It’s 7.30pm on a weekday evening, and you’ve just arrived in Brisbane ahead of a busy schedule tomorrow. You’ve just checked into your hotel in the CBD, you have about two free hours to yourself, and a decision to make. Do you track down your colleagues for an all expenses paid dinner? Or do your grab your sneakers and go out to explore?  No brainer for me. Let’s go.

A super way to explore the city is to follow the trail for the Brisbane River Run, which is a series of connected running and bike paths alongside the river. At any point you can take the city cat ferry back to the CBD. It’s pretty simple to download the map to your smartphone and take it with you.

brisbane-city-river-run

The River Run is a good way for to test whether Brisbane lives up to its marketing as Australia’s New World City. A big part of that marketing claim has been to position the Brisbane River as one big River Adventure. It’s only a 5 minute walk down to the Eagle Street Pier from the CBD area to pick up the trail, where you’ll meet the large bike and footpath that runs north to the Story Bridge. It’s 15-30 minutes to the bridge, along a well lit and signed path. The bridge looks great at night and there’s a wide pedestrian path to cross the bridge with terrific views of the city nightscape.

You can re-join the river trail on the other side of the bridge. The path really does get interesting from here on in. There’s cute little boardwalks over the river, nice green park areas, and excellent lighting – meaning even if it might be after 9pm when you get here, it’s very well used and feels super safe. A kilometre further on and you’ll come to the rock climbing wall. The clever people in Brisbane have floodlit a huge stretch of the cliffs and opened it up to rock climbing, and judging by how busy it gets, it’s a huge hit. It’s also excellent spectator viewing.

Another twenty minutes further on and you find the gorgeous public beach and outdoor pool on . It’s open til late and completely free. Stop off here for a paddle, swim or just to relax. And just further north you’ll find the impressive arts precinct, which is a good place to catch the ferry back to CBD. The city cat is the Crown Jewel of Brisbane’s ferry network, and glides speedily and quietly back. It costs about $5 for a 2-3 stop journey.

You can be back at the hotel by ten thirty pm, refreshed, recharged and raring to go for the business day tomorrow.