The five-star hotel on the ‘Paris’ end of Collins Street has maintained a well-manicured grip on its standing as one of Melbourne’s most popular hotels, even as rival international hotel chains set their sights on the Victorian capital. Late last year the vicenarian took a breather to undergo a complete refurbishment of all 360 guest rooms, revealed just in time for festival season.

The landmark 1970s-designed Collins Place complex by Chinese-American architect I. M. Pei and local firm Bates Smart retains a sense of Modernist glamour. The lobby overlooks the iconic retail atrium a level below, while the rooms are wrapped around a gold mirrored void that soars from the 35th floor, where the restaurant and bar are found, up to a glass ceiling 50 storeys above street level. 

The Accor-owned hotel brand has embraced the global motto “Live the French way”, and any which way you turn in the property you’re reminded of the French connection  – from the pastel-hued macarons awaiting you on arrival to the Continental lilt of the voice welcoming guests into the elevators.

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An ear-popping ride in those elevator whisks you up the new rooms, where everything from the fixtures and furnishings to the artwork has been reimagined by architectural designers A+ Design Group.

A commissioned collaboration between French photographer Claire Ropartz and Australian photographer Jon Rendell saw the artists swap cities, with chiaroscuro scenes of Paris and Melbourne arranged salon-style on the walls (the project spawned more than 2,000 original prints on display across the hotel). 

Extra touches embrace the little luxuries – from the rich blue velvet armchair installed in every room to the Balmain Paris toiletries in the bathrooms and the vial of lavender linen mist left on your pillow after the turn-down service. The trademark king-size Sofitel MyBed will leave you wishing you could cram it into your suitcase.

But the main event is that view. Framed by timber shutters, the scene on the west side stretches from the MCG and Botanic Gardens out to Port Phillip Bay, looking over Flinders Street Station, the NGV and the Yarra River flowing through the middle of it all. During festival season, the landmarks remain lit into the small hours, as revellers far below wander the city’s laneways. In the dawn light, hot air balloons float by on scenic flights.

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Similar views await at breakfast, lunch and dinner at in-house restaurant No35. A classic hotel buffet – including a chef’s station where pancakes, waffles and eggs are cooked to order – means a three-course breakfast is a perfectly valid way to start the day. 

If you can’t score a booking for the set two- and three-course dinner (it can be competitive at peak periods), 24-hour room service, ordered via bedside tablet, offers everything from an Aussie/French cheese platter to French veal ragu until 6am. 

From street level, the Sofitel remains as well placed as ever for all of Melbourne’s big-ticket attractions, from most of the major theatres to Federation Square. For sports fans, an easy walk across parklands leads to both the Melbourne Cricket Ground and Australian Open tennis grounds. If fashion is more your game, the Paris end of town lives up to the name. Hermès, Chanel, Celine – the gang’s all here, and mere steps from your suite.

Find the Sofitel Melbourne at 25 Collins Street, Melbourne. For bookings, head to www.sofitel-melbourne.com.au

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