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.

Plan Your Trip... the FREE Cape York Travel Pocket Guide

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.

Plan and Bring to the Trip... the full Destination Cape York Travel Guide

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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