With a subtropical climate and more than 300 days of sunshine a year, there’s never a bad time to visit Brisbane. But each season brings with it unique reasons to love the place – from summer’s sudden storms best seen from Brisbane’s chic rooftop bars and restaurants, to spring strolls through botanical gardens spread across the city and winter boat trips on its best-kept secret, Moreton Bay. Whether you like it hot or prefer south-east Queensland’s dreamy winter sunshine, it’s good to know which season works best for you.
SUMMER
Brisbane can get hot and humid through summer – with daytime temperatures averaging about 28 degrees. It’s also the wettest time of the year (February is the wettest month, with an average of 130 millimetres of rain). But it usually falls in short, dramatic storms that pass quickly and provide one heck of a light and sound show. Find one of the city’s lauded rooftop bar/restaurants – such as Lina Brisbane, 12 storeys up in South Brisbane – to watch the lightning. Mornings and evenings do cool off. Don’t forget Brisbane is home to Queensland’s most unheralded subtropical islands – there’s more than 350 islands in an enormous bay to the city’s east: Moreton Bay.
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Escape the summer heat at Australia’s only inner-city man-made beach.Credit: Tourism and Events Queensland
When the mercury rises, relief is just across the Brisbane River. Cool down at Southbank Parklands – 17 hectares of riverfront land less than a kilometre from the CBD. Southbank Parklands are Australia’s only inner-city man-made beaches – lagoons surrounded by white sandy beaches, patrolled by lifeguards. Kids might also like to try out the water park next door, Aquativity. Or get out on the river for a jet-ski tour or a party on a superyacht moored permanently. Or enjoy the air-conditioning inside the cultural precinct in Queensland’s largest art galleries and theatres.
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Brisbane’s Gabba is one of the country’s best sports stadiums. Join 42,000 people in the inner-city suburb of Woolloongabba to watch some of Australia’s most monumental cricket games over summer – from the traditional first Test of the summer to international Twenty20 and one-day matches, and the fiery Big Bash domestic series. And join in the relaxed, tropical Brisbane version of racing glitz and glamour at Summer Saturday Race Days at horse racing tracks at Eagle Farm and Doomben. More social occasion than anything sporty, it’s the most laid-back way of having a flutter.
AUTUMN
Ask any local and they’ll tell you, autumn’s divine in Brisbane. After the heat of summer, autumn’s cooler days feel blissful, though evenings are still balmy enough for shorts and skirts. It’s a lot like spring, but without the wind. Autumn leaves are falling – check them out at inner-city refuges such as New Farm Park, Roma Street Parklands and the City Botanic Gardens. Unlike our southern cities, the action won’t drop off as summer ends, instead Brisbane’s events and nighttime festivities are only just warming up.
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Get out on a bike at Australia’s biggest multidiscipline bike festival, Brisbane Cycling Festival, a month-long celebration in March and April of all things two-wheeled. Get along to the Brisbane Showgrounds and neighbouring King Street precinct, with events and festivities including live music and bike races. Take a boat trip on one of Australia’s largest estuarine bays, Moreton Bay, to see the water at its sparkling best without summer winds (you’ll find one of the larger populations of dugong on Earth, as well as six of the world’s seven species of turtles). Consider overnight stays on its islands, such as North Stradbroke or Moreton Island, home to family-favourite resort Tangalooma Island Resort (you can feed wild dolphins each evening).
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Good Friday marks the start of one of Australia’s flagship ocean yachting events, the Brisbane to Gladstone Yacht Race. Get to Sandgate in Brisbane’s north to see Australia’s best sailors at the starting line of a 74-year-old race that’s an icon of Queensland and was once won by Rupert Murdoch. For something completely different, check out the annual World Science Festival and Curiocity Brisbane held at venues across South Brisbane’s cultural precinct. There’s more than 130 events and workshops featuring some of the world’s greatest science minds.
WINTER
Southerners be warned – a Brisbane winter may break your heart. Sure, there’s the odd chilly morning and evening but daytime highs won’t drop below 24 degrees (maximums below 20 are rare), and this is Brisbane’s dry season – so expect at least 25 days of sunshine each month. Water temperatures in Moreton Bay don’t drop below 20 degrees either. Food still comes served al fresco – though rooftop bars and beer gardens offer heat lamps. Enjoy the winter sunshine in Brisbane’s best outdoor cafes and restaurants in New Farm, James Street in Fortitude Valley and at Howard Smith Wharves, built above the Brisbane River on the edge of the CBD.
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There are bike paths all along Brisbane River, best used during the city’s cooler months.Credit: Tourism and Events Queensland
Winter is the best time to take advantage of Brisbane’s many outdoor activities. Enjoy lower humidity and crisp blue skies as you ride the Brisbane River Loop, a 30-kilometre ride that takes you down both sides of the river, showing off some of the city’s best sites. Try rock climbing and abseiling down sheer faces of volcanic rock just beside the river looking down at the CBD, at Kangaroo Point. You can also see humpback whales migrating north with daily whale-watching tours from Redcliffe in Brisbane’s north, and from Tangalooma in Moreton Bay.
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The Ekka, aka the Brisbane Royal Show.Credit: Glenn Hunt
Winter is a busy time in Brisbane for festivals and events. Catch the mighty Brisbane Lions at the Gabba in the AFL, while the Brisbane Broncos play at one of the world’s most beloved football stadiums, Suncorp Stadium, a 15-minute walk from the city at Paddington (it’s surrounded by great bars and restaurants). Don’t miss the State of Origin – NSW vs Queensland – at Suncorp Stadium, in June or July. There’s a nine-day party (with Brisbane’s very own public holiday) at the Ekka at Brisbane Showgrounds, held since 1876, with live entertainment and carnival-style rides for kids. And go north to Woody Point on the edge of Moreton Bay for a three-day food party in August at the Moreton Bay Food & Wine Festival.
SPRING
Spring is one of the best times to visit Brisbane – days resemble winter but the evenings and mornings won’t drop below 17 degrees, and expect daytime highs of 25 degrees, with a cooling sea breeze. There’s less rain than summer, so plan a busy outdoor schedule. Take a City Cat boat tour along the Brisbane River, which slices through the heart of the city offering the best view of Brisbane’s best attractions, from riverside parks to dining precincts and its most expensive riverside homes.
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Brisbane Botanic Gardens.
Spring is when the flowers begin to bloom at Brisbane’s botanic gardens – and with day-time highs in the mid-20s, it’s the perfect time to stroll. You don’t have to go far beyond the CBD at the City Botanic Gardens – a 20-hectare heritage-listed park home to trees and plants from Brisbane’s earliest colonial days, built right down to the river on the city’s fringe. The Brisbane Botanical Gardens are a little further out at the base of Brisbane’s tallest mountain, Mt Coot-Tha. They’re Queensland’s premier botanical gardens – 56 hectares of species including the most extensive collection of Australian native rainforest trees on Earth. Check out the views on these clear days of spring from Mt Coot-Tha Lookout, a few kilometres beyond.
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Brisbane’s biggest event all year happens in spring, in a month-long celebration (in September) of the arts from theatre to music to dance and more at the Brisbane Festival. Queensland’s premier arts festival features more than 600 shows – many of them free – featuring some of Australia’s biggest music, theatre, art and dance stars. Action is centred around the South Bank Parklands, but events are happening all over the city. The city’s biggest food event also happens in spring: the Good Food & Wine Show features the city’s best chefs offering workshops and masterclasses beside hundreds of stalls handing out the best produce and wine in Queensland (at the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre in October).
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