3 days in Brisbane: itinerary

Three days works when each day has one job. Day one is the city on foot, because the river does the navigating for you. Day two is a day trip: Moreton Bay by ferry or train, or the hinterland by train and bus. Day three is what you missed — a museum, a market, or a slow morning before the airport.

The mistake is treating Brisbane as a stopover and booking three separate tours. Pick one paid experience at most. Everything else on this page is walkable, free or a cheap train ride.

Brisbane's best value is that the headline sights cost nothing. The riverwalk, South Bank's lagoon, the Botanic Gardens and the two big museums are free to enter, and City Hall runs free clock tower tours on a booked basis. Paid items are the wildlife park, paid exhibitions and any guided day trip.

Public transport is the other cost to plan. TransLink runs trains, buses and the CityCat ferries across the network, and fares are distance-based with a cheaper off-peak window. Check whether contactless bank cards are accepted on your route, or buy a go card.

Brisbane Airport sits about 13 km northeast of the centre, with trains running to Central and Roma Street stations and a separate airport fare. From the CBD, most of the day-one route is a walk: South Bank, the riverwalk and the museums sit within a couple of kilometres of each other.

For day trips, the train network is the easy answer. Lines run north to the bay suburbs and west towards the hinterland, and the CityCat ferries cover the river suburbs. If you are arriving from overseas, long-haul flights from North America and Europe usually land in Sydney or Melbourne first, then connect north; check the flight times from your home country before locking the itinerary.

Book the one paid thing you care about in advance, then leave the rest loose. Brisbane weather decides a lot: summer storms arrive in the afternoon, so put outdoor plans in the morning and keep a museum as the backup.

Stay near a train station rather than a scenic suburb if you only have three days; the time saved beats the view. And if your trip lands in a school holiday or over New Year, book beds and any tour weeks ahead, because the coast fills up.