On
this page you have some ideas for Cairns tours.
Some take a
few hours, others
are day trips
or longer.
Some let you sit back, others mean being active and bushwalking,
snorkelling or diving.
There are two main types of Cairns tours - they either go out to the water - most of
these
go to the Great
Barrier Reef.
Or,
they
take you for a drive,
and many of
these go to rainforests.
Below are
some tours that you find in Cairns.
Full list with prices and contact details to all the companies is in
Destination Guide.
Cairns
to Cape York
Tours
There are many Cairns tours that take you to different places in
Cape York, including Cooktown, Daintree Rainforests, Mossman Gorge and
Cape
Tribulation, crocodile
spotting trips on Daintree River, and Bloomfield Road. And
there are also the ones that take you to the Tip.
Cairns
to Great
Barrier
Reef Tours Great
Barrier Reef
trips are highly popular and Cairns is a great place to take
these tours because the reef is close to the mainland.
There are all
sorts
of trips where you can snorkel and dive, or you can just sit back and
cruise.
Green
Island Trips
Green Island is a beautiful coral cay, small enough to walk
around.
There are some great beaches, coral reef right around it, and there is
also tropical rainforest and a captive crocodile.
You can stay in the resort
or do it on a day trip.
Fitzroy
Island Trips
Fitzroy Island is not a coral cay but a continental island. There are
some great rainforest walks, beaches, and snorkelling right off the
coast.
There is a resort
where you can stay, or you can do it on a day trip.
Scuba
Diving
There are many scuba diving companies offering all kinds of scuba
diving trips from day tours to trips of many days or a week.
You can
take certified dives or do your diver's license joining a course and
taking introductory dives.
Sailing
Sailing is also popular and there are sailing cruises to Green Island,
and Low Isles outside Port Douglas.
You can enjoy
the destinations like
on any other trip and snorkel, dive, laze on the beach or walk the
beaches.
White
Water
Rafting
There are white water rafting trips in Cairns that start in Barron
Gorge and end in Lake Placid.
It is a beautiful gorge with
grade 3
rapids. Or you can take a trip to Tully,
which is a very popular place
for the activity; the rapids are grade 4.
Fishing
With so many mangrove fringed river mouths and the close-by Great
Barrier Reef,
Cairns is also a great place to fish.
You can fish from beaches and
jetties, either hire a dinghy at Cairns Marina or join a fishing tour.
Cairns
to Cape York Tours
Below you
have some Cairns to Cape York tours.
And that
said you should still
think twice before you decide for one.
The only real way to do Cape
York and enjoy its challenges is self
drive on a 4WD.
But
if you really
are sure that you don't want to do it yourself, not
even in a group of friends, then there are some tours below.
Most are
in the
southern Cape
York, but they all depart from
Cairns.
Cooktown Four Wheel Drive Adventure
Two Day Cooktown Four Wheel Drive Adventure
Bloomfield Track, Daintree River Cruise and Cape Tribulation
4WD Tour to Daintree, Cape Tribulation and Mossman Gorge
Aboriginal Dreamtime Walk, Daintree River Crocodile Cruise and Tropical
Fruit Farm
Aboriginal Cultural Daintree Rainforest Tour
Daintree Rainforest, Cape Tribulation and Wildlife Habitat Sanctuary
Tour
Hartleys Crocodile Adventure
(all now in the Destination Guide).
Great
Barrier Reef
Tours
There are
a lot of Great Barrier Reef tours.
And you
have
excellent chances to join one while you are up here for your Cape York
trip.
Cairns
and Port Douglas
are the best places in Australia
to do it.
The reef is closest to
the mainland
up here, so the tours are
the best value.
The reef
is also healthy up here. The reef that is off the coast of
Cape
York is known to be healthier than the reef further south.
First,
there are the reef tours. They take you out to the reef where you can
see and learn about this interesting ecosystem by snorkelling, diving or just
watching the reef through a glass
bottomed boat.
Even if
you
snorkel or dive,
the glass bottom is
still worth watching because you see things clearer than while swimming
around.
Diving trips
are sometimes separate trips, because the diving is best in the outer
reef, so those boats often go farther out.
They also sometimes include night
diving.
Diving operators cater for experienced divers as well as
offer courses
for total beginners.
Medical certificate is needed for a
course.
Below are some of the tours, and the full list is in the Destination
Guide. GBR
Diving and Snorkelling Cruise from Cairns
Outer
GBR Snorkel Cruise from Cairns
Outer
GBR Dive and Snorkel Cruise from Cairns
Outer
GBR Dive and Snorkel Sailing Cruise
Michaelmas
Cay Dive and Snorkel Cruise
Two
Day Best of Cairns and the GBR
Outer
GBR Dive and Snorkel Cruise from Palm Cove
Outer
GBR Dive and Snorkel Sailing Cruise
Michaelmas
Cay Dive and Snorkel
Outer
GBR Snorkel Cruise from Palm Cove
Outer
GBR Snorkel Cruise from Port Douglas
Outer
GBR Dive and Snorkel Cruise from Port Douglas
Great Barrier Reef Tours -
Islands
Other
trips take you out to the islands. Green
Island
is a
coral cay outside Cairns.
Fitzroy
Island
is a so-called continental island outside Cairns.
Low
Isles
are outside
Port Douglas, but some tours also go there from Cairns.
Green
Island Day Trip
Green
Island Half Day Trip
Low
Isles GBR Sailing Cruise from Cairns
Green
Island Sailing Cruise
Three
Day Green Island GBR Trip from Cairns
Low
Isles GBR Sailing Cruise from Palm Cove
Low
Isles GRB Sailing Cruise from Port Douglas
Great
Barrier Reef Tours - Flights
And then,
there are the flights.
Mostly helicopter tours
take you to the reef or
islands.
GBR
30-min Helicopter Flight
GBR
and Rainforest 60-min Helicopter Flight
GBR
Helicopter Flight and Snorkel Private Tour
GBR
and Rainforest Skydive All the rest of the tours are
in the
Destination
Guide
in full detail, including prices and contact
details.
Other
Great
Barrier Reef Trips
There are
plenty of good Great Barrier Reef Trips to choose from.
This huge coral reef - the
world's largest - extends all the way from the Tip of Cape
York and Torres Strait Islands
down to Gladstone on the central Queensland coast.
While there are popular places such as Heron Island down south, the
further north you get the closer the reef gets to the mainland.
The
trips become shorter and there is more of them available.
Below are
some of the trips, and the full list is in the Destination
Guide
with prices and contact details.
From Cairns
Green
Island Day Trip
Green
Island Half Day Trip
GBR
Diving and Snorkelling Cruise from Cairns
Great
Barrier Reef Trips from
Port Douglas
Outer
GBR Snorkel Cruise from Port Douglas
Outer
GBR Dive and Snorkel Cruise from Port Douglas
Low
Isles GRB Sailing Cruise from Port Douglas All
the rest of the tours are in the Destination
Guide
in full detail, including prices and contact
details.
Get
this 50 pages
guide totally for FREE.
It
contains information that helps you getting started with planning of your trip.
You get to make early-stages desicions such as when to go, how long time you
should take, how to get
there and get
around, where
to stay (general info), what
will it cost..
and a short insight to what is there to see and do in Cape York.
This complete 300 pages
travel guide is all you need before and during your trip. Besides the
background chapters on the peninsula's history and wildlife; and the comprehensive detail about all
the places (down to prices, opening hours and full contact
detail), it has invaluable information on at least 10 four wheel drive tracks,
at least 30 guaranteed FREE
camping spots on the Cape (and at least 150 on your way to
the Cape), at least 40 best
swimming holes, all mapped; as well as practical things -
from fuel, roads, wireless internet and mobile phone reception,
how to deal with the national
parks booking rules; and Aboriginal land entrance and camping permits
and alcohol restrictions - to vehicle preparation and accessories and necessary recovery
gear by my vehicle-recovery-guy partner).
Not to mention locals'
tips on how to spot that croc and palm cockatoo ;-)
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This site uses British
English, which is the English we use in
Australia.
Disclaimer:
Although
best efforts have been made to ensure that all the information on this
website is correct, this site is not to be blamed should there be a
mistake.
This is the ORIGINAL Cape York Travel Guide run Locally on the Peninsula.