I am not a Melbournite but I have rellies down there and Mornington and Sorrento(sp) are superb locations. I just can't stand the weather down there personally but it is a very decent location and has a fantastic city imo.

I don't agree with the Western Suburbs statement. We live in the western suburbs and love it! Some of them are horrible but certainly not all of them (or even close to all of them). I hate these sweeping generalizations

Coburg would definitely be in the top 40 pct of places to live in Melbourne, and probably moving up into the top 30pct now

Sites to Visit

http://pentridgevillage.com.au/

http://www.arts.monash.edu.au/ncas/m...st/coburg.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sydney_Road,_Melbourne

Broadmeadows has improved unbelievably in the last 15 years.

Fawkner I'll give you is very bland, a bit like 70 pct of the eastern Suburbs.

Agreed - I was pleasantly surprised when I happened to go down there last winter.

Boronia?

Hallam
Doveton
Dandy
Hampton Park

The first day of winter - June 1 - it got to 16.8C in the City and 15.4C on 2 June. There was over 4 hours of sun and 0mm of rain. Would you get that on 21 December in the UK. I think not.

Other suburbs I would avoid are: Hastings, Keysborough, Aspendale Gardens, Bittern, Seaford, Cheltenham, Moorabin and Bentleigh.

thanks for the replies.
it would be helpful to know some of the reasons behind the suggestions too if thats possible.

I'm surprised you mention Aspendale Gardens - we are in a new build estate full of very posh houses (not my cup of tea to be honest, pretty sterile). However, not much sign of any problems that I have seen. Perhaps there is a rough corner somewhere???

I mention it because of mega traffic queues along Boundary Road at peak times.

That's true! Luckily Adam bikes & trains and I don't work!

Absolute poppy cock! Out running along the Beach Road this morning at about 8.30 and glorious weather - Bay like a Mill Pond and brilliantly blue - when hubbie came to pick me up we both said that we couldn't think of a nicer place to be!

It currently 35c in our apartment at the minute with the sun blazing in, not for bad for a Melbourne winter

What a load of rubbish, there aren't any really bad suburbs, some aren't to my taste but I haven't yet come across anywhere to avoid.

The reason some of these areas are mentioned is probably due to the fact that they have large asian communitys and well you'd want to avoid living there wouldn't you

No so mate. The ones i mentioned are highly industrial and are not very pretty. They also have old/ shabby/low rent housing in them. So yes, i would prefer not to live there if thats ok with you

I wasn't talking about you and you're right in that respect but the lists that included Frankston, Coburg, Footscray etc were nothing to do with industrial