Holiday suggestions
hi! we're looking at spending a week in Brizzy in a few months. What area is good to stay in and what would you reccomend for food, shopping and sight seeing?
Posted May 6, 2022, 1:23 AM UTC
111
Food: Hungry Jack's Queen Street Mall
Shopping: Wintergarden (I highly recommend Strike Bowling at Level One)
Sightseeing: Croc Spotting on the big brown snake.
3†
Stay in South Bank, plenty of things to do, culture, food, gardens, easy walk into West End.
For sightseeing, the main way way to tour Brisbane is by City Cat. However due to recent historic floods these services are down and probably still won't be restored by the time of your trip. Mt Cootha makes for a great observation of the city, other landmarks worth visiting are City Hall + museum as well as General MacArthurs headquarters to see where the Pacific War was commanded from. The Commissariat Museum is also great for convict era history. Paddington and its streets are also worth a visit if you want that quintessential experience of quaint Queenslander houses.
Food, some great places in West End which has a lot of cuisines from around the world. Sunnybank Market town is great from 7 to late for all East Asian foods. Eat street in North shore is also decent and cheap but very busy.
Shopping, Queen Street Mall in the CBD and its various shopping centres alongside it, James st for fashion.
3
Thanks!! Sounds perfect!
2
Stay at South Bank or the CBD. Head to Meeanjin Markets (133 Grey St, South Bank), not really a markets but a shop of local First Nations products. If you have time and the weather is lovely go to Stradbroke Island for 1 or 2 nights. Also a walk or drive up to Mt Cootha is tradition on sunrise or sunset if you have a car.
1
thanks for that!!!!
1
You're welcome. Have a wonderful time.
1
Might need a tad more info on yourselves if you want some actual suggestions
This. Every goddamn time with these threads.
u/far-que you don't have to give us your life story, but give us something to go on.
How old are you? Who's "we" - you and your partner? Parents? Kids? How many? What ages? What are your interests? Do you have an active and outdoors-y lifestyle? Or high culture and fine dining are more your vibe? Or maybe bars and nightlife? Or upmarket boutiques? Or just lounging by the pool or on the beach? What sort of sights and attractions are you into? Nature spotting? Adventure activities? Museums and galleries? Would you prefer organized tours or more of a self-drive holiday? Pack it all in at a fast pace, or just do a couple of things and keep it chill?
Ah good point. Me and my wife. We love good food, street food and ethnic food, and shopping, well my wife loves big brand clothes etc... I tag along as bag holder.. site seeing is anywhere walkable/via boat/bus/cab etc ..
Thanks for the reply mate.
Since it's just you and your missus, I'd recommend staying somewhere central: anywhere within spitting distance of the river and no more than 2-3 km from the city centre is fine. The CBD is more retail while Southbank is more touristy and Fortitude Valley is more nightlife oriented.
There's no real "bad" spots that close to the city (although the central part of the Valley can get noisy/rough on a Saturday night; and places like New Farm, Kangaroo Point and Spring Hill are more residential so can feel pretty dead/quiet at times) and plenty of hotels/apartments/etc. to chose from so take your pick.
If you love good ethnic food with that bustling street-food vibe, then check out Eat Street Northshore. It's a big street-food night market that's open Friday-Sunday and very tourist-friendly. It's a decent distance from the city, but has its own ferry stop so you can easily catch a CityCat there. The CityCats aren't running at the moment because of ongoing repairs from the floods, but should be up and running by the time you're here. Even if you don't go to Eat Street, I'd recommend taking the CityCat up or down the river at least once regardless, since it's such a great cheap way to get around and take in the city. At the very least jump off at Southbank and go for a wander.
I mentioned that Eat Street is very touristy (read: expensive) and only open certain nights; so if you want something a bit more authentic with that real South East Asian street market feel; then I'd recommend getting out of the city and hitting up Sunnybank. It's a big sprawling outer suburb with a large Asian population centred around the corner of Mains Rd and McCullough St. Fairly straightforward bus trip to get there. Forget the little Chinatown in Fortitude Valley: the real locals go to Sunnybank for their foodie fix. If you're lucky, you might even be there while the $2 Food Trail is happening in June.
Thanks for that, great info!