Cairns Tickets and Offers
Things to Do in Cairns
This is an overview list of the items included in this Things To Do section:
- Great Barrier Reef
- Cairns Aquarium
- Tropical Island Escapes
- Daintree Rainforest
- Walking & Hiking
- White Water Rafting
- Hot Air Ballooning
- Fishing
- Water Activities
- Shopping & Markets
- Nightlife
- Eat and Drink
- Adrenalin Activities
- Museums and History
- Art & Culture
- Family Friendly
- Sports
- Kuranda
- Tablelands
Great Barrier Reef
Don’t miss the opportunity to explore this wonder of the world, whether by snorkelling, diving, staying overnight, or doing a day tour to the many islands. Swim with unique fish between colourful coral reef outcrops in this amazing marine aquarium. Cairns is the best and most convenient place to launch your reef experience. Click here for day tours and overnight stays!
Tropical Island Escapes
Cairns is the ideal starting point for visiting the nearby islands for a day tour or relaxing and staying overnight. The most popular are Green Island and Fitzroy Island, short boat trips from Cairns Reef Terminal and offer day-return activities or longer stays. Snorkelling, diving and underwater Reef viewing are available.
Daintree Rainforest
The Daintree is the largest continuous area of tropical rainforest on the mainland and, coupled with the Great Barrier Reef, is easily accessible from Cairns. Take the chance to walk between towering trees, swim under waterfalls, check wildlife with expert indigenous guides, or take a river cruise among the crocs and mangroves.
Cairns Amazing Walking Tracks
The four Arrow Circuit tracks through Mt. Whitfield Conservation Park offer stunning views and are home to rainforest, eucalyptus and grasslands. They range in degree of difficulty and length from 1.5km to 6km and are differentiated in name as Red, Green, Blue and Yellow Arrow. The Park is behind Cairns Botanic Gardens, which is a full-day walking and exploring tour in its own right. For a challenging hike, head to Walsh’s Pyramid. For a more relaxing walk, opt for one of the heritage trails in the Cairns CBD.
White Water Rafting
This popular activity for thrill-seekers is a unique experience to test your endurance and nerve in rapidly flowing waters as part of a team. Riding an inflatable raft down a raging river is exhilarating and fun and can be done on the Barron River and Tully River and at Behana Gorge.
Hot Air Ballooning
Dependable weather and stunning scenery over Atherton Tablelands mountain ranges and agricultural lowlands make ballooning an unforgettable experience in areas around Cairns.
The activity is suitable almost every day of the year, and an early morning start is perfect for witnessing the sunrise and glorious break-of-day colour hues.
Cairns Fishing
Whether you are an amateur angler or a dedicated fisher, fishing of all sorts is available for every visitor to Cairns. Fishing can be done off the beaches and headlands, beside the highway, or from purpose-built reef fishing boats. And the headline activity loved by movie stars and the rich and famous is Big Game fishing on the outer reef.
Water Activities
What better way to soak in the tropical sun than to schedule some water activities. Swim in the Cairns Esplanade Lagoon in the centre of the city. Next head for one of the northern beaches for a bit of sun and sand.
There is a strip of beach after beach, from small and quiet Machans Beach to quiet local favourite Trinity Beach and trendy and vibrant Palm Cove. Make it into a longer trip by heading further north to Ellis Beach and Port Douglas.
Alternatively, seek out one of the popular swimming holes that nestle in the forest. These are perfect for when the summer sun might be too hot on the beach. Local favourite spots include Crystal Cascades, Ross & Locke, the Boulders, Behana Gorge and Mossman Gorge.
You can also combine a swim with a tour of the region’s magical waterfalls to let vertical walls of water thunder down on you. Close to Cairns city, there is Fairy Falls at the popular swimming spot Crystal Cascades.
South of Cairns in the Wooroonooran National Park can find Josephine Falls, a tiered waterfall with a naturally-formed water slide.
And if you get a chance to travel north to Cape York, you can experience the plunge pools at the base of Fruit Bat, Twin and Eliot Falls.