Private Brisbane Tours
Crafted Around You
No shared buses, no fixed itineraries, no compromises. A private Cooee Tour means your own expert local guide, your own air-conditioned vehicle, and a day shaped entirely around what you want to see, do, and experience in and around Brisbane.
Enquire About Private Tours Browse Tour IdeasWhat Does a Private Tour with Cooee Actually Mean?
A private tour means you and your party — whether that's two people celebrating an anniversary or a corporate team of twelve — have the guide and vehicle entirely to yourselves. There are no other guests to coordinate with, no group consensus to reach on where to have lunch, and no coach timetable to adhere to. You decide when to linger at the Glass House Mountains lookout and when to move on.
Our private tours are built from a conversation. Before your departure we speak with you or email back and forth to understand exactly who's in the group, what you most want to see, any special requirements (dietary, mobility, celebrating a milestone), and how you prefer to spend your time. The result is an itinerary that doesn't exist anywhere else — because it was made specifically for you.
Every private tour is led by one of our senior accredited guides with deep knowledge of the region. These are people who've spent years exploring Southeast Queensland and can connect you with the kind of local knowledge that no app, guidebook, or audio tour can replicate. Since 1974, we've delivered private experiences for honeymooners, 70th birthday parties, international delegations, documentary film crews, and families with toddlers in tow. The brief changes — our commitment to excellence doesn't.
Why Private Changes Everything
Your Schedule, Not Ours
Choose your departure time. Want to be at the Glass House Mountains at sunrise for the photographers' light? Done. Prefer a leisurely 9am start with coffee before pickup? Also done. The day runs on your clock.
Your Itinerary, Built Fresh
We start from your wishlist, not a pre-set template. Tell us you're passionate about street art, or Australian flora, or colonial history, or local craft breweries — we'll build a day around those passions rather than the standard tourist trail.
A Guide, Not a Driver
Our private guides are storytellers, naturalists, and passionate Queenslanders. In a private setting they can go deeper — more context, more questions answered, more genuine connection with the places you're visiting.
Food & Drink Your Way
Dining stops are tailored to your preferences. We can book ahead at a Noosa waterfront restaurant, arrange a hinterland winery picnic, or pack a gourmet hamper for a beach lunch — whatever suits your taste and budget.
Photography Friendly
We stop when you need to stop. Whether you're shooting on a professional DSLR or an iPhone, our guides know the exact angles, the best light windows, and the hidden vantage points that don't appear in any guidebook.
Accessible & Inclusive
Private tours are ideal for guests with mobility considerations, health needs, or sensory sensitivities. We adapt every element of the day around what's needed — without compromise on the quality of experience.
Who Our Private Tours Are Designed For
We've crafted private experiences for a remarkable diversity of guests. Here are some of the most common occasions — and how we make each one special.
Couples & Honeymooners
From a romantic sunrise at the Glass House Mountains to a private champagne picnic at a Noosa lookout, we create moments that become stories you'll tell for decades. We handle every detail — you simply show up and be present with each other.
Families with Children
A private vehicle means no stress about pram logistics or toddler noise. We plan rest stops, include wildlife encounters that genuinely delight children, and adapt the pace to keep young travellers engaged throughout the day.
Special Occasions & Milestone Birthdays
A 50th birthday, a retirement celebration, a surprise anniversary outing — private tours create experiences that feel genuinely extraordinary. We can arrange flowers, a cake, restaurant reservations, and decoration of the vehicle on request.
Corporate & Incentive Groups
Visiting Brisbane for a conference or business trip? We design half-day and full-day corporate programs that combine team bonding with genuine Queensland discovery. We've hosted groups from Fortune 500 companies, international delegations, and government delegations.
International Visitors with Limited Time
When you have two days in Brisbane and need to see the best of the region efficiently, a private tour is the most intelligent use of your time. We curate the unmissable highlights with a guide who understands exactly what international visitors most want to experience.
Photographers & Content Creators
We've guided travel photographers for major publications, tourism boards, and social media campaigns across Southeast Queensland. Tell us your brief — golden hour, wildlife, landscapes, urban art — and we'll plan the perfect route and timing.
Ready to Design Your Private Brisbane Tour?
Tell us your dates, who's travelling, and what you'd love to see. We'll send you a personalised itinerary proposal within 24 hours.
Start Planning Call 0409 661 342Private Tour Ideas to Get You Started
These are some of our most requested private itineraries. All are fully customisable and can be combined, extended, or rerouted to suit your group.
🏙️ Essential Brisbane Private City Tour
A deep-dive into Australia's most liveable city. South Bank Parklands, the Gabba precinct, New Farm riverfront, Fortitude Valley street art, West End food scene, and Mt Coot-tha Botanic Gardens. Perfect as a half-day Brisbane introduction or a full day of local discovery.
Half-day from $290 · Full day from $490 · Includes vehicle & guide
🏔️ Glass House Mountains Sunrise & Hinterland
Depart Brisbane before dawn and arrive at the Glass House Mountains as the first light catches Beerwah and Tibrogargan. Guided short walk to a private lookout, followed by a leisurely hinterland morning through Maleny, Montville, and Mapleton Falls.
Full day from $420 per group · Best Tuesday–Sunday
🦘 Wildlife & Nature Private Safari
Spot wild kangaroos at Daisy Hill, koalas at Lone Pine (entry included), and black cockatoos in the Scenic Rim. Our naturalist guides bring a genuine wildlife knowledge that turns a day in the bush into a genuinely educational expedition.
From $390 per group · Lone Pine entry included
🍷 Gold Coast & Hinterland Gourmet
Winery visits in the Tamborine Mountain wine region, artisan cheese from O'Reilly's plateau farms, a gourmet picnic in a rainforest clearing, and a sunset drive along the Gold Coast beachfront. A day built entirely around extraordinary food and drink.
Full day from $490 · Tastings included · Numbers 2–8
🌊 Stradbroke Island Private Escape
Your own private vehicle on North Stradbroke Island — Blue Lake, Cylinder Beach, Myora Springs, and the coastal walking trails — with a Quandamooka cultural guide option available. Ferry costs included in pricing.
From $520 per group · Ferry included · 2–8 guests
🎨 Brisbane Arts & Culture Private Tour
GOMA, the Queensland Museum, Brisbane's extraordinary street art laneways, the Gallery of Modern Art's sculpture garden, and a private studio visit with a local artist. For the culturally curious, this is the city at its most intellectually generous.
Half-day from $280 · Museum entries at cost · GOMA entry free
How Booking a Private Tour Works
Tell Us Your Vision
Call, email, or complete our enquiry form. Share your dates, group size, interests, and any special requirements or occasions we should know about.
Receive Your Proposal
Within 24 hours we send a tailored itinerary proposal with suggested stops, timing, pricing, and inclusions — built specifically around what you told us.
Refine & Confirm
Adjust anything you'd like to change. We iterate until the itinerary is exactly right, then confirm with a 20% holding deposit. Balance due 7 days before departure.
Enjoy Your Day
We collect you from your accommodation at the agreed time. From that moment, the only thing you need to do is be curious, take it all in, and have an extraordinary day.
Private vs Small-Group Tours: Which is Right for You?
| Factor | Cooee Private Tour | Cooee Small-Group Tour | Large Coach Tour |
|---|---|---|---|
| Itinerary flexibility | ✅ Fully bespoke | Fixed departure itinerary | Fixed, no changes |
| Group composition | Your party only | Mixed public group, max 14 | 30–55 strangers |
| Departure time | Any agreed time | Fixed departure | Fixed departure |
| Special occasions | ✅ Fully catered to | Limited accommodation | Not possible |
| Guide attention | Exclusively yours | Shared, high quality | Microphone announcements |
| Accessibility needs | ✅ Fully accommodated | Basic accommodation | Limited |
| Photography stops | ✅ As many as you want | Scheduled group stops | Brief photo stops only |
| Pricing | From $290 (2 pax) | From $99/person | From $79–119/person |
Private Tour Pricing
Private tour pricing is based on the vehicle size required and the duration of the experience. All tours include an accredited guide, fuel, and hotel pick-up/drop-off. Entry fees for attractions are additional unless stated.
Half-Day Private
- 4–5 hours guided experience
- Sedan or SUV vehicle
- Accredited local guide
- Hotel pickup & drop-off
- Custom route & stops
- Morning or afternoon departure
Full-Day Private
- 8–9 hours guided experience
- Comfortable touring vehicle
- Senior accredited guide
- Hotel pickup & drop-off
- Fully bespoke itinerary
- Morning tea included
- Flexible lunch arrangements
Private Group Tour
- 8–9 hours guided experience
- Minibus up to 12 guests
- Senior accredited guide
- Corporate, families & groups
- Full day bespoke itinerary
- All meals on request
- Branded vehicle available
Timing Your Private Tour — A Local's Calendar
One advantage of a private itinerary is that it can be built around Brisbane's calendar rather than squeezed into someone else's schedule. A few dates worth designing a day around:
🐋 Whale Season (June–October)
Humpbacks fill Moreton Bay from late autumn. A private day can pair a morning bay cruise or Moreton Island crossing with an afternoon on the mainland — paced entirely around the sailing times that suit your group, not a fixed coach schedule.
💜 Jacaranda Season (October–November)
From late October Brisbane turns purple. New Farm Park, the University of Queensland cloisters and the river suburbs are at their photogenic best — a favourite for private photography tours, anniversaries and visiting family showpieces.
🎆 Event Weekends
Riverfire in September, the Ekka in August, Big Bash summer at the Gabba — private transport transforms event days. Door-to-door drop-off, a pre-event touring itinerary, and no post-event transport scramble.
🚢 Cruise Ship Shore Days
Docking at the Brisbane International Cruise Terminal? We design private shore excursions timed precisely to your ship — Lone Pine koalas, city highlights, or a Scenic Rim dash — with guaranteed return well before all-aboard.
Accessibility, Languages & Special Requirements
Private touring is the most flexible format we offer for guests with specific needs. Mobility-conscious itineraries swap stairs and long walks for lookouts and step-free boardwalks without losing the highlights; pacing is set by your group, with rest stops whenever they're wanted. Travelling with a wheelchair or walker? Tell us at the planning stage and we'll match the vehicle and route accordingly.
For international guests, we can arrange interpreter-accompanied days or route commentary adapted to your group's English comfort level, and dietary requirements — from coeliac to kosher-style to strictly vegetarian — are coordinated with every restaurant and winery on the itinerary in advance. The brief is simple: if it matters to your group, it shapes the day.
Two Sample Private Days, Told Properly
🌿 "The Grandparents' Perfect Day"
A real itinerary we run often: a 9am pickup from New Farm, morning tea at the Mt Coot-tha Summit with the whole city below, then Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary at exactly the pace the group wants — wheelchair-friendly paths confirmed in advance, koala photos arranged for the 11:30 session before the crowds. A long riverside lunch follows, then a gentle City Botanic Gardens stroll and a drive home through the jacaranda streets in season. Five stops, zero rushing, every step count considered. Home by 4pm, everyone still smiling.
🥂 "The Visiting Executives"
An 8am collection from a CBD hotel, Story Bridge and Kangaroo Point Cliffs for the postcard shots, then straight up the range for a private Scenic Rim morning — a vineyard tasting with the winemaker booked exclusively, lunch at a hatted regional restaurant, and a hinterland lookout circuit on the return. Back at the hotel by 5:30 with time to change before the evening's dinner. One vehicle, one guide, an itinerary that flexed twice during the day because the group wanted longer at the vineyard — which is precisely the point of private.
Vehicles & Guides
Private tours run in the vehicle that fits the group, not the other way around: premium sedans and people-movers for couples and families, Mercedes-class minibuses for mid-size groups, and full coaches for charters up to 48. Every vehicle is air-conditioned, professionally maintained and allocated to your booking alone — no strangers, no shared schedules.
Guides are the other half of the equation. Ours are Brisbane locals with years on these routes, accredited, first-aid qualified, and chosen for the rare skill of reading a group: knowing when to tell the story, when to change the plan, and when to simply let a lookout do the talking. Tell us about your group when you enquire and we'll match the guide as carefully as the vehicle.
From that we come back with a written itinerary and a per-person quote rather than a menu to choose from. It is easier to adjust a proposal than to assemble one from scratch, and it means the constraints we know about — drive times, opening hours, which cellar doors are appointment-only — are built in before you see it.
The most useful thing a group can tell us at the enquiry stage is not the list of stops but the shape of the day — what time you want to start, whether lunch is an event or a refuel, how much walking suits everyone, and what the day is actually for.
Building the Itinerary Together
Distance changes the calculation. A six-hour round trip to the Granite Belt in a small van is a different proposition from the same journey in a coach, and we specify for the day rather than the number.
Small groups of two to six travel in a car or a small van, which suits city days and hinterland runs where parking and narrow range roads matter. Eight to twenty is minibus territory. Beyond that a full coach, which is the sensible option for corporate groups and extended families.
Private touring covers a wide range of vehicles, and the right one depends on the group and the distance rather than the headcount alone.
Vehicles and Group Sizes
The Questions Everyone Asks About Going Private
Is private touring only for special occasions? It's booked for birthdays and anniversaries, certainly — but just as often by families who simply want a day shaped around a toddler's nap schedule, by travellers with limited mobility who need certainty about access, and by visitors whose one free day in Brisbane is too precious to spend on someone else's timetable. Private is a format, not a luxury tier.
How far ahead should we book? A week's notice comfortably covers most requests; peak periods — whale season weekends, jacaranda season, event weekends like Riverfire — are worth securing two to three weeks out. Genuinely last-minute? Call anyway: 0409 661 342. If a guide and vehicle can be matched to your day, we'll make it happen.
Can the itinerary change on the day? Yes, and it usually does — that's the feature, not a failure of planning. Loved the lookout? Stay longer. Kids melting down? Reshuffle. Weather turns? Your guide already has the plan B. The itinerary we design together is a starting point that belongs to you, not a contract you're held to.
What's actually included in the price? Vehicle, professional guide, fuel, tolls and parking, itinerary design, and all the coordination — restaurant bookings, attraction timings, accessibility checks. Entry fees and meals are typically at cost so you only pay for what your group actually chooses, with everything itemised transparently in your quote.
Private Tour FAQ
Let's Build Your Perfect Brisbane Day
Call or email us with your dates and we'll design a private tour proposal tailored to your group — no obligation, response within 24 hours.
📞 Call 0409 661 342 Email Your Enquiry