Cairns

Worth seeing in and around Cairns

10 places within 25 km that the world writes about, in the order of how widely: the ones a visitor has heard of first, then the ones only a local would name.

1. 01
   Cairns Aquarium

   Cairns Aquarium is a public aquarium in Cairns, Australia, that opened in 2017. It is home to more than 15,000 animals displayed in 10 ecosystems.

   700 m · aquarium in Australia · Wikipedia
2. 02
   St Monica's War Memorial Cathedral

   St Monica's Cathedral is the cathedral of the Catholic Church in the Diocese of Cairns. It is located at 183 Abbott Street, Cairns City, Cairns, Queensland, Australia.

   900 m · historic site in Queensland, Australia · Wikipedia
3. 03
   Cazaly's Stadium

   Cazalys Stadium is a sports stadium in Cairns, Queensland, Australia. It is situated in the suburb of Westcourt.

   3.7 km · stadium in Cairns, Queensland, Australia · Wikipedia
4. 04
   St Monica's Old Cathedral, Cairns

   St Monica's Old Cathedral is a heritage-listed former Roman Catholic cathedral at Minnie Street, Cairns City, Cairns, Cairns Region, Queensland, Australia. It was designed by Lawrence and Lordan and was built in 1927 by Michael Garvey.

   900 m · historic site in Queensland, Australia · Wikipedia
5. 05
   Cairns School of Arts

   Cairns School of Arts is a heritage-listed former school of arts and now the Cairns Museum at 93–105 Lake Street, Cairns City, Cairns, Cairns Region, Queensland, Australia. It was designed by Tunbridge, Tunbridge & Lynch and built from 1907 to 1941 by Hanson & Sons.

   500 m · historic site in Queensland, Australia · Wikipedia
6. 06
   William Walter Mason Bridge

   The William Walter Mason Memorial Bridge is a road bridge that carries the Captain Cook Highway across the Barron River at the boundary of four suburbs in Cairns in the Cairns Region, Queensland, Australia. The first Barron River Bridge was built by John Holland Constructions in 1977.

   7.4 km · bridge in Queensland, Australia · Wikipedia
7. 07
   Barlow Park

   Barlow Park is a multi-sports facility and stadium in Parramatta Park, Cairns, Queensland, Australia. The Park is home of the Northern Pride RLFC offices, Cairns District Rugby Union, Cairns and District Athletics Association, Australian Sports Commission Development, Oztag, and formerly Cairns FC and Far North Queensland Rugby League.

   1.8 km · stadium in Cairns, Queensland, Australia · Wikipedia
8. 08
   McLeod Street Pioneer Cemetery

   McLeod Street Pioneer Cemetery is a heritage-listed cemetery at 127–145 McLeod Street, Cairns North, Queensland, Australia. It was built from 1877 to 1954.

   1.7 km · historic site in Queensland, Australia · Wikipedia
9. 09
   Cairns Masonic Temple

   Cairns Masonic Temple is a heritage-listed former masonic temple at 8 Minnie Street, Cairns City, Cairns, Cairns Region, Queensland, Australia. It was built from 1934 to 1935.

   1.1 km · historic site in Queensland, Australia · Wikipedia
10. 10
    Adelaide Steamship Co Ltd Building

    Adelaide Steamship Company Ltd Building is a heritage-listed office building at 37 Lake Street, Cairns City, Cairns, Cairns Region, Queensland, Australia. It was built in 1910 by Wilson & Baillie.

    600 m · heritage building in Cairns, Queensland, Australia · Wikipedia

Ranked by the number of language editions of Wikipedia with an article on each, from Wikidata; the sentences are the openings of those articles, CC BY-SA 4.0.

What Wikivoyage says to see

Cairns serves as the gateway to the region and is rather short of cultural sights. Besides some historic buildings from the colonial era, the Esplanade and the bars/pubs are the main attraction of Cairns.

1. 01
   Cairns Regional Gallery

   40 Abbott St (Cnr Abbott & Shields Streets), info@cairnsartgallery.com.au.

2. 02
   Cairns Museum

   Cairns School of Arts Building, corner Lake and Shields Streets, info@cairnsmuseum.org.au.

3. 03
   Cairns Botanic Gardens

   The Cairns Botanic Gardens are about 4 km from the city centre, and a number of bus routes pass by the various entrances.

4. 04
   Cairns Aquarium

   This is Australia's most spectacular aquarium, displaying 71 exhibits with more than 16,000 colourful marine habitats and 10 ecosystems.

5. 05
   Cazaly's Stadium

   Time your visit right and you could catch a great game for just a couple of dollars.

From Wikivoyage: Cairns, CC BY-SA 4.0. Not yet checked by us.

Things to do

Cairns is an adventure sports enthusiast's paradise: every second shop is a tourist information centre with signs blaring "dive dive" or "tandem skydiving". Its location close to the ocean, the mountains and the rainforest gives travellers lots of choices of activities.

1. 01
   Mike Ball Dive Expeditions

   Allows solo diving and rebreather diving if you provide appropriate equipment.

2. 02
   Passions of Paradise

   A 25-m modern, fast-sailing catamaran travelling daily to Michaelmas Cay, where the company holds a permit allowing passengers access to the beach.

3. 03
   Pro Dive Cairns

   116 Spence Street, fax: +61 7 4051-9955, info@prodivecairns.com.

4. 04
   Tusa Dive Australia
5. 05
   Spirit of Freedom

   A 37-m liveaboard boat, covering iconic and remote dive sites.

6. 06
   Airplay Hang Gliding

   Airplay offers tandem hang gliding flights of durations up to 1 hr and a free outbound shuttle service.

From Wikivoyage: Cairns, CC BY-SA 4.0. Not yet checked by us.

Where to eat

As with much of Cairns, you can divide the city into the Esplanade and the places within a block of it, and the rest of the city. The Esplanade is littered with bar and grill places supplying red meat and beer all in the one place, and with seafood restaurants. It's relatively difficult to find anything open before 11AM since they expect the clientele to be sleeping in.

From Wikivoyage: Cairns, CC BY-SA 4.0. Not yet checked by us.

Getting to Cairns

Airports

Cairns (CNS), 6 km

Stations

Cairns Airport, 4.6 km · Cairns railway station, 1.1 km · Freshwater railway station, Queensland, 8.7 km

• Maroochydore → Cairns

  1320 km · quickest by air, 7h 3m · A$240–370
  GuideToday
• Toowoomba → Cairns

  1343 km · quickest by air, 5h 30m · A$270–410
  GuideToday
• Brisbane → Cairns

  1390 km · quickest by air, 5h 34m · A$270–410
  GuideToday
• From anywhere

  The planner compares every way there from wherever you are.
  Plan a trip

Road and air are today’s quick answer; timetabled trains, buses and ferries load on the results page from the operators’ feeds.

No local-transport research exists yet for Cairns

Our researched notes are written from a sourced entry: every shared taxi, boat and village bus with its operator, its rule, its fare and the year we saw it, and what could not be confirmed. Nobody has done that work for Cairns. What is above is what we hold from open sources; nothing here pretends to be more.

If you know how people move in Cairns – the stand, the rule, the fare – tell us, and the note gets an entry.