Arriving and moving around
From Brisbane
By road up the range
Toowoomba sits about 125 kilometres west of Brisbane via the Warrego Highway — roughly an hour and three quarters — with the Toowoomba Bypass now carrying through-traffic around the old range crossing. Daily coach services link the two cities, and the classic view east over the Lockyer Valley arrives as you crest the range.
Travelling as a group? A Cooee charter makes it door-to-door — our Toowoomba day tours handle the driving for carnival days, the food trail and club outings.
By air
Toowoomba Wellcamp Airport
Wellcamp Airport sits 15 to 20 minutes west of the city and has carried domestic connections including Sydney and regional Queensland routes since opening. Airline schedules on regional routes change — confirm current services when booking. Taxis and pre-arranged transfers cover the run into town.
In the city
On foot and by local bus
The CBD is a flat, compact grid: the cafe laneways, street art, the Empire Theatre and Queens Park all fall within an easy walk of each other. A local bus network radiates from the city interchange across the suburbs — check Translink for routes and fares — and taxis and rideshare fill the evening gaps.
By car
Driving and parking
Parking is refreshingly un-capital-city: metered street spots and off-street car parks in the CBD, free parking at the door almost everywhere else. A car earns its keep for the range lookouts, the high country villages and the Lockyer Valley below — just expect the rules to flip during September's Carnival of Flowers, when the garden precincts fill early.
Beyond town
Reaching the high country
The villages north along the range — Highfields, Hampton, Crows Nest — are a 15 to 40 minute drive with no useful public transport, which is exactly why our high country food trail tour exists: producers, bakeries and lookouts with someone else at the wheel.
Quick practical notes
- Distances: Brisbane ~125 km (1.75 hrs); Wellcamp Airport ~15–20 min; Highfields ~15 min; Crows Nest ~40 min.
- Carnival of Flowers: September brings the year's only real traffic and parking pressure — coach in, or arrive early. Sort your bed first via where to stay in Toowoomba.
- Winter driving: at ~700 m, early frosts and fog patches happen on the range — allow a little extra on winter mornings.
- Groups: Cooee Tours runs charters from Brisbane and around the region — one coach, your itinerary.
