advice? help with cairns hotels

paul.s_4

hi all, my wife & i are off on our first visit to australia on the 15th of next month, im looking for all & any help on what not to miss while were there but mainly looking for a good hotel to stay in on our first 2-3 nights. thanks

sarah69696pink

I went to cairns last year - we stayed at the Hilton - no complaints.
Did a trip out to the barrier reef which was good, although look into this carefully as our boat was very busy, would look for a smaller quieter one if poss.
Definitely do the rainforest / railway trip too - one of the best things we did on the holiday.

Red_dog_Sam

Agree on both tips for 'not to be missed' things to do in Cairns.
Boat trip and introductory dive on the barrier reef
The Skyrail and Kuranda Scenic Railway - this can be combined in a single trip - cable car one way and train back.

luci

Agree with the above. We went scuba diving on the Great Barrier Reef with Quicksilver from Port Douglas and also enjoyed the Kuranda railway.

zagfles

sarah69696pink wrote: »

I went to cairns last year - we stayed at the Hilton - no complaints.
Did a trip out to the barrier reef which was good, although look into this carefully as our boat was very busy, would look for a smaller quieter one if poss.
Definitely do the rainforest / railway trip too - one of the best things we did on the holiday.

Yes, and you can combine it with a hot air balloon trip which was excellent, though you have to get up very early.

We did 2 trips to the reef one from Cairns which was very busy as above but another from Cape Tribulation which was much nicer, on a catamaran with an excellent lunch included. A bit more expensive ($55 compared to $40 from Cairns) but worth the extra. This was over 10 years ago though so am sure prices will have gone up!

claire16c

Are you staying in Cairns itself because if not Port Douglas is really nice. We stayed in a gorgeous apartment/boutique hotel there.

Definitely go out to the Reef.

And be prepared for a shock at the price of everything. The exchange rate is horrendous at the moment. So try not to think about how much everything costs in £s!