The City Botanic Gardens is Queensland’s oldest heritage garden, sitting between the CBD and the Brisbane River. The Brisbane City Council visitor page (opens in a new tab) puts its scale at 18 hectares with 1.2 kilometres of river frontage. It is an easy place to make a gentle outing: use the lawns, garden paths and river edge as the main experience, then add a guided walk or café stop if the timing works.
Know the practical basics
The gardens are at 147 Alice Street, Brisbane City, and are open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Individual services keep their own hours. The central city is a 10-to-15-minute walk away, with entrances at Alice Street and Albert Street, Edward Street, Gardens Point Road near the Goodwill Bridge, and George Street by Parliament House.
Street parking around the gardens is limited. Accessible parking is available inside the Edward Street gate and behind The Gardens Club via Gardens Point Road; there are also drop-off areas from Gardens Point Road and George Street. Central and South Bank stations are each about a 10-minute walk away, while nearby bus stops are on Alice and George streets. QUT Gardens Point and Riverside are the closest listed ferry terminals. Check Translink close to travel for live services.
Walk through the garden rather than rushing it
More than 600 plant species are recorded across the gardens, including heritage plants from the 1850s, native and exotic trees, lily ponds, a rainforest area and a bamboo grove. Weeping Fig Avenue is a particularly good connecting walk between the Alice Street entrance and the Riverwalk: its fig-lined boardwalk follows trees originally planted in the 1870s.
The City Botanic Gardens Riverwalk is a two-way shared route linking the City Reach Boardwalk at Alice and Edward streets to Bunya Walk in the gardens. It separates cycling and walking paths and includes lighting, wayfinding, a viewing platform and river-hub access. It is useful for arriving by bike or extending a garden visit along the river, but visitors should keep to the marked shared-path arrangements.
Add a guided walk, picnic or family stop
Free guided walks leave from the Information Kiosk at 11am and 1pm, Monday to Saturday, except public holidays, and run for about an hour. They are the clearest choice for visitors who want the garden’s history and planting explained rather than simply wandering. Groups of 10 or more can request a customised walk, with six weeks’ advance booking required.
The gardens have drinking water, picnic shelters, accessible toilets, wheelchair access and an accessible-and-inclusive playground. The Royal Palm Lawn and Baldwin Lawn Playground are suggested picnic areas. Baldwin Lawn Playground includes a castle-themed fort, quiet-play area and sandpit. Dogs are welcome on leash, with responsible waste disposal required.
For food, The Gardens Club operates from the heritage-listed Curators Cottage: Council lists 7am to 3pm Monday to Friday and 7am to 4pm on weekends. Treat those hours as a prompt to check before going, especially around public holidays.
Put the history in context
The site was used for crops by the early penal colony before being declared a botanic reserve in 1855, when Walter Hill became its first curator. The gardens entered the Queensland Heritage Register in 1997. Historic traces remain among the planting, including an early-1800s cannon and Brisbane’s first drinking fountain. That history is part of the appeal, but the gardens work best as an active riverside public space rather than a museum display.
Sources
Sources last validated: 14 September 2026.