Melbourne not only ranks as the destination most visited by holidaying Aussies, but also tops the list of places we’d most like to take a holiday in both domestically and internationally, according to the latest findings from Roy Morgan Research.

Participants were asked where they’d like to take a holiday in the next two years and a high 21.5% of Australians picked Melbourne, surprisingly ahead of the beach destination of the Gold Coast at 16.2%. Melbourne even outranked overseas destinations of the UK at 14.6%, the US at 14.4% and New Zealand at 12.6%.

Roy Morgan Research director of tourism Jane Ianniello said “not only has Australia’s cultural, sporting and shopping capital topped the list of places Australians would like to visit for a holiday of at least one night, it’s also our most visited holiday destination.”

In the 12 months to April 2014, Melbourne attracted more visitors with 9.8% of the population than any other holiday destination, surpassing Sydney at 7.7%, the Gold Coast at 6.1% and the Sunshine Coast at 5.2%.

Saving for an overseas holiday can be expensive and the research showed that although overseas destinations accounted for three of the top five places Australians would most like to holiday, the reality paints a different picture.

If you’re saving for an upcoming holiday a high interest savings accounts above the 4% mark will help you build up your holiday nest egg and you could even consider setting up direct deposits to see the account continually grow without thinking about it.

The research showed, while overseas rates highly in terms of preference, the relative ease and affordability of domestic travel has a huge influence on where we actually take our holidays.

For example, domestic destinations comprise eight of the 10 places most visited by holidaying Aussies in the 12 months to April 2013, compared with New Zealand and the UK only scraping in at ninth and tenth respectively.

For those that are jet-setting overseas, make sure you get your travel insurance and travel money sorted before you leave.