The 12 Best Hotels in Brisbane

A 30-metre pool with its name spelled out in gold tiles tells you everything about what The Calile is going for. This Brisbane hotel leans into pastel-and-cabana luxury, Richards & Spence's design channeling modernist Miami through a distinctly barefoot-Australian lens. Six restaurants, open-air corridors, cork floors designed for bare feet, and staff in linen uniforms who treat every request with cheerful "no worries" ease. It holds a spot on the World's 50 Best Hotels list.

1. The 50 #34 · The World's 50 Best Hotels
2. Michelin Guide 1 Key

Sixty-three stone villas spread across 161 clifftop acres on Kéa, an island most people can't place on a map but Athenians have kept to themselves for years. The resort sits above the Aegean with infinity pools, living-roof villas, and a helipad for guests who find the speedboat too casual. A speakeasy tucked somewhere on the property and a fine-wine bar mean you won't run out of excuses to stay. Forbes Four Star.

1. Forbes Travel Guide Forbes Four Star

Five hundred prints by Melbourne portrait artist Vincent Fantauzzo cover the walls of this luxury boutique hotel in the Howard Smith Wharves precinct. The rooms are comfortable and stylish, the sustainability credentials are worn lightly rather than preached, and two in-house venues, a Roman-leaning restaurant and a rooftop pool bar with LA ambitions, give guests a reasonable excuse to never actually leave.

1. Michelin Guide Selected Hotels

A rooftop pool sits above Fortitude Valley, Brisbane's most reliably loud and interesting neighborhood, which is exactly where this boutique hotel wants to be. The rooms mix clean lines with Art Deco detailing and the kind of quiet luxury that doesn't feel the need to announce itself. Downstairs, the cocktail bar runs artisanal drinks alongside a mezze menu, so you can eat like you're somewhere in the Levant while technically in Queensland.

1. Michelin Guide Selected Hotels

A nine-room boutique hotel in a classic elevated Queenslander, the kind of wraparound-veranda timber house that New Farm's residential streets were built on. The rooms lean Pacific Rim in texture and color rather than anonymous international hotel, with Bose systems and Italian linens doing the quiet luxury work. Complimentary breakfast is a point of pride, and the bar looks straight out at the Story Bridge.

1. Michelin Guide Selected Hotels

A concrete-and-glass tower that looks like it has opinions, The Alva is a boutique-leaning hotel in Fortitude Valley, the kind of Brisbane neighborhood that manages to have a Chinatown and a live music scene on the same block. Rooms lean into off-kilter angles and violet accents, some with balconies, and a penthouse suite with a genuinely oversized bathtub. A French bistro runs all day downstairs; a rooftop bar handles Spanish bites with city views above.

1. Michelin Guide Selected Hotels

A neo-Georgian facade in a quiet, largely residential stretch just north of Brisbane's CBD gives The Inchcolm the look of something that's been around forever, which is more or less the point. It's a luxury boutique hotel with a thoroughly modern interior that leans into the retro without being camp about it. The Michelin Guide has it among its selected hotels, and the intimate scale makes it feel less like checking in and more like borrowing a very elegant friend's townhouse.

1. Michelin Guide Selected Hotels

A rooftop pool overlooking the Brisbane River is one way to stand out in North Quay, and this boutique hotel leans into it. Rooms run dark blue and gold with bold graphics, and the high-tech touches, charging ports, adjustable lighting, feel considered rather than showy. Downstairs, Kraft & Co. cycles through the day as café, Japanese-leaning modern Australian kitchen, and cocktail lounge, which is a lot to ask of one room but somehow it pulls it off.

1. Michelin Guide Selected Hotels

The pool hangs over the Brisbane River like the hotel is daring gravity to say something. This is a luxury hotel in the CBD with Queensland baked into its design from the lobby art to the dinner menu, so the local references never feel like an afterthought. Vibrant public spaces and a full spa keep things lively. The W formula has a short attention span, which turns out to be an asset when everyone else is still decorating with ironbark.

1. Michelin Guide Selected Hotels

All-suite hotel on Brisbane's South Bank, steps from the city's main cultural drag, where the rooftop infinity pool looks out over the river and a terrace restaurant looks out over the pool. The design leans bold, the public spaces stay busy, and some suites come with freestanding bathtubs for anyone who takes soaking seriously. A piano bar and a modern Australian restaurant round out the reasons to stay in rather than wander out.

1. Michelin Guide Selected Hotels

Deep-blue rooms and local art installations are the aesthetic signature of this design hotel in Brisbane's central business district, where the North Quay location puts everything within easy reach. The 212 rooms lean vibrant rather than neutral, and the building is hung with murals, sculptures, and site-specific work. Downstairs, Bar 1603 quietly doubles as a Japanese eatery, which is more than most speakeasy-styled bars manage.

1. Michelin Guide Selected Hotels

A 50-meter rooftop pool sits on the fifth floor of this Spring Hill hotel, with the Brisbane CBD close enough to justify the address and far enough away to ignore. The Johnson is part of the Art Series group, this one dedicated to Australian abstract painter Michael Johnson, whose ultra-saturated canvases do most of the decorating against otherwise spare, minimalist rooms. Suites are handsome, and the all-day restaurant and bar is downstairs when you're done pretending the pool is yours alone.

1. Michelin Guide Selected Hotels