Marzia, there's good cycling to be found just about anywhere but I'd recommend somewhere inner South East for the best access to pools, beach, good cycling roads & run paths/trails. I have about 7 50m pools accessible within less than 10km.

Bayside Tri Club are pretty active & worth checking out. I'm not a terribly active member as I prefer to train solo but there's plenty of activity for those who want it & support for all distances & interests. http://www.baysidetriclub.com

Welcome to one of the most liveable cities on earth & PM if you want any more info :-)

Thank you for your answer! I will be actually working in Parkville. So: would you recommend a neighbourhood in particular?

http://vic.tri-alliance.com.au

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Trying since 81
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Kinda depends on your preferences & lifestyle and how much you want to spend. Also depends on whether you prefer Vietnamese, Middle Eastern, Greek, Italian, African or Eastern European cuisine. Or just about any other for that matter.

Melbourne is broadly split into the Northies and the Southies depending on which side of the river they prefer to live. There's also Westies but they're mostly criminals so I wouldn't head that way or you'll probably get your bike stolen.

If close proximity to work is important, head North. If access to beaches, open water swimming and possibly better cycling matters, head South. Parkville is pretty accessible by public transport depending on how long a commute you want to tolerate. Good coffee can generally be found just about anywhere so that's not a problem.

By the way, which footy team are you going to follow? That might be important in the decision.

As a non-Australian living in Melbourne, while I can see the north south divide is there, it's really a non-issue to me. I started in St Kilda (on the bay), moved to Richmond (central, considered neutral territory) and have been in Fitzroy (inner north, couple of suburbs east of Parkville) for the last 4 years.

Bayside is an obvious triathlon friendly spot, given its proximity to "Beach Road", where the left lane of the double lane road is essentially a bike lane every weekend. The bay is handy for open water in summer. But the water is never overly appealing (sorry Melbourne).

I actually find living inner north great. Much closer to the few hills Melbourne has, which I prefer. Good parks nearby, including trail running (and hills!) in Yarra Bend park. No matter where you live, you'll be close to a decent pool. I train with YarraTri and walk to and from the pool every morning. But the club is not exactly the most connected, situated in a few locations. Can't talk about the positives or negatives of any of the other clubs unfortunatley, but my wife and I have made lots of friends through Yarra.

Fitzroy also has the best cafe to human ratio, which I love. Although also the highest hipster to human ratio, which is less great.

Good luck with your move. I lived in Melbourne back in 2000 and always have had fond memories of my time there. It's an awesome city.

I just left Melbourne after a 2 year secondment. It's an amazing city to live and train in.

We chose to live in South Melbourne for proximity to bars, restaurants and nightlife. But in reality you can get that in most, if not all, the inner suburbs. Each have their own vibe. Spend a few days in the city exploring and you'll know where you like. Generally speaking, the suburbs further from the city and closer to parkville will be more residential whereas the ones mentioned by the others (fitzrpy, brunswick, richmond) have a lot more going on. Brighton is where you'd live if you've got lots of $$. Close to the beach, nice cars. Schools, etc

Right outside my door I would run around the botanical gardens ("the tan" which has a bit of elevation change and is about a 3km loop) or around Albert Park Lake, which is a completely flat 5km loop. Both have toilet and water facilities in a couple spots which is nice. Otherwise I would run along the Yarra river or the Bay, which were also flat but a good change of pace for out and back runs

I swam at MSAC (1km from home) which had 2 50m pools, one indoor and
1 outdoor. There were always masters swims when I was there in the AMs

Cycling I just got in beach road most days and you can go 100mi before needing to turn around. Roads were always filled with cyclists and cars were relatively friendly.Kew Blvd, a 13km loop with minimal cars was a 10min ride from home. You can ride 60-90min to the dandenongs or drive about the same time to other hills. I could easily get 300km a week and never be bored. There were different cycling groups that would go 40kmph to join with just about any day of the week.


There are lots of tri clubs as others have said. I was with MTC / fluid who probably had a group of the strongest athletes but the coach wasn't friendly and I didn't rejoin. My friends that were part of Bayside and TriAlliance had nothing but positive things to say and they still had great athletes. Most clubs give you a free trial for a few weeks if you want to try before you buy.

Send me a PM if you'd like more tips from an expat. No matter where you live there, you'll have an amazing time

You probably don't swim where I do then:-) Bayside Tri Club also have beachside club rooms with hot showers - summer I can get an OW swim in as the sun's coming up, hot shower at the club rooms, grab a coffee up the road on the way into work. Magic :-)