Brisbane & Beyond: The Ultimate Campervan Location

Enjoy Brisbane before you start your campervan hire trip | image: Aristocrats-hat (Flickr)

Discover Brisbane - More Than A Stopover

Some travellers treat Brisbane like an airport lounge. Somewhere to sit restlessly before heading to the Gold Coast or Cairns. Those travellers are wrong. And they all miss out on one of Australia’s most fun cities.

Brisbane sits nicely in a subtropical pocket of southeast Queensland, wrapped up by a lazy brown river and backed by rolling green hills. The weather is amazing with up to 300 sunny days a year, the food scene is world-class and the art precinct at South Bank could make Melbourne jealous.

The city’s energy is relaxed but ambitious. Streets are walkable, neighbourhoods are distinct and interesting, people are friendly and everything feels slightly less rushed than the southern capitals.

How to Get to Brisbane

Queensland is well connected to Australia and the rest of the world. Brisbane Airport is the main gateway, handling direct international flights from New Zealand, Asia, the Pacific and beyond, as well as frequent domestic connections from Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth. Flying into Brisbane and picking up your Spaceships campervan straight from the depot is the smoothest way to start. You land, head to the depot, collect your van, and the trip begins immediately. No hire car queues, no hotel check-in, no waiting around.

The Glass House Mountains are calling. Your Spaceships campervan is ready when you are.

Brave the City - How to Get Around Brisbane

Driving around Brisbane is pretty manageable. There are wide roads and a logical grid layout in the inner suburbs. Spaceships compact campers drive like a regular car so it’s easy to travel around the city and find parking spots. The bonus is that your accommodation, your kitchen and your entire home base travel with you. Spend time exploring the city centre, then use the recommended Spaceships camping app to find campsites for the night.

Another option is to park the van and live like a local. Brisbane makes it easy to move around on foot and public transport. The Translink network covers buses, trains, ferries and trams across the city on a single tap-on, tap-off system. The Citycat river ferry in particular is one of the best ways to see Brisbane.

Don’t miss:

• The Gallery of Modern Art (GOMA) at South Bank. Entry is free to the permanent collections and there are always interesting exhibitions to explore.
• Fortitude Valley for nightlife, live music and tasty brunch spots.
• New Farm Park to relax in a heritage-listed riverfront park.
• Mt Coot-tha Lookout for walking trails and gorgeous sunset views over Brisbane.
• Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary, the largest koala sanctuary of its kind is just 30 minutes from the city centre. You can hold koalas, hand-feed kangaroos and see platypuses.
• The Story Bridge. Climb it, walk it, or just admire it from the riverbank.
• South Bank Parklands, a kilometre of riverside gardens, markets, restaurants and a free public swimming lagoon right in the city centre.

Brisbane's free city lagoon. Swim, dry off, and hit the road. Van life in the city doesn't get much better | Photo by Romain

Bite Into Brisbane - Where to Eat

Though Queensland is the ‘beef state’ of Australia and has a reputation for loving a steak and a beer, Brisbane's current dining scene has outgrown its pastoral roots with great taste.

Eat Street Northshore is exactly what it sounds like. A weekend food market (Friday, Saturday and Sunday night) in shipping containers by the river. It’s chaotic but delicious and the kind of place where you’ll find cuisines from six of the seven continents in the world - Asia, Europe, Oceania, North America and South America. Along with great food, enjoy a range of eclectic shops and exciting entertainment options.

James Street, Fortitude Valley, is Brisbane’s boutique dining strip. Enjoy long lunches with a side of high-end shopping.

South Bank's Little Stanley Street is the tourist-adjacent to James street but still has plenty of great food options. It’s particularly good for a slow breakfast before hitting the galleries.

Coffee culture: Brisbane’s cafe culture is thriving. Speciality coffee shops have popped up everywhere across West End, Fortitude Valley and New Farm. If you’re a coffee lover, you will not suffer in Brisbane.

Campervan cooking: In your Spaceships campervan you have a kitchen. Use it! Queensland’s range of fresh produce is amazing. Head to the Rocklea Markets (one of Australia’s largest produce markets, open Saturday mornings) and stock your van with mangoes, macadamias and whatever’s in season. For extras, head to supermarkets like Woolworths or Coles to get what you need and hit the road ready for adventure.

Park up at Mt Coot-Tha and watch Brisbane light up below you | Photo by Seb

Beyond Brisbane - The Open Road Awaits

Here’s where the campervan earns its keep. Queensland is enormous in a way that maps don’t quite convey properly. It’s nearly five times the size of Japan so keep that in mind when you’re confidently announcing you’ll “pop up to Cairns”.

The classic drives out of Brisbane break down like this:

North: The Sunshine Coast & More

Just 90 minutes north of Brisbane (via the M1), the Sunshine Coast is everything the Gold Coast is but with fewer high-rises and a little more soul. Noosa is the main feature - a national park, world-class surf break, Hastings Street full of excellent restaurants and a weekly farmers market that’s sure to fill your basket. Continue north and you reach the Fraser Coast, home to K’gari (Fraser Island), the world’s largest sand island and an unmissable experience. Try out activities like boat tours, 4-wheel driving and camping.

South: The Glowing Gold Coast

Travel an hour south on the M1 to arrive at the Gold Coast. It’s exactly as advertised with long golden beaches, theme parks and more neon than any skyline actually needs. It’s a very fun and lively spot. The hinterland behind the coast (Lamington National Park, Springbrook and Natural Bridge) is less popular than Surfers Paradise but just as extraordinary. Find ancient rainforest, glow-worm caves and waterfalls.

Enjoy the dazzling Gold Coast

West: The Granite Belt

Many people don’t know Queensland has wine country. The Granite Belt, around Stanthorpe, sits at altitude and produces great cool-climate wines. Alongside the usual shiraz and chardonnay, the region has become known for alternative varieties that the locals have nicknamed Strange Birds. Grapes like Chechin Blanc, Viognier, Tempranillo and Sangiovese make up less than one percent of Australian wine production. It's a great place to visit if you’re looking to try something you’ve never tasted before.

Also sitting west of Brisbane is Girraween National Park. This 117 square kilometre park is a granite playground filled with hiking trails ranging from easy strolls to multi-day adventures. The famous Pyramid Walk leads you through boulder fields and up to panoramic views of the park below.

The Long Haul North: Brisbane to Cairns

If you’ve got a week or two, drive to the far north. Following the Bruce Highway north to Cairns is one of the great Australian road trips, not because the highway itself is particularly beautiful (stretches of it are frankly agricultural), but because of everything you get to see along the way. The Whitsundays, Airlie Beach, the Atherton Tablelands and eventually Cairns and the Great Barrier Reef. The road trip from Brisbane to Cairns is a tropical dream!

Drive north long enough and this is your reward. The famous Great Barrier Reef

Drive from Brisbane to Sydney

One of Australia’s great coastal drives. The road from Brisbane to Sydney via the Pacific Highway is around 10 hours of pure temptation - Byron Bay, Ballina, Coffs Harbour and the Northern Rivers all daring you to stop. And you should. Driving in a Spaceships campervan means every one of those stops can be a proper stay, not just a leg stretch. Give it three or four days at minimum, take the scenic detours and arrive in the dazzling Sydney city having already had the time of a lifetime before you even hit the harbour.

Drive from Brisbane to Melbourne

Road tripping from Brisbane to Melbourne is a proper east coast adventure. Choose to hug the coastline and continue from Sydney or track south through regional New South Wales, dip through Hunter Valley wine country, skirt the Blue Mountains and roll into Melbourne having seen a good chunk of what Australia has to offer.

Some of the best moments happen when you stop planning and just drive.

Best Time to Visit Brisbane

Brisbane is a great year-round destination, which is one of its great advantages. That said, a sweet spot for many is May through September where the weather is warm and sunny without the summer humidity. Peak months of June through to August bring comfortable temperatures averaging around 21°C, perfect for both city exploring and being out on the road.

Summer (December to February) is hot and humid but still pleasant if you’re heat-tolerant. The city has lots of lovely outdoor spaces, beaches and waterways that make the heat perfectly manageable. Southeast Queensland doesn’t get the dramatic wet season Cairns and the tropical north experience, so year-round road tripping is realistic from Brisbane in a way it isn’t further north.

How Long to Spend in Brisbane

Spending two to three days in Brisbane is enough time to see the city highlights - the galleries, the food, river and shopping. A week or so allows you to settle in properly and start exploring the amazing day trips like the Sunshine Coast or the Gold Coast. Anything longer than a week and your opportunities multiply by a lot - with a Spaceships campervan, you decide when and where you want to go. With Spaceships Rentals depots all over Australia buckle up for an awesome one way road trip at no extra cost or loop right back to Brisbane as your home base.

It's time to get behind the wheel! #SpaceshipsRoadTrip

Ready to Blast Off?

Somewhere right now, someone is parked up in Brisbane watching the sun set with a cold drink in hand and nothing to do tomorrow except decide which direction to drive. Someone else is waking up in the Granite Belt ready for a day of exploring and wine touring, another is sitting in the open door of their Spaceship somewhere on the Sunshine Coast wondering how they ever holidayed any other way. That could be you, and Brisbane is the start of it all. The city, the coast, the reef, the rainforest, the wine country and the open road.

Pick up your Spaceships campervan in Brisbane and let the road take care of the rest.