Novotel Melbourne Preston - Family & Business trip hotel - Ways to Relax at Novotel Preston: Your Melbourne Staycation Guide

A change of pace doesn’t need a long drive attached to it. Sometimes the best getaway is simply checking into somewhere close to home, dropping the bags and giving yourself permission to spend the weekend differently.

Novotel Melbourne Preston puts you in Melbourne’s inner north, with good food, local entertainment, parklands and some of the city’s most characterful neighbourhoods within easy reach. Back at the hotel, there’s everything you need to make the downtime count too: contemporary rooms, on-site dining, a 24-hour gym and sauna.

So, whether your idea of a Melbourne staycation involves market mornings, creekside walks, family adventures or a long lunch followed by very few plans, you can make the weekend your own.

Start Local: Eat, Browse & Bowl Your Way Through Preston

You don’t need to head straight for the CBD to feel like you’ve gone somewhere.

Start at Preston Market, one of the neighbourhood’s best-known local institutions and an easy addition to a slow weekend morning. Wander between fresh produce, specialty grocers, delis and food traders, grab something to eat and enjoy a part of Melbourne that feels distinctly local rather than designed for visitors.

Then there’s Preston’s more playful side. Nearby The Keys brings together retro-inspired bowling, arcade games, a bistro, bar and beer garden, while Preston and neighbouring Thornbury are home to the kind of warehouse-style breweries and taprooms that Melbourne’s inner north does particularly well.

The result is a weekend where you can explore without turning the day into an itinerary. Pick somewhere for lunch, stay for another drink, then head back when you’re ready.

Take Your Staycation Outside

Relaxing doesn’t have to mean staying still.

Melbourne’s north has plenty of green space for a morning walk, leisurely ride or a few hours away from traffic. Darebin Parklands offers bushland, walking and cycling opportunities along Darebin Creek, while sections of the Merri Creek trail network provide another easy way to stretch the legs. Darebin Council specifically promotes its parklands for walking, running, cycling and taking time out in nature.

Further south, the Yarra and its surrounding parklands open up even more space to explore. You can make the morning as active as you like, then return to Novotel Preston for the other half of the equation: a session in the 24-hour gym followed by time in the sauna.

That’s our kind of balance. Move first. Slow down afterwards.

Make it a Family Weekend

A family weekend getaway in Melbourne works much better when nobody has to spend half of it in the car.

Around Preston and Melbourne’s north, families can mix and match the weekend depending on the weather and everyone’s energy levels. Bundoora Park gives you open space and family-friendly activities, while Latrobe Golf Park offers options including adventure mini golf. Northland is close by when a movie, shopping trip or indoor entertainment sounds more appealing.

For a change of pace, Heide Museum of Modern Art combines galleries with extensive gardens, parkland and outdoor sculpture, making it an easy cultural outing that doesn’t require everyone to spend the afternoon indoors.

Back at the hotel, accommodation is designed to work for families as well as couples and solo travellers. Family-suitable room types give everyone space to settle in, while Novotel Melbourne Preston’s current Kids Eat Free offer lets eligible children aged 12 and under enjoy a complimentary kids’ meal when an accompanying adult purchases a main meal, subject to the offer terms.

Less organising, more actual weekend.

Turn One Night Away into a Food & Wine Escape

If you’ve got the car and nowhere urgent to be, Preston also works as a starting point for a bigger day out.

Head east and the first parts of the Yarra Valley wine region are within easy driving reach, making a cellar-door lunch or afternoon tasting a realistic addition to a Melbourne staycation. Rather than suggesting the entire valley is just around the corner, we’d think of it as an easy day trip: wine country begins to open up as you drive towards areas like Coldstream, with Yarra Glen, Healesville and more cellar doors further beyond.

That gives you the best of both versions of a getaway. Spend the day among vineyards, then come back to Melbourne rather than committing to a full regional weekend. And when you’re back? No cooking required.

Let Dinner Come to You

After a day out, staying in starts to feel much more appealing.

The Stampton is Novotel Preston’s on-site restaurant and bar, so dinner doesn’t require another drive or another decision about where to go. There’s also Stampton & Co for coffee and a slower start the next morning, while room service means the final plan for the evening can simply be closing the door and putting your feet up. The hotel’s current facilities also include the restaurant, café, gym and sauna under the one roof.

That’s the useful part of having a hotel as your base: explore when you feel like it, stay put when you don’t.

Make More of a Business Trip

A work stay doesn’t have to end when the last slide disappears from the screen.

Novotel Melbourne Preston has dedicated event facilities for conferences, workshops, meetings, corporate functions and group events, with 15 event spaces catering for events of up to 450 guests.

For interstate guests or teams staying overnight, that creates an opportunity to add something to the trip rather than simply moving between meeting room and airport. Finish the day over dinner, explore Preston’s local food and entertainment, take a walk the next morning or extend the stay into the weekend.

Work first… Melbourne afterwards.

Explore Melbourne’s Inner North from Preston

And when you do want to go further, you can.

Preston puts neighbourhoods like Thornbury, Northcote and Fitzroy within easy reach, alongside the restaurants, bars, live entertainment and independent shops that give Melbourne’s north its personality. From there, central Melbourne is there when you want it — not something you have to build the entire weekend around.

That’s what makes Preston work particularly well for a weekend getaway in Melbourne. You can dip into the city, explore closer to the hotel, drive out towards wine country or spend an afternoon doing very little at all. The choice is yours.

Plan your Melbourne staycation at Novotel Preston

A good staycation should feel different from an ordinary weekend, without making you work hard to achieve it.

At Novotel Melbourne Preston, you can start the morning at the market, walk beside the creek, take the kids somewhere new, head out for a Yarra Valley lunch or explore Melbourne’s inner north. Then come back to a comfortable room, sauna and dinner downstairs.

No three-hour road trip required. Just check in, choose your pace and make a weekend of it. Ready to book?