Popular tourist destinations within Brisbane

Riverfestival sign at South Bank ParklandsPopular with tourists are the South Bank Parklands, which are located on the site of World Expo '88. The parklands are home to many restaurants, shops, play areas, picnic areas, a cinema and an artificial beach. The parklands feature an outdoor market on Fridays (5pm-10pm), Saturdays (11am-5pm) and Sundays (9am-5pm).

Around 11 million people visit South Bank each year, with approximately 98% of Brisbane residents having visited the parkland at some point. The South Bank Parklands is famous for firework displays that attract thousands of spectators. Tourists and locals alike frequent the beautiful bougainvillea lined Riverside Walkway at all times of the year and flock to the area during music and arts festivals.

Other popular areas for tourism and recreation include the Roma Street Parkland, the Brisbane City Botanic Gardens (a colonial era botanic gardens founded in 1855 in the Brisbane CBD), The Story Bridge, and the Mount Coot-tha state forest, which includes a lookout over the city, as well as the Sir Thomas Brisbane Planetarium in Toowong, and the rockclimbing cliffs at Kangaroo Point, at the southern approach to the Story Bridge.

The Brisbane City Botanic Gardens were established in 1855 and consists of approximately 20 hectares. The roughly triangular park is bordered by the Brisbane River on one side, and the grounds of Parliament House and the Queensland University of Technology's Gardens Point campus on another. Brisbane City Botanic Gardens has a special collection of cycads, palms, figs and bamboo.

More than 27km of award winning bicycle pathways line both sides of the river east and west of the city centre.

Other popular Brisbane tourist destinations include Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary (which was founded in 1927 and is the oldest and largest Koala sanctuary in the world), and Brisbane Forest Park.

Local Attractions