intimate and unhurried. You’re likely to meet the winemaker, hear about the trials of the latest vintage firsthand, and taste wines that never make it to city shelves. And that’s worth getting out of the city for – even if it is just an hour down the road.
Delicate dishes on the menu at Midnight Starling. (Image: Chloe Smith Photography)
A traveller’s checklist
Staying there
Stay at the Cleveland Estate. (Image: Chloe Smith Photography)
Enjoy a four-course menu at the one-hatted Surly Goat in Hepburn Springs, Japanese-inspired fare at Kuzu in Woodend or unpretentious fine dining at Mount Monument, which also has a sculpture park.
Drinking there
A tasting at Passing Clouds Winery. (Image: Chloe Smith Photography)
Settle in for a tasting at Boomtown in Castlemaine, sample local drops at the cosy Woodend Cellar & Bar or wine-hop around the many cellar doors, such as Passing Clouds.
Boomtown Winery and Cellar Bar. (Image: Chloe Smith Photography)
Playing there
Idyllic scenes at Castlemaine. (Image: Chloe Smith Photography)
Wander through the seasonal splendour of Forest Glade Gardens, hike to the summit of Hanging Rock, or stroll around the tranquil Sanatorium Lake.
Purple flowers hanging from a tree. (Image: Chloe Smith Photography)
