📍15 Best Things To Do In Warwick, QLD, Australia. (Activities & Attractions) (2024.)
LOOKING FOR THE BEST THINGS TO DO IN WARWICK, QLD?
Nestled amidst the endless country plains of the Southern Downs lies Warwick, the captivating heart of the region. Located at the intersection of two national highways, the New England and the Cunningham and halfway between two major destinations, Toowoomba and Stanthorpe, it is the perfect place to stop between those long distances between A & B.
But don’t drop by to get something to bite or pick up supplies, as there are not only some fantastic things to do in Warwick, but the greater area is home to some must-see attractions. From enjoying a wide range of watersports on Leslie Dam to unleashing the car-enthusiast in you at the Morgan Park Raceway and taking a steam train journey back in time with Downs Explorer to discovering breathtaking waterfalls in the nearby national park, here are some places you don’t want to miss out on.
👉 My top 3 picks for what to do in Warwick & surrounds:
- Spend a day by kayaking on the local lake, Leslie Dam.
- Take a journey back in time on a heritage diesel or steam locomotive with Downs Explorer.
- Go for a scenic drive through the breathtaking Main Range National Park and hike to Queen Mary Falls.
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Best Things To Do In Warwick.
1. Explore The Town On Foot.
5 Walks Of Warwick.
A great way to acquaint yourself with Warwick’s is to undertake one of its 5 walks. These lovely trails ranging from 2.2km to 3km loops are scattered across town and allow visitors to appreciate its history and natural beauty at a leisurely pace.
My two top picks are the 2.2km CBD Walk which showcases the town’s oldest, most beautiful and significant architectural heritage buildings such as the St Mary Catholic Church, Customs House, Town Hall and Post Office and the 3km River Walk, which follows one of the beginning sections of the extensive 657km long Condamine River, itself a tributary of the Darling River which make up part of Australia’s longest single continuous river.
2. Paddle The Beginning Of One Of Australia’s Mightiest Rivers. Warwick Paddle Trail. – Federation Park.
Another great way to immerse yourself in Warwick’s natural beauty is to tackle the Warwick Paddle Trail, which allows kayakers and canoers to navigate the upper course of one of the mightiest rivers in Australia. Consisting of two sections, the first part starts from the boat ramp at Federation Park and continues for 2.25km to Scots Weir.
Those wishing to tackle the second part of the paddle trail will have to launch from the access point at the corner of East and Condamine Street, where you can then travel upstream for a further 2km. If the water is high enough, keen paddlers can carry their vessel over or around the causeway where there is another 6km of the trail to discover, making for a peaceful day out in this Southern Down’s town.
3. Leslie Dam.
To experience even more wide open spaces, Leslie Dam is a fantastic place to visit for numerous reasons. It is a stunning picnic area with plenty of open space, recreational BBQ facilities, and picturesque views of the lake from the Dam Wall. Don’t forget to look down as I’ve seen many turtles just below the water’s surface around the supports. There are often ducks, pelicans, and eagles hanging around, while herons and egrets are occasionally spotted too.
It’s also great for watersports. Enjoy peaceful activities such as swimming, kayaking, canoeing, stand-up paddleboarding or sailing or something more adrenaline-filled such as wakeboarding, tubing or jet skiing, allowing you to really make the most out of your time here.
4. Morgan Park Raceway.
Speaking of adrenaline-fuelled fun and making memories, the Morgan Park Raceway gives visitors another thrill-seeking reason to visit Warwick. The raceway hosts numerous spectator sports and event days for public participation, so if that sounds like something unmissable, be sure to plan your trip around their calendar.
Highlight participant events include Champions Ride Day where the public can bike their own motorbike or hire one of the Kawasaki ones available there and zip around the racetrack as fast as they can and the QSSS, an event iconic to the Morgan Park Raceway, as instead of rewarding your best lap time, it rewards your best session time.
5. Warwick Museum.
For a deeper dive into the town’s past, the Warwick Museum is well worth a visit. It is comprised of a collection of heritage buildings including the Pringle Cottage, which was built in 1870 by John McCullock, a stone mason from Scotland who also built several of the other notable sandstone buildings in town including the convent-turned-accommodation, Abbey Of The Roses.
The museum also has the old Emporium, the Canning Downs Building, L.B. Eastwell Hall, Shepherd’s Hut and the Warwick Daily News Printery, complete with old printing machinery. There are also various carts, wagons, furniture, clothing and numerous other artefacts that help depict what life was like in those bygone days.
6. Downs Explorer. – $.
If you’re looking for an immersive experience that will make you feel like you’ve teleported back to a bygone era, one of the best things to do in Warwick for families is to go on a historic railway excursion with Downs Explorer. Based at the site of the former Locomotive Depot, now the Warwick Railway Precinct, the company provides passengers with a unique vintage train journey through the stunning Darling Downs to give them a taste of the romanticism of old railway travel.
Venture through beautiful scenery on their heritage diesel or steam locomotive one way or return to destinations such as Toowoomba, Hendon, Wheatvale, Clifton, Wallangarra and Stanthorpe for short half-day or full-day trips. They even offer multi-day adventures to Miles, Goondiwindi and Tenterfield for an even more captivating heritage tour.
Best Things To Do Around Warwick.
8. See Beautiful Sunflowers In Bloom.
Sunflower Route. (Warwick to Glengallan via Allora.)
If you’re visiting in summer between late December and March, this is a great time for nature lovers to visit the breathtaking sunflower fields. These stunning crops transform the landscape into a brilliant yellow and are observable from some distance. They are scattered throughout the area, but lining the New England Highway and the neighbouring country roads between Warwick and the tiny town of Allora are some of the best places to see them.
However, don’t set your sights on a location you may have seen someone else say they are, because once the field has begun flowering, it will typically only be in bloom for 3-4 weeks, so unless you know they took that photo recently and you’re going to head out there immediately, they might have finished flowering in that particular spot. The crops are also very weather-dependent which can affect the abundance of flowers and how long they flower for. Events such as 2020’s harsh drought meant that there were far fewer sunflowers blooming throughout the season, for example.
When you stop to see the beautiful plants and their giant yellow faces, please be respectful. Don’t go wandering between them hoping for the best shot as you risk damaging them and creating a biosecurity risk by spreading crop diseases. There are also snakes, rodents and creepy crawlies likely hanging out in there, so stay behind the fence or property line and admire them from there. They are tall, so taking a stool to get a better perspective of the field is a good idea if you’re hoping to nab that perfect photo.
If you do want to walk amongst the sunflowers, Warraba Sunflowers opened their drone-planted, pick-your-own farm in Cambooya to the public in July this year, and Christmas, which is a great alternative if sunflower photos are the primary reason you want to see them.
Note: For those who’d like to know where to find the fields currently in bloom, contact or visit the Toowoomba or Warwick Information Center and inquire there.
9. The Spring 4×4 Park.
Those of you out there who have a 4WD will want to head south out of town to the Spring 4×4 Park. Here you can tear up the terrain with over 700 acres worth of trails ranging from easy to extreme. Test your limits on tracks such as Carnage Canyon, Battle Axe Gorge or the Sledgehammer, where the hill climbs and rocky sections will see how much punishment your vehicle can handle.
It’s an exhilarating way to spend the day and easily one of the best things to do in Warwick for adults, but that’s not all there is to do there. Many of the trails have natural attractions worth stopping by, such as Love Hill which has 360-degree views of the surrounding countryside.
If one day is not enough, you can also base yourself here at the campground. You don’t even need a 4WD for it as it caters to people with conventional vehicles and longer rigs such as caravans. It is also dog-friendly and has hot showers, however, all sites are unpowered.
10. Glengallen Homestead & Heritage Centre.
Heading 16km north along the New England Highway awaits one of the region’s most majestic residences. The Glengallen Homestead is a grand and opulent 2-story heritage home dating back to 1867 where it stands as a throwback to Australia’s pioneering days.
Left to ruin for many years, this stunning sandstone mansion was resurrected from its rundown state back to its former glory in 2001 and is now open to the public allowing visitors to get an insight into what life was like for the most affluent members of the community during the country’s earliest days of colonisation.
Note: Only open Wednesday-Sunday from 10 am to 4 pm.
Day Trips From Warwick.
Warwick is a fantastic pit stop, but there is so much more to explore outside town. From neighbouring towns and cities to nearby national parks, here are some of the best day trip destinations to accompany your visit to Warwick.
11. Toowoomba.
Toowoomba is a must-visit place. Located an hour north of Warwick along the New England Highway(A3), it is not only Queensland’s largest inland city and the gateway to the Darling Downs, but it also uniquely sits atop the Great Dividing Range. The latter fact means that amongst its many attractions, it has many gorgeous viewpoints overlooking the surrounding countryside. It is also known as the Garden City, and every September this is put on a brilliant showcase for the 3-week-long Carnival Of Flowers.
Furthermore, it’s home to several incredible walks, including Table Top Mountain, the most notable landmark observable from the stunning Picnic Point Parklands thanks to its distinguishable pancake peak, and Koonin Lookout in Crows Nest National Park, which peers down into the pristine Valley Of The Diamonds, three gorgeous supply lakes, including the stunning Lake Cressbrook, where a possum came and joined Dad and I as we camped along its shores, making it not just a fantastic place to take a day trip from Warwick, but also to spend a night or two under the stars.
12. Main Range National Park.
One of the most spectacular places to visit for a day trip near Warwick is undoubtedly Main Range National Park. Home to many magnificent lookouts and waterfalls, this extensive wilderness area has several sections and is the perfect escape for those looking to immerse themselves in some of the area’s most breathtaking and unforgettable landscapes.
Cunninghams Gap Section.
The most direct way to get between Brisbane and Warwick is along the Cunningham Highway(15) which passes through the Scenic Rim over the Great Dividing Range’s Cunningham’s Gap into the Southern Downs. It’s a gorgeous historic drive (it’s where explorer Allan Cunningham and his fellow expeditionists managed to get over the formidably rugged terrain) with plenty of gorgeous mountain scenery to enjoy on both sides of the range.
But the height of the “Gap” is what makes this route such an alluring one as the main part of the national park, and the beginning of several of its most exceptional walking trails, including the Mount Cordeaux and Mt Matheson trails, which offer breathtaking views peering across the spectacular southern fringes of the Scenic Rim.
Queen Mary Falls Section.
A phenomenal alternative way to go between the two destinations is the Queen Mary Falls route. It also goes through the beautiful Scenic Rim, but instead of taking the highway, you head to Boonah along the Ipswich-Boonah Road and turn left through town to follow the Boonah-Rathdowney Road until you reach Carney Creek Road. Between there and Killarney, the terrain only gets more magnificent as the road goes higher and higher into the continent-spanning Great Dividing Range.
While it is unquestionably one of the best drives this close to Brisbane and my favourite, don’t just motor on through because, in addition to the unforgettable landscapes, there are several spectacular lookouts worth stopping for, such as Carrs Lookout and Daggs Falls, while the 2km hike to the stunning Queen Mary Falls is a must.
People with 4WDs can even tackle the Head where you’ll cross the start of the mammoth 657km Condamine River, which is a tributary of the longest single continuous river in Australia, 14 times.
Goomburra Section.
Goomburra is the most isolated section of Main Range National Park. It lies on the western side of the Great Dividing Range and while it’s less well known and only a one-way-in, one-way-out kind of place, it’s still worth visiting, especially for those travelling the Cunningham Highway, where you can combine a trip to Cunningham’s Gap with a scenic detour to Goomburra.
The highlights are Araucaria Falls, a picturesque horsetail waterfall and Mount Castle Lookout and Sylvesters Lookout, which peers across the stunning Scenic Rim. The Poplar Flats campground is also a great place to spend the night under the stars.
13. Stanthorpe.
Another place that makes an excellent day trip from Warwick is Stanthorpe. Located 60 south along the New England Highway, this place is known as being the coldest place in Queensland and sometimes sees snowfall!
While that only very rarely happens in winter and when it does, it is short-lived, there are some other fantastic things to see in town, such as the stunning views from Mt Marlay, enjoying water sports at King Storm Dam and getting lost in the Granite Belt Maze.
14. Girraween National Park.
If you’re making the effort to visit Stanthorpe, one place not to miss is Girraween National Park. This part of Queensland is known as the Granite Belt and this spectacular wilderness area is a big reason for that, as the magnificent landscapes found within this unforgettable place feature massive granite outcrops, tors and precariously balanced boulders that give this place its unique appeal.
The best walks to see these natural marvels include the Granite Arch, the Pyramid, the Sphynx and Turtle Rock, which each have distinct formations that are sure to leave a last memory.
15. Goondiwindi.
Although it’s a long drive out, Goondiwindi is also a lovely place to visit for a day. Some of the small border town attractions include the Custom’s House Museum, which showcases the town’s history through photographs, displays and artefacts of its most notable eras and events while one of its most exciting places to visit is the Goondiwindi Natural Heritage & Water Park, where visitors can either take a refreshing swim, enjoy a peaceful paddle or tear around the on a wakeboard pulled behind a motorboat.
But don’t just traverse the 200km it takes to get from Warwick to Goondiwindi, as there are a few great stops along the way, such as Lake Coolmunda, which can look very different depending on the rainfall that year (I’ve seen it full to the brim and almost entirely empty), the Inglewood Heritage Centre & Australian Tobacco Museum and the gorgeous silo artwork at Yelabon, making it a classic country drive.
Warwick Map.
Accommodation: Where To Stay In Warwick.
- Budget: Country Rose Motel Warwick.
- Mid-Range: Comfort Inn Warwick.
- Luxury: 53 on Victoria.
Visiting Warwick: Frequently Asked Questions.
What Are The 5 Walks Of Warwick?
The 5 walks of Warwick are the CBD Walk, Railway Walk, Dairy Walk, Weewondilla Hill Walk, The River Walk and they are scattered across the town, and showcase different parts of it and its history.
Conclusion: What To Do In Warwick, Queensland.
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