Two ALL Accor luxury city escapes money can’t buy

From VIP stadium suites to harbour view upgrades, these are the experiences your travel points were made for.

They say the best things in life are free. We say experiences earned with travel points are a pretty strong contender. But judging by exclusive money-can’t-buy experiences available through ALL Accor, we’re not even sure that’s true.

Designed for travellers who know how to make every journey count, ALL Accor members receive up to 10 per cent off at more than 4500 hotels worldwide. You’ll also earn points on hotel stays, dining, partner airlines, car rentals, online shopping and more – and then turn those points into experiences that go far beyond a free night’s stay.

Here’s how to turn your points into the ultimate weekend.

Sydney

Day one

Check into Pullman Quay Grand Sydney Harbour and one of the world’s great harbour views. Framed by the Royal Botanic Garden, Harbour Bridge and the Opera House, the hotel’s 216 apartment-style suites place you squarely in Sydney’s spiritual heart.

As the setting sun turns the Opera House sails soft shades of orange and pink, settle in at onsite restaurant Acapulco El Vista for a sundowner. Inspired by the golden age of 1950s Acapulco, the rooftop bar channels old Hollywood glamour, while the Mexican spirit runs through the drinks list like a strong shot of tequila. Fortify yourself for the night with Acapulco’s porchetta Cubano sandwich.

Next up, head to the Eastern Pontoon and skip the ordinary by boarding a water taxi. Cruise across Sydney Harbour and up the Parramatta River to Sydney Olympic Park.

The VIP experience continues in Accor Stadium, with suites reserved exclusively for ALL Accor members. Whether you’re there to see your favourite pop star –like Robbie Williams, BTS or Harry Styles – or you’ve snagged tickets to the NRL Grand Final, you’ll enjoy a fully catered experience from one of the best seats in the house.

Need tips, more detail or itinerary ideas tailored to you? Ask AT.

Day two

Friends exploring the Art Gallery of New South Wales in Sydney – one of the many experiences you can enjoy on ALL Accor luxury city escapes. — Explore Sydney’s arts and history. (Image: Destination NSW)

Do as Sydneysiders do and start the day with a swim: this one just happens to overlook Circular Quay from the hotel’s Recreation Deck. Or save your energy for exploring the Royal Botanic Garden and the Art Gallery of New South Wales next door. Later, wander the cobbled laneways of The Rocks, stopping in heritage pubs and sandstone shops.

Be back in time for a late lunch at Flaminia, located within Pullman Quay Grand. Inspired by the great port cities of Italy, the restaurant celebrates the country’s coastal cuisines, from Cagliari’s spaghetti alla bottarga with spanner crab and lemon myrtle to warm Venetian ricotta fritters with orange mascarpone. All served with a side of Sydney Harbour views. Accor Plus Explorer members receive 15 per cent off the à la carte menu. Molto bene, indeed.

Melbourne

Day one

Start your weekend the same way you’ll finish it: enjoying your exclusive ALL Accor benefits. This time, it might begin with a complimentary welcome drink when you check in at the five-star Pullman East Melbourne. Perfectly positioned in East Melbourne, the hotel sits directly opposite the elms and red gums of Fitzroy Gardens and is a mere 10-minute stroll from the legendary Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG), Rod Laver Arena and Melbourne Olympic Park.

After dropping your bags in one of the 419 stylish rooms, head down to The Cliveden Bar & Dining for an early dinner. The Mediterranean-inspired kitchen prides itself on sourcing premium Victorian produce, so don’t miss locally driven dishes like the Aylesbury aged duck ragù with pappardelle and macadamia or the butter-braised Lakes Entrance monkfish.

Next, head over to the MCG – lit up like the world’s most enthusiastic Christmas tree – to catch an electrifying session of Aussie Rules football or cricket. If you time your visit right, you might even score seats to the AFL Grand Final. For the ultimate sports enthusiast, the daily guided stadium tours are a rip-roaring crowd-pleaser.

No matter what’s on your hit list, you can secure tickets and experiences through ALL Accor’s Limitless Experiences using your points.

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Day two

Friends enjoying a hearty breakfast together at The Cliveden Buffet Breakfast before a day of exploring Melbourne. — Fuel up before another day in Melbourne. (Image: Tourism Australia)

The next morning, use the raw throat you earned from screaming along at the MCG to whisper your coffee order at The Cliveden Buffet Breakfast. Here, you can replenish your strength with Victoria’s most-loved morning staples, featuring rich Gippsland Dairy milk and artisanal La Madre Bakery sourdough. If the Melbourne bug has truly bitten, venture out into the city streets to immerse yourself in its cult coffee culture.

After checking out, make your way to Higher Ground. Built inside a 19th-century power station, this popular brunch spot is all about the drama, from its multi-tiered architecture to its high-concept menu, with bites like prawn toast benedict and chilli scrambled eggs with smoked yoghurt and banana pepper.

A coffee shot or two not enough to feed your addiction? The Victorian capital never judges. Take a break from vintage shopping to visit a pioneer of the city’s high-concept coffee culture: ST. ALi Canteen – Collins Street will give you your fix, plus a mac and cheese jaffle seasoned with Vegemite salt if that’s your fancy.

Alternatively, hold out for an Asian-Australian lunch of caramelised pork belly with pineapple or baked scallops in a salted black bean sauce at Miss Mi at the Mövenpick Hotel Melbourne On Spencer.

Book your next perfect escape at ALL.com.

Abandoned mills and forgotten paper plants are finding second lives – and helping redefine a city long underestimated.

Just 15 years ago, Federal Mills was a very different place. Once among the most significant industrial sites in Victoria, the historic woollen mill was one of a dozen that operated in Geelong at the industry’s peak in the mid-20th century, helping the city earn its title as ‘wool centre of the world’. But by the 1960s global competition and the rise of synthetic fabrics led to the slow decline of the industry, and Federal Mills finally shuttered its doors in 2001. Within a few years, the abandoned North Geelong grounds had become makeshift pastoral land, with cows and goats grazing among the overgrown grass between the empty red-brick warehouses. It was a forgotten pocket of the city, all but two klicks from the bustle of the CBD.

Geelong cellar door wine bar — Geelong has shed its industrial identity to become an innovative urban hub with reimagined heritage spaces. (Image: Ash Hughes)

Federal Mills: from forgotten factory to creative precinct

Today, the century-old complex stands reborn. The distinctive sawtooth-roof buildings have been sensitively restored. An old silo is splashed with a bright floral mural, landscapers have transformed the grounds, and the precinct is once again alive with activity. More than 1000 people work across 50-plus businesses here. It’s so busy, in fact, that on a sunny Thursday morning in the thick of winter, it’s hard to find a car park. The high ceilings, open-plan design, and large multi-paned windows – revolutionary features for factories of their time – have again become a drawcard.

Paddock Bakery andPatisserie — Paddock Bakery and Patisserie is housed within the historic wool factory. (Image: Gallant Lee)

At Paddock, one of the precinct’s newer tenants, weaving looms and dye vats have been replaced by a wood-fired brick oven and heavy-duty mixers. Open since April 2024, the bakery looks right at home here; the building’s industrial shell is softened by ivy climbing its steel frames, and sunlight streams through the tall windows. Outside, among the white cedar trees, families at picnic benches linger over dippy eggs and bagels, while white-collar workers pass in and out, single-origin coffee and crème brûlée doughnuts in hand.

Geelong: Australia’s only UNESCO City of Design

Paddock Bakery can be found at Federal Mills. (Image: Gallant Lee)

“A lot of people are now seeing the merit of investing in Geelong,” says Paul Traynor, the head of Hamilton Hospitality Group, which redeveloped Federal Mills. A city once shunned as Sleepy Hollow, and spurned for its industrial, working-class roots and ‘rust belt’ image, Geelong has long since reclaimed its ‘Pivot City’ title, having reinvented itself as an affordable, lifestyle-driven satellite city, and a post-COVID migration hotspot.

And the numbers stand testament to the change. In March 2025, and for the first time in its history, Greater Geelong became Australia’s most popular regional town for internal migration, overtaking Queensland’s Sunshine Coast. Current forecasts suggest Geelong will continue to outpace many other Australian cities and towns, with jobs growing at double the rate of the population.

Tourism is booming, too. The 2023-24 financial year was Geelong and The Bellarine region’s busiest on record, with 6.4 million visitors making it one of the fastest-growing destinations in the country. It’s not hard to see why: beyond the city’s prime positioning at the doorstep of the Great Ocean Road, Geelong’s tenacity and cultural ambition stands out.

As Australia’s only UNESCO City of Design, Geelong is swiftly shaking off its industrial past to become a model for urban renewal, innovation, sustainability and creative communities. The signs are everywhere, from the revitalisation of the city’s waterfront, and the landmark design of the Geelong Library and Heritage Centre and Geelong Arts Centre, to the growing network of local designers, architects and artists, and the burgeoning roster of festivals and events. That’s not even mentioning the adaptive reuse of storied old industrial buildings – from Federal Mills, to Little Creatures’ brewery ‘village’ housed within a 1920s textile mill – or the city’s flourishing food and wine scene.

The rise of a food and wine destination

Restaurant 1915 is housed within a restored former boiler house. (Image: Harry Pope/Two Palms)

Traynor credits now-closed local restaurant Igni, which opened in 2016, as the turning point for Geelong’s hospo industry. “[Aaron Turner, Igni’s chef-patron] was probably the first guy, with all due respect, to raise the bar food-wise for Geelong,” he says. “People now treat it really seriously, and there’s clearly a market for it.” While Igni is gone, Turner now helms a string of other notable Geelong venues, including The Hot Chicken Project and Tacos y Liquor, all within the buzzy, street art-speckled laneways of the CBD’s Little Malop Street Precinct. Many others have also popped up in Igni’s wake, including Federal Mills’ own restaurant, 1915. Housed within the cavernous boiler house, 1915’s interior is dramatic: soaring, vaulted ceilings with timber beams, exposed brick, a huge arched window. The share plates echo the space’s bold character, playing with contrast and texture, with dishes such as a compressed watermelon tataki, the sweet, juicy squares tempered by salty strands of fried leeks, and charred, smoky snow peas dusted with saganaki on a nutty bed of romesco.

The Woolstore, one of The Hamilton Group’s most recent hospo projects, opened in February. It occupies a century-old riverside warehouse and exudes a more sultry, fine dining ambience. Much like Federal Mills, the blueprint was to preserve the original brickwork, tallowwood flooring and nods to the building’s former life. That same careful consideration extends to the well-versed, affable waitstaff as well as the kitchen. Head chef Eli Grubb is turning out an eclectic mix of ambitious and indulgent mod Oz dishes that deliver: strikingly tender skewers of chicken tsukune, infused with hints of smoke from the parrilla grill, and glazed with a moreish, sweet gochujang ‘jam’; nduja arancini fragrant with hints of aniseed and the earthy lick of sunny saffron aioli; and golden squares of potato pavé, adorned with tiny turrets of crème fraîche, crisp-fried saltbush leaves, and Avruga caviar, to name but a few stand-out dishes.

Woolstore menu — Woolstore’s menu is designed for sharing.

Breathing new life into historic spaces

On the city’s fringe, hidden down a winding side road with little fanfare, lies a long-dormant site that’s being gently revived. Built from locally quarried bluestone and brick, and dating back to the 1870s, the complex of original tin-roofed mill buildings is lush with greenery and backs onto the Barwon River and Buckley Falls; the audible rush of water provides a soothing soundtrack. Fyansford Paper Mill is one of few complexes of its time to survive intact. It feels steeped in history and spellbindingly rustic.

“We were looking for an old industrial place that had some charm and romance to it,” explains Sam Vogel, the owner, director and winemaker at Provenance Wines which moved here in 2018. When he first viewed the building with his former co-owner, it was in such a state of disrepair that the tradie tenant occupying the space had built a shed within it to escape the leaking roof and freezing winter temperatures. “To say it was run down would be an understatement,” he notes. “There was ivy growing through the place; the windows were all smashed. It was a classic Grand Designs project.”

Provenance Wines moved to Fyansford Paper Mill in 2018. (Image: Cameron Murray Photography)

The team has since invested more than a million dollars into their new home. Where paper processing machinery once sat, wine barrels are now stacked. Vaulted cathedral ceilings are strung with festoon lights, and hidden in plain sight lies a shadowy mural by local street artist de rigueur Rone – one of only three permanent works by the artist.

While the award-winning, cool-climate pinot noir, riesling and chardonnay naturally remain a key draw at Provenance, the winery’s restaurant is a destination in itself. Impressed already by whipsmart service, I devour one of the most cleverly curated and faultlessly executed degustations I’ve had in some time. It’s all prepared in a kitchen that is proudly zero-waste, and committed to providing seasonal, ethical and locally sourced meat and produce under head chef Nate McIver. Think free-range venison served rare with a syrupy red wine jus and a half-moon of neon-orange kosho, shokupan with a deeply savoury duck fat jus (a modern Japanese take on bread and drippings), and a golden potato cake adorned with a colourful confetti of dehydrated nasturtiums and tomato powder, and planted atop a sea urchin emulsion.

handcrafted pieces — Bell’s handcrafted functional pieces on display.

The complex is home to a coterie of independent businesses, including a gallery, a jeweller, and its latest tenant, ceramicist Elizabeth Bell, drawn here by the building’s “soul”. “There’s so much potential for these buildings to have new life breathed into them,” says Bell, whose studio is housed within the old pump room. “Even people in Geelong don’t know we’re here,” she says. “It’s definitely a destination, but I like that. It has a really calming atmosphere.”

A Melbourne transplant, Bell now feels at home in Geelong, which offers something Melbourne didn’t. “If this business was in Melbourne I don’t think it would’ve been as successful,” she notes. “It’s very collaborative in Geelong, and I don’t think you get that as much in Melbourne; you’re a bit more in it for yourself. Here it’s about community over competition.”

Luxury escapes to Sydney and Melbourne that money can’t buy

From VIP stadium suites to harbour view upgrades, these are the experiences your travel points were made for.

Sydney

Day one

Day two

Melbourne

Day one

Day two

Royal Caribbean’s five-day sale has seven-night cruises from $1099

Outback Spirit are offering free return flights on 2027 tours

Trails from Halley’s Comet: when to see the Orionid meteor shower

This iconic Aussie landmark has been crowned one of the world’s top sunset spots

Inside Geelong’s glow-up from factory town to creative capital

Abandoned mills and forgotten paper plants are finding second lives – and helping redefine a city long underestimated.

Federal Mills: from forgotten factory to creative precinct

Geelong: Australia’s only UNESCO City of Design

The rise of a food and wine destination

Breathing new life into historic spaces

From VIP stadium suites to harbour view upgrades, these are the experiences your travel points were made for.

Sydney

Day one

AI Prompt

Day two

Melbourne

Day one

Day two

Royal Caribbean’s five-day sale has seven-night cruises from $1099

Outback Spirit are offering free return flights on 2027 tours

Trails from Halley’s Comet: when to see the Orionid meteor shower

This iconic Aussie landmark has been crowned one of the world’s top sunset spots

Abandoned mills and forgotten paper plants are finding second lives – and helping redefine a city long underestimated.

Federal Mills: from forgotten factory to creative precinct

Geelong: Australia’s only UNESCO City of Design

The rise of a food and wine destination

Breathing new life into historic spaces