Cairns road trips
Cairns is one of Australia’s great tourist destinations. The hub for Great Barrier Reef tours and the largest city in far north Queensland, Cairns has several strings to its bow.
If you have three days in Cairns, do a Great Barrier Reef trip, a Kuranda scenic train and cable car combo and a Mossman Gorge plus Cape Tribulation World Heritage rainforest day trip.
Things to do in Cairns include hopping aboard the Green Island ferry or Fitzroy Island ferry to one of the city’s nearby islands, or the Evolution cruise to Hastings Reef.
Save time queuing – Book these Cairns attractions in advance
- From the air: Outer Reef helicopter flight | Sunrise hot air balloon ride | Skyrail Rainforest Cableway.
- At night: Sunset dinner cruise | Pub and club tour | Aquarium by Twilight experience.
- For wildlife: Birdworld Kuranda | Kuranda Koala Gardens | Cairns Zoom and Wildlife Dome | Cairns Aquarium | Rainforestation Nature Park
- For culture: Cairns Museum tickets | Street art walking tour | City and surrounds highlights bus tour.
- For thrills: AJ Hackett giant jungle swing | High speed jet boat tour | Barron Gorge white water rafting | Mulgrave River tubing.
For other attractions, try the Cairns Aquarium, hair-raising bungy jumping at Skypark Cairns, splashing in the Cairns Esplanade Lagoon and discovering tropical ecosystems at the Cairns Botanic Gardens.
Cairns also features in several Australian road trip itineraries.
Trip-booster! 8 great day trips from Cairns to power-up your holiday
- Kuranda combo package – take the Kuranda Scenic Railway up and the Skyrail cable car down.
- Green Island tours with beach time, glass bottom boat and snorkelling. (Or pick a Fitzroy Island trip instead).
- Moore Reef day tour – with underwater observatory, snorkelling gear, glass bottom boat & semi-submersible cruises.
- Great Barrier Reef snorkelling cruise – with snorkelling stops at two excellent spots on the Reef.
- Cape Tribulation rainforest day tour – with Mossman Gorge Aboriginal cultural experience and Daintree River crocodile-watching cruise.
- Atherton Tableland waterfalls and rainforest tour – including wildlife-spotting and a swim in a volcanic lake.
- Outback 4WD tour – visiting Chillagoe Caves, Aboriginal rock art and Granite Gorge.
Australia Travel Questions is busy putting together guides to road trip sections that either start or finish in Cairns. Those that have been researched and written up so far are listed below. Click through for more information.
The distances and driving times are approximate, put together using Google Maps. Obviously, if you build a few road trip stops into the drive, the journey will take longer.
Cairns distances and driving times (interstate)
Adelaide to Cairns: Distance 2,969km, driving time 32h. (More Adelaide road trips).
Cairns to Alice Springs: Distance 2,210km, driving time 23h50m.
Cairns to Darwin: Distance 2,356km, driving time 25 hours. (More Darwin road trips).
Cairns to Uluru: Distance 2,677km, driving time 29 hours. (More Uluru driving times).
Melbourne to Cairns: Distance 2,818km, driving time 30h. (More road trips from Melbourne).
Newcastle to Cairns: Distance 2,290km, driving time 25h. (More Newcastle road trips).
Perth to Cairns: Distance 5,249km, driving time 56h. (More road trips from Perth).
Sydney to Cairns (inland): Distance 2,415km, driving time 27 hours. (More road trips from Sydney).
Cairns distances and driving times (within Queensland)
Airlie Beach to Cairns: Distance 619km, driving time 7h19m. (More Airlie Beach road trips).
Atherton to Cairns: Distance 94km, driving time 1h18m.
Bowen to Cairns: Distance 547km, driving time 6h23m.
Brisbane to Cairns: Distance 1,678km, driving time 19h30m. (More Brisbane road trips).
Bundaberg to Cairns: Distance 1,351km, driving time 15h10m. (More Bundaberg road trips).
Cairns Airport to Cairns city: Distance 5.7km, driving time 8m.
Cairns to Camooweal: Distance 1,266km, driving time 14h17m.
Cairns to Cape Tribulation: Distance 142km, driving time 2h37m.
Cairns to Cobbold Gorge: Distance 461km, driving time 5h57m.
Cairns to Croydon: Distance 524km, driving time 6h6m.
Cairns to Georgetown: Distance 377km, driving time 4h34m.
Cairns to Josephine Falls: Distance 75km, driving time 1h5m.
Cairns to Karumba: Distance 749km, driving time 8h30m.
Cairns to Mission Beach: Distance 139km, driving time 1h53m.
Cairns to Normanton: Distance 678km, driving time 7h50m.
Cairns to Paronella Park: Distance 105km, driving time 1h25m.
Cairns to Port Douglas: Distance 67km, driving time 1h02m. (More Port Douglas road trips).
Cairns to Ravenshoe: Distance 118km, driving time 1h51m.
Cairns to Undara: Distance 260km, driving time 2h23m.
Cardwell to Cairns: Distance 182km, driving time 2h14m.
Charters Towers to Cairns: Distance 481km, driving time 5h40m. (More Charters Towers road trips).
Clermont to Cairns: Distance 853km, driving time 9h28m.
Emerald to Cairns: Distance 956km, driving time 10h37m. (More Emerald road trips).
Gladstone to Cairns: Distance 1,171km, driving time 13h25m. (More Gladstone road trips).
Gold Coast to Cairns: Distance 1,777km, driving time 21h.
Hervey Bay to Cairns: Distance 1,446km, driving time 16h30m. (More Hervey Bay road trips).
Ingham to Cairns: Distance 236km, driving time 2h50m.
Innisfail to Cairns: Distance 88km, driving time 1h10m.
Kewarra Beach to Cairns: Distance 22km, driving time 22m.
Mackay to Cairns: Distance 733km, driving time 8h35m. (More Mackay road trips).
Mareeba to Cairns: Distance 96km, driving time 59m.
Palm Cove to Cairns: Distance 26km, driving time 26m.
Proserpine to Cairns: Distance 608km, driving time 7h4m.
Rockhampton to Cairns: Distance 1,064km, driving time 12h10m. (More Rockhampton road trips).
Townsville to Cairns: Distance 347km, driving time 4h4m. (More Townsville road trips).
Trinity Beach to Cairns: Distance 20km, driving time 18m.
Tully to Cairns: Distance 141km, driving time 1h46m.
More Queensland travel
Where to stop on a Gold Coast to Port Douglas road trip.
Why you should look out for cleaner wrasse on the Great Barrier Reef.
What to see on a Townsville to Port Douglas road trip.
Where to stop on an Airlie Beach to Port Douglas road trip.