cairns walking tours
The Cairns region is home to wonderful walking tours and tracks through National Parks.
Although you can easily grab a map of the World-Heritage National Parks in the Cairns region, there are a number of companies that organise excellent walks and hikes through pristine landscape.
Many of these tours are combined with 4WD tours to outlying areas to places that are well off the beaten track.
Accompanied by local guides, these walking tours are worth the investment for a fantastic understanding of the environment and often the history of the people who have lived there.
Specialist tours include Aboriginal family groups who can explain the “dreaming” stories of a particular area as well as those designed for bird-watchers and other enthusiasts. A number of tours take place at night where visitors can see the local wildlife in their natural habitat.
tips for walking in cairns
There’s a walking tour that will suit most levels of fitness or lack thereof.
Most walks are acceptable for children over six years old but others are more difficult. Check with the operators on the difficulty of a particular tour.
Generally these tours are not acceptable for those with mobility issues, but check in advance.
Remember to wear stout walking shoes, a hat and sunscreen. It’s worth taking your own water as well.
Wear long pants despite the heat as some flora can be painful if you rub up against it.
cairns walking tracks
One of the best ways to experience the environment of the Cairns region is to get out there and walk the trails.
There are a number of short and easily reached walking tracks in the Cairns region, just five minutes from the city you can take a hike up Mt Whitfield’s Red Arrow or Blue Arrow tracks in Edge Hill.
Just walking around the hill village of Kuranda at the top of the Kuranda Range north of Cairns will get your blood pumping, as will the gentle walks around the Atherton Tableland’s national parks.
But if you are a keen bushwalker, someone who wants the challenge of a 6km hike for example, then you should check out some of the great major hikes in the Cairns region.
Below you’ll find just some of the “must do” walks the area has to offer.
The majority will involve some driving to get visitors to the start point of the hikes.
Cairns has a large number of car hire companies that offer everything from luxury 4WDs and campervans to cheap “older cars” for hire.
When walking, remember to take a hat, sunscreen, water and snacks and wear decent hiking shoes or boots, especially for the longer walks. Also make sure that someone is aware of where you are going and how long you’re planning to be away.
It is very easy to get lost in unfamiliar territory. Just last year three bushwalkers were lost in the forest at the base of Walsh’s Pyramid at Gordonvale, south of Cairns.
Aged in their 20s, the man and two women became disoriented and finally called police on a mobile phone. The trio were told to stay where they were overnight as it would be too dangerous for them to walk out. The following day they were rescued by police.
The trio suffered few ill-effects as they had packed enough food and water to last overnight and the weather was fairly mild.
Visitors who do become lost rarely come to grief in the Cairns region but it has been known to happen. It’s always safer to be prepared.
>> For some of the great bushwalks to be experienced in and around the Cairns region go to our Walking Tracks section
Cairns walking tours Directory
Aboriginal Cultural Tours & Attractions
20 Daintree Rd
Daintree
Daintree Discovery Centre
440 Tulip Oak Rd
Cow Bay
P: 61 7 4098 9171
Gary's Safaris
12 Wilson St
Mossman
P: 61 7 4098 2699
Jungle Tours & Trekking
P: 61 7 4041 9440 (24hrs)
Mason's Tours
CMA 4
Cape Tribulation
P: 61 7 4098 0070
Personal Adventures
PO Box 1111N
North Cairns
P: 61 7 4036 2484
Tranquility Tours
Upper Daintree Rd
Daintree
P: 61 7 4098 6000
Wilderness Challenge
PO Box 254
Cairns
P: 61 7 4035 4488
Wooroonooran Safaris
PO Box 2670
Cairns
P: 61 7 4051 5512
