CLUBLAND
Whatever your interest, there's a club night for you in Victoria. Melbourne, in particular, is a great city for clubbing, with a rich selection of venues and sounds. It's also where huge one-off events like the Big Day Out and Summadayze take place, attracting big-name turn-tablists from across the globe.
Down to earth regional Victoria still caters for most musical tastes, with good value venues in the larger regional centres and popular regular events like the Falls Festival near Lorne on New Year's Eve and the Meredith Music Festival in December.
Prices, passes and pointers
These places are also drop-off points for two of the city's clubbing bibles – Beat and Inpress magazines. For other sources of up-to-date clubbing information, tune into local radio stations PBS, Triple R or Joy FM. Hostels will have up-to-date info on local places with free/cheap drinks, discounted entry and backpacker nights.
Getting past the venue's door police can be a frustrating experience. To improve your chances of entry, dress to impress. Importantly, don't try and talk your way past the bouncers – it won't work!
Where to be seen
Heat at the Crown Casino (mainstream everything)
Altitude (house, trance and anthems)
Icon (where laybacks and dancing on the bar are actively encouraged)
Inflation, which has up-for-it crowds and two hours of free beer every Tuesday night. They also provide a free bus to pick you up from your hostel
Spy Lounge (typical tunes)
More low-key places
Cherry is more good time modern rock n' roll than 'doof-doof'. Often has live music.
Arthur's
Honky Tonks has very aloof door staff. Dress smart and sharp to get past the door mafia.
Bambu is uber cool, with cocktails.
Pony has local DJs and live music.
Heading out of the city, you've got plenty of choices, including:
A Bar called Barry for indie hits and retro nights
Prince of Wales for everything from international bands to DJs and ripping tunes
Twister at the Palace is retro, retro, retro
Purple Sneakers @ the Rochester has indie hits with musos on the turntables
Boutique is potentially pretentious but worth dressing up for
Seven has huge nights, with big-name DJs and plenty of punters
Getting home
