At Embrace Brisbane, we’re all about bringing you the best that our glittering river city has to offer. So we’ve put our holiday caps on to bring you a Staycation Guide series of the best places you can relax like a carefree traveller right here in Bris-Vegas.
Staycation spot: Pullman & Mercure Hotel Brisbane King George Square
Ideal for: a girls’ night out.
Make sure you: sip cocktails at the rooftop bar while gazing out at the City Hall clock.
What’s better than a night out with the girls? A night out with the girls at a rooftop bar, where a cosy, fancy room for the night is just an elevator ride away. At the Pullman & Mercure Brisbane King George Square, you can sip cocktails with views over the city, and then stay the night to extend your girls night into a girls weekend. Which, let’s face it, is the dream.
The Pullman & Mercure Hotel Brisbane experience
As the name indicates, the Pullman & Mercure Brisbane joins together the Pullman and Mercure brands in two towers, with one heart and one incredible location. Situated at the corner of Ann and Roma streets, this hotel is right in the heart of the CBD, a short stroll from Queen Street Mall, Roma Street Parklands. A hop, skip and a jump across the bridge and you’re right in the middle of the cultural precinct, with QPAC’s theatres, QaGOMA, and more museums than you can poke a stick at. If you want somewhere to stay that’s within easy reach of heaps of great things to do, this is it.
Checking into the Pullman tower of the Pullman & Mercure, we’re greeted with a smile and the news we’re being upgraded to a suite, which immediately puts a skip in my step.
The suite life
And as soon as we step foot into the room we can tell it’s perfect for a girls’ night. Stunning views over Brisbane, separate lounge/dining and bedroom, and SO much space.
Stepping into the main bedroom immediately makes me want to swan dive into the king size bed and not move there until check out time. But there is a palatial sized bathroom with an enticing spa bath to kick back in later, and the rooftop pool is beckoning on this most humid of Brisbane days.
Time for a dip
And that pool does not disappoint. The views make it feel like you’re on top of the world, and with the sun glinting off the azure blue of the water, it’s as pretty as a picture. I take a hot second to take some selfies to make the haters jealous before I set up our stuff in one of the cute daybed cabanas.
The rest of the afternoon we lose in a haze of swimming, sun bathing, reading, napping and soaking up the beats as Sixteen Antlers bar comes to life for the evening.
And it. Is. Bliss.
Bottoms up at Sixteen Antlers
Once we peel ourselves off the daybeds and head downstairs, it’s time to gussy ourselves up for cocktails and tapas at Sixteen Antlers. Now, we’ve reviewed this rooftop oasis before so it’s safe to say we are EXCITED.
I mean, look at these cocktails. They taste dangerously good and go down far too easy so we grab some scrumptious tapas to fill our tums.
After a fab night out with tipples, tapas and tunes, we go back home… to our suite downstairs, dah-ling. What better way to relax than to take a spa bath and soak any lingering stress of our real lives away. And because the bath is SO BIG we decide to be extra indulgent, put on our swimmers, set up our laptop with the latest episode of Drag Race, and have besties spa night too.
Our night ends with us melting into our beds (I get the cloudlike king and my friend takes the sofa bed) and watching TV til we pass out.
The early bird gets the Goldfinch
The next morning we spring out of bed uncharacteristically early for a Sunday after drinkies the night before. The reason? Four words: buffet breakfast at Goldfinch. Think fluffy scrambled eggs, crispy bacon, tables of crispy buttery pastries and I GUESS fruit and cereal if you want to be all healthy about it.
We eat far too much. Because buffet and yum.
But that doesn’t stop us racing to have one last swim before we check out. Ideally next time we’d pick two nights so we get one full day using the fab facilities of the Pullman & Mercure Brisbane King George Square, (and perhaps having a chance to explore the surrounding areas like a tourist). But for now, it’s been an ideal place for our girls’ night out staycation.
In her spare time, she likes long walks down the makeup aisle and performing in Brisbane theatre. You can follow her adventures on Instagram and TikTok @thebeautypalate.
