Itinerary for 17 days and where to stay

HI Belen. 17 days seems like the perfect amount of time.

For Sydney I would recommend 3-4 nights plus either a day trip or overnight trip to the Blue Mountains as it's only 2 hours away by train.

For Byron Bay, 3 nights would give you time to relax and check out the surrounding area. The weather will be warming up then and the likely hood of nice sunny days will be high.

2 nights in Brisbane would be enough to see the main things and enjoy some of the local food. 

The Gold Coast will depend on what you want to do. If you want to visit all of the theme parks then you will need 4-5 days. Is not 2 night will be plenty to soak up the atmosphere.

On Fraser Island, 2 nights will give you enough time to see the island and explore a bit.

Finally Melbourne, this is where you want to spend most of your time. Not only is the city fully of great things to see and do, it's also the perfect place for day and overnight trips places like Phillip Island and the Great Ocean Road (my favourite place in the world!). So try and stay at least 6 nights in Melbourne.

For accommodation, I recommend YHA in Sydney (Sydney Harbour YHA) and either of the two YHA in Melbourne city (YHA Melbourne Central and Melbourne Metro YHA). I haven't stayed anywhere budget in the other places so can't really recommend anything. BUt I will say that YHA is usually a good bet in Australia.

Hope this helps and I really hope you enjoy my amazing country!

Cheers

Jen

Hi Belen,

Hard to advise without method of travel and start/finish points but there are a LOT of great places you are missing on this route - Australia is also very expensive to travel so bear this in mind when covering long distances! Starting in Melbourne, I would say a couple days there then drive the Great Ocean Rd (a beautiful drive between Melbourne and Sydney which takes at LEAST a couple of days and 3-4 in Sydney in order to visit the Blue Mountains, the many city attractions (too many to list - worth another Q!) and perhaps even Bondi Beach - very touristy but also famous and some people love it. At Byron Bay you could do a couple days, Gold Coast also a couple days - the theme parks are great but nothing you can't visit in other countries, the draw here is the gorgeous beach - Brisbane you can see in a day it is honestly nothing special (well, I'm not a city person so that's my opinion - I did live there!) Fraser Islandneeds at least 2 days. 

Just to put the cat amongst the pigeons.....if you were willing to miss out Byron (It's very good but not my highlight) then you could spend the first 8-9 days doing Sydney to Melbourne then fly to Brisbane (look up Jetstar for cheap flights), take a day trip to visit the stunning gold coast beaches - personally I don't think it needs more unless you love the 'orlando' feel of parks, shopping and lots of tourists - heading north stop off at Noosa Heads (2-3 days), Rainbow Beach (2 days), Fraser (2-3 days). There is so much more going north into QLD as well but you would definitely need more time to cover it! Willing to help more if you have any new ideas/questions x

Hi I feel that all the other answers are correct and the underlying thought is which direction will you be travelling i.e where do you fly into and out of so creating a loop to your trip so not going back on yourself. Also check which events are on in each city Melbourne Events.And Sydney Events.Whitney has made the point perfectly, 17 days including travelling will not give you a chance to experience Australia has to offer. I would suggest on 5 hubs you can travel from with Sydney and Melbourne and Gold-coast as 3 your Accommodation can be found at stayz or all the other sites. Ask yourself do I want to experience the cities or the bush or the beaches. Gold coast is same as Miami absolutely fantastic if that's your dream holiday. Maybe see how the first Australia aboriginal holidays?

Drive between Sydney and Melbourne down or up the coast takes 3 days, Melbourne and surrounding areas 5 day, Sydney 4 days, Fraser Coast 3 days.

So my point being that 17 days is great amount of time but 21 days is really the minimum to see some of of Australia. And which part do you wish to constraint your time on, Beaches, Cities, Bush.

Look for deals on wotif.com.  If you are traveling on your own, you can do it small & cheap.  Doesn't sound like you'll be in your bed much with that itinerary.  But you will be in a lot of airports.  My suggestion would be to cut your itinerary in half and spend a full two non-travel days in each spot.  7 places in 17 days is too much.  It'll just be a blur and you won't have time to get a feel for them or what they have to offer. 

When in Byron Bay stay at Arts Factory Backpackers Lodge