Kuranda Scenic Railway Day Trip from Cairns
Description
Experience the rainforest beauty of Tropical North Queensland on a scenic day trip from Cairns. Enjoy a journey on the historic Kuranda Scenic Railway and a ride on the Skyrail Rainforest Cableway. You’ll have free time in the village of Kuranda to browse its markets, have lunch or visit wildlife attractions like Birdworld or Kuranda Koala Gardens or choose the option including Rainforestation Nature Park. (Food, drinks and activities in Kuranda are at your own expense)
Tour Options
Itinerary
The largest butterfly flight aviary & exhibit in Australia. Situated next to the Kuranda Markets, it is home to over 1500 tropical butterflies. Wander through the aviary's lush tropical gardens and breeding laboratory to learn more about a butterfly's life cycle & behaviour.
Glide over and through the canopy of the ancient rainforest and marvel at the spectacular views from Skyrail Rainforest Cableway. There are two stops along this gondola journey where you can alight and explore the rainforest from within.
Choose the Rainforestation Package if you would like to visit this wonderful nature park. See Australian wildlife in their wildlife park, and take an amphibious Army Duck tour through the rainforest. PLEASE NOTE: NO free time in Kuranda if this option is selected
Take a historic journey on the Kuranda Scenic Rail, travelling through the rainforest and along the mountainside of Barron Gorge.
Visit this wonderful Wildlife park to see iconic Australia wildlife. Feed and pat the tame wallabies and kangaroos. Discover wombats, freshwater crocodiles, lizards, snakes and much more! Koala photos are also available.
See the might Barron Falls from both the Skyrail Rainforest Cableway Edge Lookout, and at a stop on your journey on the Kuranda Scenic Rail.
See the might Barron Falls from both the Skyrail Rainforest Cableway Edge Lookout, and at a stop on your journey on the Kuranda Scenic Rail.
Immerse yourself in this wonderful free flying bird exhibit. See and enjoy the company of hundreds of rare and beautiful exotic and Australia native species in the lush tropically landscaped setting.
Down Under Tours is Tropical North Queensland’s leading day tour operator with an extensive range of tour options to suit any taste. We love to share the beauty of Tropical North Queensland and the ancient rainforest with our passengers.
Highlights
What's included
Pickup Locations & Times
Pickup is available from selected locations in Cairns - please contact the operator after booking to confirm your pickup location and time.
Traveller Ratings
Important Information
- Infants are required to sit on an adult’s lap
- Infants and small children can ride in a pram or stroller
- Suitable for all physical fitness levels
- Please advise any specific dietary requirements at time of booking
Reviews(1,140)
Very enjoyable experience. The train trip up was very enjoyable and interesting to learn how the track was built.
Currently the cable car is not working, so we needed to bus to the top. There is a lot to do and see in Kuranda. The train ride back was very scenic.
Nice ride, history of railroad interesting, but not enough sites to see. Mostly just greenery. Kuranda is cute, very touristy town. Walking paths good for getting steps in, but not much to see.
This was great day out. I really enjoyed the train trips. We did gold class on the way back which was very relaxing. We didn’t get to do the sky rail as it was in for maintenance
Perfect day outside the city.
My family of 6 adults and 1 infant travelled on this train in August. We caught the train from Freshwater station and returned here later in the day. Which was great as we could just park the car there. The Skyrail wasn’t working, so we had to get the train up and back. Which proved a long day as we had to wait 4 hours for the return journey. And there is only so much to see and do in Karunda! The train trip was great……very scenic with great views back over towards Cairns and waterfall along the way. The train was very comfortable with plenty of room. We had a booth to ourselves. We booked direct with the company who were very helpful. I would highly recommend it, but not when the sky rail is not operating!
We had to get the coach up to Kuranda as the sky rail wasn’t running. The coach ride was ok but not brilliant. One section of shops in !Uganda are very ‘hippie’ and there is some tat. Some shops on the main st are more genuine especially the art work. It is a small tourist catchment. The koala and bird tourist attractions were ok. Each easily completed in 30 mins. The train journey back down is good. We couldn’t get a view so stood for the journey between the carriages, much better!
Great day out. Very enjoyable
Let’s start the skyrail was not opened when we visited so my review is on the rest of the activity. The koala park was nice $25 we were in there like 30 mins . Markets are just a waste of time just junky stuff . Whole place just looks old could do with a revamp. Train ride was nice and comfortable BUT if you don’t get a window seat you miss a lot as the people sitting there are taking photos so you really can’t get in to look out so then it becomes just a train ride .
Dear Wendy_C, Great to hear that overall, you enjoyed your tour to Kuranda despite the let down in your eyes of the Kuranda markets. Thank you Kind regards Nicolas Vernerey Operations Manager
To be honest, all you see is few waterfalls and forest you also go thru 15 tunnels, the little village was cute with its markets and nick knacks. If you want to see and do everything at the village you need more than one day. Kuranda River cruise was the best highlight for me, we learnt a lot from the guide saw small crocodiles' sea snake, turtles but be mindful there is a lot of stairs to get to the wharf not easy for some and a lot of stairs and hilly. A big disappointment was the sky rail is upgrading so you had to catch the train back or a bus, but they leave too early to see everything.
Dear newtravelSydney, Thank you for taking the time to leave a review. I hope you enjoyed the historical commentary also during your Kuranda Scenic Rail journey. The time in Kuranda is all about personal preferences - I hear more time is better but also less time would have been fine... The river cruise is definitely worth it and glad you enjoyed it. Thank you again. Kind regards Nicolas Vernerey Operations Manager
