Melbourne is a stylish, sophisticated and dynamic city with hidden city laneways and arcades, vibrant shopping, bars, restaurants and live music venues for visitors to discover. Home to a rich calendar of theatre, sporting and cultural events, the city boasts a festive atmosphere all year-round.

Regularly voted one of the world's most liveable cities, Melbourne is also known as the gourmet capital of Australia with award-winning chefs and a diverse cuisine with unique settings, provincial specialities and world class wine regions within easy access of the city.

Here is a look at some of the must do activities and events, must visit restaurants and bars in and around Melbourne;

- World-class exhibitions reign supreme in 2013 with Monet's Garden at the National Gallery of Victoria (10 May – 8 September), Hollywood Costume at the Australian Centre for Moving Image (24 April – 18 August) and Designing 007 – Fifty Years of Bond at Melbourne Museum (1 November – 23 February).

- Melbourne reinforces its position as the theatre capital of Australia this year with the world premiere of stage spectacularKING KONG Live on Stage at the Regent Theatre in June. The production will involve some of the biggest props and one of the most impressive sets in the history of theatre as well as a powerful contemporary soundtrack.

- An entirely new museum experience and the largest exhibition ever to focus on the stories of Victorian Aboriginal people, is set to open in Bunjilaka Aboriginal Cultural Centre at Melbourne Museum in July 2013. First Peoples tells the story of Aboriginal Victoria – celebrating the diversity, continuity, strength and vitality of Koorie people over 60,000 years.

- Year-round Melbourne is a city that loves its sport. Major sporting events include the Australian Football Rules Grand Final(28 September 2013), Spring Racing Carnival including the famous Melbourne Cup (22 September to 25 November), Boxing Day Test Match (26-30 December 2013), Australian Masters Golf (14-17 November 2013) Australian Open Tennis Championship (January 2014), the Formula 1® Australian Grand Prix (13-16 March) and the Ironman Asia Pacific Championship (23 March).

- A visit to Melbourne wouldn't be complete without enjoying the city's renowned food scene. The highly acclaimed Vue De Monde on the 55th floor of the Rialto building, Ben Shewry's Attica and newer additions such Andrew McConnell's Moon Under Water on Gertrude Street provide sumptuous dining experiences.

- The city prides itself on the authenticity of its multi-cultural dining scene. Melbourne's Chinatown offers a myriad of Asian dining experiences including cult dumpling house Hutong, new dumpling scene trailblazer Shandong Mama, Sichuan Dining Room for an authentic Sichuan pepper hit and the long-established, award-winning Flower Drum.

- Melbourne's famed Italian dining scene celebrates the finer things in life with a more causal touch. The Lygon Street precinct, known as Little Italy is home to a myriad of Italian cafes and restaurants. The Italian influence extends into the city with the refurbished Grossi Florentino and newly opened Ombra Salumi Bar winning acclaim from both locals and visitors whileNeapoli and Rosetta also offer fine Italian dining experiences.

- As a city renowned for its vibrant nightlife, new bars continue to emerge in the city-center. At the new not-for-profit Shebeenbar, all profits contribute to planning project in developing countries. Wine is matched to confit duck waffles at new-comerCumulus Up. Japanese lounge and bar Hihou serves up cocktails, sake and bar food in a tranquil, architecturally designed setting.

- The St Kilda precinct combines sea, sand and great food and wine. A walk along the beach can be followed by a delicious meal at newly opened Acland St Cantina, classic beach-side location The Stokehouse with its newly refurbished beachfront café or a drink at new rooftop bar Captain Baxter.

- Back in the city centre, explore Melbourne's labyrinth of laneways - including Degraves Street, Flinders Lane, Curtain House and Little Collins - to find everything from international designer wares, to locally designed threads and housewares. Take aHidden Secrets Laneway Tour to get the inside word on where to go.

- Renowned as the coffee capital of Australia, Melbourne has enjoyed a long and eventful love affair with coffee. Those who want to get to the core of the city's café culture can take one of several coffee tours including Evolving Success and Hidden Secret Café Culture Walk.

- Explore the city by bike: Melbourne Bike Share offers casual bike hire and a range of touring routes whether your passion is food, art, design or retail. Real Melbourne Bike Tours offer intriguing tours around the city that blend sightseeing with an insightful view of the cities colourful history. The Humble Vintage offers stylish vintage bikes and a range of curated routes along popular cycling trails.

- Melbourne is the Australian live music capital with more than 3,000 live music performances a week. A free downloadable guide called Melbourne Music City is the perfect companion for music-lovers; it features maps of Melbourne's entertainment hot-spots and venues in regional Victoria.

- Melbourne is one of the only cities in the world where visitors can enjoy a hot balloon ride directly over the city - visitors can gain a bird's eye view of the famous Albert Park racetrack, Melbourne's city skyline, Port Phillip Bay and east to the picturesque Dandenong Ranges with Global Ballooning.

- From the most luxurious suites complete with spa and city views to the simplest backpacker accommodation for the adventurous twenty-something – you're bound to find what you're looking for in Melbourne. Backpacker style accommodation can be found at Base St Kilda, Habitat HQ and Miami Hotel Melbourne.

- Luxury accommodation options include the historic Hotel Windsor, the cutting edge Art Series Hotels, the boutique Lyall Hoteland the impressive Crown Melbourne suite of accommodation offerings – Crown Metropol, Crown Towers and Crown Promenade. Luxury self-contained living can be found at Melbourne Short Stay Apartments.

- Luxury accommodation can also be found at international hotel chains such as The Langham Melbourne, Sofitel on Collins,The Park Hyatt Melbourne, The Grant Hyatt Melbourne, the InterContinental Melbourne The Rialto and the Westin Melbourne.

- Iconic Australian wildlife can be found within easy reach of Melbourne's city centre. Healesville Sanctuary is home 30 hectares (70 acres) of bushland offers a distinctly Australian setting for visitors to experience unique close-up encounters with koalas, kangaroos, wombats, emus, dingoes, birds of prey and platypus. Heading south-east of Melbourne, visitors can view the natural spectacle at Phillip Island Nature Parks as colonies of Little Penguins make their nightly march up the beach to their dune burrows.  Back in Melbourne, the Melbourne Zoo will soon be launching a new Breakfast with the Koalas experience.

- Regional Victoria brings some of the state's finest produce to the table. Award winning restaurants include Ten Minutes by Tractor at Main Ridge on the Mornington Peninsula, the Royal Mail in Dunkeld, Provenence in Beechworth, Lakehouse at Daylesford and Stefanos in Mildura.

- Victoria is home to 21 distinct wine regions, boasting over 850 wineries, of which 650 have cellar doors. The Rutherglen wine region is famous for its big red varieties, the King Valley for its prosecco, the Mornington Peninsula for pinot noir and theYarra Valley for its classic wine styles including sparkling and rose.

- Many of Victoria's leading wineries are within a short 90 minute drive of the city-centre, options include De Bortoli, Yering Station, Domain Chandon, TarraWarra Estate or Dominique Portet in the Yarra Valley and Montalto, Red Hill Estate, Port Phillip Estate or T'Gallant on the Mornington Peninsula.

- One of the hottest new attractions in the Yarra Valley region is the Yarra Valley Chocolaterie and Ice Creamery. Developed by passionate foodies Ian and Leanne Neeland, the Chocolaterie is a destination where guests can delight in the experience of tasting, seeing and indulging in quality products.

- There are over 200,000 kilometres of highways, roads and tracks in Victoria. For the best bits of bitumen, visitors can follow the South East Touring Route passing by vines, penguins and beaches aplenty; take the Great Southern Touring Routealong the iconic Great Ocean Road, past the 12 Apostles and on to the Grampians; or enjoy the lakes, beaches and national parks along the Sydney to Melbourne Coastal Drive.

- Victoria's High Country is home to three of Australia's premier ski resorts, Mount Buller Hotham Alpine Resort and Falls Creek. Endless outdoor activities are on offer including skiing, snowboarding, snow mobile rides and more. Closer to Melbourne, the snow resorts of Lake Mountain and Mount Baw Baw offer family friendly beginner slopes, cross country skiing and terrain parks. Mount Baw Baw also offer husky dog sled tours.

- The newest attraction in the Ballarat region is Kryal Castle, a medieval theme park that delivs a land of myth, magic and medieval adventure based around legends, wizards, enchantment, chivalry and dragons. Kryal Castle adds to the already impressive list of family friendly attractions in the Ballarat area. Other exciting attractions include Sovereign Hill - an open air museum which recreates Victoria's glorious goldrush days and the Ballarat Wildlife Park – where visitors can get up close and personal with Australian native animals and reptiles.

- Just a 90 minute drive from the city can have visitors relaxing in the natural hot springs at Peninsula Hot Springs, or in Daylesford at the Hepburn Bathhouse & Spa.

For more information go to www.visitmelbourne.com

Media contact: Madeleine Blake, Senior International Media Officer, Tel: +61 3 9653 9814;
Email: internationalpr@tourism.vic.gov.au