Planning Your Time

If you're after a quick, Miami Beach–style holiday, fly into Brisbane and head straight for the glitzy Gold Coast, overnighting in Surfers Paradise. You could end the spree with a final night and morning in nearby Lamington National Park, renowned for its subtropical wilderness and birdlife.

If you have a bit more time, do three days on shore and two days on the reef. Stay a night in Brisbane, then head to the Sunshine Coast for a hike in the Glasshouse Mountains on the way to Noosa Heads. When you've had your fill of beaches and surf, take a leisurely drive through the Sunshine Coast's lovely hinterland villages for quaint shops and cafés and stunning natural scenery. Then make your way north to Bundaberg or Gladstone for a flight to Lady Elliot, Heron, or Wilson islands to wildlife-watch, dive, and snorkel; or a ferry to Fraser Island, off Hervey Bay, where you can swim in pristine lakes, 4WD along beaches stretching 80 km (50 miles), and see wild dingoes.

Unless you're keen to see everything, limit yourself to a few areas—Brisbane, its surrounding Sunshine and Gold Coasts, Fraser Island or the coral isles of the Mackay-Capricorn group—taking three to four days to explore each. Extended stays also allow for bushwalking expeditions in national parks, trips to resorts on the reef, traipsing around the wineries of Queensland's Southern Downs, and enjoying the state's many theme parks.