Need to know

Rooms

40, ranging from one- and two-bedroom Deluxe rooms to Grand and Platinum suites.

Rates

AU$525–AU$2,625, including morning newspaper, 24-hour gym use, shopping privilege card and tax at 10 per cent. Continental breakfast is extra at AU$20; à la carte at AU$30.

Check-out

10.30am, but flexible (subject to availability you can check out till midday for free or till 5pm for 50 per cent of your room charge (any later and you'll need to pay for an extra night). Earliest check-in, 2pm.

Facilities

DVD, CD and book library, free WiFi throughout, spa, gym, concierge. In rooms: two flatscreen TVs, cable channels, CD/DVD players, iPod speakers on request, kitchen with fridge/freezer and washer/dryer, minibar, tea and coffee plunger, terrace.

Children

Welcome. The hotel can supply baby cots or extra rollaway beds for AU$30 each (infants can stay for free if they're using existing bedding). Babysitting with a local nanny can be arranged for a minimum of three hours for $80, then AU$20 an hour.

Eco-friendly

For a glam, green touch, the hotel provides free push bikes for guests to use when out and about. Here's hoping you can balance all those store bags on the handle bars!

Also

Arm yourself with the Lyall's exclusive Shopping Privilege Card, which offers guests 10 per cent off at over 20 chic local stores, such as fashion boutique Assin and Shoes by Alberto Piazza.

In the know

Our favourite rooms

All the Lyall's suites are surprisingly spacious and seductive, resembling luxe city apartments rather than typical hotel rooms. Even the smallest (540 sq ft) Deluxe one-bedroom suite includes a separate bedroom and living area (both with TVs), a marble bathroom with bath and rainshower, outdoor terrace with teak table and chairs and a generous kitchen. Airy, full-length windows and super-king beds make you feel even more pampered. Decor is fashionably elegant too, with a modern oriental look that's subtle yet sophisticated, harnessing quality fabrics and soothing neutrals such as black and taupe with hits of opulent gold and bronze, rather than in-your-face brights. If you're feeling flush though, you can swing several cats in the vast two-bedroom Platinum Suite (1,507 sq ft), which boasts marble fireplaces in both the main bedroom and living room, two ensuite bathrooms, a double spa bath, Bang & Olufsen sound system, butler's kitchen and ample terrace with glam rooftop views. It's been dubbed The Platinum Blonde Suite after past celeb guests, including Gwen Stefani, Pamela Anderson and Paris Hilton.

Packing tips

Bring your credit card as there's plenty of designer shopping in chichi South Yarra ideal for maxing it out. A spare Samsonite suitcase (Marc Newson's stylish design, naturally) to bear your fashionable finds home.

Also

The Lyall is also a hot destination as a day spa, so indulge in a treatment. Set within the hotel, the three-storey space is sleek, white and serene, scented with heavenly ylang-ylang and mandarin, and uses a mix of French Payot skin care products and local Australian brand Sodashi – all parabin- and sulphate-free. We recommend the Lyall Signature Spa Ritual, a 2-hour treatment including deep-tissue massage. The spa also has two steam rooms and an indoor/outdoor room for chilling. If you'd prefer to work out yourself, rather than be worked on, there's also a 24-hour gym with fitness kit aplenty.

Food & drink

Hotel restaurant

The small but perfectly formed Bistro Lyall on the ground floor serves breakfast, lunch and dinner, with tables both inside in the intimate, soft-hued bar/restaurant and outdoors on the shaded terrace. Decor is chic but restrained with strips of mirror on walls to amplify the space, grey upholstered chairs and dark wood for glossy glamour. Chef Robert Keeler serves up modern, local, seasonal cuisine that's light and healthy, such as the signature Lyall chicken sandwich, smoked trout with a salsa of avocado, mango, coriander and lime juice or warm thai chicken salad. The Lyall hamburger is good too. Should you fancy eating out, dial 9 and the concierge can book you into a handpicked list of local eateries, from Sicilian to Greek, Thai and Japanese.

Dress code

Labels, darling. You won't go wrong with finds from local fashion stores such as Mimco, Scanlan & Theodore or Alannah Hill.

Top table

If it's sunny grab a table outdoors on the terrace, for a latte or a fuller meal (smoking is allowed outdoors in the Lyall's public areas, both on the terrace and on suite balconies).

Last orders

As a guest you can order drinks 24-hours a day, either in your suite or in the hotel's public areas. The bar is open from 3pm till midnight though, with peak time between 6pm and 8pm.

Room service

A full-menu room service is also available 24-hours a day if you want to eat in your suite. Guests can also dine in the Lyall Bistro at any time (dinner is served to the public from 5pm till 10pm only).

Hotel bar

Popular with stylish ladies who lunch and those resting their heels after a trip to South Yarra's swish shops, The Lyall Champagne Bar is small but sexy. Set to the right of reception on the ground-floor, it offers a choice of comfortable grey uphostered chairs at intimate dark wood tables or counter bar stools for sociable tipples. Expect to hear jazz or easy listening tunes, not a thumping DJ. It's also a great place to enjoy a latte in the morning while perusing a book from the adjacent luxe library. Signature drinks include the Lyall Cranberry Champagne Cocktail and its Apple Crumble Martini.

Smith card offer A bottle of Chandon NV (Australian sparkling wine) on arrival

If you're a member of Mr & Mrs Smith, you can get special privileges at every Smith hotel you book through us. Just show your Smith card at check-in to claim the offer featured on every hotel page (like the one above).

Not a member? Join now

Smith concierge

If you'd prefer to talk to someone, or don't want to book online, call our travel team on 1 866 610 3867. We guarantee you’ll get the best available rates, and we don’t charge a booking fee.

Lyall Hotel and Spa

14 Murphy Street, South Yarra, Melbourne, Victoria 3141, Australia

Almost next door, Harveys at 10 Murphy Street (+61 (0)3 9867 3605; www.harveysrestaurant.com.au) works as a de facto hotel dining room, with decadent breakfasts, such as truffle scrambled eggs, and classy modern lunches and dinners. France-Soir at 11 Toorak Road (+61 (0)3 9866 8569; www.france-soir.com.au) is loved as much for its authentic – and sometimes catty – Parisian attitude as its always perfect steak frites. If you’re after Italian food, there’s romantic Da Noi at 95 Toorak Road (+61 (0)3 9866 5975) for menu-free Sardinian feasting, or the more straightforward Cosi at 68 Toorak Road (+61 (0)3 9867 399; www.cosirestaurant.com.au), loved by locals for its fireplace in winter and courtyard in summer. Choose fish from the tank at bustling Chinese restaurant Pacific Seafood BBQ House, at 210 Toorak Rd (+61 (0)3 9826 3838) or eat it raw at uncompromising sushi bar Jamon, 3 Murphy Street, (+61 (0)3 9804 5710; www.jamonsushi.com).

Drink (and eat) with the locals at Temperance Hotel, at 426 Chapel Street (+61 (0)3 9827 7401; www.temperancehotel.com.au) where there are interesting Australian beers to try. House DJs step it up on Friday and Saturday nights; Sunday afternoons feature laid-back live music. Visit French bistro Chez Olivier, at 121 Greville Street, Prahran (+61 (0)3 9525 2273; www.chezolivier.com) for bonhomie and Beaujolais at the bar, or party hard at lavish nightclub Love Machine, on the corner of Little Chapel Street and Malvern Road, Prahran (+61 (03) 9533 8837; www.lovemachine.net.au). Do as the locals do: glam up and arrive early to secure entry. For something more low-key, enjoy cocktails and the cruisy mood at Tyranny of Distance, at 47 Union St, Windsor (+61 (03) 9525 1005).

Join the locals for breakfast at Lawson Grove Shop, 1 Lawson Grove (61 (0)3 9866 3640), and riverfront Kanteen, at 150 Alexandra Avenue (+61 (0)3 9827 0488; www.kanteen.net), where you can follow up with a wander along the Yarra River. Oriental Tea House at 455 Chapel Street (+61 (0)3 9824 0128; www.orientalteahouse.com.au) has delicious – and purportedly therapeutic – teas and elegant modern yum cha: try the prawn and pea leaf dumplings. Caffe Veloce, at 9-11 Claremont Street (+61 (0)3 8080 9995; www.caffeveloce.com.au), is in a prestige car showroom; the paninis and pastries are as classy as the gleaming machines.

Toorak Road and Chapel Street, Melbourne’s most stylish shopping strips, are just a short walk away from the Lyall in South Yarra. Look out for local fashion designers Collette Dinnigan at 553 Chapel Street (+61 (0)3 9827 2111; www.collettedinnigan.com.au), Alannah Hill at 533 Chapel Street (+61 (0)3 9826 2755; www.alannahhill.com.au), Scanlan & Theodore, 566 Chapel Street (+ 61 (0)3 9824 1800; www.scanlantheodore.com.au) and T.L. Wood, 216 Chapel Street (+61 (0)3 9510 6700; www.tlwoodaustralia.com). 

 

You can gather stylish accessories including great handbags at Australian label  Mimco, Shop 4, 567 Chapel Street (+61 (0)3 9827 0259; www.mimco.com.au), vintage interior finds at the fabulous Chapel Street Bazaar, at 217 Chapel Street (+61 (0)3 9529 1727) and fresh food at the bustling, popular Prahran Market at 163 Commercial Road (+61 (0)3 8290 8220; www.prahranmarket.com.au), which boasts a tempting mix of local and imported fare.

 

Recharge with a treatment at gorgeous local beauty and wellbeing oasis Aesop spa (153 Toorak Road; +61 (0)3 9866 5250; www.aesop.net.au), just around the corner from the hotel – an Australian brand known for its heavenly unisex scented body care products and chic graphic packaging. Alternatively, the hotel's own in-house day spa serves up a mix of pampering massages and hot stone treatments, using Payot and Sodashi products.

Alternatively, you're only a short distance from great parks (including the Royal Botanic Gardens, which boasts popular jogging track The Tan which skirts an ornamental lake), the banks of the Yarra River (great for strolling with views or culture-hopping at the Southbank's galleries) and the CBD, Melbourne's buzzy Central Business District, alive with shops, galleries, cafes and bars. For more olde worlde charms, nearby Como House, on the corner of Williams and Lechlade Avenue, is a 160-year-old South Yarra mansion providing a glimpse into the luxe life of former owners the Armytage family (www.nattrust.com.au).