This is your holiday, so make the most of it. Explore the great outdoors. Seek out the sunshine. Take your shoes off and embrace the green grass and blue skies of Brisbane. Here’s where the best park playtimes start …
City Botanic Gardens
With its impressive colonial history, plant collections and riverside location, the City Botanic Gardens is a much beloved part of the cityscape. This is escape central for the frisbee-throwing fitness crowd, uni students resting between lectures, office dwellers on lunch breaks and picnicking families. A guaranteed feel-good experience.
Kangaroo Point Cliffs
Sit atop the ancient Kangaroo Point Cliffs early morning, or as the sun is setting, and see one of the most magnificent views of the river and city centre. The cliffs are a base to those seeking soft adventure. Try your hand at rock-climbing, abseiling, kayaking and much more. You could even pack a lunch and settle down at one of the many picnic and barbeque facilities available.
Mount Coot-tha Botanic Gardens
Located just 15 minutes from the city centre, the 52hectare Mount Coot-tha Botanic Gardens has long been a favoured local spot for leisure and pleasure. Stretch out on the grass by the lagoon, explore the Exotic Rainforest, marvel at the eerie sounds of Bamboo Grove or seek out the secrets of the stars with a visit to the Thomas Brisbane Planetarium. All this and more awaits discovery at the foothills of Brisbane’s famed Mount Coot-tha.
New Farm Park
New Farm Park is a popular haunt for the city’s outdoor enthusiasts. Its riverside location, Jacaranda-lined drive, rambling rose bushes, fig tree-houses for kiddies to climb, Moonlight Cinema, tennis courts, soccer fields and croquet lawns are just part of the package.
Roma Street Parkland
As the world’s largest urban subtropical garden, the 16hectare Roma Street Parkland stands out as an inner-city oasis of wide open spaces and botanical bemusements. Home to lakes and lookouts, rainforests and rockeries (and much much more) this is a garden lover’s paradise and the perfect place for a spot of inner-city rest and recreation.
South Bank
Voted the 'World’s Best Public Project' in 2004 by The Wall Street Journal, South Bank offers 40acres of unrivalled leisure activities. This is the city’s premier parkland precinct. Swim in the lagoon, bask on the beach, wander through the gardens, rollerblade by the riverside, visit the markets, have a picnic or indulge in some of the fine food experiences offered by the local restaurants, cafés and pubs.
For more information on Brisbane’s parks and gardens click here to request a copy of the 'Experience Brisbane & Surrounds Official Visitors’ Guide'.
