If you’re planning an Australian East Coast road trip, the drive from Brisbane to Cairns is going to be a highlight. If you plan the route through Queensland right, you’ll be able to see every aspect of this beautiful state and plenty more. To help you with that, we’ve put together an unforgettable Brisbane to Cairns road trip itinerary, including some off the beaten track locals-only locations that you never see on tourist routes.
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Things To Know Before You Drive From Brisbane To Cairns
This is one hefty road trip that equates to over 1678.km and will take upwards of 20 hours solid drive time to complete. It’s smart to have a good plan of where you’re going, what you want to do and how long you want to drive before each stop. Here are a few important things to think about before you set off:
Be Conscious Of Your Fuel
While there aren’t too many stretches along this route that I would class as ‘secluded’, it’s still wise to be conscious of your fuel stops.
The Aussies are good at keeping you up to date with when and where the next one will be, so more often than not all you need to do is keep your eye on the road signs.
Fuel will likely be your biggest expense besides tours/activities with the average price being around $1.96 per litre for unleaded and $1.89 for diesel. We often had a jerry can of fuel on our van roof, however, we only ever needed it when driving through the outback.
Carry Plenty Of Water
We were always amazed by how many people weren’t carrying some form of drinking water on their road trips. Whether you’re driving from Brisbane to Cairns in a car or camper van, drinking water is essential, especially if you’re travelling through summer.
Don’t Drive At Night
Between the kangaroos and wandering cows, driving at night in Australia is dangerous and not worth the risk when it can be avoided.
After working on the farms and having to drive at dusk/dawn, and having more than several near misses, I can promise you you’re almost guaranteed to hit something. Don’t risk it.
Best Time To Drive From Brisbane To Cairns
It’s worth remembering that Queensland is such a large and varied state in Australia. With the Southern half experiencing dryer, more pleasant weather year round and Northern Queensland – especially the Far North – experiencing only two seasons, wet and dry.
With that in mind, it’s best to try and plan your Brisbane to Cairns road trip through the dry season to avoid, or lower the chances of, extreme weather events once you hit Cairns.
The dry season runs from May to October and the wet season from November to April. We did our trip towards the end of the dry season and had fantastic weather for the majority of it.
The Ultimate Brisbane To Cairns Road Trip Itinerary
This drive from Brisbane to Cairns (and vice versa) will take you through some of the most amazing towns, national parks and hidden gems. Including several that we wouldn’t have discovered without local knowledge.
We’ve included drive times from/to either city, the best places to stay in each location as well as a few key things to do while you’re there. Ready? Let’s start planning your Brisbane to Cairns road trip!
Glass House Mountains
Time from Brisbane; 55 minutes // Time from Cairns; 18 hours
Just an hour from Brisbane you’ll stumble into The Glass House Mountains. These unique mountain ranges are made up of 11 peaks, all completely different to anything I’ve seen before and all have their own Dreamtime story in the Aboriginal culture.
Instead of heading straight to the main Glass House Mountain lookout point, we highly recommend visiting the Wild Horses Mountain Lookout instead.
We thought this gave us a much better view of all of the points together and it was a lot quieter too. It is, however, a bit of a walk/climb to get to it.
The Wild Horses Mountain Lookout is a fully functioning fire watch ‘tower’ that is also open to the public, so it makes sense that it’s up a fairly big hill. It’s not a long walk but it is steep, however, if you time it right you’ll get a beautiful view of the sunset from the top.
Noosa
Time from Brisbane; 2 hours // Time from Cairns: 17 hours 30 mins
The Sunshine Coast as a whole can’t be missed, but Noosa was our favourite part.
The most popular thing to do in Noosa is the board walk through Noosa National Park where there’s the opportunity to spot wild dolphins + koalas. You can also do boat tours of the Noosa Everglades here.
While we never braved the water once we passed Brisbane (because, ya know… sharks and all that), surfing and other water activities are really popular in Noosa.
If you don’t fancy any of that, simply relaxing on one of Noosa’s beaches is enough to make the most of this beautiful area between Brisbane and Cairns
Where To Stay In Noosa
If you wanted to make Noosa your first night’s stop from Brisbane, here are just a few of your options;
Of course there’s also camping available too, both on holiday parks & freedom camping locations. We used WikiCamps to find the best options.
Fraser Island
Time from Brisbane; 3 hours // Time from Cairns: 17 hours
Fraser Island will no doubt already be at the top of your list of things to do between Brisbane and Cairns, if it isn’t it should be.
A UNESCO world heritage site and home to Australia’s purest line of Dingo, Fraser Island is a real bucket list destination.
There’s plenty to do on this small tropical island so we’d definitely suggest you hire your own 4×4 (if you don’t own one already) and spend at least three days here.
One of the highlights for our trip was camping on the beach and of course seeing the famous SS Maheno change colour as the sunrises.
Other things to do at Fraser Island include visiting the inland lakes, hiking the sand dunes or relaxing in the champagne pools.
How To Get To Fraser Island:
You can get the ferry to Fraser Island either from Rainbow Beach or Hervey Bay. From Rainbow Beach, it takes 15 minutes and is $130 for a return ticket and $205 from Hervey Bay (prices rise through peak season)
It’s also worth noting you’ll need a camping and beach access permit, you can find updated details on that in our guide to planning a self-drive Fraser Island trip.
Where To Stay On Fraser Island
We chose to beach camp while on Fraser Island but that’s not your only option. There’s plenty of hostels, hotels, boutiques and AirBnB style accommodation across the island. Here’s just a few of the options;
Agnes Water + 1770
Time from Brisbane; 5 hours 30 minutes // Time from Cairns: 14 hours 30 mins
Agnes Water is THE place to learn how to surf (apparently). There are heaps of surf schools in the area and the peninsular town of 1770 has several secluded bays that offer a great space for beginners.
Like us and not a fan of surfing? Our favourite walk from 1770 was the butterfly walk and the paperbark trail, both are relatively short walks but they show off the area well.
On top of this you have the Kangaroo Sanctuary and the nearby Lady Musgrave Island that is a haven for snorkelers and divers.
Where To Stay In Agnes Water
Want to extend your relaxing beach session before you continue your drive from Brisbane to Cairns? Here’s are a few options
Cape Hillsborough
Time from Brisbane; 11 hours // Time from Cairns; 8 hours
I toyed with the idea of not including this location (more on why in a minute) but I figured it’s so well known, it’d be weird to not include it…
Cape Hillsborough is a great location for nature hikes and walks on some of the most unique beaches we’ve seen; here the sand literally looks like gold.
However, the most common reason people come to Cape Hillsborough, including us, is to see the kangaroos on the beach. You’ll have likely seen hundreds of photos from this place and their wild kangaroos enjoying the sand, but all isn’t as it seems.
What’s not commonly discussed about the Cape Hillsborough kangaroos, is that they’re essentially tame kangaroos and you have to pay to get a photo.
The campsite that backs onto the beach feeds the roos daily to keep them coming back, then charges tourists to access the beach during peak-roo times. Unless you stay at the campsite, of course, then it’s free.
Ethically this didn’t sit right with us so we chose to give it a miss. We’re not against ethical zoos, but feeding wildlife to make money from tourists? Hard pass. This is no different to baiting sharks for cage dives, something New Zealand made illegal a few years ago.
Airlie Beach
Time from Brisbane; 12 hours // Time from Cairns; 7 hours
Airlie Beach is the epitome of beach vacation in Queensland. With its shark-free lagoon allowing for safe swimming, ample hiking tracks, snorkelling day trips and easy access to the famous Whitsundays’ Whitehaven Beach, and the Great Barrier Reef, you might want to set aside a couple of days here during your drive from Brisbane to Cairns.
While we didn’t have the best experience at Airlie Beach, thanks to Dec's allergic reaction it’s still somewhere that’s an essential stop on every Brisbane to Cairns road trip.
Where To Stay In Airlie Beach
Townsville
Time from Brisbane; 15 hours // Time from Cairns; 4 hours
Townsville was our favourite stop on our drive from Brisbane to Cairns.
It’s a campers paradise with free parking, free camping, a free infinity pool looking out over the river and even free hot showers.
If that isn’t enough, it also has a beautiful botanical garden that’s perfect for escaping the heat then in the centre of the city is Castle Hill which gives you amazing views over the town and out towards Magnetic Island, which you can explore after a short ferry ride too!
It’s also the starting point for Queensland’s Far North, meaning from here the landscape changes dramatically from dry dusty fields to tropical rainforests.
Wallaman Falls
Time from Brisbane; 16 hours 50 minutes // Time from Cairns; 3 hours 50 minutes
Want to see Australia’s Tallest waterfall? This is it. Hidden within the Wet Tropics, Wallaman Falls is a little off the beaten track but that doesn’t mean it should be left off your Brisbane to Cairns road trip itinerary.
At 286m tall and a drop pool that’s at least 20m deep, it’s huge and definitely worth the mini detour.
Other things to do at Wallaman Falls include a 3.2km (return) scenic walk into the gorge, this walk winds you down a grade 3 track to the bottom of the gorge, giving you an alternative view of this mammoth waterfall.
How to get to Wallaman Falls;
From Townsville you need to head north to Ingham, from here Wallaman Falls is roughly 50 km inland.
The drive is an interesting one as it takes you through open cattle fields into tropical rainforest and up steep mountain roads. We have a whole guide to Wallaman Falls to help you plan your detour further!
Etty Bay
Time from Brisbane; 17.5 hours // Time from Cairns; 1.5 hours
Looking for wild Cassowary? forget Daintree Forest (well, don’t… it’s beautiful) or Mission Beach and head to Etty Bay instead.
Etty Bay is along the Cassowary Coast and you don’t have to be a genius to guess how it got its name.
You’re almost guaranteed to see Cassowary at Etty Bay, either on the beach or wandering in people’s gardens. In fact, locals think the numbers in this area are on the rise, whilst in other parts of the North they’re in decline.
That’s not the only reason to visit Etty Bay though, there’s beautiful beaches here and the water is netted so it’s one of the rare beaches you can actually swim at in the North, although we still didn’t risk it.
We had some of the best fish and chips here too so that in itself is a reason to stop here on your way to Cairns.
Eubenangee Swamp
Time from Brisbane; 17 hours 50 minutes // Times from Cairns; 1 hour
This is A gem we picked up from locals while working in the area and one part of me doesn’t want to share with you, but I think it’s one of the most unique stops on this road trip from Brisbane to Cairns, especially if you’re looking for wild crocodiles.
Eubenangee Swamp is famous to locals for being home to some of the biggest saltwater crocodiles in the area and it’s the sole reason we think you should visit.
The views from the lookout hill are just an added bonus. We spent most of our weekends here, picnicking and looking out for the big croc we’d managed to find on our first ever outing to the Eubenangee.
Once you find the carpark (Here’s a google pin to help you) follow the signs through the forest and out the other side – don’t be tempted to just stop at the river bank, while there might be some there the big fellas are almost always in the swamp.
Follow the path out the other side and up the hill behind the forest, once at the top you’ll see the swamp to the right as well as an amazing view over Mount Bartle Freire; the tallest mountain in Queensland.
Depending on the time of year will depend if it’s accessible or not and the best way to find out is to ask the locals; The Mirriwinni Hotel will always be our top recommendation for finding local knowledge.
Later in the wet season, the swamp gets so flooded that it isn’t safe to cross through the forest. Stay on the path and don’t be tempted to walk down to the water's edge, there are croc nests in the grass.
We tricked locals into thinking we’d gone for a swim before we knew there were crocs there and they just about died
Babinda Boulders
Time from Brisbane; 18 hours // Time from Cairns; 50 minutes
The last of our unmissable places to see between Brisbane and Cairns is Babinda Boulders.
They’re another rare safe swimming spot in the Far North, the water is cold clear and teeming with little curious fish.
The locals we worked with told us this used to be a hidden gem but over the last few years, it’s gotten a little busier.
Even so, when we went we were the only tourists there, the rest were local families enjoying their weekend.
How to get to Babinda Boulders;
It’s fairly easy to find the Babinda Boulders, as you approach the small town of Babinda you’ll see signs leading you through the town.
Follow the town’s little bendy road and you’ll soon find the car park. The Boulders swimming area is quite big so if you do find a few locals there, it won’t be hard to find yourself a quiet corner.
Sure there are heaps of other, more popular, places to visit and things to do between Brisbane and Cairns but I’m sure they’re already on your itinerary too. These were our highlights and stops that we think really shouldn’t be missed, especially Etty Bay. Have you travelled up Australia’s East Coast? Where were your favourites places to see between Brisbane and Cairns? Drop them in the comments so other’s can expand their road trip ideas!!
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