Cairns Car Hire Guide
Discover Australia with a Local Cairns Car Hire
Cairns has the largest number of independent car hire companies in Australia, so it's always recommended to shop around and book well in advance. Depending on your hotel's location, most Cairns day tours include return transfers in the ticket price - so you may not need a hire car for your entire holiday, but perhaps just for a day or two to reach special spots with fewer tourists. In some cases, the cost of a hire car can even work out cheaper than paying for day tour transfers.
Savings on Cairns car hire will depend on how many family and friends are travelling with you. For example, hire cars picked up at Cairns Airport incur an additional levy from the airport. If there are two of you travelling, it's often cheaper to catch a taxi to your hotel than take an airport bus. If there are four of you, picking up a hire car at Cairns Airport may work out cheaper.
Australian road rules mean you drive on the left side of the road. About a quarter of the world - including Australia, Japan, Pakistan, India, Malaysia, Singapore and the UK - drives on the left. If you're used to driving on the right, we suggest using a GPS or map-based audio instructions to help you get around Cairns easily.
Cairns has one major highway heading north and one heading south. From Cairns Airport, it's just a 10-minute drive to city hotels, or a 20-minute drive to Cairns beach hotels - it's very simple driving. To drive from Cairns city to spend a day at Palm Cove Beach, turn right from the city, drive 20 minutes along the two-lane highway, then turn right at the beach.
To drive to Kuranda, the village in the rainforest, it's a 35-minute drive from Cairns city up a small mountain covered in wonderful rainforest - keep to 60km/h on this road and drive carefully.
🚗 Self-Drive Tours to Save on Transfers
To save on Cairns day tour transfers, consider one of these self-drive options:
🎈 Hot Air Balloon Cairns self-drive tour
Meet at Atherton Tablelands in Mareeba, then visit Kuranda Village on the return drive to Cairns.
🏝️ Port Douglas self-drive tour
💧 Atherton Tablelands Waterfall Tour
If you'd like to hire a car for a day to drive to the mountains, fly in a Cairns hot air balloon, or walk in the rainforest or to the waterfalls, check what's included in any Cairns itinerary you've booked, consider how many are travelling with you, calculate whether it actually saves you money, and then have fun with a Cairns car hire during your holiday. To make it easy, here's a list of companies located in Cairns.