Recent reviews Cairns
[mattsusan, 01/03/2011] we took my first hot air balloon ride in cairns, what a great morning. we arrived at the site early, what an amazing view, 9 hot air balloons standing up in the australian outback just before the sun rose, the stillness and light were jsut brilliant. Our pilot, shaun, was very friendly and seemed to know everything when it came to piloting. I found it fascinating. the sensation of floating was wonderful and the views of the kangaroos hopping below were very funny. we were the first in the air and we got some great photos of the other balloons getting ready and launching from the airnot to men
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[nowretired, 11/01/2011] Spent 8 days here at the Holiday Inn Cairns in October 2010.
The staff were excellent, the rooms clean and large, we had a balcony overlooking the esplanade and it was great watching the sun go down in the evenings and the fruit bats flying by. We only ate breakfast at the Hotel and there was a very good joice.
[magdadh, 07/12/2010] Cairns, being the major tourist destination for package tourists from Europe and Asia as well as a frequent final or starting point on backpacker internaries, abounds in places to eat and drink. Anybody willing to do a spot of self catering, or even just looking to buy some fruit for a picnic or a snack, should make their way to Rusty’s Market.
The market has close to 200 stalls offering mostly fruit and vegetables, but also flowers, bric-a-brac, fast and street food, spices, deli products, body care and even massage and other hands-on therapies stalls.
But the main attraction remain the
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[magdadh, 07/12/2010] A couple of miles from the horrible tourist trap of Kuranda village lie the Barron Falls, a picturesque cascade via which the Barron River reaches the Cairns coastal plain. The falls are 260m high and can be seen from a board walk lookout, accessible from a car park as well as from a station of the Scenic Railway and the gondolas of the Skyrail.
In the wet season the falls are magnificent (or so say people who have seen and photos). Now in July the roaring cascade has turned into more of a trickle, but the rocky gorge itself is pretty impressive, and it's fun to see tiny figures of people cl
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[magdadh, 07/12/2010] One of the main attractions of coming to Cairns is the Great Barrier Reef. Cairns is where the Reef is relatively close to the shore and even the outer reef is fairly accessible for those wanting a day's diving or snorkelling Still, the outer reef trip involves two hours each way on a boat and will set you back at least 500 AUD for a family of four (or around 200 AUD per adult). An alternative for those who want to either save money or don't feel up to all this time on a boat (or both) is visiting one of the inner reef locations. Green Island is a coral cay located off the coast near Cairns an
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[magdadh, 18/11/2010] The Esplanade, with its walkway bordering the water and the parkland between the actual promenade and the city, is one of the nicer places in Cairns. At one end is the Lagoon (ie Cairn's only swimming area), at the other the excellent - and free - water and adventure playpark.
The tourists are as much fun to watch as the wildlife (and there are interesting birds, including egrets and pelicans on the mudflats by the promenade), especially the Japanese who engage in strange, loud, group rituals that are hard to comprehend as much because of the language as the cultural barrier. But Cairns is a
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[koshkha, 08/10/2010] On our first night in Cairns we'd arrived in the evening after a 26 hour flight from London to Sydney and a further 3 to 4 hour flight from Sydney to Cairns. Our body clocks were pretty confused by that point so we decided the worst thing we could do would probably be to go straight to sleep. We owed it to ourselves to get out and wander around, get some dinner and then go to sleep. Our wanderings brought us eventually to the Cafe China noodle bar. This was located on Abbott Street between the art museum and the casino. I loathe gambling and if I'd realised the business was connected to the ca
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[koshkha, 08/08/2010] Cairns Tropical Zoo is an award-winning attraction that's been open for 40 years and offers the opportunity for visitors to get a bit more 'up close and personal' with the animals than many of Australia's larger zoos. It is located on the main road that runs north of Cairns towards Port Douglas and it was our chosen destination for killing time on our 'decompression day' after three days out on the Great Barrier Reef. It hadn't taken long for us to realise that there wasn't much else in Cairns that could hold our attention and fill time before we headed back to Cairns airport for our flight ba
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[koshkha, 07/08/2010] Culture in Australia? If you believe the old jokes, you’ll find more culture in a yoghurt than you will down under but whilst it’s easy to knock our antipodean cousins it’s not always fair. In the Tropical North Queensland city of Cairns we found a museum that was well worth a visit even it if hadn’t been raining (though I’ll admit that the weather did influence our decision to go). We were on a mission to find something artistic in this brash and rather ugly city and hoped that the Cairns Regional Gallery would fit the bill.
The gallery is in a building on the corner of Abbott and Shields
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[koshkha, 04/07/2010] All divers will know that however much they might want to hop straight on a plane at the end of their holiday, that's just not possible. You need to spend a day letting your body recover from the diving before you can fly. After our trip to the Great Barrier Reef, we needed to find a hotel for our day of 'down-time' before heading back to Sydney. I struggled to find somewhere because I couldn't afford to go back to the Hilton, lovely as it was, because the deal I got there was for 2 nights. The other hotels were almost all big concrete blocks or backpacker places and neither appealed. What I r
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[koshkha, 30/06/2010] The Hilton Cairns is a super hotel where I stayed for two nights last summer. I wouldn't normally pay for a Hilton when I'm on holiday, but we got a great 'Two nights for the price of one' from the Hilton website and decided to push the boat out.
The location is fabulous as it's write on the waterfront, close to the jetties where the dive boats and day boats go out from Cairns. We paid a little extra for a water-view room (not actually the sea, it was a wide creek instead) and I'm glad we did. The view was beautiful and waking up in the morning to see sail boats floating past was really wor
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[SallyB, 01/02/2010] Having just finished travelling around Australia, we ended our trip at Kewarra, it was most definitely the best of all the places we visited. Thankfully it was situated out of the city of Cairns which was very boring. We were able to go on all the trips in the area, they picked us up each day and we were returned to Kewarra at the end of our day. The staff were incredibly helpful and were able to give us great advice about the best trips to take. Our private bungalow was amazing set in a beautifyl natural forest by a lake. Each morning we awoke to the sound of the birds and nature and not traf
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[rboys, 04/12/2009] We have just spent 6 glorious nights at this beautiful tranquil little tropical oasis on the outskirts of Cairns on the northern beaches about 7 miles from Cairns. Without a doubt this has been the best place we have stayed anywhere in Australia. From the moment we arrived and were greeted with a refreshing tropical cocktail and warm friendly staff we knew we had made the right choice. The resort is set on it's own private beachfront and there are no other resorts or developments near by so we were not inundated with tourists. Our spacious bungalow was beautifully presented with fresh tropical
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[suzan111, 26/11/2009] We got married here in 2000, it was lovely the staff were very attentive and the location wonderful.
The food was lovely but the cost could mount up if you eat there every day. The accommodation was supurb we stayed in a lodge on the lagoon, seeing tree frogs on the verandah eating the bugs was lovely . The beach was lovely but too cold in May when we were there to go in. We never got time to try the pool or relax on the beach as was only there for 10 days and had so much exploring to do.
Easy access to trips to the Barrier reef
[ldg09, 05/09/2009] Estuvimos en este backpacker en una habitación doble con baño privado. Las habitaciones en esa parte del backpacker eran como casetas de maderas, estaba limpio, y el lugar no era ruidoso (siempre en un backpacker puede haber jaleo por las noches).
Y la gente del Caravella era agradable, especialmente Gloria.
[paula123, 13/07/2008] this hotel is not what i expected it is more for backpackers and not for a family, bunks wern't made, not enough towls curtains were broken, mouldy shower, , fans broken. Did not remake the beds in the morning, or replace all the towls with clean ones, will not be returning.
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[trivago traveller, 07/08/2007] Very impressed - will be coming back!
