How to Spend 4 Days in Cairns

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About Cairns

Cairns is a vibrant city with tropical culture located in Far North Queensland and the best getaway for one of the seven natural wonders of the world – Great Barrier Reef. Founded in 1876, it used to serve as major port for exporting sugar cane, agricultural products, gold and other metals. Since then it came a long way and from goldfields port it turned into an attractive tourist destination. 4 days in cairns

According to Tourism Australia, Cairns is actually the 4^th most popular holiday spot between international travelers – after Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. It has tropical humid climate and even though the city itself is missing a beach, there is an artificial lagoon conveniently located right on the Esplanade, where all the cafes, restaurants and bars are. You can find plenty of beaches nearby, just a short ride with a local bus.

Snorkeling in Great Barrier Reef was something I knew I need to do when in Australia (even though I am bit scared of the ocean). You can definitely stay much longer exploring the Tropical North. We had only 4 days, but I we filled them with activities to make to the most of our stay.

DAY 1 – Exploring Cairns and Palm Cove

We arrived to Cairns quite early in the morning. The domestic airport is not big and there are plenty of taxis waiting for travelers at the front so it is easy to get to your accommodation. We stayed in the Bay Village Hotel. The hotel is not located directly on the Esplanade, but it took us no more than 5 minutes to walk there.

Cairns

For the first day we decided to explore the city and the beaches up north from the city center. We traveled in mid-October and the weather was really nice, little bit cloudy, but still sunny and very hot and humid. Cairns has got tropical climate with two seasons – wet and dry. The wet season, or monsoon season starts in November/December and lasts till April. If you want to know more about weather in the Tropical North to plan your holiday, you can follow the link here.

Two things surprised me the most. First – Cairns is really not that big. Second – right on the Esplanade you can see warning signs every few meters that it is dangerous to go in or close to the water because of the crocodiles! Well, you don’t see this is Sydney.

The Lagoon makes a nice contrast with the ocean, the whole city has got relaxed atmosphere and infectious holiday vibe. You can see kids playing in the water, people are fishing around, having barbecue or just hiding in the shadows of palm trees. After lunch on the terrace of one of the many cafes, we took a bus and made our way up north to Palm Cove.

Palm Cove

Palm Cove is named after palm trees that line the whole area. It is a small beach town, only 27 km north of Cairns with stunning beach. Unlike Sydney, the ocean was pleasantly warm without big waves. We spend the whole afternoon there, soaking in the sunshine, watching people passing by on bikes with no shoes, we could hear music playing from a nearby bar, kids were building sand castles, fishermen were comparing their daily catch and for that moment I wished we booked our accommodation right there on the beach. “Palm Cove is like stepping into a postcard from tropical paradise”.

We stayed till late, had dinner on the beach and took the last bus back to Cairns. Then we spent our night looking for a convenience store because we forgot our toothbrushes. Well, not everything needs to be perfect.

DAY 2 – Daintree Rainforest

For our second day we chose a tour that took us to the Daintree Rainforest and Cape Tribulation. Daintree rainforest is believed to be one of the oldest ecosystems in the world (over hundred millions year old!) with many unique plants and trees that cannot be found anywhere else. It is the only place in the world where two Heritage-listed sites exist side by side – Daintree Rainforest and Great Barrier Reef.

Cape Tribulation and Wildlife Habitat of Port Douglas

Cape Tribulation combines beautiful secluded beaches with amazing tropical wildlife. It is becoming more and more popular tourist destination with focus on ecotourism. To get there you have to take a ferry to the other side of Daintree River that is full of crocodiles.

We left quite early in the morning. Our first stop was Wildlife Habitat of Port Douglas, an interactive ZOO where we could see and experience all the amazing animals of Queensland – koalas, kangaroos, crocodiles, pythons, all sorts of birds and much more. The most interesting animal there is definitely a cassowary. Cassowaries are flightless birds, like emus or ostriches and they are native to tropical forests. They are basically dinosaurs – they have been on our planet for 25-30 million years! These, normally very shy birds are also considered the most dangerous ones – when threatened they can become aggressive. On their inner toe of each foot, there is a sharp razor-like claw that can be 10 cm long. A well placed kick can become fatal not only for animals but also for humans.

Ziplining in the Daintree Rainforest

After breakfast in Port Douglas we headed more up north to Cape Tribulation, where we did jungle surfing – series of zip lines took us on a unique journey through the rainforest and allowed us to fly from one tree to another with bird eye views over the treetops, down to cascading creeks and out to the Great Barrier Reef. I have never done zip line before and I totally loved it!

Crocodile Cruise

Our last stop was Daintree river cruise to watch crocodiles. I was very excited to see them in wild but as it was very hot they were hiding in the shadows of the trees in shallow waters. We have seen few, plus some babies but it didn’t quite match my expectations of cruising in the river full of these dangerous creatures. Anyway it was great experience!

When we got “home” we went for a dinner to the restaurant in our hotel – Bay Leaf. It is a Balinese style restaurant with their typical dishes and I swear it was one of the best food I have ever had. We didn’t know what to order and as we were hungry we got so many things – crocodile and prawn skewers, lamb stew, vegetable fritters and it was all so delicious! To be honest their service wasn’t great but the food was worth the grumpy staff.

DAY 3 – Great Barrier Reef

How to choose a cruise in Great Barrier Reef

To choose a cruise that will take you to the Great Barrier Reef might be harder than it seems. They all more or less offer the same thing – snorkeling at the “best spot on the Reef”, equipment hire, possibility to dive, breakfast and lunch. In the sea of offers online, one particular tour popped in my eye. Apart from others, these guys are using sailing boat instead of a catamaran, with only 20-40 people aboard rather than 100-150. The decision was made and on our third day in Cairns we said “Ahoy!” to the mainland, lifted the anchors and sailed to the open ocean.

Sailing Day

There is something about sailing that gives you a different experience. With only 28 travelers on the boat, plus the crew, we were chatting all together, having fruit, sweet pastry and coffee for breakfast, exchanging tips where else to go and what to see in Queensland and Australia in general. White sails, bright blue Ocean and warm sun were creating together a picture perfect scenery. Crew was very nice and helpful, you could see that what they live for is protection of the ocean and the Reef and for a little while I felt jealous that this is their everyday “office”.

We stopped nearby the Green Island, everyone grabbed their snorkeling goggles and diving fins and jumped into the water. Under the surface, there is a whole different colorful fascinating world. The UNESCO-listed Great Barrier Reef is the world’s most extensive coral reef system spreading on the area of over 2000 km comprising thousands of smaller reefs and hundreds of islands. This unique ecosystem has evolved over millions of years and it’s the most diverse ecosystem known to humans. It is the largest living thing, that can be seen from the outer space and it provides habitat for many different forms of marine life.

We had a lunch on the boat, which consisted of salads, pastry, pasta and sea food. The crew was joking that around lunch time, sharks usually come to check out for the left overs. Not long time after this “joke”, sharks really appeared! It was unbelievable. Of course they weren’t any big or dangerous but still it was a great surprise.

Later in the afternoon they took us on a smaller boat to the Green Island, where we could enjoy the sunny weather on the pristine beaches or do some more snorkeling or diving. On the way back to Cairns we were served with more food – different kinds of cakes, cheese plates and wine. What a day! The company is called Ocean Free and Ocean Freedom and they offer different types of cruises, so if you’re going to Cairns, check them out.

After coming back to mainland, we spent our evening strolling around Night Markets and souvenir shops in the city center.

DAY 4 – The last day

Catching an afternoon flight back to Sydney, we did not have much time to do anything else than walking around the city and enjoying the last moments of our short holiday. We had a brunch and some cocktails on the Esplanade and then we were just chilling by the pool of our hotel, where we spent very little time. I loved every minute of our holiday in Cairns and would love to be back one day!

Have you been to Cairns? What activities have you done when staying there? Please give me your recommendations for our future trip in the comment section below.

If you liked the article, and you would like to explore the islands of the Great Barrier Reef in the future, check out my other article about Sailing Around Whitsunday Islands here.

HANA'S TRAVEL JOURNAL

How to Spend 4 Days in Cairns

About Cairns