Visit Cairns, Australia
So you want to visit Cairns, Australia?? YAY! Cairns reminded me of Hawaii. Frizzy hair and sweating balls, but also super pretty and tropical.
I tried to find the best location for snorkeling in the Great Barrier Reef in Australia and all my research led me to Cairns. There are a few other places along the east coast of Australia that would have been fine locations as well, but Cairns seemed like the best. The town seemed super cute and there were a lot of fun activities we could do from there.
Check out my recommendations below!
Where To Eat in Cairns, Australia
We mostly picked places that had fantastic seafood because we were in Cairns DUH. So my recommendations below pretty much revolve around that. And brunch. Australia has the BEST coffee (so they say). So we took researching and drinking coffee seriously.
- Tha Fish: Lunch/dinner
- Gelocchio: Ice cream bars, gelato
- The Raw Prawn: Lunch/dinner
- Helga’s Pancake House: Breakfast. This pancake house is perfect if you like pancakes
- Salt House: Small bites, outdoor bar and lounge
- Prawn Star: Such a fun experience. Eating fresh seafood on a boat!
Where to Stay in Cairns, Australia:
We stayed at The Hilton. I looked around at the Airbnbs but they weren’t in the location I wanted. My ideal locations was to be right on the beach, in the downtown area. I recommend doing a hotel vs a vacation home here if you plan on doing excursions. Most excursions provided lifts from hotels. It just made things a little
What To Do in Cairns, Australia:
- Kuranda Scenic Railway: The train ride up to the Kuranda Village and the sky rail down was my favorite part of the entire Australia trip. I attached the link to the tour we did. It was a jam packed day of fun. Fun and food. You even get to pet kangaroos!
- Kuranda Village: The village (mentioned above). You can drive up here too. You don’t have to take the train. I would drive if I was LAME and didn’t like having fun.
- Butterfly Sanctuary: In the Kuranda Village
- Snorkeling, Great Barrier Reef: It was super cool to snorkel in the GBR. However, if you are like me and you get sea sick, make sure to take preventatives. Nothing worse than being on an 8 hour barf boat.
- Public Lagoon: You can’t swim in the ocean because of mighty crocs and deadly jellyfish, but we did, cause YOLO. JK we didn’t. But they have a cute lagoon if you want to swim! We didn’t because we had a pool at the hotel.
Tips on Cairns, Australia:
- Wow here we go again with this “let’s put an ‘R’ in the name but not pronounce it” business. So, it’s Cans not CARRRRRns. I think they solely do this to see who is a tourist and who isn’t.
- It rains a bunch – it’s like Hawaii. We always carried around an umbrella or rain coat just in case.
- Overall, the town is safe and fun!
That concludes my Visit Cairns, Australia list!! If you are visiting the rest of Australia, check out my Melbourne Destination Blog and my Sydney Destination Blog as well. I also wrote a Travel Diary about my time in Australia, HERE! I have tons more blogs on other destinations around Europe and the USA if you need as well! Enjoy your visit to Cairns!
