You can get to the Victorian capital for less than $40 if you know where and when to look.
Whether you’re heading down to Melbourne to explore the city’s graffiti-filled laneways or because you’ve got tickets to the Australian Open, we know a few tricks to getting the best fare. From the best days of the week to fly to how far in advance to book, here’s a few tips on how to find cheap flights to Melbourne.
Latest sales with cheap flights to Melbourne
How much are flights to Melbourne?
Of course, this depends on where you’re flying from and whether there’s a sale on. Jetstar has the cheapest prices and here’s what you can expect to pay during a sale.
Flying from…
- Sydney… $35-$49
- Hobart… $35-$49
- Adelaide.. $49-$59
- Perth… $149-$169
Strangely, the Brisbane-Melbourne route isn’t often included in flight sales.
While those are sale prices, flight aggregator Kayak has crunched the numbers and found the average prices for one-way flights to Melbourne from major cities.
What’s the main airport in Melbourne, and are there alternates?
Melbourne has two airports: Tullamarine and Avalon.
Tullamarine is the major, international airport that’s found about a 30-minute drive from the Melbourne CBD. Most flight will fly in here, and if you’re connecting to an international destination, your other flight will be departing from here.
Avalon Airport, which is actually much closer to Geelong than Melbourne, is about 50 minutes away. It’s an option if you’re heading to the city as a starting point for a drive along Great Ocean Road.
As of the time of writing, you can only fly to Avalon from Sydney or the Gold Coast with Jetstar, since Bonza recently seized all services.
Which is cheaper: Tullamarine or Avalon?
We had a look at a bunch of random dates throughout 2024 to see which airport had the cheaper fares. Generally, Avalon is cheaper, but there’s less availability. So if you’re looking for a bit more flexibility, it’s probably worth paying the extra $10-$15 each way and just flying into Tullamarine.
If you’re just looking for the cheapest fare and you’re flying from Sydney, most of the time it is cheaper to fly to Avalon than Tullamarine — but not by a huge amount. Of course, during a sale this may change, but on all the dates we looked (and we looked at a lot!) flights were cheaper
If you’re just looking for the cheapest fare and you’re flying from the Gold Coast, prices are a bit more similar. But, there’s a lot more flights available into Tullamarine.
When is the cheapest time to travel to Melbourne?
We’ve always found the cheapest flights are available mid-week, specifically on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays. And this isn’t just true for Melbourne. Flying mid-week is almost always cheaper, no matter where you’re going.
How far in advance should I book tickets to Melbourne?
Our general rule is, if you see a good price book it! Sometimes a good Jetstar or Virgin Australia sale has discounted flights that depart in a month, and sometimes they depart in six months.
For just about all cities in Australia though, the earlier you book flights to Melbourne the better. Prices really start to increase within about four weeks of departure.
The below chart shows how steep the prices climb as it gets closer to the departure date. While this graph shows flights between Brisbane and Melbourne, it’s a very similar pattern for Sydney, Adelaide and Perth.
When is the best time to book flights to Melbourne?
If you’re after the cheapest day to fly to Melbourne, try booking a flight departing on a Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday. We compared Kayak data for flights departing from Sydney, Adelaide, Brisbane and Perth and found those to be the cheapest days.
If you’re after the cheapest time to make a booking for a flight to Melbourne, knowing when the sales are is a great way to snag a deal on flights to Melbourne. Here’s a few to add to your calendar:
Weekly sales:
- Jetstar’s Friday Fare Frenzy: Most Fridays from 12pm until 8pm. Sometimes they get extended into a Weekend Fare Frenzy, which usually runs until Monday evening.
- Virgin Australia’s Happy Hour sale: Most Thursdays from 4pm until 11pm. Sometimes they get extended and start earlier in the day, but not for multiple days.
Both airlines tend not to run their weekly sales if another sale is already on.
Regular and annual sales:
- End of financial year sales: Once just for cars and appliances, lots of travel companies are getting in on the EOFY sales now and it’s a great time to get a deal on a flight. When is it? Late-June and early July.
- Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales: The day after American Thanksgiving and the following Monday, this used to be a retail-only event that’s migrated online in the last decade or so. It’s quickly become one of the most important days on the online sales calendar. When is it? Late November.
- Boxing Day sales: The day after Christmas, Boxing Day seems to be a day where everyone’s selling off what didn’t sell as Christmas gifts. And if that means cheap flights, too, we’re in. When is it? 26 December.
- Click Frenzy: Happening a few times a year, including a dedicated travel event, Click Frenzy brings dozens of Australian retailers together for one giant sale. Jetstar tends not to get involved, but Virgin Australia has in the past (also with it’s own off-shot “Flight Frenzy” sale). When is it? Usually in May, August and November.
- Afterpay Day: Organised by buy now, pay later giant Afterpay, most of the retailers who accept Afterpay offer discounts during the sale. And, Jetstar and a few online travel agencies accept it. And if you don’t use Afterpay, that’s ok! You don’t actually need to pay with it to get the discount. When is it? Mid-March.
Which budget airlines fly to Melbourne from other Australian cities?
You can fly to Melbourne’s Tullamarine Airport with:
- Jetstar: Adelaide, Ayers Rock, Ballina, Brisbane, Busselton, Cairns, Canberra, Darwin, Gold Coast, Hamilton Island, Hervey Bay (starting 20 June 2024), Hobart, Launceston, Newcastle, Perth, Proserpine, Sunshine Coast, Sydney, Townsville
You can also fly to Melbourne’s Avalon Airport (which is closer to Geelong and a great option for the Great Ocean Road) with:
- Jetstar: Gold Coast, Sydney
(Before it cut all services, Bonza did offer budget flights to both Tullamarine and Avalon.)
Our thoughts on the budget airlines have we flown to Melbourne?
Being based in Sydney, our only option for budget flights to Melbourne is Jetstar — which we have flown plenty.
As long as your not expecting much, Jetstar is just fine for the 90-minute journey between Australia’s two largest cities.
We travel light though, so if you’re one to bring a bag with you, it’s probably worth comparing Jetstar’s prices to Rex. It’s the cheaper of the not-quite-so-budget airlines but does include 23kg of checked baggage on non-regional flights.
We also used to fly quite a bit between Sydney and Melbourne with Tigerair, but unfortunately the budget airline shut down in 2020.
Is it better to buy return or one-way tickets to Melbourne?
For domestic flights within Australia, it’s generally the same price per sector to book a one-way flight or a return ticket.
This is a great hack, if you’re seeing two one-way fares with different airlines that are cheaper than a return ticket. What do we mean?
For example, if Jetstar has a ticket on your outbound travel day for $59, but the return fare is $159, check to see the price of a one-way ticket on your return fate with Virgin, Rex or Qantas to see if it’s available for less. If it is, you can book what’s essentially a return ticket for much less.
