Best Things To Do in Cairns Australia 2026 4K

What's going on everybody this is IslandHopperTV and today we're going to show you the best things to do in Cairns, Australia here in northern Queensland. Show you around the Daintree Rainforest and the Great Barrier Reef, two of the most famous places in all of Australia. I came up from Brisbane and I absolutely loved it. Stick around to the end and I give you some practical tips about visiting. Now let's get started exploring around Cairns. First up here we are at the Corunda Scenic Railway. This is 37 kilometer journey from Cairns through the known for its engineering marvels. Originally completed in 1891, it is a diesel powered locomotive with vintage carriages that take you through this rainforest here. Takes you through the Barren Gorge, past Barren Falls and then Stoney Creek. The adult heritage return ticket is around $85 Aussie. For children it's $42.50. They do offer a gold class for those of you looking for a little more comfort. Now here we are at the Great Barrier Reef. This is one of world's largest living structures. It is a massive UNESCO listed ecosystem. You can actually see this from space boasting 10% of the world's species of fish and seven different turtle species. There's several ways to get out here. You can go to the outer reef or you can go out to one of these platforms for diving. Go to Green or Fitzroy Island with the pontoon options out there. For a lot of the tours you'll wake up early in the morning, depart at seven from your hotel. The ticket price is around $250 to $300 Aussie for a full day which includes lunch gear and multiple different sites for diving. Another activity is the Skyrail Rainforest Cable Car which takes you up into the rainforest by cable car. You get to see what's going on above the canopy looking down into the rainforest. This is absolutely amazing. Up above here you have Barren Falls also known as Din Din in aboriginal language. It is a spectacular layered cascading waterfall that drops 265 meters from the Atherton Tablelands all the way down. Best time to see this is during the wet season that's December to March so right now. Both the railway and the sky tram can actually take you up here to get good views of this place. By the way if you guys are planning to see a lot of the rainforest and go up into the mountains you'll probably just end up getting a rental car. For example going from Canes to Barren Falls lookout point it's about 45 minutes by car. If you take public transport it's about an hour and 30 minutes. Next up we're headed out to the Dane Tree which is considered the world's oldest rainforest at about 180 million years old predating even the Amazon. It's got a unique biodiversity including primitive plants and endangered animals like the big bird the cassowary which is quite unique. Out here you can find the Cape Tribulation as well with beautiful beaches and you would likely put your car on the ferry from the Cape Tribulation to Dane Tree rainforest northern section. Cape Tribulation is actually home to a unique headland here in northern Queensland. It's basically where the rainforest meets the Great Barrier Reef forming the UNESCO World Heritage Site which is a lush jungle meeting a sandy beach and very rich biodiversity. Just watch out for the crocodiles. Here you can do beach walks and jungle walks. They also have the Mahjong Boardwalk or even do the Mount Sorrow Ridge in Cape Tribulation. Also they have reef trips from here where you can go out to the Great Barrier Reef. This area is north of Canes but I will say I would not swim in any of these rivers. Now we're going to walk around the Esplanade right along the waterfront here. Yeah so now that we're here in the Esplanade this here is the most prominent area in the city itself. In the evening time or even in the morning this is a very common place to do some physical activity, get some exercise, do some walking and just enjoy the beautiful scenery around Canes. Right here we have the Canes Esplanade Lagoon. Nice big pool here for everyone to enjoy. I would say this is definitely one of the most popular attractions along the Esplanade and the great thing about it it's free to enter and use. It offers a man-made salt water swimming pool with lifeguards, shallow areas for kids and amenities like changing rooms, cafes nearby. Along with having the beach and just being a nice place for sunbathing there's also a ferris wheel which you'll see around this area. So the Esplanade if you're hanging out in the city center is definitely a nice place to be at some point during your trip. I personally stayed at the Double Tree by Hilton but there's many different beautiful hotels around Canes that you can stay at. I did want to point out an area known as Port Douglas. This is north of Canes by about an hour or two depending on how you get there but this is another gateway to the Great Barrier Reef and the Dane Tree for those of you who are looking for other options. Port Douglas does have a four mile beach within proximity to the Dane Tree also it's within proximity to the Cape Tribulation and Mossman Grove so you could say it's about 60 kilometers north. Oftentimes the reason people choose Port Douglas over Canes is because it's a bit more laid back not as hustle and bustle although Canes isn't too bad compared to other Australian cities you can just see how Canes is getting there and Port Douglas is a nice outlet from that. Also a bit more wild you will see some crocodiles out here in Port Douglas but either way if you're coming out here to Port Douglas you're still going to have to go through the Canes airport so that's one thing to consider when choosing to come up here to Port Douglas. And if you guys are enjoying this video so far please consider giving a like it really helps this channel thank you. But now we're going to show you around some of the night markets here in Canes this is a popular activity in the evening time it's indoors got AC and lots of cool shopping you can find unique local indigenous art from the aboriginal people or you could just find some nice food and chill vibes. It's right here nearby the Esplanade I came in here around six o'clock it just kind of opened up so it was getting going but night markets are popular here in Canes. Got the Canes art gallery yeah and if you're looking for a museum to go to in the middle of the day when it's hot come out here to the Canes art gallery and it's generally free there might be charges depending on if you do exhibitions. Well you can go out to the Great Barrier Reef on a helicopter and depending on the helicopter tour that you want to do it could start at around 220 Aussie for a short scenic flight which is about 30 to 40 minutes or if you wanted to do a pick up and drop off or a longer tour it could range anywhere between 450 Aussie all the way up to 1000 just depends on what you want to do but could you imagine doing a helicopter ride out to the Great Barrier Reef could be a great experience and in some cases faster than boats if they drop you off at a pontoon. Just to give you some perspective a boat ride it does offer an immersive kind of experience but it takes longer and it can get choppy with the weather and the water while a helicopter it provides breathtaking aerial views cost a little bit more but it saves you a lot of time and avoids the potential of seasickness but it also gets you right out there on the reef so it just depends on your budget plus your tolerance for being out on a boat for a while in choppy seas check with companies like Nautilus Aviation, GSL Aviation or Hamilton Island Air. Now here we are at the Canes Aquarium this is one of the best aquariums you'll go to because it's right next to the Great Barrier Reef. The admission price is around 58 Aussie for adult general admission and here you can learn all about the reef and see some of the aquatic life before you actually go into the reef tours. The aquarium itself is quite new it originally opened in 2017 so this right the Hilton Double Trees. Now here we are at the Botanical Garden. The Botanical Garden could be really nice for people who don't want to go all the way out to the Dane Tree just way out there it's about an hour and a half away from Canes to get out there and then deal with the ferry or other types of roads. This one here is free and you're not going to get quite the same experience that you'd get in the Dane Tree but you get a pretty good idea. I walked around here and I experienced some of the wildlife and just the trees and flora and fauna. I thought it was a nice place to walk around considering it's free I mean you're not going to get any better value than that. It's about a 10 minute drive away from the city center but yeah I thought this Botanical Garden was a nice place to spend an evening or maybe even come out in the morning and just walk around and chill and really soak up some of that Queensland rainforest vibes. That's really what I took away from this one. Also if you guys are planning to come to Australia we made six videos of Australian cities. Check the description below. All right this is for those of you who are thinking about going to the Whitsundays or Whitehaven Beach which is obviously one of the most beautiful beaches you'll ever lay eyes on. Well I got news for you it's about eight hours away from Canes. If you wanted to go to this particular beach you would actually need to go to Townsville. Now I flew over these islands from Brisbane on a flight it's a long haul to get down here but the reason I bring it up is because a lot of people when they're coming to Canes they're like hey how far away am I from the Whitsundays can I go to Whitehaven Beach on a day trip and the answer is well it's eight hours away so no that would not be a day trip because that would be 16 hours total just to get down there that doesn't include the ferry ride so now you know. Now I just want to give some practical tips about visiting Canes the dry season is from May to October that's the best weather with the lowest humidity but it's also peak season wet season is from November to April I was here in December it didn't rain at all a little bit hotter a little bit humid sometimes heavy rain also the stingers are in the ocean those are those uh kind of can't see them but they uh everyone knows about them and then you have the sweet spot which is June to September that's great reef visibility and pleasant temperatures I would say plan to stay here for around four to seven days if you wanted to do Daintree the Great Barrier Reef and some of the other attractions that's how much time it's see you guys on the next one from Brisbane click the link right here at the end