The Brisbane River Loop is popular recreational cycle route that follows the Brisbane River from South Bank to Indooroopilly and back again.

This route is popular on weekends with riders of all stripes heading out to get some fresh air and exercise.

There is a good mix of flat and hill cycling, but you can also choose the Mini Brisbane River Loop if the full loop is too challenging.

The recommended direction for the loop is counter-clockwise. This leaves you with a bit of a climb toward the end, but a very rewarding roll down either Dornoch Terrace or Annerley Road depending on your route.

The River Loop

The majority of the route is on residential back streets, although there are some more busy stretches further out of the city. If you're less confident with road riding or just want a more leisurely stroll there are enough bike paths you can jump onto, particularly around St Lucia, Taringa, Tennyson and alongside Brisbane Corso.

The full loop is 35-40 km, whereas the mini loop is slightly under 20 km. Jump bottom of the page for the map.

Mini Brisbane River Loop

The Mini Brisbane River Loop cuts out the Indooroopilly/Tennyson/Fairfield sections of the loop by heading across the Eleanor Schonell Bridge.

This short-cut effectively cuts the loop in half, and provides a good "training" loop if you're not as experienced or confident.

Take a different route

The River Loop is pretty loosely defined and everyone has their own take on it. Some popular alternatives include:

• Continue down Gladstone Road rather than turning left onto Dornoch Terrace, to cut straight back to the Goodwill Bridge.
• Take Annerley Road instead of Gladstone Road to get to the Goodwill Bridge without having to climb any more hills
• Take Grey Street instead of the Clem Jones Promenade along the water at South Bank to avoid the busy weekend pedestrian traffic. (Always remember to go slow and give way to pedestrians.)

St Lucia to Indooroopilly

The St Lucia peninsula runs around the University of Queensland and St Lucia Golf Links. Coming from Toowong there are a couple of small but notable hills, as well as alongside the golf course.

If you decide you've had enough, you can circle around and take the Eleanor Schonell Green Bridge for the half river loop.

After the golf course, you can also ride off-road through Robertson Park for a bit before hitting the road riding through to Indro.

Indooroopilly to Tennyson

At the Indro end you you can refill your water bottle, stop for food, or check out the Indooroopilly river walk.

The Jack Pesch green bridge will take you across the river. The section through Chelmer is mostly on-road riding. Some of these roads don't have shoulders or footpaths, but they are very quiet.

Closer to Tennyson there are shared footpaths to get you off the road But these are pretty narrow and have lots of other people walking, so many riders prefer to ride on the road.

Tennyson to Dutton Park

This route is largely through residential streets.

There's a bit of a hill through Yeronga, as well as a very rewarding downhill section through the peninsula.

This part of the route is fairly ill-defined, so you can choose whichever streets you like, but for the map I've checked out the most travelled route on Strava down the esplanade. Personally I like Orari road becauyse it's a long, slow roll downhill.

There's a narrow shared path along the corso which is good for a slow roll, but more serious riders will just take the corso itself.

At the Dutton Park end there's a number of routes, but the most common is following the road up to Gladstone Road. There is also a bikeway halfway up the hill that runs under the busway if you need to bail out early or want to head down Annerley Road.

Dutton Park to South Bank (via West End)

Dutton Park to Highgate Hill is probably the busiest on-road route. There are bike lanes painted on some segments of the road, but I've been known to bail out and take the footpath in some places.

Once you're at the top of Highgate Hill though, the fun starts! The downhill section along Dornoch Terrace and down to the Brisbane River is really fun, you'll barely need to pedal. Just be safe around parked cars, and stick to the speed limit.

Once you hit Riverside Drive you're pretty much flat the rest of the way into South Bank.