Brisbane Shopping and Transport

Shopping in Brisbane 

1- Brisbane city (Queen street mall) 

In Brisbane a popular spot for shopping is the Myer centre and queen street which is located in the city centre. If you are a shopaholic Easter sale, Christmas sale or boxing day will be heaven for you.  

Souvenirs can also be found at Queen Street and I find some souvenirs here are cheaper compared to surfers paradise especially the souvenir shop right opposite hungry jacks. But you have to keep in mind some stuff can be found in one shop but it is not available in other stores. 

• Opening hours for shops are from 9am – 5.30 during the week.
• Close at 5.00 on Saturday and 4 on Sundays 
• Late night hours for Brisbane city is on Friday where shops open till 9pm 
• Late night shopping for shopping malls in the Suburbs is on Thursday where shops are open till 9pm

2- DFO (Direct Factory Outlets)

DFO has 100 individual factory outlet stores offering discounts up to 70%. You may get some good bargains here but I do prefer harbourtown in Gold Coast better

Transport

The transportation system here in Brisbane is pretty good and I wouldn’t call it excellent because various places will require you to walk some distance before you can catch a bus to your destination. Busses operate using timetables so you can estimate the time you need to reach your destination as well as knowing the time for the last bus so you won’t be stranded wherever you are.  

Tickets are sold on single, daily, weakly or concession fare. If you buy a daily ticket on the bus, that will allow you to use the ticket for the train, bus and city cat (ferry) for that day. Off-peak tickets are sold from 9am-3pm and from 7pm onwards. Off peak is cheaper by a dollar I think from the normal ticket price.

There are 3 main public transports which are the City cat, bus and train. For visitors, try get on the City cat, different to the ordinary on road transport. The train will also take you to gold coast, but you might need to hop on a bus or two to your preferred destination.

Also a train from the international airport at night you can catch the coach train which last stop is the city. 

More information on the public transport in Brisbane can be found on http://www.transinfo.qld.gov.au/

Hire a car – Brisbane 

To rent a car in Brisbane, I would suggest Alpha, Budget or Avis car rental as they are considered to be among the cheapest. Do a Google search for the best bargain you can get and most of the car rental companies will allow you to rent from Brisbane Airport. 

Some important information that you need to know when renting a car is that the price shown is without insurance cover. The Insurance you have to pay differs from one company to another and this insurance is optional. Without the Insurance cover, you will need to pay aud2000-3000 for any damaged done to the car but the liability is reduced to aud200-300 if you are insured. 

I would suggest you to know (1). How many KMs per day (2).How much will it cost for any extra KMs when deciding the best deal a company can offer.