Vote #1 Kim Huynh’s answer to What are the pros and cons of living in Australia specifically in Melbourne? This will be rather more superficial.
Pro Melbourne:
- Lots of parkland.
- Good public transport system (so long as you’re commuting to and from the CBD)
- Critical mass of culture in general
- Excellent foodie culture
- Excellent sporting culture
- Low crime rate
- Peaceable population, for the most part
- Pleasant surrounding countryside
- I live here. And really, what more do you need.
Contra Melbourne:
- The weather. Way too volatile, and searing hot or raining (or both within hours).
- Far away from anywhere (except Geelong, I guess). Even Sydney is an hour flight away.
- Cost of living is high
- Real estate is unaffordable
- Infrastructure is starting not to keep pace with the population
- Allied with both: emerging have and have-not geographical divide; it’s not as bad as Sydney yet, but it will be
- Not as many high-powered jobs going as in Sydney
- Like most coastal cities, a lot of it is going to be underwater in a few decades