hotel in Cairns
 

Will be flying in to Cairns at night 19 days from now, leaving by car first thing the next morning. Are there any reasonable places to stay around the airport, since don't expect to linger there? If it is necessary to go into town for a hotel, does anyone have a hotel to recommend?

Do any of the hotels have regular shuttle service to/from the airport?

Any recommendations for a car rental in those parts?

Is the city name really pronounced with no hint of an "r" or is that the guidebook's attempt to imitate the locals' accent?

IIRC correctly there is no hotel of any kind adjacent to the airport. There are some hotels a few miles away that looked awfully tacky to me, but maybe they wouldn't look tacky to others. Those hotels didn't look like the kind that had airport shuttles, but I don't know that for a fact. If not, a taxi shouldn't be too outrageous.

Cars for all the standard rental chains are an easy walk from the terminal, so pick on price. I also seem to recall that cars picked up at the airport might be subject to an airport tax you pay on the entire rental on the order of 10% -- if true, it could be worth your while to pay for a cab into Cairns, stay there for the night, and pick up your car from a rental agency branch in town the next morning. Check both alternatives.


And yeah, to this furriner, the town name is really pronounced without a hint of the "r."

Taxi to the centre of Cairns is about $15.

I stayed last month at the Accor Sunshine Towers. Fairly basic hotel. Cost about $100.


Evan :->

If you need to rent a car anyway.. just pick it up from the airport..
Its a rather small place and I dont recall anything close to the airport
either.

I've used Hertz a couple of times.. and they were great!
(just watch the speed limits... when you drive)

You should be able to find something economical near the north part of the town.. closer to the airport. $100 sounds just about right.

There are no hotels at the airport. But the city is 10 minutes away and you can get there by cab, rental car and some hotels do have shuttles. Check with the hotel. As the cab fare is usually AUD$15 or less, its not generally worth worrying about. There are a couple of hotels within 5 minutes of the airport on the way into town. If you are heading off next morning by rental car, consider picking up one at the airport on arrival and taking it to the hotel. Al the majors have city and airport offices.

Whether there is an "r" pronounced in Cairns depends on where you come from. For some locals Australia does not even have an "l" in it! Try "cans" and you wont be far off. ^

I have stayed at the Hilton in Cairns several times. The location is central, and the service is excellent.

There are also some nice hostels there if you're not looking to pay a lot and want to meet people. Gilligan's is very nice and central to everything.