Brisbane is the third largest city in Australia and the capital of Queensland state. With a nice subtropical climate, it felt like a perfect long weekend getaway in autumn.

Day 1: Welcome to Brisbane City

We chose our stay in the most happening part of Brisbane CBD, South Brisbane, with huge buildings around. It was easy to walk around from there to the major attractions of the City.

Our day started with a visit to the famous Brisbane sign represented by giant letters, a perfect tourist spot with the skyline behind.

Brisbane has more buses than Sydney and the bus stations are more popular than the train stations, to an extent we got confused when people referred to bus stands as stations. We didn’t hire a car for the first two days of the trip, as we planned to be in the city center and everything is within the reach.

We took a beautiful ride over the Wheel of Brisbane, which provided us with 360 degree views of the city.

The city settlement started around the Brisbane River initially and spread around gradually, it was a beautiful sight looking at the river and the bridges from the Wheel. I was surprised at the huge number of bridges crossing the river.

Mount Coot-tha

In the afternoon, we planned a visit to planetarium located on top of a hill on the outskirts of Brisbane. We took public transport(bus) to reach Mount Coot-tha.

The largest planetarium in Australia is located in Brisbane and being space enthusiasts, we wanted to attend a show there. It was my first planetarium show and I was pretty excited to experience it.

There were interesting space exhibits in the planetarium, followed by a huge dome for the show. The show “Passport to the Universe” felt completely mesmerizing by transporting us into the dark space filled with planets and stars 🙂

There is a beautiful city lookout point from Mount Coot-tha overlooking the complete city.

We went back to the city centre by evening and explored the night life and restaurants around South Brisbane. There is a vibrant shopping place, Queen Street Mall, with famous designer stores and luxury brands, followed by restaurants. It was completely fun strolling across those streets.

The real beauty of the city can be usually experienced in the nights and the amazing skyline is the perfect example!!

Day 2: Around the City

Sunday in Brisbane is a great day to visit the local markets and we found a number of stalls on the River side. The atmosphere felt very lively around these markets.

Street’s beach is the Australia’s only inner-city, man-made beach with a sparkling blue lagoon surrounded by white, sandy beaches and sub-tropical plants, situated on the banks of Brisbane river. We were very excited to visit this man-made beach, but to our disappointment it was small and felt like a pool more than a beach.

Fortitude Valley

After South Brisbane or the city center, we wanted to visit the happening place in Brisbane, Fortitude valley. It is also a famous place for shopping along with street art. It was a lovely experience walking along the lanes looking for the beautiful street art.

Gabba Cricket stadium

In the afternoon, we visited the famous cricket stadium of Brisbane, The Gabba from outside.

The evening was absolutely stunning with city lights and colors 🙂 It feels like a completely different place in the night! There were benches along the river side where we spent time just staring at the bridges and buildings.

Eat Street North Shore

We hired a car for one day starting from today evening to explore the city further and our first stop was the Eat Street North Shore, one of the amazing food experiences ever! We expected a street full of stalls, but the concept and the scale was beyond our imagination :O

An old abandoned docking site in Hamilton was transformed into this dining spot that draws hungry crowds every friday and saturday night, and sunday afternoon. The concept is pretty simple: 50+ shipping containers fitted out into food stalls. It had an entry fee of 5$, after which we could choose any stall to eat the food from.

There were too many food choices that it felt overwhelming to choose one. While we thought we tried a good number of global cuisines so far, that place made us wonder on the varieties available in the world. It had cuisines like Asian, Mexican, Brazilian, Peruvian, Namibian and what not! Food FOMO was a real thing here, it took a while for us to reach to a decision on the place to eat.

The vibe was completely electric with bands performing live music in the middle of the Eat street. It was an amazing performance by the bands. We were confused on what to focus: food or music 🙂

At the end comes the exciting part, the desserts section with a lot of tempting options!! 🙂

Day 3: Glass House Mountains and Bribie Island

We headed outside the city today to explore the Hinterland towards the Glass House Mountains lookout.

The Glass House Mountains are a natural wonder of the region with magnificent rocky outcrops, which are actually remnants of volcanic activity that occurred more than 25 million years ago.

As the volcanic mountains cooled stunning vertical columns emerged, and today, they have become iconic landmarks on the Sunshine Coast and a popular location for bushwalkers and hikers to explore.

In 1770, they captured the attention of Captain Cook when he sailed up the east coast of Australia. So taken was Cook by their appearance that he named them the Glass House Mountains, their shape reminding him of glass furnaces back in his native Yorkshire.

The lookout was beautiful with views of the mountains all around. These mountains somehow looked very different from regular ones as they are not a range, but individual mountains standing in the middle of a plain.

Bribie Island

We headed to Bribie Island, the closest beach destination from the Brisbane City. Bribie Island is connected to the mainland via bridge on the sea, which was an interesting ride!!

We headed to the beautiful Woorim beach, had lunch there and enjoyed the views before heading back to the airport.

The island felt very refreshing with many beautiful beaches and walkways. We enjoyed driving all around the island exploring the waterways.

We headed to the airport in the evening for our flight to Sydney, ending a brief and lovely trip to Brisbane. It was a great city with its own culture and tropical vibes, making it a perfect long weekend trip! 🙂