Moreton Island Day Trip from Brisbane: Ferries, Tours and Prices

Moreton Island sits just across Moreton Bay from Brisbane, about 75 minutes by boat, and it feels a world away from the city. It's one of the largest sand islands on Earth, and about 98% of it is national park: white beaches, clear water, huge sand dunes and almost no roads. Its traditional name, Mulgumpin, means "place of sandhills", and the national park is now called Gheebulum Kunungai.

Most day-trippers go to Tangalooma Island Resort on the west coast, home of the famous Tangalooma Wrecks and the wild dolphin feeding. Here's how to get there, what the day packages cost, and how to see more of the island than the resort.

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Prices checked October 2026, and include a $10 fuel surcharge that applies until 31 January 2027.

The resort's passenger launch leaves from Holt Street Wharf, Pinkenba, near the airport. Departures are at 7:30am, 10am, 12:30pm and 5:30pm, and the crossing takes about 75 minutes. There's parking at the wharf, but no Translink bus or train goes there.

No car? The Tangalooma shuttle coach picks up at three city stops and connects with the 10am launch:

The coach costs about $25 to $30 return on top of your ferry ticket, and you need to book it in advance.

The Micat carries cars and passengers from the Port of Brisbane to The Wrecks campground, just north of Tangalooma, in about 90 minutes. It's the way to go if you're taking your own 4WD. Walk-on passengers pay about $35 each way, but you'll then be on the island with no transport, so it only really works if you're joining a 4WD tour or camping.

Every Tangalooma day package includes the return launch and use of the resort's beach and pool. They differ in what's added on. Adult and child (3 to 14) prices:

Tangalooma has fed a small pod of wild bottlenose dolphins since 1992. Each evening around sunset, a handful of dolphins swim into the shallows by the jetty, and guests wade in and offer them a fish under the supervision of the resort's rangers.

Day visitors can join through the Wild Dolphin Feeding package, which keeps you on the island for the evening and brings you back on the last launch. The dolphins are wild, so it's never guaranteed. If conditions mean feeding has to happen from the jetty instead of the beach, the resort gives you a voucher to come back.

Fifteen ships were deliberately sunk off Tangalooma from the 1960s to form a breakwater, and they're now an artificial reef full of fish, wobbegongs, turtles and the occasional dugong. You can snorkel from the beach, a short walk north of the resort. Our Tangalooma wrecks snorkelling guide has everything you need, from the tides to what you'll see.

The Desert is a huge expanse of bare sand dunes inland from Tangalooma. Climbing to the top and sliding down on a board is the island's most popular activity, and kids love it. Join the Desert Safari package or a 4WD tour.

Tangalooma was Queensland's only whaling station, operating from 1952 to 1962, before the site became a resort. Some of the old buildings and slipway remain and are worth a look between activities.

Humpback whales migrate past Moreton Island every winter, and the resort runs whale-watching cruises in season. Brisbane-based cruises also go out into the bay.

Most of the island's best sights are hours from the resort along the beach, and you need a 4WD or a tour to reach them:

If you'd rather not organise the ferry and coach yourself, a day tour bundles it all together, usually with city hotel pick-up. Coach-and-ferry tours start at around $135.