Good Tours

Guided day tours are a simple way to see Brisbane if your schedule is tight. View the city's vast sprawl from the comfort of a chauffeured coach, with a driver offering insider information. Within an hour or two you can be taste-testing your way through the Tambourine or Scenic Rim wineries, or practicing your poker face at a Gold Coast casino.

Most day tours include admission to sights, refreshments, and on full-day tours lunch, as well as commentary en route and time to explore. Australian Day Tours/JPT conducts half- and full-day tours of Brisbane and nearby Moreton Island; one- and two-day trips to and around the Gold Coast, Noosa Heads, and the Sunshine Coast, from A$93 to A$529; and a two-day Fraser Island tour for A$477 per person. Greyhound Australia runs daily express coaches to the Gold Coast, as well as day trips that cover southeast Queensland and beyond.

Australian Day Tours/JPT (Level 1, Olympia Court, 3059 Surfers Paradise Blvd, Surfers Paradise, QLD, 4127. 1300/363-436 or 07/5512-6444. www.daytours.com.au.)

Greyhound Australia (Transit Centre, Level 3, Roma Street, Brisbane, QLD, 4000. 1300-473946 or 07/3236-3035. www.greyhound.com.au.)