Melbourne Cup Carnival

Arrive in Melbourne and make your own way to our centrally located 5-star Next Hotel Melbourne, Curio Collection by Hilton. If you’d like to extend your stay, additional nights can be arranged prior to the tour.

Located in Melbourne’s vibrant East End, the hotel is perfectly positioned within walking distance of the city’s renowned restaurants, theatres, shopping and laneways, providing an ideal base for your racing weekend.

This evening, we’ll gather at the hotel for welcome drinks before heading to one of Melbourne’s popular dining venues for our Welcome Dinner. It’s the perfect opportunity to meet your fellow travellers and get to know one another before our Melbourne Cup Week adventures begin.

After a quiet morning, we’ll head out to a Derby Day Eve Luncheon. With high-quality racing guests and entertainment (Previous guests have included Michelle Payne, Gai Waterhouse, Daryl Braithwaite, Taxiride & Living Legend Apache Cat to name a few), this is a great way to start the week. There is also a great after-party for those keen to kick on with some racing luminaries.

We head off after breakfast on a beautiful cruise along the Yarra & Maribyrnong Rivers to Flemington Racecourse including a few champagnes and nibbles.

We have premium hospitality in Skyline Dining including seated lunch and drinks, with grandstand seats right on the finish line to watch an amazing days racing. After the massive day, we return on the boat with nibbles & drinks.

Today is a free day for everyone to recover from a busy first few days. You may wish to head off to a winery in the Yarra Valley, visit Living Legends farm or just do some shopping and enjoy everything else Melbourne has to offer.

After a relaxing morning doing the form, we head off to the Call of the Card Luncheon at Crown Casino where Australia’s biggest punters take on our best bookies to set the scene for the Cup. An all-inclusive three-course meal and drinks with interviews with leading jockeys, trainers and bookies will give the edge to find the Cup winner.

The evening is at leisure to prepare for the big day.

Today we head to Flemington for the running of the 166th Lexus Melbourne Cup. We’ve got amazing hospitality in the Rose Room with views of the winning post. Our reserved tables in Rose Room include direct views of the finish line, lovely food served throughout the day and an all-day drinks package including beer, wine, sparkling and soft drinks, a fantastic spot to soak up all the atmosphere of ‘the race that stops a nation™’.

After the races, we’ll finish our final night with a few drinks at the hotel bar to unwind.

The tour concludes today. It’s been a massive week and hopefully, we’ve still got some winnings in our pockets as we head on our separate ways home or stick around to finish out the week (we can assist you with arrangements for Kennedy Oaks Day & TAB Champions Stakes Day if you wish to stay on for the other days).