Cairns Reviews

Last year I spent 9 weeks travelling around Australia, travelling up the east coast. I visited many great places along the way and thought that I would add my tips and my thoughts on some of the cities I visited. I am going to start with Cairns located at the top of the east coast in Queensland. Me and my wife decided to stop off here ...  Read the complete review

Cairns - the gateway to the Great Barrier Reef! Upon arriving in Cairns you can be forgiven for thinking that you're entering a small town - it really is. The CBD is appears as a sandy street that you might find in a small town but it doesn't lack character. One thing you feel though is the heat. Especially if you arrive in ...  Read the complete review

Cairns is a strange place in that you do not really go to Cairns to experience Cairns. It is more of a focal point for exploring other areas around it. That is to say that Cairns has not got lots of attractions in it's own right because it has but the vast majority of visitors will use it as a stopping off place to see both Cairns and other ...  Read the complete review

Before my trip people told me not to go to Cairns as it's 'dirty', 'ugly' and 'boring'. Never one to listen to comments like that, I still decided to stay there for a week, shunning Port Douglas and Palm Cover in favour of accommodation in Cairns itself, and was determined to enjoy myself, or at least experience enough to write a scathing review ...  Read the complete review

Contrary to what we expected, Cairns turned out to be quite a small town. The population is set at just over 100,000 people and the city centre is neat and compact. At first the place makes little or no impression. It is obvious that tourism is the mainstay and without it, the capital of the North would likely be little more than a backwater. ...  Read the complete review

If you read my opinion on the Great Barrier Reef you will know that my base for my recent visit to Queensland Australia was Cairns - the capital of the North East State. Although we were only there for three days, my companion and I managed to pack a lot into that time. The first day, as mentioned, was spent on the Great Barrier Reef. I ...  Read the complete review

What a dissapointment. You've just travelled around half the globe in search of sun sea and a good old Aussie experience - and what exactly do you get? Well OK I'm probably biased because I hit the worst weather they'd had for 25 years, but I didn't get any sun; Sea? Yes, but hey, don't swim in it - there's ...  Read the complete review

Along with Byron Bay in Australia I would say that Cairns is essentially a budget traveler’s town pandering to the young and rowdy over the Kioni (Expensive package holidays) crowd. The place is full of cheap eats and bars with an all in one antipodean scenario where they get you in to the night clubs with all you can eats and jugs of beer ...  Read the complete review

Its one of those drives that start somewhere nice, end somewhere even nicer, and all the middle bits are just great. Cairns is known as a centre for many different activities, but there is no beach to enjoy. Fear not, as most people head north or south to the many great beaches that litter the coastline, and it is in heading north that you hit the ...  Read the complete review

This is one of those holiday resorts in Australia that most people have heard of, but I didn’t really know what to expect. When we stepped off the plane it was hot, even in August, but not too hot. The airport is about a 15 min drive from the town through rather interesting coastal countryside. The town itself is set out in the block ...  Read the complete review

Located in the far North East of Australia Cairns is a town largely built around its close proximity to some of the best diving in the world. Cairns is also an excellent gateway to some of the most beautiful environment in the world, within easy driving distant to tropical rainforests which takes your breath away. The obvious draw factor is ...  Read the complete review