Cairns holiday

We are trying to plan a Cairns holiday for July. The Great Barrier Reef is top of the to do list but there are so many tour options. Does anyone have suggestions about good/bad companies and experiences.

What else should we do? Would be about a week, 3 kids aged 8-14. Budget of about $2000 for activities.

We have been talking about this for a while ourselves, we have looked into port douglas and another place I have heard great reports about but the name has gone blank! I looked on the map but can't see it now

added palm cove I think

The sky swing is amazing for older kids.

We did the reef with Quicksilver when our kids were 3 and 6, it was great because they have options for non swimmers like glass bottomed boat and a semi submersible, so you get to see a lot even if you’re not snorkelling or diving.

Mossman Gorge is stunning, highly recommend the Dreamtime walk which takes you on a guided walk with an indigenous guide. We really loved that.

The sky rail up to Kuranda is pretty great too

Hartleys croc farm - my kids loved it!

https://www.crocodileadventures.com/

We took one of the ferries out to Fitzroy Island for the day. It was great, they supplied lunch and snorkel equipment and we could snorkel from the beach. They had SUP, kayaks etc as well. You could pay extra and have a snorkel with a guide and they’d talk about the fish coral etc.

The other thing we did was just do a drive around the different waterfalls in the area and stop at parnella (sp?) park. Beautiful.

There is so much to do as a family around Cairns. It's very central but I would recommend staying at Palm Cove which is about 20 mins away from memory. There are lovely hotels right across from the beach. If you hire a car you can visit the Atherton Tablelands esp Karanda, Day trip to Port Douglas or Fitzroy Island.

ETA: There's a historic village in Heberton, it's like stepping back in time. Very cool. We did a Mossman Gorge tour with a local Indigenous tour guide, it was very informative and I highly recommend it. From memory we just booked through the Mossman Gorge visitor centre but I think the tours are on hold atm due to Covid.

We did a few day trips to various islands to snorkel, went to the outer reef (maybe quicksilver like a PP did), did a Daintree tour including Mossman gorge (LOVED this tour), and went out to the Atherton tablelands and did strawberry picking and went to the crystal cave place, can't remember what else.

I didn't think the on land stuff would be as fun but I loved it. I would highly recommend doing it as well as the reef stuff.

I love Cairns and have been several times, both with and without kids. Just thinking about it makes me happy!

I agree with PP who said it's nicer to stay at one of the beaches than in the centre of Cairns. We've stayed at Palm Cove which is very relaxing. My kids did love the big lagoon in Cairns though, and there's an awesome playground along the waterfront as well. It's a nice place for dinner at sunset.

If you hire a car it's a very easy place to drive around, and gives you the freedom to get out of the city. On our last trip we went all the way up to Cape Tribulation (via car ferry) which was a big day out but well worth it. Mossman Gorge is also wonderful. Paronella Park is down towards Innisfail (I'm not sure if it's still open? I know it suffered cyclone damage at one stage) - if it is, it's a magical place to visit. And of course Kuranda is a lot of fun.

As for reef trips, we did a full day out on Great Adventures, which included a couple of hours on Green Island and then snorkelling at the outer reef. That was fantastic and we really enjoyed it. A long time ago (as a teenager) I visited Fitzroy Island as well an have good memories of that. I liked splitting it up between an island and the outer reef.

I'm sure you will have a great trip!

We did cairns two years ago.

Stayed at palm cove, which was lovely. Hired a car so we could get around easily.

Did a day up to Kuranda - train up, sky lift down

One day drive north up to cape tribulation.

One day on the reef - sun lover, we choose the one that went out to the pontoon on the reef, the one with the waterslide. Best choice ever. Girls were 17, 14 and 12 and absolutely loved the slide plus the snorkelling.

Did consider doing one of the tours that did an island half a day and pontoon half day, but just the reef was more than enough, by the time you add in the cruise out there and back.

One day drove south checking out the waterfalls and did Paronella Park which we loved,

Add in lots of relaxing time around the pool where we were staying and it was an amazing holiday,

Oh, if you wait until you get there, all the tourist info places have booking options for the tours, and you can combine them to get discounts etc,

I still remeber the disppointment I had a Green Island many years ago. Crowded, very little coral, no fish off the beach and an expensive croc farm. It might if improved since then, but I would look at an island further out or going off a pontoon somewhere to snorkel.

Thanks for the replies, will look into Mossman Gorge and Paronella Park. I got some books from travel agents for the kids to look through and they seem pretty keen on snorkeling and the skyrail.

Definitely day trip out to Port Douglas. If visiting any of the islands, decide whether you will have lunch at the island restaurant, or bring your own (island restaurants are super expensive for standard fare). Cairns esplanade is a gorgeous board walk with heaps of kid attractions - Muddy's is a playground and cafe, skatepark, rock-climbing, lagoon for swimming.

We did port Douglas a couple of years ago and this Easter hopefully we will get back.

Loved the Kuranda chairlift, next time hopefully we can do the train.

Looking forward to doing the big lagoon pool in the heart of the town.

This time spending longer up there with half the time in cairns and the other in port Douglas.

In port Douglas we did the quicksilver out to the reef pontoon which was a really great day out.

I was told Palm Cove would be good, but was underwhelmed.

Went back 2 years later and stayed at Port Douglas and enjoyed it much more.

Agree with hiring a car.