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Best Things to do in Brisbane (2026)

Many of Brisbane's best experiences involve the river. Riding the CityCat between UQ St Lucia and Northshore Hamilton is the cheapest way to see the city from the water, and the ferries also deliver you to several of the places on this list. At Northshore Hamilton, Eat Street Northshore runs a weekend night market with more than 60 micro-kitchens, bars and live music stages from Friday to Sunday evenings, so a late-afternoon CityCat ride followed by dinner there makes an easy evening.

Closer to the centre, Howard Smith Wharves has turned heritage-listed 1930s wharves beneath the Story Bridge into a precinct of restaurants, bars and a brewery, with its own ferry terminal. Across the river, the Kangaroo Point Cliffs are a free place to watch climbers, picnic or photograph the CBD skyline, and the floodlit cliff face makes them worth a visit after dark too. For culture, Brisbane Powerhouse in New Farm, a 1920s power station reborn as an arts centre in 2000, stages theatre and music and hosts free exhibitions and farmers markets beside New Farm Park. Plan around the Eat Street opening days and the Powerhouse programme, and use the ferries to move between them.

5 places · Updated November 12, 2026

Our top 3 things to do in Brisbane

  1. Howard Smith Wharves Riverside dining and leisure precinct, Brisbane City (Petrie Bight)Heritage-listed 1930s wharves beneath the Story Bridge, reopened in 2018 as a riverside precinct of restaurants, bars, a brewery and the bridge climb.
  2. Kangaroo Point Cliffs Cliffs, park and city viewpoint, Kangaroo PointFloodlit former convict quarry cliffs on the Kangaroo Point riverbank, used for climbing and abseiling and giving clear views across to the CBD.
  3. Eat Street Northshore Night food market, HamiltonA riverside night market at Northshore Hamilton with more than 60 micro-kitchens, themed bars and live music stages, open Friday to Sunday evenings.

Thing to do

1. Howard Smith Wharves

Riverside dining and leisure precinctBrisbane City (Petrie Bight)

Heritage-listed 1930s wharves beneath the Story Bridge, reopened in 2018 as a riverside precinct of restaurants, bars, a brewery and the bridge climb.

View details — Howard Smith Wharves