My Favourite Places to Stay Near Etihad Stadium

An invitation to stay near Etihad Stadium in Melbourne: my favourite central hotels and apartments, plus old-photo walks around Docklands.

I fell for Docklands the way you fall for a place that keeps reinventing itself: a little windswept, a little shy, always bigger than the postcard.

I carry an old photograph and hunt for where the photographer once stood, so come walk it with me. Along the way I'll tell you which corner of the city to sleep in!

What the Old Photographs Saw Here

The waterfront behind Etihad Stadium (now Marvel Stadium) was once the busiest part of the port. Then container shipping moved downstream, and the docks sat abandoned by the 1990s.

Redevelopment began around 2000, the same year the stadium opened beside Southern Cross Station. Every then-and-now frame here is really a before-and-after!

Marvel Stadium - still Etihad in my notebook, and its retractable roof makes it my wet-weather hero!

Library at the Dock - built largely of engineered timber in 2014, a lovely modern frame facing Victoria Harbour.

The Vantage That Still Exists

The best old-photo hunting starts across the city, where the view hasn't budged. Hold up a glass-plate image of Flinders and Swanston streets from 1927 and the station still answers back.

Flinders Street Station - that copper dome and clock tower are right where they always were, and meeting "under the clocks" is still the done thing!

St Paul's Cathedral - its steps give the classic view of the station clocks, so so worth the climb.

Princes Bridge - the skyline over the Yarra, framed exactly as it should be.

Sleeping Within Sight of the Roof

If your plans orbit the stadium, sleep close to it. I would rather be a short walk from the gate than inside the post-gig crush.

When I worked nights at a hotel desk in Portland, the question after midnight was never about pillows. It was always "how do I get home from the show?"

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Arrow On Spencer - the best base for the stadium side, a ten-minute walk away with free tram stops outside (confirm at booking), though you give up the pool-and-gym extras of the bigger names; stay near Etihad Stadium.

The Vantage That's Gone, and Its Replacement

Some frames can't be matched at all. The corner of Flinders and Swanston streets once held railway tracks and the unloved Gas and Fuel towers.

Federation Square - opened in 2002 on a deck over the railyards, fractured sandstone, zinc and glass, and the city's living room now!

Birrarung Marr - a riverside park that is the walking route towards the MCG.

Melbourne Star - the 120 m wheel at Docklands reopened on 15 October 2026, so check days and book first.

Old Stone, New Glass

Between the stadium and the library lies my favourite then-and-now trick: stand where the old building stands and let the new one photobomb it.

State Library Victoria - founded in 1854, with the domed La Trobe Reading Room of 1913. The top dome galleries were closed in late October 2026, so the classic look-down shot may not be on offer.

Coop's Shot Tower - an 1889 brick tower, now standing under a glass cone at Melbourne Central. It's wonderfully odd!

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Voco Melbourne Central By Ihg - my pick for the library-and-shot-tower side of town, with a rooftop pool and a 24-hour front desk for late returns, though you trade stadium proximity for city views; details ↗.

Then and Now: Making the Comparison Frame Honest

My rule is to match the architecture and never the paint. Street art here changes constantly, so don't promise yourself a perfect copy!

Block Arcade - built in 1891-1893, with a mosaic floor and a glass canopy that look just as the old plates promise.

Royal Arcade - opened in 1870, the oldest surviving arcade in Australia, with Gog and Magog added in 1893.

Hosier Lane - free-to-paint since the late 1990s and never the same twice, a delight to photograph.

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Flinders Lane Apartments - my pick for the laneway lover, a historic building with a kitchenette and a minimarket on site, though you trade full hotel service for private check-in; on Booking.com ↗.

Market Mornings

Early starts suit old photographs, and Queen Victoria Market rewards them. It opened in 1878, partly over the Old Melbourne Cemetery of 1837-1854.

Queen Victoria Market - closed Mondays and Wednesdays, busy on Saturdays, and those hot jam doughnuts are a ritual!

Ultimate Foodie Tour - about two hours on Thursday to Sunday mornings, from $35, and booking is essential.

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Avani Melbourne Central Residences - my pick for market mornings, ten minutes' walk from the market with kitchen suites, an indoor pool and a 24-hour desk, though you trade the stadium doorstep for a free tram hop (ask the desk which view you'll get); see the suites ->

Across the River at Dusk

Southbank was wharves and factories until the 1990s. Now it faces the CBD with a promenade of restaurants and towers.

Sandridge Bridge - an 1888 railway bridge, now a footbridge with The Travellers sculptures about migration.

Eureka Tower and Melbourne Skydeck - 297.3 m, opened 2006, and dusk is the time when Flinders Street Station lights up across the water!

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Adina Apartment Hotel Melbourne Southbank - the river-side pick, with roomy apartments, an indoor pool and a 24-hour front desk, though you swap the short stadium walk for the Southbank view; reviews ↗.