Things to do in Cairns — for locals and tourists

EXPLORE CAIRNS • THINGS TO DO

Cairns is sometimes described as the gateway to the Great Barrier Reef.

It is.

But that description undersells the city.

Cairns is also the gateway to tropical rainforest, waterfalls, beaches, mountain villages and some of Australia's most spectacular natural landscapes. At the same time, it is a working regional city where people live, raise families, go to work, eat out and occasionally wonder what they should do this weekend.

That creates two very different ways of exploring Cairns.

A tourist might have three days and want to experience as much as possible.

A local might have lived here for years and be looking for somewhere different to spend Sunday afternoon.

Fortunately, Cairns works for both.

Here is our starting guide to experiencing Cairns — whether you have travelled thousands of kilometres to get here or simply woke up this morning looking for something to do.

Start with the Cairns Esplanade

Sometimes the obvious choice is obvious for good reason.

The Cairns Esplanade is one of the city's defining public spaces and a logical starting point for a first-time visitor.

Walk along the waterfront, watch the activity on Trinity Inlet, stop for coffee or simply find somewhere to sit.

The Esplanade Lagoon provides the swimming experience that Cairns' central waterfront itself cannot.

That is worth explaining to newcomers.

Cairns is a tropical coastal city, but central Cairns isn't a conventional surf-beach destination. The mudflats and mangrove environment of Trinity Inlet is part of the natural character of the place.

The Lagoon therefore performs an important role.

It provides a large public swimming area in the centre of the city and has become part recreational facility, part meeting place and part Cairns landmark.

For locals, the Esplanade can be somewhere for an early walk or exercise.

For tourists, it is an introduction to the city.

Explore the Great Barrier Reef

You cannot write a serious guide to Cairns without the Great Barrier Reef.

For many international and interstate visitors, it is the reason they came.

Numerous reef experiences operate from the Cairns region, ranging from larger vessels travelling to pontoons and established reef sites to diving, snorkelling and smaller-scale excursions.

The important decision isn't whether the reef is worth seeing.

It is deciding how you want to see it.

A confident swimmer may want a snorkelling or diving-focused trip.

Someone who doesn't want to spend much time in the water might prefer a vessel offering underwater viewing or other ways of experiencing the reef.

Families have different requirements again.

Don't simply buy the first reef ticket you encounter.

Look at the destination, travel time, activities included and suitability for the people travelling with you.

The reef is one of the world's great natural attractions.

Give it the time it deserves.

Don't overlook the rainforest

Cairns has something quite extraordinary.

Two enormous natural worlds meet within the same region.

There is the Great Barrier Reef offshore and the Wet Tropics rainforest on land.

That means a visitor can spend one day looking at coral and tropical fish and another surrounded by ancient rainforest.

Kuranda is one of the best-known ways of experiencing that contrast.

The journey can be as important as the destination, with the Kuranda Scenic Railway and Skyrail Rainforest Cableway providing very different perspectives on the landscape.

Kuranda itself offers markets, food, attractions and the atmosphere of a mountain village.

For a first-time visitor to Cairns, combining reef and rainforest experiences provides a much better understanding of Far North Queensland than concentrating solely on the water.

Visit the Cairns Botanic Gardens

Not every worthwhile Cairns experience requires an expensive ticket.

The Cairns Botanic Gardens at Edge Hill provide an opportunity to explore tropical plant life close to the city.

For visitors from cooler parts of Australia, the vegetation itself can be an attraction.

Plants that might struggle inside a carefully maintained greenhouse elsewhere can thrive in the tropical environment.

The gardens are also useful for locals.

You don't need to treat every weekend as an expedition.

Sometimes a walk, some greenery and an hour away from traffic and screens is enough.

Discover Edge Hill

After visiting the gardens, don't necessarily rush back into central Cairns.

Edge Hill is worth exploring.

The suburb has developed its own cafe and dining culture and demonstrates something tourists sometimes miss: some of the most enjoyable experiences in a city occur outside the principal tourism precinct.

This is where a publication such as The Cairns Times can be particularly useful.

The question shouldn't always be what attractions should tourists visit?

It should also be where do people who live here actually go?

Those two Cairns experiences overlap, but they are not identical.

Head north to the beaches

Visitors occasionally arrive in Cairns expecting a conventional beach immediately outside their hotel.

For that experience, head north.

The Northern Beaches offer a completely different perspective on Cairns.

Palm Cove is perhaps the best-known, with its palm-lined beachfront, accommodation and restaurants.

Trinity Beach is another popular option, while other communities along the coast each have their own character.

A drive north can easily become a day's outing.

Stop for breakfast or lunch, walk along the beachfront and take your time.

There is no requirement to turn every excursion into an endurance event.

Sometimes Far North Queensland is best experienced slowly.

Take a drive to Port Douglas

Keep travelling north and the journey itself becomes part of the attraction.

The coastal road towards Port Douglas offers stretches where rainforest, mountains and the Coral Sea combine to create some magnificent scenery.

Port Douglas makes an obvious day trip from Cairns.

Walk around town, visit the waterfront, find somewhere for lunch and enjoy the change of pace.

Visitors staying in Cairns therefore don't have to choose between the two destinations.

You can base yourself in Cairns and explore.

Chase waterfalls — sensibly

The hinterland surrounding Cairns contains numerous waterfalls, swimming areas and scenic drives.

The Atherton Tablelands opens another substantial area for exploration.

This is where repeat visitors and Cairns locals can move beyond the standard tourism itinerary.

Waterfalls, lakes, rainforest, agricultural communities and small towns provide enough material for many separate journeys.

Conditions matter, however.

Tropical rainfall can transform waterways quickly. Roads and access conditions can change, and swimming locations should never automatically be assumed to be safe.

Check current conditions and local advice before heading into unfamiliar areas.

Take the children somewhere different

Cairns is not only a destination for honeymooners, backpackers and international tour groups.

Families need things to do too.

The Lagoon and Esplanade are obvious starting points, while wildlife experiences, gardens, reef excursions, beaches and rainforest attractions provide plenty of alternatives.

But there is a useful lesson for parents visiting Cairns:

Don't overschedule the children.

A spectacular reef excursion followed immediately by another major organised activity may look efficient on an itinerary but feel very different halfway through a tropical afternoon.

Leave some space.

A swim and an ice cream can sometimes outperform an expensive attraction.

Experience Cairns after dark

Cairns changes character in the evening.

Restaurants fill, visitors return from day trips and the central tourism precinct becomes more active.

Walk around the Esplanade and city centre and choose somewhere to eat.

Far North Queensland's geography also makes food particularly interesting.

Seafood is an obvious attraction, while Cairns' multicultural population and proximity to Asia have contributed to a diverse dining scene.

Locals already know that eating out doesn't have to mean the most prominent restaurant in the tourist strip.

Future Cairns Times guides will explore those choices in considerably greater detail.

Visit Rusty's Markets

Markets tell you something about a place.

Rusty's Markets in central Cairns is particularly interesting because tropical Queensland produces things that aren't everyday purchases in much of Australia.

Fruit and vegetables provide colour and spectacle, but the real pleasure can be discovering something unfamiliar.

Ask what it is.

Ask how to eat it.

Try something different.

For locals, markets are part of ordinary life.

For visitors, ordinary local life can itself become an attraction.

Go fishing

Cairns is surrounded by water, rivers and estuarine environments, so fishing naturally forms part of the recreational culture of the region.

There are organised fishing experiences for visitors, while experienced locals will already have their preferred locations and methods.

But tropical waterways require respect.

Crocodiles are a reality in Far North Queensland.

Warnings are not decorative.

Visitors unfamiliar with tropical Australia should pay attention to signs, local advice and restrictions around waterways.

The same principle applies to marine stingers and seasonal swimming conditions.

Cairns is extraordinarily beautiful partly because it remains a genuinely tropical environment.

Enjoying it means respecting it.

Take a day with no plan

This may be our most unconventional recommendation.

If you are staying in Cairns for a week, leave one day largely empty.

Wake up.

Look at the weather.

Have breakfast.

Then decide.

Perhaps drive north.

Perhaps visit the gardens.

Perhaps take a walk along the Esplanade.

Perhaps explore a suburb you haven't seen.

Perhaps do almost nothing.

Modern tourism has become remarkably efficient at turning holidays into schedules.

Cairns doesn't always need one.

What should a first-time visitor prioritise?

If you have only a few days, we would build the experience around three things.

The reef. The rainforest. Cairns itself.

Spend a day experiencing the Great Barrier Reef.

Spend another exploring rainforest or the hinterland.

Then give Cairns some time rather than treating the city merely as the hotel room between excursions.

Walk the Esplanade. Swim at the Lagoon. Visit a market. Have dinner. Explore the gardens. Sit beside the water.

If you have additional days, start travelling north and inland.

That is when Cairns becomes much bigger than Cairns.

And what about locals?

This guide is deliberately for you as well.

Living beside an attraction can make it almost invisible.

People travel halfway around the world to experience places that locals drive past on their way to work.

Take another look.

Go back to the Botanic Gardens.

Spend Sunday morning at the Esplanade.

Drive to a Northern Beaches suburb you haven't visited recently.

Take the family to Kuranda.

Explore another part of the Tablelands.

Or finally take that reef trip you keep telling visitors they should do.

Being a local doesn't disqualify you from being a tourist occasionally.

It simply means you get to go home afterwards.

The Cairns Times View

Cairns should not be understood simply as the place where you board a boat for the Great Barrier Reef.

The reef is magnificent, but it is only part of the story.

Cairns sits at the centre of an extraordinary tropical region encompassing reef, rainforest, mountains, beaches, rivers, waterfalls, farms, villages and a substantial regional city.

For tourists, the challenge is finding enough time to experience it.

For locals, the challenge may be remembering just how much is sitting on the doorstep.

The best way to explore Cairns is therefore surprisingly simple.

Start with the famous attractions — and then start looking around them.

That is where we think some of the best Cairns stories will be found.