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What can you do from Cairns, and what does it cost?
A reef day starts at $215 and Cape Tribulation at $224. Cairns is the base for both the Great Barrier Reef and the oldest rainforest on earth, and they are each a day. Three days covers the pair with the Atherton Tablelands as well.
Checked on 5 October 2026.
Cairns is a small city with two world heritage areas on its doorstep — the reef offshore and the Daintree an hour north. Almost everything people come for is a day trip, which makes it unusually easy to plan and unusually easy to underestimate.
Every day trip from Cairns, with prices
| Day trip | What you do | From |
|---|---|---|
| 1 Day Atherton Tablelands Tour | The Atherton Tablelands — waterfalls, crater lakes and swimming holes above the coast | $175 |
| 1 Day Reef Sailing & Snorkel Tour | **The reef by sailing boat**, with snorkelling. The cheapest way onto the water | $215 |
| 1 Day Cape Tribulation Tour | Cape Tribulation and the Daintree — rainforest meeting the reef | $224 |
| 1 Day Cape Tribulation Tour | Cape Tribulation with a different operator and a different stop list | $229 |
| 1 Day Snorkel Adventure | **A snorkelling day on the reef**, built around time in the water | $239 |
| 1 Day Luxury Reef Experience | The reef done comfortably — a bigger boat and more room | $310 |
Prices are per person and update on their own.
What a trip to Cairns costs
- One reef dayfrom $215, and this is the one nobody regrets.
- Reef plus rainforest, two daysaround $440 all in, which is the shape of most short visits.
- Three dayswith the Tablelands as well — from $600 as a package, and cheaper than booking the three separately.
- A week or moreturns Cairns into one end of the east coast run rather than a destination — from $1,449.
Reef or rainforest, if you only have one day
- The reefif you can swim and the weather is good. It is the reason the city exists and snorkelling it is a different thing entirely from seeing photographs.
- Cape Tribulationif you would rather be dry, or the sea is up. The Daintree is the one place the rainforest runs right down to the reef.
- The Tablelandsif you have been to both — waterfalls, swimming holes and a far quieter day.
Two and three day packages
| Trip | Length | What is in it | From |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2 Day Cape Tribulation Tour | 2 days, 1 night | Cape Tribulation over two days with a night in the rainforest | $399 |
| 2 Day Tablelands, Daintree & Cape Tribulation | 2 days, you arrange your own night between them | Tablelands, Daintree and Cape Tribulation — **you arrange the night between** | $445 |
| 3 Day Reef & Rainforest Highlights | 3 days, you arrange your own nights | Reef and rainforest together — **you arrange your own nights** | $600 |
People also ask
- Great Barrier Reef itinerary — 3, 7, 10 or 14 days
- What is the best way to travel the east coast of Australia?
- Can you do K'gari (Fraser Island) in a day?
- Where should I go in Australia?
Not sure which one fits?
Tell us your dates and where you are starting from, and we will point you at the right trip.
Where this comes from. Each operator's own itinerary and inclusions sheet, as held on that trip's page here. Prices are the current from price and update on their own.