The Best Walks Near Cairns: Daintree, Atherton Tablelands and the Cape Tribulation Rainforest

Cairns is uniquely positioned among Australian cities for walking: the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area (the world's oldest tropical rainforest, continuously forested for 135 million years) wraps around the city to the north and west, and the Great Barrier Reef lies 90 minutes to the east. The Daintree Rainforest, the Atherton Tablelands, and the Cape Tribulation section of the rainforest provide walking environments that have no equivalent elsewhere in Australia: ancient tropical rainforest that predates the Great Barrier Reef by 100 million years, with remarkable biodiversity including species found nowhere else on earth.

Daintree Rainforest and Cape Tribulation — the Daintree National Park (110km north of Cairns via the Daintree Ferry) provides outstanding short and multi-day walking in the world's oldest tropical rainforest. The Marrdja Boardwalk (1.2km, graded easy) at Cape Tribulation provides excellent rainforest and mangrove walking; the Emmagen Creek walk (2km return) provides rainforest creek access. Cape Tribulation itself (where the rainforest meets the reef) is one of the most extraordinary environments on earth and should be on every Australian's itinerary.

Mossman Gorge — 70km north of Cairns, the Mossman Gorge in the Daintree National Park provides outstanding fresh water swimming and rainforest walking (a shuttle bus from the Mossman Gorge Centre is required). The Mossman Gorge circuit walk (2.4km, graded easy) follows the Mossman River through spectacular tropical rainforest with swimming holes in the crystal-clear river.

Atherton Tablelands — the volcanic highland behind Cairns (80km west, accessible via the Gillies Highway) provides a completely different walking environment: the Millaa Millaa Falls (the finest waterfall on the Tablelands), the Curtain Fig Tree at Yungaburra (an ancient strangler fig with remarkable curtain root systems), and the Lake Barrine and Lake Eacham crater lake walks provide outstanding day walking in the cool Tablelands climate.

Red Arrow and Blue Arrow walks — the two short walking tracks from the Skyrail gondola base at Barron Gorge (accessible via the Kuranda Scenic Railway or the Skyrail gondola, both extraordinary experiences in themselves) provide rainforest walking above the Barron Gorge with spectacular valley views.

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