The Best Day Trips from Brisbane: Where to Go on a Weekend Escape

Brisbane's location in south-east Queensland makes it one of Australia's best day-trip bases: the Gold Coast is 90 minutes south, the Sunshine Coast is 90 minutes north, the Toowoomba escarpment and the Darling Downs are 90 minutes west, the Scenic Rim (Mount Barney, Lamington Plateau, and the Gondwana rainforests) is 2 hours south-west, and the Lockyer Valley's rural landscapes are 60 minutes west. The extraordinary variety of landscapes and experiences available within a 2-hour radius of Brisbane makes it one of the world's great short-escape cities.

Tamborine Mountain and the Gold Coast Hinterland — Tamborine Mountain (65km south of Brisbane via the Pacific Motorway and Oxenford, approximately 60 minutes) is Brisbane's most accessible and most enjoyable hinterland day trip: the Gallery Walk (the main Tamborine Mountain village commercial strip, with a remarkable concentration of craft galleries, artisan food producers, and cafes), the Tamborine Mountain National Park (rainforest walking tracks through subtropical and Antarctic Beech rainforest, with extraordinary waterfalls including the Cedar Creek Falls and the Witches Falls), the Tamborine Mountain distillery and cidery, and the extraordinary views over the Gold Coast and Moreton Bay from the various Tamborine Mountain lookouts make this Brisbane's most rewarding single-day escape. The trip combines beautifully with a Gold Coast beach afternoon (45 minutes east from Tamborine Mountain to Surfers Paradise).

Scenic Rim: Mount Barney and Lamington National Park — the Scenic Rim (the volcanic rim of mountains forming the southern boundary of the South East Queensland region, 100-120km south-west of Brisbane) provides Brisbane's finest wilderness day-trip destinations: the Lamington National Park (the O'Reilly's Rainforest Retreat and Binna Burra Mountain Lodge, both on the Lamington Plateau, with extraordinary rainforest walking tracks, waterfalls, and the resident Albert's lyrebirds and regent bowerbirds) and Mount Barney (the extraordinary volcanic crater peak of the Scenic Rim, accessible to experienced bushwalkers via the South Ridge Track) are the two most remarkable Scenic Rim experiences. The Scenic Rim is one of Queensland's most extraordinary natural landscapes.

Moreton Island and the Moreton Bay Reef Islands — Moreton Island (35km east of Brisbane, accessible by ferry from the Holt Street Wharf, Pinkenba, approximately 75 minutes) is one of the world's largest sand islands and Brisbane's finest maritime day-trip destination: the Tangalooma Island Resort (dolphin feeding, snorkelling the Tangalooma Wrecks, quad bike tours, and sandboarding on the Moreton Island dunes) makes Tangalooma one of Queensland's most enjoyable day-trip resort experiences. The Moreton Bay Research Station and the extraordinary sand island landscape (the island is entirely national park except for the Tangalooma resort and two small communities) make Moreton Island a genuinely memorable Brisbane day trip.

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