The Prince of Wales Hotel has been a cornerstone in St. Kilda since the 19th Century. Over the years, St. Kilda has gone through many phases, including some pretty rough patches, but The Prince has managed to survive.

In the late 1990s, the hotel was drastically remolded and re-opened as a small (only 40 rooms), elegant, modern-but-comfortable hotel. The rooms are very relaxed - lots of neutral tones, natural accents, beautiful wood floors, comfortable platform beds, spacious bathrooms with modern fixtures, and contemporary TVs, DVDs and Bose radios (although the channel options are pretty basic and there is no PPV - but you can borrow DVDs from the hotel).

Room service is very good and served quickly and efficiently by one of the several attractive hotel employees dressed in black.

The internet connection leaves a bit to be desired...I had to call the front desk a couple times during my stay because their server needed to be rebooted. I quickly got the sense that I was one of the few people in the hotel actually using it. Although when it did work, it worked fine.

The hotel is just across the street from the public beach, and several of the rooms have views of Port Phillip Bay.

Also part of the Prince of Wales complex is an award-winning restaurant called Circa (which also prepares the room service). Although I didn't get a chance to try it, the hotel also has a very popular spa called Aurora. And definitely don't skip the vodka bar in the basement.

The hotel also has a bottle shop, bakery, public bar, and band room that regularly hosts some of the hottest bands in Australia.

The Prince is about 15 minutes by taxi or 30 minutes by tram from the city.

So if you're in Melbourne and don't need the convenience of a City Centre hotel, the Prince is a cool retreat.

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·   The Prince Hotel Reviews [TripAdvisor]