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The Quick Read
- The Queensland spring school holidays run Saturday 19 September to Monday 5 October 2026, with the King’s Birthday public holiday on the Monday.
- Rainy day picks: the Queensland Museum and SparkLab, GOMA, Museum of Brisbane, the Angelika Film Centre, Holey Moley and BOUNCE Hendra.
- Fresh air picks: the Story Bridge Adventure Climb, kayaking with Riverlife and the Mt Coot-tha Botanic Gardens.
- Free by the handful: South Bank’s water play, the Kangaroo Point Cliffs, New Farm Park, our free kids workshops at South/City/SQ and Brisbane Festival’s free program.
- Save on a longer stay with our Rambla School Holiday Offer, live across all four of our Brisbane stays.
Brisbane’s September school holidays run from Saturday 19 September to Monday 5 October 2026, which gives you just over two weeks to fill. Spring makes that easy work here, with warm days that have not yet tipped into summer, plenty of free space to roam and enough indoors to cover the afternoon the sky decides to open. Below you will find what to do sorted by the kind of day you are having, plus where to crash so you are not driving across town every morning.
The timing is a gift, too. Brisbane Festival runs from 4 to 26 September, so the first week of the break lands in the middle of the city’s biggest arts season, with plenty of it free and outdoors.
When Are the September School Holidays in Brisbane in 2026?
Term 3 finishes on Friday 18 September and Term 4 starts on Tuesday 6 October, which gives you two full weekends with ten weekdays in between.
- Term 3 ends: Friday 18 September 2026
- Holidays run: Saturday 19 September to Monday 5 October 2026
- Public holiday: King’s Birthday, Monday 5 October 2026
- Term 4 starts: Tuesday 6 October 2026
Those dates are for Queensland state schools. Some independent and Catholic schools run their own calendar, so it is worth a quick check of your school’s term dates before you book flights.
Brisbane Weather in September: What to Pack
September is Brisbane at its best, and most locals will tell you the same. Mornings start off cool enough for a light jumper, the days climb into the mid twenties, and you can spend hours out in the sun without the sticky dread that comes with a Brisbane summer. It is the stretch of the year where the weather stops being a thing you have to plan around.
Both ends of the day are the bit to pack for. The evenings cool off quickly and overnight lows sit around 14 degrees, so it is jeans and a light cardigan weather rather than a jacket. Bring layers, pack swimmers for South Bank and our rooftop pools, and do not skip hats and sunscreen, since spring sun in Queensland is stronger than it feels. Comfortable walking shoes matter more than anything else you bring, because exploring Brisbane on foot is the best way to discover the city.
Indoor and Rainy Day Activities in Brisbane
Brisbane does cop the odd wet afternoon in spring, and when it does, South Bank is the answer. Three of the city’s best indoor attractions sit within a few minutes’ walk of each other there, and two of them are free. These are the ones that run every school holidays, not just this one, so they are safe to build a day around.
Queensland Museum Kurilpa and SparkLab
General entry to the Queensland Museum is free and SparkLab next door is ticketed, so you can start cheap and upgrade if the weather doesn’t improve. SparkLab is built for hands on curiosity, with interactive exhibits that let kids follow a question wherever it goes, and it is pitched squarely at six to thirteen year olds.
Where: Grey and Melbourne Streets, South Brisbane. The museum is open 9.30am to 5pm daily and SparkLab 9.30am to 4pm, with a break from 1pm to 1.30pm for cleaning. SparkLab runs timed sessions on the half hour and numbers are strictly limited, so book online ahead, especially in the holidays. Tickets are $16.50 for adults, $13.50 for kids five to fifteen and $50 for a family.
QAGOMA and the Children’s Art Centre
The Gallery of Modern Art is free, and its Children’s Art Centre is the best kept secret in Brisbane parenting. Kids get hands on, artist designed activities in a purpose built space, which buys you a genuinely quiet hour or two in the middle of a long day, and entry to it is always free.
Where: Stanley Place, South Brisbane. Open 10am to 5pm daily. Free entry, with some major exhibitions ticketed.
Museum of Brisbane at City Hall
Free, small enough to finish before anyone melts down, and its spring school holiday program runs right across the break, mostly as free drop in activities with a few sessions you book. Tack on the Clock Tower tour while you are there, because a lift ride into a working clock tower is a surprisingly big deal when you are seven. It is free, but spaces are limited and go quickly, so book it rather than turning up.
Where: Level 3, Brisbane City Hall, King George Square. Open 10am to 5pm daily, free entry. Clock Tower tours run every fifteen minutes from 10.15am to 4.45pm.
archiKID at the Brisbane Powerhouse
The Powerhouse runs Power Play, a free program of hands on cultural activities built around young people, and the one that lands in the break is archiKID on Saturday 26 September. It is free, open to all ages, and runs as a drop in across a three hour window, though registering ahead is recommended.
Where: 119 Lamington Street, New Farm. It sits right on the river, so a session here pairs neatly with a walk along the Riverwalk afterwards.
Angelika Film Centre at South/City/SQ
A proper cinema day is an underrated rainy day move, and the Angelika at South City Square does it well, with eight screens plus three SoHo Lounge cinemas and food you can actually eat in your seat. It is in the same precinct as the free workshops, so you can stack the two into one easy day.
Where: South City Square, Woolloongabba.
Holey Moley Golf Club, Fortitude Valley
Mini golf let completely off the leash, with nine and eighteen hole courses themed hole by hole and karaoke rooms if the weather really settles in. Holey Moley takes about an hour, it is entirely undercover, and it is one of the few things on this list that a six year old and a sulking teenager will both agree to.
Where: 25 Warner Street, Fortitude Valley. Worth knowing before you go: it is a licensed venue, so under 18s have to be with a responsible adult the whole time they are there, and they cannot be in the venue after 5pm any day of the week. That makes it a lunchtime plan rather than a dinner one. Book ahead in the holidays.
BOUNCE Hendra
A warehouse full of ways to wear kids out, with a ninja course, a 10.5 metre climbing wall, trampoline dodgeball, multi level laser tag, the X-Park obstacle course and a free jump arena. There is a miniBOUNCE area for under fives and anyone under 110cm, so younger siblings are not stuck watching from the side.
Where: 4/370 Nudgee Road, Hendra. Open 8am to 8pm Monday to Thursday, to 9pm Friday, 8am to 8pm Saturday and 9am to 5pm Sunday. Book ahead in the holidays. One thing to note if you remember this place as Urban Xtreme: the indoor ski centre is currently closed for upgrades, so the snow is off the menu for now.
Outdoor and Active Things to Do
Spring is the window where Brisbane is warm enough to be outside all day and not yet hot enough to regret it, so this is the season to spend on the river. For everything that does not fit a school holidays guide, our full round up of things to do in Brisbane with kids has the rest.
Story Bridge Adventure Climb
Climbing Brisbane’s most famous bridge is the one activity the kids will still be talking about at Christmas, and it starts younger than most people assume. From the top you get the city, the river bends, the Glass House Mountains to the north and the Scenic Rim to the south, all in one turn of the head.
Where: Howard Smith Wharves. Open to climbers from age six who are at least 1.1 metres tall, with six to sixteen year olds accompanied by a parent or guardian. Climbs run from 8.30am through to 9pm daily, so you can take your pick of dawn, day, twilight or night. Book ahead.
Riverlife at Kangaroo Point
Riverlife runs kayaking, abseiling and rock climbing on and under the Kangaroo Point Cliffs, which is a lot of adventure for a spot ten minutes from the CBD. If you would rather set your own pace, they also hire out kayaks, bikes and rollerblades for the riverside path.
Where: Naval Stores, Kangaroo Point Cliffs Drive. Abseiling, rock climbing and kayaking all start at age eight, with an adult alongside for the younger end. Hire starts at $29 for a day on rollerblades, $45 for bikes and $55 for kayaks.
Brisbane Botanic Gardens Mt Coot-tha and the Planetarium
The gardens are free and enormous, with a tropical display dome, a bonsai house and a Japanese garden to wander through, plus a nature themed playground by the lagoon for when the wandering wears thin. The Sir Thomas Brisbane Planetarium sits on the same site and runs shows built for kids.
Where: 152 Mount Coot-tha Road, Mt Coot-tha. The gardens are free and open 8am to 6pm through spring, with the dome and bonsai house 9am to 4pm. Planetarium shows are $17.50 for adults and $11 for kids three to fourteen, though the display zone is free. It opens Tuesday to Sunday, plus Mondays during the school holidays.
Free Things to Do in Brisbane With Kids
Some of the best school holiday days in Brisbane cost nothing at all, which is handy when there are two weeks of them to get through. These are the ones locals actually use.
- Free school holiday workshops at South/City/SQ. A hands-on Reptile Show on Wednesday 23 September from 10am, and a Grasshopper Workshop on Wednesday 30 September from 10am to 12pm where kids craft their own grasshopper to take home. Both on the Terrace next to Market Organics, free, all ages, no bookings needed, with two hours of free parking, and all of it downstairs from Rambla @ South/City/SQ.
- Streets Beach and Aquativity, South Bank. Streets Beach is the lifeguard patrolled lagoon in the middle of the city, free and open daily, though as of late August 2026 it is temporarily closed for maintenance with no reopening date announced, so check the South Bank website before you pack the towels. Aquativity and the Boat Pool along the Parklands are free water play built for smaller kids and are open as normal.
- The Kangaroo Point Cliffs and the Kangaroo Point Bridge. Walk the green bridge across from the City Botanic Gardens, then take the stairs up the cliffs for the best free view in Brisbane. Best an hour before sunset.
- New Farm Park and the Riverwalk. Two playgrounds, rose gardens and an Edwardian rotunda, with the Brisbane Riverwalk running from here to Howard Smith Wharves and on into the city if the pram is holding up.
- The Fortitude Valley street art trail. A self guided wander through the laneways, and a genuinely good way to get teenagers outside without an argument.
- Roma Street Parkland. Sixteen hectares of gardens, lookouts and lawns right beside the CBD, with two playgrounds and free barbecues.
- Bright Nights by ANZ at Brisbane Festival. Three free fifteen minute light and sound shows every night at the South Bank Cultural Forecourt through to 26 September, alongside a free Festival Village and free kids workshops from 20 September, including puppet building and circus skills.
Day Trips From Brisbane
Everything worth driving to sits inside about 90 minutes of the city, so a day trip does not have to eat the whole day. Pick one or two across the break and keep the rest local.
- Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary, Fig Tree Pocket. Twelve kilometres from the CBD with free parking, or take the Koala & River Cruises boat from the Cultural Centre Pontoon at 9am and make the trip part of the outing. Free range kangaroo feeding runs all day and is included with entry.
- Australia Zoo, Beerwah. About an hour north up the Bruce Highway, with free parking and a courtesy coach from Beerwah station. The Wildlife Warriors show in the Crocoseum is the fixed point of the day at 1.15pm, so build around that.
- Whale watching from Redcliffe. About 40 minutes north, with humpbacks moving back through Moreton Bay right through the September break. The season runs June to early November and cruises board from 9am daily.
- Minjerribah, North Stradbroke Island. Drive to Cleveland, then a 25 minute water taxi or a 45 minute vehicle ferry across. The 1.2 kilometre North Gorge Walk is the one to do, and between June and November it is one of the best places anywhere near Brisbane to spot whales, turtles and dolphins from dry land.
- Tamborine Mountain. About an hour south for rainforest walks, the glow worm caves, open 10am to 4pm seven days with thirty minute guided tours, and Gallery Walk’s run of shops and cafes. Council roadworks are underway on part of Long Road until December, so allow a little extra time.
- The Gold Coast theme parks. About an hour by car, or the train to Helensvale or Coomera then the TX7 bus for Movie World and Wet’n’Wild. Sea World sits at Main Beach and needs the tram to Southport instead. All three run 10am to 5pm from 19 September for the holidays, and the three, five and seven day Multi Park Passes cover four parks including Paradise Country.
Where to Stay in Brisbane These School Holidays
Pick your neighbourhood by the kind of holiday you are planning, because the right base saves you an hour in the car every morning. We have four Brisbane stays, and each one sits closest to a different part of this list.
- Rambla @ South/City/SQ, Woolloongabba. The pick if you want everything on the doorstep, with the free school holiday workshops, the Angelika Film Centre, a Woolworths and a run of places to eat all downstairs, and GOMA, the Queensland Museum and SparkLab a short trip away.
- Rambla @ Story House, Kangaroo Point. A short walk from The Gabba, with the Kangaroo Point Cliffs and Riverlife on your doorstep and a rooftop magnesium pool for afterwards. South Bank is about a 35 minute stroll, over the green bridge and then the Goodwill Bridge.
- Rambla @ Berwick House, Fortitude Valley. The James Street and Howard Smith Wharves end of the Valley, so Holey Moley, the street art trail and the Story Bridge climb are all walkable, and there is a rooftop terrace, magnesium pool and sauna upstairs.
- Rambla @ Perry House, Bowen Hills. A four minute drive from the Brisbane Showgrounds, with Holey Moley and the James Street end of the Valley one train stop away, and a rooftop heated pool and spa waiting at the end of the day.
All four come with the things that make a two week break survivable: a full kitchen for cereal mornings and pasta nights, in-apartment laundry for the damp pile, separate living and sleeping zones so the day does not end when the kids go down, and a sauna for when it does. Story House has interconnecting rooms if you need the extra space, and both Story House and Berwick House have communal co-working spaces for the day you have to log on. Digital check in comes as standard, so nobody queues at a desk after six hours in the car.
Save on a Longer Stay With Our School Holiday Offer
Our School Holiday Offer takes 10% off stays of two nights or more and 20% off stays of seven nights or more, across all four Brisbane stays. It also comes with a late check out and one complimentary car park, which is the difference between a relaxed last morning and a 10am scramble.
Spring is a busy stretch in Brisbane, with the festival, the footy finals and interstate families all landing in the same fortnight, so it is worth locking in sooner rather than later.
Frequently Asked Questions About Brisbane School Holidays
When are the September school holidays in Brisbane 2026?
The September school holidays in Brisbane run from Saturday 19 September to Monday 5 October 2026. Term 3 finishes on Friday 18 September and Term 4 starts on Tuesday 6 October.
What are the QLD school holiday dates for 2026?
Queensland state schools have four breaks in 2026: the summer holidays either side of the school year, the autumn break around Easter, the winter break from Saturday 27 June to Sunday 12 July, and the spring break from Saturday 19 September to Monday 5 October. Independent and Catholic schools sometimes set slightly different dates, so check your school’s calendar.
Are there any public holidays in September or October 2026?
Yes. The King’s Birthday public holiday falls on Monday 5 October 2026 in Queensland, which is the last day of the spring school holidays. Expect attractions to be busy and some smaller venues to run reduced hours.
What free things can you do with kids in Brisbane?
The water play at South Bank is free and open daily, as are the Queensland Museum, GOMA and the Museum of Brisbane. Our own free kids workshops run at South/City/SQ on 23 and 30 September, and adding the Kangaroo Point Cliffs walk, New Farm Park, Roma Street Parkland and the Mt Coot-tha Botanic Gardens gives you a full week that costs nothing but parking.
What is there to do in Brisbane with kids when it rains?
Head to South Bank, where the Queensland Museum, SparkLab and GOMA’s Children’s Art Centre are all within a few minutes’ walk of each other. Further out, BOUNCE Hendra has a ninja course, a climbing wall and trampolines under one roof, Holey Moley in the Valley is undercover mini golf, and the Angelika Film Centre at Woolloongabba turns a wet afternoon into a long lunch and a movie.
Further reading: want to explore Brisbane’s best hidden beaches while you are here? Check out these top beach spots that are usually only reserved for the locals. Or see what else is on in Brisbane this year.
Rambla isn’t just a place to crash, it’s apartment-style living built for what you actually want when you’re in a new city, on a work trip, or staying a while. Walk Right In with contactless digital check-in, then step into a space that’s yours: full kitchen, separate living area, in-unit laundry, and extras like co-working zones and wellness facilities. Stay productive, stick to your routines, and explore your neighbourhood - all from a single, seriously well-designed base.
