Hilton Brisbane hotel review

When choosing a city break one of the hardest things is finding the perfect hotel, you want somewhere that's central to the action, but also quiet enough to get a good nights sleep and somewhere that's luxurious enough to cradle you after a busy days exploring, but also somewhere that's not going to break the bank. I spent a long time scrolling hotel websites when booking our trip to Brisbane trying to decide between different areas and types of rooms and nowhere seemed quite as perfect as Hilton Brisbane.

The view of Brisbane city from our hotel room 

Right in the middle of Brisbane CBD is Elizabeth street, a short walk to the botanic gardens, south bank and Queen street mall and that too, is where you'll find the Brisbane Hilton. With a range of rooms and suites, valet parking, on site restaurant and bar, tennis court, swimming pool and spa the hotel is perfect for holiday makers and business professionals alike.

When we went to check in we found out our room wasn't going to be ready for a few minutes, whilst that was totally okay for us the lady behind reception said it totally wasn't so offered us a drink on the house which was so well received after 5 hours stuck on a plane. Before we'd finished our room was ready so we grabbed our bags and head to the 20th floor.

I've always loved hotel toiletries (my nan used to bring them home for me from her travels around the world) and was pleased to find this little array sat next to the sink. The bathroom was compact, but was wonderfully clean and the shower was amazing. I wasn't too fussed about not having a bath to float in for an hours because of the onsite pool and spa..

Which were again wonderfully clean and empty and had an incredible view of the city. Thanks to Brisbane's climate I was able to spend my evenings floating in the pool in the rain (it's one of my favourite things to do).

The bed in our room was incredible, with a gorgeously squishy mattress topper and pillows that made it feel like I was falling asleep on a cloud (other pillows were avaliable). I also loved the evening turn down service, complete with slippers and camomile tea.

As part of our stay we also chose to have the buffet breakfast each morning, the wait staff were so friendly in seating us and serving us tea / filter coffee (barista coffee was available at an extra charge).  There was such a great variety each morning catering to Continental, Australian and Asian tastes alike. 

Rooms at Hilton Brisbane start from just $209 per night which I think is great value for money based on the facilities, service and location of the hotel. Valet parking is $59 per 24 hours. 

The Hilton Brisbane 190 Elizabeth St, Brisbane QLD 4000

(07) 3234 2000

Have you stayed at a Hilton hotel before? 

xo

This post has been written in collaboration with the hilton hotel chain

project 366 : week seven

Friday 12 I found these perfect work friendly heels in an op shop, they're amazing quality and so so comfy. I worked till 11pm (and realised heels are definitely a no no) and then crashed out the second I got home. 

Saturday 13 I was invited to check out comedy boxing as part of Fringe World. The event was a good laugh with Aussie Sam Kissajukian taking on (and beating) Scouser Kyle Legacy in 4 rounds of stand up comedy. 

Sunday 14 Happy valentines! I opened up a little parcel that had been left on my doorstop from HBF who have asked me to take on their run for a reason in May, watch this same! 

Monday 15 Working Monday-Friday is weird, but being free of an evening is awesome, I get to watch all the pretty sunsets. We also took the opportunity to check out Zoolander2 which is hilaaaaaarious. 

Tuesday 16 Back to Fringe World again to see Sam Kissajukian, I didn't want to whip my camera out sat in the front row (thanks to my longstanding history of taking on comedians from the front row and inevitably loosing) but he's the guy with the mustache and grin in the photo from Saturday. 

Wednesday 17 Feeling like I hadn't stopped in forever I ran myself a bath, dropped in a Lush bath bomb and decided to finally focus on watching making a murderer...if you've watched it let me know your thoughts below (spoilers allowed).

Thursday 18 Okay, before I make this disclosure I need you to promise you're not going to judge me...promise? my mascara was old, and I mean real old. So I took myself to a department store after work and bought myself a brand new one (alongside some other pieces) and then went home and binned alll my old out of date germ harbouring makeup. 

Just a bit of a side note, I am so sorry I haven't blogged about Brisbane yet, I am so caught up (and in love with) my new job and other bits and pieces, as soon as I'm more settled I'll get right to it! 

Make sure you check out my previous project 366 posts and let me know the highlight of your week below... xo

project 366 : week six

Sorry but how on earth is it Friday again ALREADY?! I feel like I've done nothing this week, but really it's quite the opposite, here's why...

Friday 05  in rainy Brisbane, and boy does it rain (the photo really doesn't do it justice). We had a lazy morning at the hotel, wondered around town and then head to a family friend's house in one of the outer suburbs. We had vietnamese for dinner and I pretty much took no photos. 

Saturday 06 With mumma in tow we head to Australia Zoo, something which has been on Dan's bucket list since he started watching Steve Irwin wrestle crocs as a child. I'm really not a zoo fan but it was really spacious and I felt a lot better knowing all the incredible conservation work they do.

Sunday 07 We were up bright and early and drove down to the Gold Coast, still in the rain. We explored Surfers Paradise (which reminded me of a spanish holiday resort) and then grabbed some burgers at Bettys. We both love our burgers and I can safely say these were well up there, especially the veggie burger.

Monday 08 We explored Tamborine Mountain before heading back to Perth. I spent most of the flight asleep..total win (I NEVER sleep on planes). I also took the opportunity of some down time to look through all my photos and start planning some blog posts...

Tuesday 09 Back in good old sunny Perth we celebrated me getting the job I was so sure I totally wouldn't get. Turns out I hit the ball outta the park and they loved me, I spent the day filling out paperwork and getting to know the organisation. 

Wednesday 10  Literally so much happiness about my new job. I spent the day training in one of the models they use and it was so great to meet a room full of team mates who were so friendly. It was so hot all day that we couldn't help but go to the beach after work to cool off (and jump for joy).

Thursday 11 Going through the training we have to do a lot of excercises ourselves (a bit like when you train to be a counsellor and you have to have 100s of hours of counselling yourself) it made me realise a) how awesome my new job is going to be and b) how incredible my relationship is and that I really should appreciate Dan more. So this photos not from Thursday, it's from Brisbane. I got home from work and ran to the post office and came back and did some gardening. Sometimes we don't always stick to our plans (a photo a day) but thats okay and actually this photo is way more relevant to the day. 

What have you been up to this week? Let me know something awesome that happened to you this week in the comments, no matter how big or small! And make sure you check out my previous project 366 posts. xo 

Project 366 : week five

So I'm a little bit late this week because we've taken a week off to explore Brisbane...but better late than never!

Friday 29  I went for a job interview for an amazing job (that I am 90% sure I won't get) and swung into Krispy Kreme on the way home, grabbed a box of doughnuts and delivered to Dan and the guys he works with.

Saturday 30 My new business postcards arrived so I spent a morning playing around with jewellery and making my office into a total mess!

Sunday 31 We had a lazy sunday morning then did a little bit of shopping before I worked night shift.

Monday 01 I had a big long snooze all morning, paid our bond for our new home (right by the beach!) and then met up with some girls from the gym at bounce. We booked into 'bounce fit' a trampoline based workout and we had the BEST time and then got to bounce around the whole venue for 15 minutes when the class finished- it was all part of class pass too!

Tuesday 02 I had a real nostalgic day looking through all my belongings as I started packing ready to move at the end of the month, I find all sorts of treasures I'd forgotten about and a hard drive filled with photos.

Wednesday 03 We were up at some ungodly hour and on a flight to Brisbane, yay! After 4 and a half hours on a flight we jumped into our rental car and head straight to our hotel, which I'm going to blog about soon as it was so gorgeous (alongside the rest of the trip of course). We were really gutted because it was raining pretty much from the second we got off the flight until we fell asleep!

Thursday 04 Despite longing for a lie in we were up bright and early, head for breakfast and a quick starbucks stop before heading to movie world. We had such an awesome day, it was so much fun to go on new roller coasters (we're a tad obsessed) when we were done we wondered around Brisbane city until bed time-  I can't wait to share the trip with you all.


I hope you've all had a wonderful week, let me know what you've been up to in the comments below.

If you've not already check out the rest of my project 366 posts.

xo

Brazil re-visited

I find so much joy flicking through old photos, so thought I'd start a little series of 're-visited' posts here on the blog travelling back to some of my previous adventures that I either missed off the blog or that are so long ago new readers may not have seen them. 

Half way during uni I saved up some of my student loan and money I made in my part-time job to travel to Brazil during the easter break, I was pretty short on time so tried to cram as much into just over two weeks as possible...

In Rio De Janerio...

Of course we spent a day sunbathing on the world famous ipanema beach, we were also there during the mano a mano where we got to see Usain Bolt run! 

Sugar loaf mountain is an absolute must, the views are incredible. We stayed till sunset and snacked n acai bowls. 

If you want to see Christ the redeemer it's best to go first thing before the crowds arrive, we chose to go up on the corcavado train which is an experience in itself- the scenery is gorgeous and we had a samba band jump on for part of the journey.

At Escadaria Selarón in Lapa we stumbled upon a photo shoot with Brasilian babe (And victorias secret angle) Isabeli Fontana - you can find the editorial photos on Marie Claire.  The steps were incredible and I loved exploring the surrounding area. 

The wildlife was absolutely incredible, and a  great chance for me to play around with my photography! We stopped in at the bird park near iguassu falls to get up close and personal! 

Iguazu falls ( on the border of Brazil and Argentina) themselves were absolutely breathtaking, the last photo (above) is of the devils throat and I have never heard a noise quite like the sound of the water pouring over the edge. Iguazu falls doesn't seem as popular as some of the other giant waterfalls around the world but I can't recommend them highly enough, we spent two days exploring but could definitely have spent much longer. 

Before I left Dan had bought me a 50mm lens for my camera and these super friendly butterflies were the perfect chance to put it to use! 

Off the coast of Rio is Ilha Grande, a stunning island which really allows you to get back to basics, of course there's internet and electricity now but there's no cars and the way of life is just a lot slower. The hike to Lopes Mendes on the other side of the island is through dense rain forest and it's absolutely gorgeous. We happened to do it in torrential rain and it was still breathtaking.

On the last day I was taken into one of the favelas with another girl, the locals were so unbelievably friendly and showed us a whole other aspect of favela life (they're fames for their excessively high crime rates). 

If I've wet your appetite for Brazil make sure you check out my Brazil blog posts 

Is Brazil on your bucket list or have you been already?

xo

psst I'm currently in Brisbane having a mini adventure so I'll get back to everyone when I'm home!