Botanic by Night – NightGlow is the latest light installation adventure to hit Brisbane! It’s on now at the Brisbane Botanic Gardens Mount Coot-tha.

What to expect

The Botanic by Night – NightGlow experience features large ‘lanterns’ – internally lit sculptures based on iconic Australian animals. These are placed at intervals along a trail through the Botanic gardens, which invite families to wander and wonder as you make your way through the parklands at night.

The trail winds through the most engineered parts of the gardens – entry is at the visitor information centre. From here, you follow the road down and around the amphitheatre where you encounter the first artworks and food trucks. The trail then winds around through the playground (which was a popular spot to burn some energy!) before continuing around the lagoon, past the kitchen garden and through the orchard. There are plans for a dessert truck to be stationed near the tropical dome before the final stretch through the cacti and bromeliad house.

Getting around

There is a sealed path the whole way around, although some of the sculptures are located on gently sloping lawn areas some distance from the path. These are easily accessible on foot and with prams, although if using other mobility devices it’s worth being mindful of the different surfaces. This is advertised as an 800m walk, although we walked much further going back and forth, and spent over an hour in the gardens enjoying the experience and taking photos, without stopping for food. The sculptures are well spaced and the lawn areas are open, allowing visitors to walk around most of the animals to take in the details from multiple angles and become immersed in the curated ambient musical soundscapes that accompany each sculpture.

Botanic by Night – NightGlow is a gentler experience than some other night-time light displays we’ve visited. There’s no flashing lights or projections or complex stories to follow. There is more freedom to wander at your own pace and spread out, double back or just sit in the parklands at the seats and benches that are along the trail and enjoy the evening. The inclusion of first nations artists and traditional art styles showing the internal structures of some of the animals was both fascinating and thought provoking, with the lighting giving the effects of beating hearts and twinkling eyes on some of the animals. We liked that the trail avoided the more ‘natural’ parts of the gardens where most wild animals would live. The trail uses existing paths and lawns which are clearly marked, with most of the gardens fenced off for the safety of both the human visitors and the animals who call the gardens home.

What kids will enjoy

We all had a great time at Botanic by Night – NightGlow! Our 12 year old enjoyed taking her own photos and videos on the trail, having some fun with forced perspective, making an enormous sculpture look like it fit in her hands. Our 10 year old was fascinated by the facts about all the different animals and spent time reading the information near each installation. Both kids had a lot of fun in the playground at night which was a real novelty! We all found it quite calming being out in nature at night.

Planning your visit

There is plenty of parking at the Botanic Gardens, and there is also the Legacy Way overflow car park with a shuttle running every 10 minutes (which is included with your ticket). There are also bus services running to the gardens and drop off and pick up zones.

While there are food trucks along the walk, we would recommend not going in too hungry as wait times can be unpredictable. That being said, it would be worthwhile planning to pick up a tasty treat to enjoy along the trail as the food options all looked and smelt delicious! There will be several food trucks featuring a variety of cuisines, sweet and savoury offerings to suit most tastes.

We would recommend comfortable closed in footwear, insect repellant and checking the weather forecast and possibly packing ponchos or raincoats as there is limited shelter along the trail if we do get a spring shower.

Photography tip:

For some of the animals, you can use the lights from the arches with the information about the animals to light up people in photos! This gives a much nicer lighting effect than using a flash. Have the people in your photo stand near the arch, and get them and the sculpture in frame together.

Discover the magic of NightGlow and book your tickets here