Brisbane is a unique city. I have watched it grow over the last decade, the skyline is booming, job opportunity ever increasing and hoards of New South Welshmen and Victorians are moving here. I love most of the cities in the Australia-NZ area, Sydney, Brisbane, Auckland, Wellington are all beautiful places. Brisbane does not have the big icons like Sydney but it is only half as crowded. Life is slower here, and to me that is a good thing. But it is certainly not stale. People complain that there is no beach on Brisbanes doorstep. I say that is rubbish, we have three of the biggest sand islands in the world blocking the surf (Fraser, Moreton, Stradbroke), so go to them! Perfect empty beaches you can drive your car on! If you come to Brisbane for a few days, Id say visit the CBD and inner city and Mt. Coot-tha lookout one day, do a daytrip or overnighter on subtropical Moreton Island (45min boat trip across stunning Moreton Bay) to see Tangalooma, diving snorkeling and wild dolphin feeding. On the other days, go for a walk in Lamington National Park (largest subtropical world heritage forest in the world, 900m in altitude 250km of A-Class walking tracks) an hour to the south, the Gold Coast, and 1 hour up to the Sunshine Coast. Many of us work hard in our modern CBD during the week and drive down for a mini coastal holiday during the weekend. Weather is superb, clear and sunny for very long periods. Amazing electrical storms during summer months! The heat is beautiful, we average about 27C across the year and get up into the high 30s at Christmas time. Get bored? An hour flight south you are in Sydney, North, the Great Barrier Reef! To understand the beauty of this city you need to live here; the small details like the eclectic Queenslander houses, abundant wildlife (including koalas and kangaroos in some of our suburbs still), the relaxing lifestyle and friendly people. Fortitude Valley boasts the best nightclub entertainment in the nation. Restaurants are of fine quality. Parklands abound. Please do not bad-mouth this exceptional city. Visit Sydney if you are the international tourist, but live in Brisbane if you are interested in a more hearty Australian experience and better hospitality!

I think that your review of brisbane is the biggest pile of rubbish i have ever heard!! i think maybe that something nasty must have happened to you when you were there as alot of you allegations are unproven and seem like personal attacks on the city. Having been all over Australia i find that Brisbane is a breath of fresh air from all the smog and congestion form the like of Melbourne and Sydney. it is a quite small city but is very easy going, not to mention has in my opinion the friendliest people in the country living in it. if you don't like humidity then don't go there. Queensland is a sub-tropical state so humidy goes hand in hand with the heat. As you say the river is not quite up tyo scratch at the moment, but it is being used more and cleaned. You made a fair point that there is no beach but you have the gold coast (surfers paradise) just 45 mins drive from the city and the sunshine coast 45 mins in the other direction. If you ask me it is the perfect site for such a brilliant little city.

Brisbane is the most over rated city in Austarlia its quite nice in the inner suburbs & theres some nice attractions in the c.b.d . The down side is that there is NO beaches except for the fake lagoon at Southbank thats always over crowded on the weekends & kids piss in it i.e. ear infections ect the humidity in summer is very uncomfortable & because of the historical lack of planning in this city its become very congested with heavy traffic & pollution. The whole place is run by one council so the quality of the urban infrastructure is near enoughs good enough theres a scruffyness to the place every where . The river is slowly being utilised again but is still very brown & mucky looking. Its a quircky place youll find opulant housing shoulder to shoulder with houses that look like they were "homemade" to say the least with half a dozen different housing styles in the same street its not known for astetic symatry at all theres heaps of bogans throughout the region & its a very blokey town still a big country town sought of . On top of all that the inner suburbs are chocked with  mainly big franchised eateries & if your not into rugby your a social outcast at leat there airports easy to get to to to leave this scruffy humid urban hole & theres level 5 water restrictions its very dry & brown at the moment not what youd expext from a sub tropoical city.

Brisbane is a pretty good place. It is extremely warm so if you like a change of seasons, go south in Australia.

Many a dingo has met its fate near Brisbane! Queenslanders have problems with dingoes.

After living in Adelaide and the Sunshine Coast I found Brisbane was an improvement.  Nothing terribly exciting, but a nice city.  Similar to any city of a comparable size, I really loved the parks.  They are everywhere! At least every few blocks.  South Bank's fake beach was pretty nice in the summer as well.  But the weather is a consideration, the winter is actually pretty cold.  We had a wicked hail storm once, almost six inches deep.  That was pretty fun, but I heard car owners weren't too happy.

If I could live in Australia, this would probably be the city I'd hang my hat

I live in Brisbane, the BEST CITY IN THE WORLD. Come top think of it, that's probably because I live here. Did I mention that there are lots of birds here? Oh, there ARE lots of birds... Um, you can get very good potato wedges from leonards chicken shop at toombul shopping centre. It's about 15 mins from town by train, they're great for international tourists. The wedges, I mean. So, to summerise, I live here, lots of birds, wedges close to town, WHAT A HAPPNIN' PLACE!!!

I'm an American that went to Brisbane on a trip...didn't like it at all. I stayed in the Royal Albert, a great hotel by the way, and outside my door lay the world's biggest snobs. I got the impression Australian urbanites, perhaps many Australians, worship royalty and snobby behavior. I couldn't care for the Queens St. area at all. There's nothing in Brisbane you couldn't find in NYC or any big city near you. Everywhere shuts down at 6 or 7, like most of Australia. What's up with that? Don't listen to that reviewer about the Gold Coast, it's way more interesting than most of Queensland. But do go to the Outback, as far as Roma, if not farther. It's very beautiful and worth your time.

Brisbane is probably the best city in Australia, it's like a lesser-known Sydney or Gold Coast without the tackiness, hype or rude people. There don't appear to be a lot of tourists around, though and it a sub-tropical climate doesn't suit everyone but it is still a very good place to live and I'd recommend it as a tourist destination-just watch out for strong coastal winds.

I'm not sure about 'best city in Australia by far' as one reviewer said, but Brisbane is a decent city with lots of pleasent greenery arrayed around its sprawling suburbs (and they do sprawl - Brisbane is geographically larger than Sydney or Melbourne). Obviously there is a reason that Brisbane is the fastest growing capital city in Australia, but the city itself isn't that great for tourists (I don't think at any rate - I'm a resident so it's a little hard to tell). However it is what is arrayed around Brisbane that makes it interesting for tourists. The Lamington National Park offers misty, mountain rainforests and many great walks as well as two lodges which provide brilliant accomodation. In addition to the Lamington National Park there is the Gold Coast - the great tourist city of Australia. Many Brisbanites dislike the Gold Coast for its highrise and perceived tackiness, but the busloads of Japanese and European tourists and southerners that come here don't seem to concur (the Gold Coast receives 5.1 million plus tourists annually making it Australia's number one destination). Most Brisbanites however prefer the smaller version - the Sunshine Coast. However a few have discovered even better beach holidays await them in the islands that are scattered across Moreton Bay - primarily North Stradbroke Island which has brilliant beaches and yet only has some four thousand or so people on the island at any one time. Anyway, Brisbane's a great base to explore all these places, but I can't really recomend the city itself as a tourist destination.

Brisbane is a bit like a smaller Sydney, but without the hype or high costs! Its clean, safe, easy to get around in and is a very modern and progressive city that is thriving in every sense. The weather can be uncomfortably hot and humid if youre not used to a sub-tropical climate, but still makes for lots of great times spent soaking up the sunshine outdoors.

Forget the rest. Brisbane is the best city in Australia by far!

Brisbane has come of age. It is a lovely city, friendly people, great starting point for the Gold Coast or Sunshine Coast. Southbank is a great place for families to enjoy the weekend, or an evening with a BBQ. Check it out!