Brisbane and the Gold Coast Travel Guide

Brisbane gets treated as somewhere you pass through on the way up or down the east coast, which sells it short. It is a subtropical river city with a walkable center, the South Bank parklands along the water, and a swimming lagoon built into the middle of town. The ferries on the river are the nicest way to move around, and the winters here are warm enough that this is the rare Australian city best visited outside of summer.

What makes the area worth several days is what sits on either side of it. The Gold Coast, about an hour south, is a high rise strip along a genuinely excellent run of surf beaches, with the theme parks inland and a nightlife scene that is either exactly what you want or exactly what you do not. The Sunshine Coast, ninety minutes north, is lower and greener and slower, anchored by Noosa and the hinterland behind it. The two get named in the same breath constantly and they are not remotely the same trip.

If you have to choose, the Sunshine Coast suits travelers who came for the coastline and the Gold Coast suits travelers who came for what is built along it. If you have the time, base yourself in Brisbane and take each as a day, since both are close enough to make that work. Below are the guides for the city, for choosing between the coasts, and for the drive south to Sydney.