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We’ve googled Emporium Hotel South Bank reviews more than once over the years, usually standing on the footpath outside its lobby with the pram, smelling the entrance and wondering what it was actually like inside. South Bank is our backyard, and Emporium’s front doors have always just been part of the walk. We never thought we’d be the ones checking in.
IN THIS GUIDE
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Here’s what the stay was actually like, room by room, and what we’d check ourselves before handing over a card for it.
Disclosure: our stay was gifted as part of the Key to South Bank prize, a local guide competition run by South Bank Corporation that we entered and won in May 2026. We were not paid to write this, and we’ve flagged below what we’d want to verify before you book, along with anything that didn’t work as well as the rest. This post also contains a Klook affiliate link. If you click through and book, we may earn a small commission, at no extra cost to you.
BEFORE YOU BOOK
Emporium Hotel South Bank at a Glance
EMPORIUM HOTEL SOUTH BANK AT A GLANCE
Location – Grey Street, inside the South Bank precinct, an easy walk to the Goodwill Bridge and the Cultural Centre.
Room we stayed in – River King Suite, one room with a balcony and skyline view.
Sleeping with a young child – our daughter slept on the sofa bed in the same room, which worked for one night.
Rooftop – level 21 infinity pool with a shallow learner’s strip, plus The Terrace for the Sunseeker sunset package, $90 for two adults.
Parking – Emporium Hotel parking is valet, $65 per night for hotel guests (multiple entries and exits until 5pm on your departure day). Casual visitors and diners can also valet, sometimes at a discounted rate if dining at selected venues, worth asking the concierge. The South Bank Car Park nearby has over 800 underground spaces, with entry off Tribune or Glenelg Streets, if you’d rather self-park.
Breakfast – at Belle Époque (Mon-Thu 6:30am-2pm, Fri-Sun 6:30am-3pm, bookings recommended). We each had the Belle Breakfast, $32, shared with our daughter, included in our package.
Check-out – standard check-out is 11am. Ours was a relaxed 1pm, included as part of our package. Without a package, extending check-out to 1pm costs a $100 fee.
Good for families because – the rooftop pool has a section a young child can actually stand in, the whole precinct is stroller distance from a full playground, and Emporium offers a child-minding service if parents want time to themselves.
Correct as at – September 2026.
HOW WE ENDED UP HERE
Emporium Hotel South Bank Reviews: How We Ended Up Staying
In May, South Bank Corporation opened a local guide competition, and I treated it like a job, planning to cover the parklands start to end. Somewhere in the middle of it I forgot to eat or drink anything. By midday I felt dizzy, standing beside Emporium with a McDonald’s bag because it was the fastest place to grab food. From there, I watched other people’s Emporium Hotel rooftop bar and infinity pool posts and wondered, for the first time in years, what it would actually be like to be a guest instead of someone filming the building from the footpath.
We won. The prize included a stay at Emporium, valet parking, the Sunseeker rooftop package, breakfast, and a run of other experiences across the South Bank precinct. We booked it as a pre-Father’s Day stay for Murray.
CHECKING IN
Arrival and the River King Suite
The River King Suite bed, evening light coming through the window and a hat already claiming the side table.
Valet took the car, and from the lobby it felt like a different version of the afternoon to the one we’d had outside those same doors months earlier. The lift up to the room runs an immersive V-Screen mural. Our daughter spent the entire ride with her face turned up to it instead of asking if we were there yet.
The River King Suite door opened onto a balcony and a skyline view, with chocolates and a welcome note waiting on the table. We were in one room, not a two-room suite, so our daughter’s bed for the night was the sofa bed set up within it. That worked fine for one night.
Our daughter went straight for the in-room control panels, working out the lights and the blinds before either of us had put a bag down. Small thing, but it kept her busy for a good ten minutes while we looked around. The room mirror doubles as a television, which she noticed before we did.
Worth flagging for anyone travelling with work still open on a laptop: the suite has a dedicated desk and a comfortable chair set up separately from the bed, with a tea and coffee maker close by.
From the sofa bed and work desk to the welcome chocolate, Tom Dixon soap and robes, the small details that made the River King Suite feel put together.
SUNSET ON LEVEL 21
The Sunseeker Package on The Terrace
The Sunseeker package put us on The Terrace, Emporium Hotel’s rooftop bar and dining space, for sunset, food and drinks for the three of us. Between the river and the city, neither of us had to plan the evening, for once. From up there, the view takes in the Brisbane skyline, the South Bank parklands and Kangaroo Point, so it’s worth timing your booking around golden hour if you can, because that’s exactly what the package is built for.
Sunseeker runs at $90 for two adults, and it’s a tasting plate plus a mini cocktail flight, not a full sit-down dinner. The plate had Korean fried chicken, bulgogi beef tacos, Mooloolaba prawn sliders and truffle fries. The cocktail flight, or cocktail tree as they call it, is a run of miniature drinks, mini margaritas, espresso martinis, snapquiris and lychee martinis among them. I went with the lychee martini, and Murray had the espresso martini. We shared the whole plate with our daughter, who worked her way through the beef tacos and the chips before either of us got much of a look in.
We didn’t stay up there for the whole evening. We took a detour down to South Bank’s Riverside Green Playground and Ben & Jerry’s, because that’s still how an evening goes with a four-year-old, rooftop package or not.
The Sunseeker tasting plate served, while our daughter waited it out on the pool loungers just next door.
BACK AT THE ROOM
Back at the Room: A Mini Bar Surprise
Back in the room, we found two Lindt chocolate balls sitting on the bedside table. We assumed housekeeping had topped up the mini bar while we were up on the rooftop. Our daughter didn’t say a word, though she did hand me one and eat the other herself. It wasn’t until after we’d checked out that an invoice for $12 turned up for the mini bar, so we worked out exactly what had happened, and exactly who was responsible.
After that, the bath became the quiet part of the night, just the two of us, our daughter and me, no schedule to keep. We slept well. The sofa bed gave us the extra space we needed without anyone feeling squeezed in, which matters more than any view when you’re travelling with a small child.
THE PRECINCT ON YOUR DOORSTEP
South Bank Parklands on Your Doorstep
South Bank parklands and the CBD skyline, an easy walk from the front door.
Part of why this stay worked for us is that we already know the precinct the way only locals with a young child can, covered in full in our full South Bank with kids guide. Emporium sits an easy walk from the Goodwill Bridge crossing, the Cultural Centre, and the Kangaroo Point Green Bridge landing on the CBD side, close enough that our Kangaroo Point Cliffs guide is a realistic add-on to the same trip rather than a separate outing. For food, we’d point you to where we eat in South Bank with kids where there’s plenty of variety across the precinct.
THE NEXT MORNING
Breakfast at Belle Époque, the Pool and Murray’s Spa Circuit
Breakfast at Belle Époque, then the pool’s shallow strip with Murray.
Breakfast the next morning was at Belle Époque, open 6:30am to 2pm Monday to Thursday and until 3pm Friday to Sunday, bookings recommended since it fills up. We each had the Belle Breakfast, $32, eggs your way, bacon, a pork and fennel sausage, roasted mushroom, hash brown, tomato relish and toasted sourdough, plus coffee and juice, and shared a plate with our daughter instead of ordering her one of her own. Generous serving, fresh food, and we loved the refurbished mirror frames along the wall, though the room does get busy.
What stood out was the staff. Our daughter knocked her juice over partway through, which happens with close to 100 percent certainty when you’re eating out with a small child, and we always notice whether staff sigh at a mess like that or just deal with it. Here, they cleaned it up without a fuss and had a fresh glass out before we’d finished apologising.
After breakfast it was the level 21 infinity pool, where Murray stayed right beside our daughter in the shallow strip the whole time, even though she could stand in it herself. He fit in the sauna, spa and cold plunge circuit afterwards, while we cheered him on from the side.
We checked out at a relaxed 1pm. No rush, which after the day that started this whole story felt like the point being made out loud.
THE VERDICT
Emporium Hotel South Bank Reviews: Our Verdict
Yes, for a special-occasion night rather than a standard stay. The room worked well for one night with a young child on the sofa bed, the rooftop package delivered on the view we’d spent years watching other people post about, and the location meant nothing about our usual South Bank routine had to change.
The Terrace with a small child was the one part of the stay we’d flag. There isn’t much room to move once the bar fills up in the afternoon, and it does fill up. We’d recommend booking the hotel’s child-minding service if you want a stretch of time on the rooftop without watching a four-year-old weave through the crowd, Emporium confirmed it was available during our stay. It’s also worth asking about if you and your partner want the sauna and cold plunge to yourselves, a couple of hours of quiet while the kids are looked after.
None of this happens without the work that came before it. The stay was the reward, but the story is the year that led up to it: the early walks past a building we admired from the footpath, a competition we treated like a job, a filming day that nearly went sideways from forgetting to eat, and then a weekend where we finally got to be on the other side of the glass.
COMMON QUESTIONS
Emporium Hotel South Bank Reviews: FAQs
Is Emporium Hotel South Bank good for families with young kids?
For a special-occasion stay, yes. The level 21 infinity pool has a shallow strip a young child can stand in, and the precinct around it is stroller distance from a full playground and casual dining. We stayed in one room with our daughter on the sofa bed, which worked for a single night.
What are Emporium Hotel South Bank prices like for a family suite?
We can’t say firsthand, since our stay was gifted as part of a competition prize. Check rates here for current nightly pricing on a River King Suite.
What is the Emporium Hotel rooftop bar like?
We experienced The Terrace through the $90 Sunseeker package, a tasting plate and mini cocktail flight with views over the Brisbane skyline, parklands and Kangaroo Point. We haven’t visited outside that package.
Is The Terrace rooftop at Emporium good for kids?
Not for long stretches. The bar fills up quickly in the afternoons and there isn’t much room for a young child to move. We’d book the hotel’s child-minding service if you want time up there without herding a four-year-old through the crowd, which Emporium confirmed is available during our stay.
What is Emporium Hotel South Bank parking like?
Emporium Hotel parking is valet, at $65 per night for hotel guests, which includes multiple entries and exits until 5pm on your departure day. Casual visitors and diners can use valet too, and dining at selected venues may come with a discounted rate, worth asking the concierge directly. If you’d rather self-park, the South Bank Car Park nearby has over 800 underground spaces, with entry via Tribune or Glenelg Streets.
What is breakfast like at Emporium Hotel South Bank?
We had the Belle Breakfast, $32, at Belle Époque as part of our package. It’s open 6:30am to 2pm Monday to Thursday and until 3pm Friday to Sunday, and bookings are recommended since it fills up.
Booking a River King Suite?
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The Brisbane-based parents behind Really Traveling. They walk South Bank and Kangaroo Point with their young daughter most weeks and publish first-hand guides for families with children under five.
