Brisbane & Gold Coast
Alone

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Why This Region

Brisbane spent decades as a city Australians passed through on the way to the coast. That reputation has aged badly. Brisbane is now a substantial, self-possessed river city with a public art collection that rivals the larger capitals, a restaurant scene that has stopped apologizing for itself, and a climate that makes an outdoor life the default rather than a bonus. It is also the sensible base for this trip: a river city with an airport that connects easily to everywhere else you might want to go in Southeast Queensland, and a place where a woman traveling on her own can move through her days easily.

The Gold Coast, thirty minutes to an hour south, is something else again. Surfers Paradise is a strip of high-rises and neon, loud after dark; Evening & After Dark lays out whether that suits you. But the beaches behind that strip, and the towns at either end of the coast, are real: Burleigh Heads and Coolangatta are working beach towns with cafés residents actually use, headland walks with genuine views, and a pace that has nothing to do with the strip’s reputation.

A free excerpt from Brisbane & Gold Coast Alone.