Cairns Holidays, Australia

The City of Cairns in far north Queensland is one of Australia’s most beautiful coastal cities. The Australian tourist industry has a strong foothold in Cairns, where hundreds of thousands of domestic and international tourists gather every year to visit tourist icons like the Great Barrier Reef, Port Douglas and the Daintree rainforest. This region is incorporated into most tours that visit Australia as well as being visited regularly by many cruise ships. Originally, Cairns was the center of a massive agricultural and commercial fishing region. The streets in the city are wide as they originally had to cater for bullock wagons taking cargo to the Cairns port and docks and you need a lot of room to turn a bullock wagon around. Tourism first started here when American game fishing icon Zane Grey started an annual pilgrimage to the local waters trying to catch a world record black marlin. His efforts and the publicity they received started a game fishing industry that put Cairns on the tourist map. Because of the close proximity of the Great Barrier Reef and one of the largest remaining tracts of virgin rainforest on the planet, Cairns has become a tourist magnet with the rising popularity of eco tourism.

There are hundreds of tours to choose from in Cairns. Diving is extremely popular and there is a multitude of luxury craft just itching to take you out and show you what the reef is like below the surface. Likewise, tours to the Daintree Rainforest and cape tribulation areas run daily from cairns. Side trips to see wild crocodiles or wildlife parks featuring Australia’s unique wildlife are also readily available. Accommodation in Cairns comes in all sorts of formats. Self catering apartments, hotels and resorts are all available and there is also plenty of excellent backpacker hostels to choose from. In the CBD area and along the Cairns area is a great place to stay as you are close to everything and there is great shopping, restaurants and cafes to choose from. Inland from Cairns is the Atherton Tableland which is a fantastic place for tourists to visit. Attractions like the Undarra Lava Tubes, Lake Eacham and many smaller country towns provide an interesting destination for tourists to come and explore.

Cairns has an international airport with direct flights from many overseas destinations. It can also be reached by rail and coach from other Queensland cities.