Let’s clear something up before anything else: we are not the government. Cairns Tourism is the unofficial tourism friend from Cairns, run by two people who call Cairns home, not a council department, not a state tourism body, and not affiliated with any official agency. If you need official visitor services, the region has excellent ones. If you want to know where locals actually swim, eat and take their visiting relatives, that’s us.
Who we are
We’re Trenton and James. We call Cairns home, and we spend a good chunk of the year travelling the rest of Queensland and Australia, which keeps us honest about how the far north stacks up. We write every guide ourselves, in our own voice, about the places we genuinely rate: the swimming holes, the beach villages, the Tablelands pie stops and the reef days worth your money. No content farms, no rewritten press releases.
How this site makes money
Some links on this site are affiliate links, clearly marked as bookings with our partners (like Viator). When you book through them, the operator pays us a small commission. You pay exactly the same price as booking direct with that partner, and the commission keeps the site running.
What we don’t do: nobody pays to appear in our guides, operators can’t buy a recommendation, and a commission never decides what we write. If a place is closed, dangerous or overrated, we say so, commission or not.
Our fact-check promise
Every guide is checked against primary sources before it’s published: official park services, operator websites and council notices. The far north changes fast (cyclones, closures, upgrades), so if you spot something out of date, tell us and we’ll fix it fast.
Want to contribute?
Got a story, a tip, a correction or a photo that deserves an audience? Head to our Submit a Story page. Locals and visitors both welcome.
