ALS 2025: Travel and accommodation information
General Orientation
The Gold Coast is located in the south-eastern tip of Queensland on the land of the Yugambeh/Kombumerri peoples. The urban area is long and quite narrow extending around 60 kms from the NSW border at Coolangatta in the south up the coast as far as Coomera in the north. Various significant rivers and creeks bisect the city en route to the ocean from the mountain range located immediately to the west of the city providing geographical landmarks as you move from south to north and lending their names to their immediate neighbourhoods such as Currumbin, Tallebudgera, Nerang, Biggera, Coombabah, Coomera. The coastline is well known for its extensive ocean-front and as a major tourist attraction. With its resident population of c.650k together with an extensive all-year-round community of visitors, the Gold Coast is a large and vibrant community with amenities to suite every taste and budget.
The most highly developed areas of the Gold Coast are located between Broadbeach in the south and Southport in the north, with Surfer's Paradise (just north of Broadbeach) being the historic (and busiest) centre of the city's beach tourism scene. Griffith University's Gold Coast Campus is located in Southport about 3-4 kms inland from the ocean adjacent to the Gold Coast University Hospital on the city's Health & Knowledge Precinct. Mobility across the city's main suburbs is immensely facilitated by the Glink tram line more detail on which can be found below.
There is a link here to a schematic map of the Gold Coast with links to further information about its different suburbs and access to an interactive map.
Accommodation Options
There is a great deal of short-stay accommodation available at the Gold Coast spanning hotels, guest houses, and the private short-stay sectors. There is no short-stay campus-based student accommodation and private student accommodation providers only offer long-stay options.
Two sites that allow you to search for accommodation across a number of booking platforms and that have a helpful map search facility are the following.
https://www.cozycozy.com/au https://www.kayak.com.au/
We recommend that you look for accommodation close to the tram line around the Southport/Main Beach/Broadbeach areas (see map below). Areas further to the north facing the Broadwater such as Labrador and Biggera Waters (see map) are also convenient for travel by bus to the conference venue. Further afield, the Gold Coast offers many attractive ocean-side neighbourhoods such as Miami, Burleigh Heads or Currumbin but these would all involve longer travel time to the conference venue.
We are not making any recommendations regarding accommodation, but below we list a selection of hotels that have been used recently by visitors to Griffith conferences, with indicative pricing (note that these prices are per room, not per person):
Mantra On View - On tram line
Meriton Suites Surfers Paradise - close to tram line
Q1 Resort & Spa - close to tram line
QT Gold Coast - on tram line
Mantra Sharks - closest accommodation to the Griffith University conference venue (roughly a 15 minute walk)
Local Transport Information
Queensland operates a low-cost public transport system with all journeys by rail, bus and tram pegged at 50 cents. The only exception to this is the privately operated Brisbane Airport train connection (see further details below). All travel by public transport works on a swipe on/swipe off smart-ticketing basis using regular debit/bank cards. Individual tickets for rail/tram journeys can also be bought from machines located at the relevant stops.
(a) Getting to the Gold Coast
The two airports that are most convenient for a visit to the Gold Coast are OOL (Gold Coast Airport at Coolangatta located at the southern end of the Gold Coast) and BNE (Brisbane Airport located north east of Brisbane CBD). Both have frequent and regular flights to all parts of Australia, and BNE connects directly with many international destinations.
A regular Airbus from OOL (number 777 also included in the 50c travel scheme) connects the airport to Broadbeach South where there is a direct connection to the tram service which continues through to other central parts of the Gold Coast and the Griffith University conference venue. The journey from OOL to other parts of the GC typically takes between 40-60 minutes.
From BNE, there is a regular Airtrain service to the Gold Coast departing from the airport domestic and international terminals. We recommend that you leave the train at Helensvale where there is a quick and simple connection to the Gold Coast tram service which has stops at Griffith University and at all of the main accommodation locations along the coast as far as Broadbeach South. Since the Airport train link is run privately, the overall cost of a trip from BNE to Gold Coast destinations is currently $24.30 (including the tram connection). The journey from BNE to Gold Coast destinations typically takes between 60-90 minutes depending on the time of day.
(b) Within the Gold Coast
We recommend the Glink tram as the most convenient mode of transport if staying at any of the hotels in the Southport/Main Beach/Surfers Paradise/Broadbeach areas. The tram line runs from Helensvale, passing by the Griffith Campus and then along the coast from Southport to Broadbeach South. There are two main tram stops at Griffith University, both off Parklands Drive:
- Gold Coast University Hospital (GCUH) Station
- Griffith University Station.
The GCUH station has direct access to the campus (by stairs and a lift) and is the closer of the two to the conference venue.
The Glink tram runs regularly from 5am to Midnight.
The Gold Coast also has a very good bus service covering areas beyond the tram network with many routes passing by the GCUH/Griffith University precinct.
For full information re: schedules, please click the links below:
Glink (Tram) Glink
Buses & Trains Translink
SE Queensland travel network map
Campus Map
The following map highlights the main venues and entry points during the symposium:
- Gold Coast University Hospital Tram & bus Station (above G17)
- G17 - Main Plenary and Lecture Theatre
- G11 venues for seminars
