Every destination is special in its own ways. To be as prepared as you can, here is a list of 12 Things You Need To Know Before Visiting Queensland!
1. distances are huge
Man, I knew Australia was big, but I didn’t realize just how HUGE it is until I got there! The coastline stretches for approx. 7’000 km, and the state has an area of 1.853 million km². For reference, Switzerland (my home country) has an area of 41,285 km², which is almost 49 times smaller!!!!
With that being said, when planning your itinerary, make sure to check the distances between the points you want to visit! Even though two cities look close on the map, it might take you 10+ hours to drive there.
2. beware of stinger season
I’ve personally never heard of “stinger season” before arriving to Queensland. Essentially, stingers are what Australians call highly venomous jellyfish. In Far North Queensland this refers to the Box Jellyfish and the Irukandji. I’m not going to post pictures on here, but the box jellyfish is a huge jellyfish whose tentacles can reach up to 10 meters. On the contrary, the Irukandji is a teeny tiny jellyfish that only grows up to about 1 cm long. Even though they are the complete opposite, both species are highly venomous.
Peak stinger season lasts from November to May. However, I realized that when you ask locals “whether it is safe to swim”, their answer will almost always be “well it’s not stinger season but there is always a risk”. So just to be safe, here are some tips that you should follow.
There are some beaches with stinger nets, but even those don’t 100% keep out the tiny Irukandji jellyfish! Some of the locals wear stinger suits to really be on the safe side. But either way, make sure to do your research before getting into the waters and talk to the local lifeguards to get their opinion on whether it is safe to swim. On every beach you’ll also find “stinger emergency stations”, with some first aid remedies in case you get stung.
I think this is something really important to be aware of, because after all you don’t want to unnecessarily put yourself in danger and ruin your holidays by getting stung!
3. there are snakes
Staying with the *dangerous animals theme*, let’s talk about snakes! I’m sure we’ve all seen these videos about Australia having snakes and spiders wherever you go. Well, even though I knew these animals exist in Australia, I was still shocked to encounter them on numerous occasions myself! To be specific, I saw one little snake close to Whitehaven Beach on the Whitsundays. This makes sense, right? You’re in the wilderness, there is no civilization or any human traces on the island. But, I almost really shit my pants when I saw a like 2 meter snake in the middle of Brisbane in the Botanical Gardens.
Here again, in most cases snakes are more scared of you than you are of them. But I just want to mention them because it does help to be prepared that Australia really does have a lot of wild animals. And they are found everywhere, not just in the outback!
4. towns are not pretty
I don’t want to sound mean or judgmental, but personally I was not really impressed with the cities / towns in Queensland. But that is ok, because the nature is so stunning!! What I want to say, is that you should really focus your itinerary around the nature in Queensland. You could pretty much skip all the towns and you wouldn’t miss out on much. Well, except maybe Brisbane and Noosa (I really liked Noosa Heads).
5. cafés close early
This point sort of links back to my last point. As a European, I am of course very used to beautiful historic towns with plenty of little cafés to have coffee all day, every day. Hence, I was really surprised to find out that many of the cafés in Queensland close early in the afternoon. For Aussies, I guess coffee is more of a morning thing, and the afternoon is for beers! You will find very few cafés that are open past 2 or 3 pm, and even many take away places don’t serve coffee past that hour! So plan your coffee intake wisely 😉
6. watch out for crocodiles
Besides the stingers that I have already mentioned, there are many beaches that are not swimmable for other reasons as well. Especially in Far North Queensland, besides stingers you also run the risk of encountering crocodiles in the waters. Not fun! So if you’re at the beach, definitely keep out for the “Warning, Crocodile” signs and follow them!!
7. book budget accommodation in advance
Okay I have to admit that I’m not sure if this is a universal, your round occurrence. But here’s where I’m coming from. When I visited Queensland in September/October 2022, there was super high demand for this area. Luckily, I had booked all of my accommodation for my entire trip around 1-2 months in advance. And I’m so glad I did that, because many travelers who wanted to be spontaneous and book as they go were unable to find any accommodation after all. I have to specify that I am referring to budget accommodation here, aka hostels. So, perhaps if you plan on visiting the Coast of Queensland in peak season and you don’t want to deal with any of this stress, book your accommodation in advance!
8. little surfing in queensland
Even though Australia is world famous for surfing, with some of the most famous surf brands originating from Australia, there is barely any surfing in Queensland. The reason for this is basically the Great Barrier Reef. The reef, which spans from Far North Queensland until the town of Bundaberg prevents any significant waves from forming and arriving on the coast.
In the southernmost part of Queensland, namely the Sunshine Coast and the Gold Coast, there is some surfing. But even here, if surfing is what you’re after, Queensland is probably not the right destination for you!
9. check for public holidays
I believe this is an important tip for any destination you want to visit, not just Queensland. I can highly recommend to check out whether your travel dates coincide with any public or school holidays, because this can have quite an impact on prices, crowdedness and opening times of attractions.
Specifically I want to highlight, that both school holidays and public holidays vary from state to state in Australia. Which means, that you really need to check this specifically for Queensland.
It’s also worth mentioning that Australia has something called a “public holiday surcharge”. This means, that restaurants are allowed to charge up to 10-15% more than the prices on the menu, to compensate the staff for working during this day. If you’re on a budget, this might be good to know as you can avoid eating out on these days! This surcharge also applies on Sundays, by the way…
10. all main attractions are along the coast
In case this has not become clear until now, as a tourist you’ll only really be exploring Queensland along the coast! I’ve never heard of any attraction inland and also never met anyone while I was there that had traveled there. So it’s fair to say, that you won’t miss out if you generally stick to the coast!
11. you don’t need a car
I’ve often heard that Australia is not really a public transport nation. As I’ve mentioned, I live in Switzerland, which is a really big public transport nation. Given this, I am happy to report that in fact I was really impressed with the public transportation in general in Queensland. The majority of the (larger) towns have a well-functioning bus network. If you have internet, you’ll find it very easy to get around.
I’ve also found it’s very easy to get from one city to another, especially if you only stick to the coast. I personally bought a Greyhound Bus pass, which allows you to hop on hop off on all Greyhound buses along the Queensland Coast for 2 weeks. I had no issues and would use this method of transportation again in a heartbeat!
12. different time zone than nsw
We all know, that time zones run vertically. So in theory, you’d assume that Queensland and New South Wales (which is directly South of Queensland and the state where Sydney is located in) would be in the same time zone. Well, this is only true in the Australian winter. The reason is, because Queensland does not differentiate between summer and winter times. They never change the time. New South Wales on the other hand does implement a time change before the summer months come along.
In general, this won’t really affect you unless you are staying around the Gold Coast / Byron Bay area. If you plan on crossing the border between these two states, just be mindful that you might encounter a one hour difference. You’ll be happy to know about this in case you are catching any flights in this area 🙂
That’s it, these are my most important things you need to know before visiting Queensland! If you’re planning a trip to Queensland, make sure to also check out my 2 Week Queensland Coast Itinerary and my 3 Days in Brisbane post!