Brisbane Car Hire

Before you select the first available car for your visit to Brisbane, there are a few things to consider before booking.

Given Brisbane’s subtropical climate, you’ll want to select a car with air conditioning, to ensure comfortable driving conditions, especially in the summer months.

To take the stress out of navigating the river city, choose a car with inbuilt navigation to get from accommodation to Brisbane’s top tourist attractions with ease. 

Planned your next visit to Brisbane? Flights booked? Accommodation booked? What about your transport to explore Queensland’s capital?

While Brisbane Airport’s Domestic and International Terminals are both connected to the Brisbane CBD by train, you’ll want to book a car to help tick off all the local sights in your own time.

We’ve got you covered below with everything you need to know about Brisbane Car Hire for your holiday.

Where to explore with your hire car?

With a geographical footprint of over 15,000 square-kilometres, you will want to put together an itinerary before touching down at Brisbane Airport.

Once you’ve checked into your accommodation, use your wheels to go beyond the city limits, exploring local gardens, parklands and seeking out the best views across the city.

Get in your hire car and drive seven kilometres to the Brisbane Botanic Gardens Mt Coot-tha to explore 56-hectares of subtropical gardens.

Follow the road to Mt Coot-tha lookout – the city’s best vantage point to the city and beyond.

Make sure you pack your walking shoes and step-it-out on one of the 71 walking trails through the 1,600 hectares of eucalypt forest that make up Mt Coot-tha.

For a close up encounter with Australian native animals, head to Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary, 14 kilometres south of Brisbane CBD.

Open seven days a week, learn about Koala’s at the live show or hand-feed Kangaroos in their natural habitat.

Here are a few other suggestions on nearby destinations to visit and explore from Brisbane Airport in your rental car:

• Mount Tamborine, 82 kilometres from the airport
• Ballina, 204 kilometres from the airport
• Scenic Rim, 150 kilometres from the airport
• Stanthorpe, 230 kilometres from the airport
• Bribie Island, 80 kilometres from the airport

Find full road trip itineraries and more suggestions in our guide to the best scenic drives from Brisbane Airport in a rental car.

Do you need to book car hire in another destination? No worries, you can book all your car rental needs for your whole trip no matter the destination with us. Find our dedicated car hire guides to these popular destinations:

• Cairns
• Adelaide
• Townsville
• Darwin
• The Whitsundays

Before you collect the car keys from your chosen Brisbane car hire, it’s important to brush up on local driving knowledge.

For international travellers, the most important piece of driving knowledge is that Australians drive on the left-hand side of the road.

If you’re travelling with kids under seven years of age, you’ll also need to book a car seat for each child from newborn to seven-years-old. This law does change every so often so make sure you check the Queensland Department of Transport website for the most up-to-date information. Seat belts are compulsory for adults too.

From Brisbane Airport, you can enjoy easy access to Brisbane’s CBD, as well as the Sunshine Coast (north) or Gold Coast (south) but beware that most of these access roads charge a toll to use.

Most rental companies have electronic tags fitted to the hire car, meaning you can travel through tolls without any pre-purchase or planning, with the cost of the toll plus a service fee charged to you using the same method used to pay for the hire vehicle.  Each rental company will have a different process for how tolls are managed, so it is important to ask when signing your contract.

When driving in Brisbane, be aware of changing speed limits, which can vary from 40km/hour to 80km/hour – make sure you keep an eye out for road signs.
 

Avoid extra fees when you drop off your rental car at Brisbane Airport by filling up your tank at the BNE Service Centre on your way back to Brisbane Airport. You’ll find the Shell Coles Express fuel station on Great Barrier Road, Brisbane Airport.