Luxury rooms at Crown Metropol.
Jane Reddy enjoys the style, and the family atmosphere, high above the Friday traffic.
It's a slow road home in Friday afternoon's peak-hour traffic. Bumper to bumper, cars and trucks are inching across the Bolte and West Gate bridges as arterial roads feed the clogged freeway.
Even the Yarra is busy, with rowers and water taxis heading back to base before sunset.
On the pool deck on the 27th floor of the Crown Metropol, nobody is bothered. We're in our ivory tower - or, more correctly, our glass tower - where guests in soft charcoal-coloured bathrobes are stretched across double loungers reading and dozing at the indoor pool and sun deck. Giant stretched-linen light fittings hang from the double-height ceiling and there's an air of decadence. It's not your average evening.
The deal maker But the offspring (there are many) are here, too. Welcome at the hotel, they're duck-diving in the 25-metre pool and splashing in the spa, which is cranked up to 38 degrees. It's a happy hour for families - bath time and bed are so close.
On the same level, beyond the glass doors, the light-filled and large gym and Isika day spa looks to the Dandenongs and Port Phillip Bay.
The sleek Crown Metropol is showing few signs of ageing since it opened in 2010 and, judging by the long, but fast-moving queue at check-in, it is still attractive to the young and the fashionable.
A five-minute wait for our room to be readied passes in no time as our gang of two adults and two children admire the beautiful chestnut sculptures by Korean artist Lee Jae Hyo and swivel around and around in the leather bucket seats (nostalgia for some, novelty for others).
Our luxe twin-room suite on the 19th floor is schmick; two queen beds with white leather bedheads, mustard-coloured carpet and a separate toilet and shower behind ribbed-glass doors.
And then we ate There's fine dining on our doorstep. Within the surrounding Crown Entertainment Complex, it's a choice of Bistro Guillaume, Nobu and new openings Rosetta - Neil Perry's Italian restaurant - and Merrywell.
If I were in the hotel's restaurant proper, led by executive chef John Lawson and pastry chef Dalmaine Blignaut, I'd be plumping for the roasted scallops on cauliflower puree and some salted caramels from the Mrs Hive dessert bar.
But we're staying in, ordering off the Mr Hive room service menu. Our complicated dietary needs prove a breeze for David on the end of line. When the words "severe peanut allergy" are uttered, he promises to talk to the chef and call straight back, which he does, offering suggestions. Twenty minutes later it's a family dinner of fish and chips, club sandwiches and risotto against a backdrop of city lights. Enchanting.
Breakfast the next day at the Mr Hive eatery is similarly satisfying, with spinach, baked eggs, bircher muesli, raspberry pancakes and strong lattes.
Stepping out With an unhurried checkout time of 11am, we consider our options. It's a short distance to South Wharf to the Polly Woodside, the ship built in Belfast in 1885, or shopping at the DFO outlet.
We opt to stay, for one last soak with that glorious outlook.
VISITORS’ BOOK
Crown Metropol
Address 8 Whiteman Street, Southbank, Melbourne.
Phone (03) 9292 6211, see crownmetropol.com.au.
Price Luxe room from $305 a night; loft $650; the apartment $3500.
The verdict A still-shining hotel with great leisure facilities.
Perfect for People who want an indulgent escape from the daily routine.
Wheelchair access Yes.
While you're there The Metropol is next to Crown Entertainment Complex and high-end shopping on Southbank.
Weekends Away are reviewed anonymously and paid for by Traveller
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