Your guide to luxurious stays in Cairns

With its trio of sustainable hotels and plethora of wining and dining options, Crystalbrook Collection is helping revitalise this perennially popular holiday spot.

Thanks in large part to this revitalisation, Cairns also came in at no.4 on your list of Top 50 Aussie Towns.

Find the complete list of the Top 50 Aussie Towns here.

The first taste of Crystalbrook

Crystalbrook Flynn is the fun one of the bunch: a social butterfly of a five-star hotel. True to form, there’s a giant chocolate freckle waiting to welcome me when I check into my Sea View Suite, where splashes of hot pink enliven a luxe coastal palette of sea greens and sand golds and a generous balcony places me right on the Cairns Esplanade with unbroken views of the Coral Sea.

fountain pool adjacent to the sea — Soak up panoramic sea views.

I soak in the tourism town’s sunshine and instant holiday vibes and, having inadvertently skipped both breakfast and lunch, devour the sweet treat with abandon. The modus operandi of Crystalbrook Collection is responsible luxury, and I feel similarly guilt-free about everything I do here.

chic interior of the Flynn bedroom — Have a luxurious stay at Crystalbrook Flynn. (Image: Mark Lane)

From a signature treatment at the Eléme Day Spa (I’m sold on the ‘risqué’ and lymph-stimulating Bust and Booty massage; when in Cairns, right?), which is followed swiftly by a conscious cocktail (a bio-fermented Recharge perhaps, activated with B vitamins and optionally spiked with local Wolf Lane Davidson Plum gin?), everything here – and in all Crystalbrook properties – is designed to be heavy on the indulgence and easy on the conscience.

And while the note scrawled on my room’s mirror – ‘Hey there wild child’ – appears as if written in lipstick, there’s no lip service here. Since its inception in 2018, Crystalbrook Collection has been doing things differently, with sustainability in mind, in the Australian hospitality space.

Crystalbrook’s eco-friendly accommodation offering

Operating an environment free of single-use plastic is second nature; Crystalbrook has saved almost 1.5 million plastic bottles from ending up in landfills and almost 4 million plastic amenity bottles.

It has gone a step further still in becoming the first hospitality group in Australia to achieve 100 per cent waste-free bathrooms, with all amenities either biodegradable or recyclable including toothbrushes made from sugarcane and corn starch.

room with panoramic sea views — Crystalbrook accommodation features cosy rooms with panoramic sea views. (Image: Mark Lane)

In-room coffee capsules are zero-waste thanks to a partnership with TerraCycle , key cards are made from recycled wood, coathangers from recycled cardboard and the use of technology, such as in-room iPads, has removed an estimated 90 per cent of the paper found in a typical five-star hotel room.

And with its Climate Calories initiative – which sees menu items labelled to indicate everything from locally sourced to ethical meats to minimised waste and culturally considered – in place across all 14 restaurants and bars in the collection, patrons can drink and dine in the knowledge they are mitigating their environmental impact.

meal at the Rocco Rooftop bar — Enjoy a sumptuous meal as you explore Cairns. (Image: Alexandra Gow)

The Crystalbrook Collection difference

First came Crystalbrook Riley, a five-star luxury resort in Cairns with a linger-worthy pool and show-stopping rooftop cocktail bar, Rocco, crowning a new landmark tower – its marine hues designed to reflect the landscape – unlike anything else on the city skyline.

bartender pouring a drink at Rocco — Enjoy your choice of signature cocktail at Rocco. (Image: Alexandra Gow)

Since then, the portfolio has expanded to include properties similarly sympathetic to their location (and each with a distinct personality expressed by its gender-neutral name) in Byron Bay, Brisbane, Newcastle and Sydney.

But its subsequent openings in Cairns – Crystalbrook Bailey in 2019 and Crystalbrook Flynn in 2020 – have helped shape the renaissance of one of Australia’s top tourism towns. With no international tourists pouring into Cairns, the pandemic proved a soft launch for this trio of sibling hotels, which set about quietly but radically transforming the face of tourism in the Tropical North Queensland hub.

wine with snack platter at Rocco Rooftop bar in Cairns — Have some wine at the Rocco rooftop bar. (Image: Alexandra Gow)

In a few short years, Crystalbrook has added not only 912 rooms, but also eight drinking and dining options to the city, which – having quickly become staples on the scene – are as much about appealing to locals as they are visitors.

On night one my travel companions and I dine in warm, convivial surrounds on site at Flynn’s Italian. The next night we attend the opening of an art exhibition at Crystalbrook Bailey , the creative one of the bunch, before heading to its steakhouse CC’s Bar & Grill , where diners tuck into beef farmed at the group’s own station, three hours west in the Atherton Tablelands .

flavourful meal — Savour a fusion of flavours in Cairns.

On our last night it’s a fresh, flavoursome al fresco meal of Asian-fusion cuisine on the esplanade at Crystalbrook Riley’s Paper Crane. Back at Crystalbrook Flynn, the market-style food and drinks hub Boardwalk Social opens right onto Cairns Esplanade and perfectly showcases the porous, centre-of-the-action attitude of the hotel.

The new Reef Magic pontoon

So too the hospitality group’s outward-looking ambition to be part of the city’s fabric. It aligns with the local council’s $28 million redevelopment of the esplanade, which has landed it with a new-look dining precinct, vertical gardens, a revamped lagoon area and more.

palm trees in Cairns — Lounge on the beach underneath tall palm trees.

The city’s many tourism operators have also used the pause to reinvent themselves. We amble down to Cairns Marina one bright morning and skip over the seas to Moore Reef, where the Reef Magic pontoon is newly moored.

Over the next five hours we explore this watery world at leisure. We check out the underwater observatory and scientific lab set up for reef research and projects, take a ride in a glass-bottomed boat to hear Dreamtime Creation stories of the Great Barrier Reef, snorkel the sheltered coral lagoon, where I spot not one but two sea turtles, and follow a marine biologist on a guided snorkel safari.

Owned by Australian-owned Experience Co Limited (EXP) , trips out to the Reef Magic pontoon are steered by local experts passionate about reef conservation including marine biologists and Indigenous guides. Designed over three levels and 100 square metres to stringent standards, it is powered using sustainable energy and carries an Advanced Eco Accreditation.

The Mandingalbay Ancient Indigenous Tours

The next day, we glide across Trinity Inlet and through the mangroves to the heart of traditional Crocodile Country to join a new Indigenous-owned walking tour. Although it has catered to the group market since 2015, Mandingalbay Ancient Indigenous Tours is now offering tours to independent travellers and its Hands On Country tour is an enriching journey through forest that doubles as a 50,000-year-old supermarket, hardware store and pharmacy and continues to provide food and resources for the Mandingalbay Yidinji people.

The best way to end the day

We’re joined on the walk by a well-travelled couple from Victoria who, as the tour ends and we arrive back in Cairns, say they’re off to spend the afternoon by the pool at Crystalbrook Riley . A day well spent. They’re among a growing trend of domestic tourists who are choosing to linger longer in a place so often used as a launching pad for other parts of Queensland’s hot tropics. And the offering is maturing to meet them with increased options for eating, sleeping and playing responsibly and a healthy splash of luxury thrown in.

Later, I sit on my balcony at Crystalbrook Flynn overlooking the esplanade and see it buzzing with life. Families splash in the lagoon or spread out on its grassy flanks. A cargo ship pulls out of the port. Swallows dart and waders pick at the mudflats on the foreshore. Cairns has emerged from its period of enforced hibernation looking brighter than ever. But for all its changes, there is so much here that is timeless.

Explore more of Cairns in our travel guide or find out which other towns made it into your Top 50.

Exploring the world’s largest sand island starts with the perfect K’gari homebase.

The morning light is still soft, but it’s already a perfect sunny day. We left our K’gari homebase at Kingfisher Bay Resort with our guide, Peter Meyer, at 9 am to make the most of our time to explore all that the world’s largest sand island holds. The size of K’gari is hard to grasp until you arrive here. This is no sandbar. Stretching 120 kilometres, unique lakes, mangrove systems, rainforest, 75 Miles of beach, historic shipwrecks, small townships and even one of Queensland’s best bakeries are all hidden within its bounds.

But first, one of the island’s most iconic sights: the pure silica sand and crystal clear waters of Lake McKenzie.

Laying eyes on it for the first time, I’m finally able to confirm that the photos don’t lie. The sand is pure white, without the merest hint of yellow. The water fades from a light halo of aqua around the edges to a deeper, royal blue, the deeper it gets (not that it’s particularly deep, six metres at most). The surface remains surprisingly undisturbed, like a mirror.

Arriving with our guide before 10 am means that no one else is around when we get here. Which means we have the pleasure of breaking the smooth surface with our own ripples as we enter. As a self-confessed wimp with chilly water temperatures, my fears are quickly assuaged. Even in the morning, the water stays around 23 degrees – perfect for lazing about all day. But we have more sights to see.

Exploring K’gari

ariel of in lake mckenzie on k'gari fraser island — Relax in the warm waters of Lake McKenzie. (Image: Ayeisha Sheldon)

This was the Personalised 4WD tour offered by Kingfisher Bay Resort, and my absolute top pick of experiences. Over the course of the day, we had the freedom to create our own bespoke itinerary (plus a provided picnic lunch along the way), with an expert guide who had plenty of stories and local expertise to give context to what we were looking at. From the history of the SS Maheno shipwreck, which survived the First World War only to be washed ashore by a cyclone in 1935, to a detailed description of how an island made of sand could sustain such diverse flora.

If it’s your first time to K’gari, the Beauty Spots Tour is another great option. Departing daily from Kingfisher Bay Resort (you’ll start to notice a trend, as many of the tours do start and end here), an air-conditioned, 4WD bus takes guests to the island’s most iconic locations, including the best places to swim, like Lake McKenzie and Eli Creek. The latter offers a gentle current, perfect for riding with a blow-up tyre out towards the ocean.

The next day, for a look at a completely different side of K’gari, I joined one of Kingfisher Bay Resort’s Immersive Ranger-guided tours to kayak through the mangroves of Dundonga Creek. This long, snake-like stretch of creek winds its way inland from the ocean outlet we entered by, at times too narrow for three kayaks to be side-by-side. Small insects buzz from leaf to leaf, while birds call overhead. Occasional bubbles indicate we’ve passed some fish that call this place home.

kayak tour through the mangroves at k'gari island — Learn about the island’s mangroves from your Ranger. (Image: Reuben Nutt/ TEQ)

If kayaking isn’t for you – or if, like me, you simply want more – other ranger-led experiences include nature walks and a dedicated Junior Eco Ranger Program for kids ages five to 12 (these run every weekend, and daily over the peak December holidays). Just ask for a timetable of upcoming tours when you check in.

While during whale season, Hervey Bay Whale Watch & Charters operates tours from the hotel’s jetty to get up close to the famous Humpback Highway of Hervey Bay, from 7 November to 31 May, attention turns to the Aqua Oasis Cruise . Departing from the resort every Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday for resort guests, adventure along the island’s remote western coast, pointing out wildlife like dolphins, turtles, flying fish and eagles along the way.

The cruise drops anchor so guests can jump into the water using the boat’s equipment – from SUP boards to inflatable slides and jumping platforms. Then refuel with a provided lunch, of course.

Unwind at sunset

two people drinking cocktails at sunset bar, kingfisher bay resort — Unwind at the Sunset Bar. (Image: Sean Scott)

As much as days on K’gari can be filled with adventure, to me, the afternoons and evenings there are for unwinding. Sunsets on K’gari are absolutely unbelievable, with Kingfisher Bay on the west side being the best spot to catch the colours.

The Sunset Bar , located at the start of the resort’s jetty and overlooking the beach, is the ultimate location for sundowners. Let chill beats wash over you as you sip on cool wines, beers and cocktails in a relaxed, friendly vibe. Personally, a cheese board was also absolutely called for. As the sun sinks, the sand, sea and horizon turn a vibrant shade of orange, with the jetty casting a dramatic shadow across the water.

When the show is over, head back to the hotel for dinner at the Asian-fusion Dune restaurant, or the pub-style Sand + Wood. But if your appetite is still whetted for more lights and colours, the evening isn’t over yet.

Settle into the Illumina stage for Return to Sky, an immersive light and sound show leading viewers on a captivating journey through K’gari’s stories and landscapes.

Indulge and disconnect

woman setting up massage room at kingfisher bay resort Island Day Spa — Find bliss at Island Day Spa. (Image: Jessica Miocevich)

Of course, there is a type of traveller who knows that balance is important, day or night. While Kingfisher Bay Resort offers more than one pool for guests to spend all day lounging by (they’ll even serve you food and drinks while you do it), you’ll find me at the Island Day Spa.

The masseuses could match the magic hands of any big city spa, and I felt the warm welcome as I walked into the light, breezy reception. Choose from a range of botanical facials, beauty treatments and soothing massages using traditional techniques (obviously, I couldn’t go past a relaxing massage). All products used contain organic, native botanical ingredients with nutrient-rich plant extracts to soothe skin and mind. To really indulge, try out one of the packages, couples treatment or even a pre-wedding day offering.

Getting there

kingfisher bay resort 4wd tour driving passed ss maheno on k'gari island — The world of K’gari awaits. (Image: Jessica Miocevich)

Getting to K’gari is shockingly easy. Find daily flights into Hervey Bay from Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney. Kingfisher Bay Resort offers a shuttle bus between the airport, their headquarters in Hervey Bay and the ferry to take you to K’gari.

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