Why winter is the best time for a holiday in Victoria

Melbourne’s cooler months are renowned for delivering the city’s signature “four seasons in one day” weather, but the silver lining to those rain clouds is that Melburnians know how to do winter better than most. So, fetch your finest black puffer jacket and delve into the city’s favourite winter pastimes.

Meet the Pharaohs

NGV International is taking visitors back in time to the sizzling sands of Egypt for its latest Melbourne Winter Masterpiece: Pharaoh. Curated in partnership with the British Museum, the international exhibition is one of the largest presented outside London and features over 500 items, including intricate jewellery, coffins, and remnants of colossal statues. The exhibition is open daily until October 6 but book ahead for NGV Friday Nights to see one of the museum’s five winter musical residencies, each taking guests on a melodic journey to northern Africa and beyond.

Enjoy a steamy soak

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Comma, in Cremorne, invites bathers to drop their towel (but not their trunks) and embrace a traditional bathhouse experience. Sink into a wooden magnesium-infused hot tub in a moody, low-lit cocoon. If you’re brave, refresh with a cold pail shower then step into the infrared sauna. Further north, Sense of Self has converted the top floor of a Collingwood warehouse into a communal bathing retreat. You can also pair a day out to Mornington Peninsula’s wineries with a dip at the new Alba Thermal Springs & Spa, which has 31 different geothermal and cold pools.

Catch a show

Broadway musical Wicked burned down the box office with record-breaking sales when it first came to Melbourne in 2008, and producers are hoping to repeat the feat at the Regent Theatre this winter (until August 25). Meanwhile, around the corner at Princess Theatre, superstar Sarah Brightman is leading a redux of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s glamorous Sunset Boulevard. Enjoy a late nightcap at Caretaker’s Cottage, recently named one of the world’s top 50 bars.

Follow the lights