What is the best way to travel the east coast of Australia?
Bus passes between the towns, with the big days booked as tours. That is how almost everyone does it, and it is what our east coast trips are: the bus passes are booked for you before you travel, and K'gari, the Whitsundays and the reef each run on their own 4WD or boat. From 7 days to 21.
Checked on 5 October 2026.
The east coast is not one trip, it is a string of towns with something worth stopping for in each. The practical question is how you move between them and which days you book ahead. Here is the answer, and what it costs done as a package.
How it actually works
- The bus passes are booked for you before you travel — you are not standing at a counter in Airlie Beach trying to get a seat north.
- The big days run their own transport: a 4WD on K'gari, a sailing boat in the Whitsundays, a boat out to the reef from Cairns.
- Overnight buses save you a night's accommodation on the longer legs, and they are built into the itineraries.
- You sleep in hostels in the towns, plus two nights camping on K'gari and a night or two on the boat, depending on the trip.
Brisbane to Cairns, by how long you have
| Trip | Length | What is in it | From |
|---|---|---|---|
| 7 Day Brisbane to Cairns Highlights | 7 days, 6 nights | The highlights run — K'gari, the Whitsundays and the reef, moving quickly | $1449 |
| 10 Day Brisbane to Cairns Highlights | 10 days, 9 nights | Adds Noosa and a night on the sailing boat | $1999 |
| 14 Days Brisbane to Cairns Highlights | 14 days, 13 nights | Two nights camping on K'gari and a cabin on the sailing vessel | $2339 |
| 15 Days Brisbane to Cairns Explorer | 15 days, 15 nights | Adds Magnetic Island and the ferry across to it | $2699 |
| 21 Days Brisbane to Cairns Explorer | 21 days, 20 nights | The full run with time in every town rather than a night each | $2949 |
Every one of these runs in both directions — Cairns to Brisbane as well. Prices update on their own.
Starting in Sydney or Melbourne instead
The longer runs pick you up further south and take in Byron Bay on the way through.
| Trip | Length | Route | From |
|---|---|---|---|
| 14 Days Sydney to Cairns Budget | 14 days, 13 nights | Sydney / Cairns | $1999 |
| 14 Days Cairns to Sydney Budget | 14 days, 14 nights | Cairns / Sydney | $1929 |
| 17 Days Sydney to Cairns Adventure | 17 days, 17 nights | Sydney / Cairns | $2799 |
| 21 Days Melbourne to Cairns | 21 days, 20 nights | Melbourne / Cairns | $2749 |
Which length?
- Seven days if your dates are fixed and you want the three big ones — K'gari, the Whitsundays, the reef.
- Ten to fourteen days is where most people land. Enough time to have a day doing nothing in Noosa or Airlie, which is the point of the east coast.
- Fifteen to twenty-one days adds Magnetic Island and real time in each town rather than a night.
- Coming from Sydney? Add roughly four days for Byron Bay and the run up through northern New South Wales.
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Where this comes from. Each trip's own transport and accommodation sheet, as held on its page here. Prices are the current from price and update on their own.