Queensland Travel Guide

Australia’s second-biggest state offers over 260 days of sunshine a year, 2000km of coastline and a relatively unexplored outback. You probably don’t need a lot of convincing to book a Queensland holiday, but just in case you are still undecided, consider this:

The 2300 km long Great Barrier Reef
Two Hundred National Parks
One Hundred Islands
Five World Natural Heritage areas
Ancient rainforests

When we say Queensland is big, we are not exaggerating. If Queensland were its own country, it would be the eighteenth largest in the world.

To drive from the NSW border to Cape Tribulation takes 24 hours.

It’s packed with great holiday destinations, so what are you waiting for? Let’s start planning!

Regions in Queensland

Queensland has so much to offer it’s a good idea to get a lay of the land, see where the visitor hotspots are. While officially, the state is divided into seven regions however, there are many more holiday zones.

For simplicity, we have settled on:

The Gold Coast Beaches & Hinterland
Brisbane and its islands
Sunshine Coast
Fraser and Capricorn Coasts
Townsville
Rockhampton
Outback Qld
Whitsundays
North Queensland

If you are not sure where to head, start with our guide to the regions of Queensland.

Queensland Island Holidays

Our Queensland travel guide will help you decide which region, town and cities in Queensland you should visit on your next trip. We cover the basics of planning a trip to Queensland and give you a quick rundown on the major tourist regions and the most popular things to do in Queensland’s cities and towns.

How to get to Queensland

Unless you have a lot of time for your trip, you will probably want to include some internal flights because of the distances between the major cities. If you plan on visiting the reef and Brisbane, for example, a flight is by far the best option.

Airports

Queensland has 3 international airports

Brisbane International Airport – from all continents
Gold Coast Airport – Japan, Singapore, New Zealand, Kuala Lumpur, Seoul and Bali
Cairns Airport – Flights from Japan, Singapore, Auckland, Bali and Hong Kong

Key Domestic airports

Sunshine Coast – 1hr 30 from Brisbane, 2hrs 15 from Sydney and 2hrs 55 from Melbourne
Hervey Bay – 55 minutes from Brisbane, 1hr 45 from Sydney and 3hrs 50 from Melbourne
Whitsundays (Proserpine Airport) – 2hrs from Brisbane, 2 hrs 30 from Sydney and 2 hrs 55 from Melbourne
Hamilton Island – 3hrs from Sydney, 4hs from Melbourne, 2hrs from Brisbane, and 2hrs 45 from Darwin
Cairns – 2hrs 10 from Brisbane, 2hrs 55 from Sydney, 3hrs 20 from Melbourne, and 2hrs 35min from Darwin

Interstate Trains

Direct trains from Sydney (14 hours) and Adelaide to Brisbane (2 days and 7 hours). From Brisbane, several trains can be taken to explore the state – you will find them here.

Interstate Buses

The bus from Sydney to Brisbane takes approximately 13.5 hours. You can buy passes that allow travel along the whole east coast over a period of weeks at reduced rates.

highlights of Queensland Coast

How to get Around Queensland

Public Transport

Queensland has an extensive regional train network that will get you to many of the regions listed above. Greyhound operates numerous routes and offers an East Coast Pass.

South East Queensland uses the Go Card. It can be used on all Translink buses, trains (including the AirTrain), ferry and tram services in greater Brisbane, Ipswich, Sunshine Coast, and Gold Coast.

Driving

If you have not driven in Australia before, I suggest reading our tips for driving in the land Downunder. While driving between some towns and cities is comfortable, the distances between Brisbane and Cairns or even the Whitsundays make flying appealing.