CAIRNS
(CANS)

Cairns, in far north Queensland, is one of the world's premier travel destinations. Surrounded by two World Heritage listed areas - the Great Barrier Reef and Wet Tropics Rainforest, Cairns has more things to do and see within 50 miles than most countries have in their entire borders. You can explore the Great Barrier Reef, find rare wildlife deep in tropical rainforests, relax in world-rated spas, go white water rafting, bungee-jumping, ballooning, diving with sharks, sky-diving or hiking, take a 5-day 4WD trip into one of Australia's wildest areas, visit the Outback, or spin the wheel at a casino. Accommodation ranges from luxurious high-rise or boutique 5-star to basic backpacker, motor-home or camping. You can't go snow-skiing or ice-skating, but that's about it. Did we mention river, reef and 1000lb+ big-game fishing?

Australian Natural Adventures has a particular affinity with Cairns and North Queensland, as we began there many years ago as a nature and adventure tour operator. Twenty years later we are still providing travel and vacations in this beautiful area, just from the other side of the ocean. So when we suggest an area, a tour or an hotel, it's because we know them intimately, first hand, as we've watched pretty much all of them start, grow and develop.

What we think of as Cairns actually includes several areas, from the Tully River near Mission Beach to the tip of Cape York Peninsula, and west to The Atherton Tablelands, Undara and Chillagoe. It also includes the Great Barrier Reef and islands, but we've got separate sections for those - see Great Barrier Reef and Islands. Although there is some information below, if you are particularly interested in nature and wildlife tours in this region, please have a look at our dedicated nature pages for North Queensland here.

A Little Cairns History

Cairns was once a town of about 20,000 people about as far north in Australia as you could go - only Darwin was further north, and the small settlement of Cooktown. Cairns comprised a few government offices, a lot of sugarcane farmers and suppliers, a small game-fishing industry, and three tourist ventures - Green Island, a single tour to the Reef, and the Shell House. With one exception, most of the hotels occupied a strip called the Barbary Coast, named that with good reason. A sizeable proportion of the people that lived there didn't really fit in anywhere else, and the expression "gone troppo," meaning someone who has lost a sense of normal reality due to the harsh sun and remote locality, was justly applied to many residents. Floods cut it off - there was only one 2-lane road in - sometimes for weeks on end, and there were only a couple of regularly scheduled local flights. It's now a sprawling tropical city of over 120,000, with over 600 tours available covering just about every activity imaginable. On busy days up to 1000 people visit the Reef, and many international flights arrive every day. German, Japanese, Italian or a host of other languages are as likely to be heard as the Aussie twang, and you can take your pick of hotels from 5-star deluxe spa lodges to backpacker hostel.

How much time should I spend in Cairns?

To see what Cairns has to offer you need a couple of weeks. However, if you don't have this long, we generally try to fit about 4 or 5 days in. This allows for a day or two on the Reef, a day out to the rainforest, one up to the Daintree River to find crocodiles, and one for just looking around. A couple of days extra will allow time to see the incredible lava tubes at Undara, or to spend a couple of days in Palm Cove enjoying sun, sand and spa, or perhaps a day out whitewater rafting the Tully River.

Cairns Tours, Activities, Attractions & Region

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