cairns beaches

• DIRECTORY: cairns beaches
• yorkeys knob
• trinity beach
• kewarra & clifton beaches
• palm cove beach
• ellis beach & buchans point
• port douglas & mossman beaches
• beaches south of cairns
• mission beach
• tips for visiting cairns beaches

The jewels in the crown of the Cairns coast are the great beaches to the north and south of Cairns city. With a spectacular backdrop of rainforest-clad mountains, the Cairns region’s beaches are a picturesque destination.

Whether you want to pitch your tent where you can watch the sun rise over the Coral Sea, sip champagne from a spa on the water’s edge or take a dip at a deserted beach, there’s a stretch of sand perfect for you.

The Cairns Northern Beaches stretch for 26km from residential Machans and Holloways beaches just north of the Barron River to secluded Ellis Beach.

yorkeys knob

Yorkeys Knob is home to a marina, golf course and Yorkeys Knob Boating Club and has a range of accommodation options close to the beach. There is also a large resident community with short-term rentals available but booking is definitely advised.

trinity beach

Trinity Beach has become a well-known self-drive destination, particularly with families, and has a range of holiday apartments near or on the beach, a hotel, restaurants and sporting facilities.

Back from the beach is a large residential community with a shopping centre, primary school, various sporting grounds and even a skate park. Public transport to and from Cairns city as well as to the large shopping centre at Smithfield is easily accessible.

kewarra & clifton beaches

Kewarra and Clifton beaches are ideal for visitors seeking a quieter pace with a resort at Kewarra and apartments at Clifton.

Kewarra Beach is also a residential area with a large number of homes and a major private primary school. There is a small shopping centre and buses run into the city, to the other beaches and also to the large shopping centre at Smithfield.

Clifton Beach is another residential area with major apartment development popping up recently, a shopping centre and a number of restaurants.

Between Kewarra and Clifton beaches is the Paradise Palms Golf Course with its large clubhouse, swimming pool and gated community. The facility is undergoing some development which will see holiday accommodation and apartments added to the site.

One of Cairns’s major attractions is the luxury resort beach of Palm Cove. With major five-star resorts, holiday accommodation and a golf course, this is some of the most expensive real estate in the Cairns region.

palm cove

Palm Cove is becoming known as the spa centre of Australia with many of the luxury beachfront resorts including spas on their premises.

Award-winning restaurants and boutique shops line the village’s esplanade which is shaded by ancient melaleucas and palm trees. Apartments and a beachside caravan park ensure a range of accommodation options.

A number of Cairns reef trips can be picked up from the Palm Cove jetty and if you have money to burn, you can hire the Double Island resort just off the coast for about $10,000 per night.

ellis beach & buchans point

The next Cairns beach along, about five minutes’ drive north of Palm Cove, is Ellis Beach which is popular for its wide, sandy beach, the Ellis Beach Bar and Grill and its surf lifesaving club. The club celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2007, coinciding with 100 years of Surf Life Saving in Australia.

There is little accommodation available apart from the caravan park, but this offers camping, caravan sites and beach cabins. The Ellis Beach Bar & Grill is home to live music on the weekends and great deals during the week.

At the southern end of Ellis Beach is Buchans Point, a popular (unofficial) “clothes optional” beach. As you travel north along the Cook Highway, you’ll see the carpark on the beach side of the road between Palm Cove and Ellis Beach. It is then just a short walk south to the beautiful sandy beach backed by cliffs and the highway.

It’s a small, protected beach popular with locals, interstate visitors, The Cairns Sunboys (a nude social group for gay men) and the Barrier Reef Sun Club.

Although Buchans Beach has been recognised as a nude beach since the 1950s, remember that nude sunbathing is illegal in Queensland; a recent move to legalise it was blocked by the State Government.

From Ellis Beach, the Captain Cook Highway winds along a breathtaking coastal range north towards Port Douglas and Mossman.

port douglas & mossman beaches

Port Douglas’ Four Mile Beach boasts a spectacular stretch of sand and fronts the Sheraton Mirage Resort, its golf course and a large public reserve.

The village of Port, as it is known, is a popular tourist resort with a number of top hotels, resorts and longer-term accommodation. It’s been home to a couple of big budget Hollywood films, the latest a WWII production from Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg, as well as visiting celebrities like former US president Bill Clinton, singer Pink and Australian pop royalty, Kylie Minogue.

To the north of Port Douglas are the pretty beachside suburbs of Newell and Wonga Beach offering accommodation options ranging from caravan parks to luxurious private homes.