Here are 29 things to do in Brisbane this summer

While many people abandon the city over the holidays, we’re here to tell you Brisbane’s never been a better place to stay put.

From international art exhibitions to big-name concerts, Lego exhibitions and movies under the stars, your summer adventures in Brisbane start here.

In charge of children? Check out our list of 33 things to do with kids these holidays.

1. Catch all the tennis action at the Brisbane International

Pat Rafter Arena will be the scene of world-class racqueteering when the Brisbane International is held for the first time since 2020. Book now for the opportunity to see big-hitters Rafael Nadal, Aryna Sabalenka, Naomi Osaka and Andy Murray. Queensland Tennis Centre, December 31-January 7, from $29. Buy tickets.

Settlement Cove, Redcliffe.Credit: City of Moreton Bay

2. Cool off at a public swimming pool

Brisbane City Council pools are just $2 entry for everyone until the end of February, but there are also spectacular free pools and waterholes around town: namely Streets Beach (South Bank), Orion Lagoon (Springfield Central), Settlement Cove (Redcliffe), Wynnum Wading Pool (Wynnum) and Enoggera Reservoir (Enoggera).

3. Throw an axe at a wall at Maniax

The axe-throwing craze has reached the Brisbane CBD. Work off all that end-of-year aggression at the new Maniax (the third in South-east Queensland) by chucking an axe at one of several targets, then chill down with a Viking-inspired cocktail at Ragnar & Sons bar. Basement 79 Adelaide Street, Brisbane City, daily from 10am, from $49. Buy tickets.

Revellers enjoying the fireworks from South Bank on New Year’s Eve in Brisbane.Credit: Glenn Hunt

4. Watch the New Year’s Eve fireworks

The best vantage points are from Kangaroo Point Cliffs, South Bank Parklands, Wilson Outlook Reserve, Riverwalk throughout the city, and Victoria Bridge. Venues across the city are putting on parties with rooftop bars in particular being a hot ticket, and public transport running extra services. The only rule with NYE in Brisbane? Go hard – or go home.

5. Dribble, shoot and slam dunk at The NBA Exhibition

Basketball aficionados will want to bounce into this exhibition of jerseys, sneakers, balls, trophies and more and to test their skills on interactive exhibits. Highlights include an original leather basketball from the 1940s and one of Shaquille O’Neal’s size 22 (US) basketball shoes. Queens Plaza, until February 4, $23-$32. Buy tickets.

Gustave Dore’s 1862 painting Little Red Riding Hood appears in GOMA’s Fairy Tales exhibition.Credit: National Gallery of Victoria

6. Venture through the looking glass at Fairy Tales

The Gallery of Modern Art’s summer blockbuster is an art and design exhibition centred on European folktale traditions, with contemporary art, movie costumes and a stunning series of free movies taking over the gallery. See work by Del Kathryn Barton, Gustave Dore, Anish Kapoor, Yayoi Kusama, Ron Mueck, Tracey Moffatt and more, and costumes from Jim Henson’s Labyrinth and Spike Jonze’s Where the Wild Things Are. GOMA, until April 28, $0-$28. Buy tickets.

7. Join a world of pure imagination with the Wonka movie

An origin story for Roald Dahl’s mercurial chocolatier Willy Wonka might sound like a terrible idea but with Paddington director Paul King on board and Hugh Grant playing an Oompa-Loompa, we’re sold. Not to mention Timothee Chalamet as the titular candy man. In cinemas from December 14.

Sunrise, New Year’s Day, at Woodford Folk Festival.Credit: Getty Images

8. Bliss out at the Woodford Folk Festival

More than 2000 artists and musicians will perform over the six days in concerts, dances, street theatre, writers’ panels, film festival, comedy sessions, jams, debates, kids’ shows, workshops, circus, cabarets, parades and special events. Come for the day or camp for the duration – it’s one of Australia’s biggest events. Woodfordia, 87 Woodrow Road, Woodford, December 27-Jan 1, $20-$725. Buy tickets.

9. Do New Year’s Eve in style at Wildlands NYE

See in the new year at this electronic and hip-hop-slanted music festival with headliners Central Cee, Peggy Gou, A$AP Ferg, Rufus Du Sol, the Jungle Giants, G Flip and many more. Brisbane Showgrounds, $219.90-$269.90, Sunday December 31, 2.30pm-12.30am. Buy tickets.

Jurassic World by Brickman at the Queensland Museum.Credit: Anna Kucera

10. See Lego dinosaurs (and build your own) at Jurassic World by Brickman

Ryan “Brickman” McNaught has built life-size dinosaurs and movie sets from Lego with models of triceratops, velociraptors, T.rex and many more. Don’t miss the museum’s free display of Queensland dinosaurs while you’re there. Queensland Museum, December 8-July 14, $19.90-$29.90. Buy tickets.

11. Cheer on Australia at The Gabba

The final Test series of the summer has five days and nights of cricket for fans to lap up as the Aussies play the Windies. The Gabba as we know it may not be around for long, so take the opportunity to use it the way nature intended. The Gabba, January 25-29. Buy tickets.

Ramy Youssef and Emma Stone in Poor Things. Credit: Yorgos Lanthimos / Courtesy of Searchlight Pictued

12. Catch the most talked about film of Boxing Day, Poor Things

Yorgos Lanthimos (The Favourite) has delivered what they are calling his best film yet – with a little help from Aussie screenwriter Tony McNamara. Emma Stone again stars, this time as a woman-child emerging from the lab of a mad scientist (Willem Dafoe) to discover the world and herself. Mark Ruffalo co-stars. In cinemas from December 26.

13. Enjoy a crockpot of cracker hits with A Cracker Kransky Christmas

The twisted sisters from Esk perform their yuletide show featuring homespun renditions of popular songs by Britney Spears, the Spice Girls and AC/DC, as well as Christmas carols done in ways that have to be seen and heard to be believed. Cremorne Theatre, QPAC, December 19-24, $62. Buy tickets.

All that jazz: Zoe Ventoura and the cast of Chicago.Credit: Jeff Busby

14. Get a bit of the old razzle-dazzle at Chicago

Anthony Warlow, Zoë Ventoura, Lucy Maunder, Peter Rowsthorn and Asabi Goodman star in the sexy’n’cynical musical choreographed by Bob Fosse and written by John Kander and Fred Ebb (Cabaret). This sophisticated story of bloodthirsty bombshells hungry for infamy is getting rave reviews. Lyric Theatre, QPAC, January 2-February 4, $69.90-$209.90. Buy tickets.

15. Unlock the sorcerers’ secrets at Metaverse of Magic

Technology meets sleight-of-hand at QPAC in January. Bring your phone to this interactive evening of hocus-pocus by top magicians including Ash Magic, Sabine van Diemen, Horret Wu and Charli Ashby. Concert Hall, QPAC, January 4-13, $79-$149. Buy tickets.

Rearranged: Art of the Flower exhibition at Museum of Brisbane (MoB) invites you to revel in the abundant blooms of Brisbane. Credit: Katie Bennett

16. Discover a bunch of beauty at Rearranged: Art of the Flower

For this exhibition at MoB, 20 local artists (including Margaret Olley, Michael Zavros and John Honeywill) adopt a floral theme in paintings, textiles, sculptures, ceramics and new media. While you’re there, take the free Clock Tower Tour and ascend the ancient lift to see what goes on behind the famous 94-year-old City Hall clock face. Museum of Brisbane, Brisbane City Hall, daily until August 11, 2024, free. Find out more.

17. Savour a quality drop at a winery

Holiday times are wine times, so you may as well go straight to the source. Sirromet Winery in Mount Cotton, Cedar Creek Estate on Mount Tamborine and O’Reilly’s Canungra Valley Vineyards are among your closest options with cellar doors and restaurants – check ahead as bookings are often required.

Quest Room’s Steampunk escape room has puzzles utilising anachronistic technology.Credit: Quest Room

18. Beat the clock and escape from an escape room

The door isn’t actually locked but the excitement is for real at Brisbane’s top escape rooms. For the uninitiated, an escape room is an airconditioned room (or rooms) containing puzzles that must be solved by two to six players to achieve an ultimate goal. The puzzles might unlock padlocks or doors to other parts of the experience. Find out more.

19. Watch a movie the Brissie way: outdoors

Brisbane has a new permanent outdoor cinema in the Dendy Powerhouse Cinema, with a program of edgy new flicks and fascinating classic cinema. Moonlight Cinema’s latest season is under way in Roma Street Parkland (lasting until February 18). And let’s not forget the good old Yatala Drive-In – Brisbane’s only permanent daily drive-in.

Stanley, Greca, Yoko, Ciao Papi, Felons, Mr Percival’s: take your pick at Howard Smith Wharves – there are no losers here.Credit: BEDA

20. Have a sunset drink at Howard Smith Wharves

If you truly want to feel like you’re on holiday, get down to Felons or one of its sister venues to enjoy a beer or a savvy b under the Story Bridge while the ferries go by, the sun gets low and the city lights come up. Perfect. Find out more.

21. See something you humans wouldn’t believe – Blade Runner Live

Ridley Scott’s 1982 movie about an assassin who “retires” rogue androids in the future Los Angeles of 2019 only improves with age, and seeing it with Vangelis’s score performed live by the Replicant Ensemble should be more exciting than seeing attack ships off the shoulder of Orion. Brisbane Convention & Exhibition Centre, February 10, 4pm & 8pm, $79-$149. Buy tickets.

Cylinder Beach, North Stradbroke Island.Credit: Tourism and Events Queensland

22. Take a day trip to North Stradbroke Island

You don’t have to head to the Gold or Sunshine coasts to give your surfboard a workout. North Stradbroke Island (Minjerribah) has great surf beaches and much more. Your safest option is the patrolled Cylinder Beach, but there is good swimming to be had at Flinders Beach, Home Beach and the epic, 32-kilometre Main Beach (stay in the patrolled areas). Don’t forget to do the Gorge Walk at Point Lookout. Find out more.

23. Be their guest at Beauty and the Beast

The stage musical version of the Disney movie(s) boasts impressive costumes and theatrical magic along with earworms such as Be Our Guest and Belle. It’s coming to Brisbane for the first time in February, starring local talent Shubshri Kandiah as Belle, and has enjoyed rapturous reviews around the country.
Lyric Theatre, QPAC, from $49, February 12-April 14. Buy tickets.

Mark, Tom and Travis: Blink-182’s peak trio.

24. Get on the Millennial nostalgia tour circuit

The schedules for the city’s venues are starting to look like a Big Day Out line-up circa 2000: Queens of the Stone Age (February 25-26, Fortitude Music Hall, $162.84); Blink-182 (February 19-21, Brisbane Entertainment Centre, from $122.15); and Matchbox 20 (February 27, Brisbane Entertainment Centre, from $157.80). Music was just genuinely better back then, right?

25. Have a picnic in the park

Sometimes the simple pleasures are the best. Why not find a cabana or shady spot and invite friends for picnic or an al fresco barbecue lunch? We love Orleigh Park and New Farm Park, and you can find a park near you here.

Sneakers Unboxed: Studio to Street charts the design and cultural journey of sneakers.Credit: Ed Reeve

26. Sprint into Sneakers Unboxed: Studio to Street

All the Gold Coast fun isn’t just happening on the beach this year. The history and design of sneakers – from the sports field to the fashion runway – is explored in this inventive exhibition that originated at The Design Museum in London, and is exclusive in Australia to HOTA in Surfers Paradise. If you’ve not yet been to Australia’s largest regional gallery, here’s your excuse. HOTA Gallery, from November 25, $10-$26. Buy tickets.

27. Treat yourself to one of Brisbane’s best new restaurants

Admit it, you’re too busy or tired during the working year to think about dolling up and experiencing some of Brisbane’s best new eateries, so you may as well think about it now. From stunning Sardinian in West End to high-end Thai in the Valley to Middle Eastern flair on James Street, the offerings are diverse and wildly ambitious.

A wombat goes about its business while viewed with night vision equipment as part of Nocturnal at Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary.Credit: Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary

28. See native animals in infra-red in Lone Pine’s Nocturnal night tour

Tree kangaroos, potoroos, pademelons, bandicoots and bettongs are ready for their close-up in Lone Pine’s new immersive night-time adventure. Visitors are given handheld thermal imaging devices that pick up the heat signature of animals in the dark. You’ve never had a zoo experience quite like this. Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary, daily 5.30pm & 7.30pm, $53-$79. Buy tickets.

29. See Sofia Coppola’s Priscilla Presley movie

Coppola has made a companion piece – or riposte – to Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis film in Priscilla, which is adapted from Priscilla’s own memoir, and has Brisbane’s Jacob Elordi as the King. In cinemas from Jan 18.

Looking for more ideas? Here are the 50 best things to do in Brisbane.