Cairns nightlife guide: where to go after dark

Cairns' nightlife serves a visitor population that extends from the international backpacker (the largest per-capita backpacker market in Australia by accommodation ratio) to the diving and touring professional to the mining and construction worker on R&R from remote FNQ sites, creating a night economy more diverse than the city's permanent population alone would generate.

Gilligans Backpacker Hotel and Resort — the Grafton Street backpacker complex with the pool bar, the multiple entertainment spaces, and the free bus to venues provides the entry point for Cairns' nightlife for the backpacker and budget traveller market. The pool party events and the live DJ nights are the most attended nightlife events in Cairns by total patron numbers.

The Conservatory Bar, Abbott Street — the heritage building cocktail bar on Abbott Street provides the premium drinking experience above the backpacker end of the Cairns nightlife market, with the craft cocktails, the wine list, and the botanical garden interior design that create the most sophisticated bar environment in the city.

The Woolshed — the Shields Street institution has been the most reliably attended pub and nightclub for working holiday makers in Cairns for more than two decades, with the Thursday backpacker nights and the outdoor beer garden that the tropical climate makes usable year-round creating the social hub for the transient population that passes through Cairns on the east coast circuit.

Tanks Arts Centre evening events — the WWII fuel tanks converted to event venues provide the most atmospheric Cairns nightlife setting for the music festival events, the film screenings, and the cultural performances that the Tanks programme offers as the sophisticated alternative to the Abbott Street and Shields Street pub circuit.

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