Brisbane Travel Guide: All You Must Visit at South Bank Parklands!

South Bank Parklands︱The Perfect Garden of Brisbane

Brisbane is the third largest city of Australia. Most people expect that there are many buildings, skyscrapers, crowded and noisy environment in a city. However, these characteristics are all not appropriate introductions for Brisbane, the beautiful river city, where you can enjoy the sunshine, riding bicycles or taking a walk on the riverside, BBQ, picnics and so on. “South Bank Parklands” locates in Brisbane city and it may be the perfect place for people who have those hobbies mentioned above. Moreover, according to the report of Brisbane Government, there are more than 11,000,000 tourists traveling to this park every year! In brief, it is definitely a popular spot where you have to visit when you travel in Brisbane!

◎The Wheel of Brisbane

First, it is easy to see this “The Wheel of Brisbane” when people walk on South Bank Parklands or riverside in Brisbane city. It may not be really outstanding if you compare the height of the wheel with others in different countries. However, it may be one of the wheel where you can see the most beautiful view because it locates at the perfect spot which faces Brisbane city and river. Even if you don’t get on the wheel, you can still enjoy its fantastic appearance and design! The only thing you will not forget to do is to take a photo here! 

♁Address：The Wheel of Brisbane, South Brisbane, Queensland

♁Phone：(07) 3844 3464

♁Opening hour：10:00 - 22:00

♁Close Day：Except for Australian Public Holidays, open daily

♁Public Transport：Take train to「South Bank」station and walk approximately 4 min

♁Price：Adult$19／Student$16.5／Concession$15.5／Child$13.5 (3 years and under is free) ※Enjoy 10% off when you book online！

♁Car Park：Click here to understand more

♁Website：http://www.thewheelofbrisbane.com.au/

It gives totally different feeling to tourists at day and night, but the common point is beauty!

The Wheel of Brisbane is a super big landmark of Brisbane, therefore, there are many events held near this area. If you want to know more details, this article would be your good choice: click here

It is convenient for tourists to enjoy the city view near The Wheel of Brisbane because of its location

◎Queensland Performing Arts Centre (QPAC)

If you come to Brisbane and want to experience local or international performing arts, Queensland Performing Arts Centre (QPAC) would be your good choice. There are many popular and famous performances held inside frequently and QPAC just locates closely to The Wheel of Brisbane. It is also an excellent opportunity to be familiar with Australian culture and communicate with native people because watching these shows is a popular recreation activity for Australian.

♁Address：Corner Melbourne St and Grey St、South Brisbane QLD 4101

♁Phone：(07) 3840 7444

♁Opening Time：09:00-20:30

♁Close Day：Except for Australian Public Holidays, open daily

♁Public Transport：Take train to「South Bank」station and walk approximately 3 min

♁Ticket：depends on different performance, the details are in the link of website

♁Car Park：Click here to understand more

♁Website：https://www.qpac.com.au/

♁Facebook：https://www.facebook.com/atQPAC

You can still sometimes see many people here at night because there are some events or performances arranged at night time. Another reason for many people here at night is that there are also many bars near this art centre... haha

◎Queensland Maritime Museum

If you are a big fan of maritime-related histories or relics, this “Queensland Maritime Museum” built in 1971 which treasures lots of maritime art works, books, documents, photos, videos would capture your eyes. Besides it, you can also see the 100% real ships are docked at the port of this museum. The location of Queensland Maritime Museum is at the southern area of South Bank Parklands, so it is so convenient to visit here when you travel to this wonderful park!

♁Address：412 Stanley St、South Brisbane QLD 4101

♁Phone：(07) 3844 5361

♁Opening Time：Open daily 9.30am to 4.30pm

♁Close Day：Except for Australian Public Holidays, open daily

♁Public Transport：Take train to「South Bank」station and walk approximately 5 min

♁Ticket：Adult：$16／Concession：$14／Family (2 adult+less than 3 children under 15 years old)：$38／Child：$7／Group (10 or more people, adult: $12; child: $5)

♁Car Park：Click here to understand more

♁Website：https://maritimemuseum.com.au/

♁Facebook：https://www.facebook.com/queenslandmaritimemuseum

There is a fake port at this museum, but it exhibits the real 1:1 ships which include lots of maritime-related decorations and items here.

◎Other Park Areas

Next, I am going to share some travel experience of other part of this park. First of all, “South Bank Parklands” is the best area of Brisbane city for me and it was on the transformed site of Brisbane's World Expo 88 that was officially opened to the public on 20 June 1992. Besides many recreation functions which may satisfy every generation, the biggest advantage of this park is that everything is FREE! There are two special attractions of this park, including “The Arbour” which consists of 443 curling steel columns covered in bouganvilleas which flower throughout the year and “Streets Beach”, the man-made beach, which is 2,000 square metres of free-formed concrete surrounded by 4,000 cubic metres of sand. It is so relaxing that you can see many people here to swim, walk, BBQ, picnic and enjoy the beautiful river and city view here every day!

♁Address：South Bank Parklands, South Brisbane QLD

♁Phone：(07) 3156 6366

♁Close Day：No close day

♁Public Transport：Take train to「South Bank」station and walk approximately 5 min

♁Ticket：Free

♁Toilet & shower facilities：approximate 5 - 10 (Free)

♁Car Park：Click here to understand more

♁Website：http://www.visitbrisbane.com.au/South-Bank

When I first time came to Australia, I was so curious about these “public BBQ facilities” which are free and clean and people don’t have to apply for using them because it is difficult to see these kind of facilities in my country, Taiwan, or even Asia. BBQ is really a part of Australian’s lives! This day, I invited some friends from Taiwan, Japan, and Hong Kong to have a BBQ at South Bank Parklands. It is so awesome that you can enjoy the relaxing atmosphere and view with BBQ at the same time! By the way, could you recognize where are we from respectively? lol (A: 4 Japanese, 2 Taiwanese, & 2 Hong Kong friends)

Just near the BBQ area, there are a beach (Streets Beach) and many playgrounds for kids. Therefore, lots of family spend time here to enjoy their free holidays!

“The Arbour” penetrates the whole park and connects” Cultural Centre” and “South Bank Parklands”. It is not only a beautiful foot path but also a considerate design to protect tourists from harmful sunburns because Brisbane is known as the sunshine city of Australia. To be honest, it is actually really hot in summer!

Any delicious food at this park? “Stanley Street Plaza” includes various kinds of restaurants and you can also find tasty desserts, drinks near this area. Feel hungry at the park? Just come here!

Did you know? Brisbane has nine sister cities and one of them is Kaohsiung from my country, Taiwan. It is so great to see my mother language, traditional Chinese, in a foreign country! Hope this wonderful relationship between these two cities can be maintained for a long time!

Follow the content mentioned above, South Bank Parklands was the transformed site of Brisbane's World Expo 88. “Nepalese Pagoda” was one of the displayed cultural buildings on that time. Moreover, it is the only international exhibit remaining on the site and also one of only three Nepalese peace pagodas in the world to be located outside of Nepal!

There is a long foot path next to Brisbane River, just enjoy your walking or bicycling like what Australian does here.

Australia is a multicultural country, so there are various cultural events held at this park. The pictures combine the western and eastern factors that I love are the Buddha Birth Day Festival.

The most important and special part of this park that you won’t like to miss is the “Streets Beach”. It includes totally open-air beach and safe swimming pools where kids would love to spend whole day to swim and play water games!