Brisbane is a great city, and, in my opinion, it is one of Australia’s most under-rated and often overlooked destinations. It has an incredible vibe, loads to do if you know where to look, and the people are super friendly. Brisbane is perfect for a weekend trip or even 3 days if you have the extra time.
Day 1 – Friday Evening
I’m going
to make bit of an assumption and guess you’re arriving on a Friday evening, in
which case the best way to kick off your weekend in Brisbane:
- Howard Smith Wharves: A heritage listed wharf that has
been turned into Brisbane’s newest dining precinct. The food and drinks are
good, the view is even better.
If you’ve
still got a lot of energy and are looking to spend a few more hours out, I’d
recommend either heading into the city or the valley, both areas are close and
have a large array of bars and night clubs. Just remember that your next day is
going to be action packed so I don’t blame you if you want to head back for a
good night sleep.
Day 2 – Saturday
Today is
going to be packed, I’m going to guide you through a tour that I always take
visitors on if they’ve never been to Brisbane. It’s the best way to get good
feel for the city especially if you only have a weekend in Brisbane.
- Davies Park Market: I usually refer to this as the West End Saturday market and in my opinion it’s the best market in Brisbane. You’ll find a variety of fashion, gift ideas, and lots of amazing food. The market is a big advocate of supporting locals, I think that’s a big plus.
- Queens St Mall: Make your way to Queen St Mall, you have a few options to get there; you can use public transport, go by foot which will take a bit over 30 minutes, or make use of a CityCycle or Lime Scooter. Queen St is in the centre of the city and the perfect place for a bit of window shopping and people watching. This is also where our tour starts.
- City Botanical Gardens: Walk from Queen St to the City Botanical Gardens, it’s a beautiful garden, well kept with water features, a rose garden and more.
- Kangaroo Point Lookout: Head through the QUT campus and over the Goodwill Bridge. Once you’ve crossed the bridge take a left and walk along the river using the dedicated footpaths. You will reach some stairs that take you up the cliffs to the Kangaroo Point Lookout. It’s a short yet tough climb up, but it’s worth it! This is one of the best spots from which you can admire Brisbane’s Skyline.
- South Bank Parklands: South Bank is a must, it’s known for its green spaces, restaurants, picnic and BBQ spots, activity areas, museums, iconic sights such as; the BRISBANE sign, the wheel, the Nepalese Pagoda and more. Have a walk around, go for a swim, enjoy some food. This is the place to be on a Saturday evening.
Day 3 – Sunday
It’s the
last day of your Brisbane weekend adventure. You have a lot of options on this day,
so I’ll mention a few alternative attractions below if you want to mix it up.
- Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary: This is the worlds first and largest Koala sanctuary with over 130
Koalas. It’s a rare opportunity in which you can feed kangaroos, meet a Koala,
and get close to a variety of Australian native animals. My favourite thing
about this sanctuary is the effort put into ensuring the animals are happy and
healthy.
- Queensland Museum &
ScienceCentre: Head
back toward Southbank, there are several large and good quality museums lined
up next to each other. It’s easy to spend several hours there getting lost in
the history of Queensland and Brisbane, Aboriginal and local art, natural
history, science and more.
- Eat Street Market: An amazing night food market, hundreds of stalls come to life with a
huge variety of international food. The food, the buzz, the entertainment, it’s
a guaranteed epic evening.
Other Options
- Mt Coot-tha:
this is a really good alternative for day 2, Mt Coot-tha is a suburb and
mountain not far from Brisbane. It offers great views of the city, it’s home to
Brisbane’s official botanical garden; a 52-hectare garden including cherry
blossoms in the Japanese Garden, a bamboo grove, water-lily lagoon, a cactus
house and more. Mt Coot-tha also has a number of hikes you can enjoy and offers
great picnic areas. If you have the time and the weather is good, it’s a
no-brainer to add this to your 2-3 days in Brisbane.
- Rock Climbing:
Brisbane has developed quite a rock-climbing culture, you can join a group and
climb at Kangaroo point, or test your skills at Urban Climb indoor climbing.
It’s a great sport and something the whole family will likely enjoy!
- South Bank:
There’s loads to do in South Bank, so you may even want to spend more time here
during your second day, especially if you just want to relax and lie on the
beach.
- Riverside Bike Path: Along the Brisbane river is a long bike path, so why not grab a bike and
see where the path takes you.
- Nature Day Trip: One of the best things about Brisbane is the stunning Surrounding
Nature, you may even want
to dedicate a day to simply heading out of the city and exploring places like
the Glass House Mountains, Mt Glorious and Nebo, or Bribie Island.
Hopefully this has given you some good inspiration for a weekend in Brisbane, I highly recommend having a play with our Brisbane Trip Planner, it’s easy, simply select the attractions that you like and let Traveloris create the perfect trip for you.
Related topics that may
interest you
Brisbane Trip Planner
Brisbane’s Top Ten Attractions (coming soon)
5 Days in Brisbane (coming Soon)
