Kuranda Scenic Railway Day Trip from Cairns

Excellent trip, high above the trees.

We rode the Skyrail up and the train down. It was such a great day! The first stop was a walk through the rainforest, with a ranger, Ash, explaining how a rainforest works. He pointed out different trees, etc, and facts about them. Kuranda is an interesting place, lunch was delicious, so many choices. We purchased some gifts for people back home, walked a lot, and had a great time. There was a mix-up with our tickets, but the Skyrail staff, Karen, made calls for us and got it sorted. The train ride back was filled with amazing views. There’s a stop to see the other side of the waterfalls, and they explained the construction and history of the rails. Great day!

A very enjoyable day

Though the pickup was late because of no-shows we had a good time once we got to the skyrail. We went up to Kuranda on the skyrail. At the first stop of Red Peak we took a short free tour with Ranger Ash. He was very knowledgeable and we learnt and saw things we wouldn't have on our own. Barron Falls was an amazing sight. At the village we went to see the Koala Gardens though we felt it was a little bit of rip-off for the price (AUD 38 with the 10% discount for 2 tickets). We wanted to have lunch at the Frogs restaurant but they had closed at 2 pm! Ended up having lunch at a family run place with very friendly youngsters. A new place that opened in 2023. The picture of the sign is from this restaurant. The scenic train back was everything that it promises and the on-train audio is clear and understandable. The coach was waiting for us at the station. A very enjoyable day that. Highly recommend this.

Breathtaking views

The cable car ride up and railway were amazing, and the waterfalls were breathtaking. I would definitely do this again.

Kuranda tour

Very good arrangement of pickup and drop off. And Very scenic railway and skyway cable car journey to Kuranda hill station. But the butterfly park was not worth. Very over rated and costly but not utpo mark, waste of money. It's not included in trip .we did it on own.

Worth the trip, make sure you give yourself enough time for the bird sanctuary

Train and cable car was great. Scenic ride, be aware they have front and back facing seats. If you don't like travelling backwards make sure you let the booking office know, so they can allocate an appropriate seat.

An amazing day out great value for the money

The ride around the forest in the "duck" had the most interesting guide with a great knowledge of plants and the environment. the trip back on the sky rail, stopping at the waterfalls was amazing.

Simply Magnificent

Wow wow wow what a fantastic day. We were lucky enough to take the trip on the Kuranda Scenic Railway starting in Cairns. Everything about this trip was excellent from the star of the show The Train to the staff and commentary. The 2 hour journey just flew past with a different thing to see around each corner. Incredible views, magnificent waterfalls and extremely well commentary about the history of the railway. I would highly recommend spending a day on this train. Worth every cent.

Step back in time!

Loved the train! We were lucky it wasn't too busy so we had plenty of room. In peak season I would recommend Gold class. The scenery was spectacular. Kuranda was not my cup of tea, way too touristy. But absolutely would do the train again and the sky train on the way down.

Wonderful day on a heritage railway followed by great wildlife encounters

We had a great day enjoying gold class on the railway and then the wildlife package that included koalas, birds and butterflies. The on board service was excellent with lovely tea and tasty treats. We purchased at the koala place a chance to hold a koala and have our picture taken. It was delightful. The sky ride back was great with a second view of the magnificent waterfalls. The train stops at one side and the cable car at the other side. At a different stop we had a ranger give us a short tour of the rainforest. It was a great day and we highly recommend it.

Karunda trip with Viator is amazing

First of all The trip is well organised by viator. It was hassale free. Now we enjoyed karunda scenic railway with most amazing views, learning about its history.

A nice and relaxing day!!

The experience was lots of fun!! The weather didn’t cooperate very much- lots of rain!! Barron falls was amazing Both true train and sky rail were good

Disappointed

The rail was shutdown due to weather conditions. Apparently the wet season shuts the railway down this time of year. No warning until the day before.

Tour canceled

The tour operator canceled the tour. We did not find out until we called after waiting at the pick up location and no pickup.

The rainforest and Skyrail Kuranda was awesome

It was awesome going over the rainforest and then walking through it and the guides so helpful.. 💯 The Kuranda Train well it was so great the waterfalls and scenery was outstanding; We recommend this to all travelers coming to Cairns .. From Carole and my son Adrian..

Fabulous

It was the WWS trip with Greg it was absolutely fabulous he was informative knowledgeable & funny, would recommend this trip

Terrible communication/terrible experience

Tour operator failed to notify me that the tour was cancelled and in fact tried to upsell me the day before our scheduled tour to a "waterfall" tour. They failed to pick us up at the designated location in Cairns, and cancelled us without notice. We took an Uber to the Skytrain on our own and paid separately for the Skytrain. A very nice manager at the Skytrain called this tour operator for us and was told that they'd cancelled our tour - taht was the first we knew of it. The Kuranda experience itself was meh - not horrible, not terrible, not great either. BTW, I emailed the tour operator two days ago and they didn't even respond to my email. Do yourself a favor - rent a car for the day and drive up there on your own. You'll save money and won't have to deal with these folks.

Wonderful experience!

They planned this experience out really well! The train and skyrail were really unique/beautiful experiences, and there was plenty of time in the quaint town of Kuranda. Would definitely recommend. The train does get pretty hot though, so bring a fan!

Fantastic sky ride.. but not so great train ride.

Our suggestion is Skip the train ride and do both ways on the skyway. It is fantastic ride on the skyway. Much cheaper also. You will get to see the beautiful natural forests just beneath your cable car .. it is a wonderful experience. The train views are not great. No air conditioning. You have to share a small seat with 3 other passengers. The train is old fashioned and not comfortable at all. Sky ride was so much fun especially after the train. We enjoyed sky ride very much. It just feels like you’re flying.

Fabulous rides, great village! Wish we had more time to spend though.

I loved the train ride to Kuranda conducted by Down Under Tours - I never knew I would be going through the world's oldest rainforest. The train and Skyrail views are amazing and worth every dollar you pay for, and more. I only wish we could have had more time in Kuranda - you get around two and a half hours, which is insufficient to do everything you want. We had to forego the boat ride because of a lack of time. Overall, we loved the experience. The only thing that could have been better is for the tour operator to have been more communicative about our pick up timing.

Spectacular scenery!

Kuranda scenic railway was breathtaking. Beautiful scenery. The ride on the army duck through the rain forest was so much more than expected. It was good to see the animals and birds of course that is always fun,

Great Excursion

From start to finish, this excursion was fabulous. The only problem we encountered was the time difference for pick up at one of our stops was confusing. Our itinerary sheet, which was correct, vs Kuranda sign was different. We met lovely people…..go for it. It was well worth the price.

A must tourist trip if you are in Cairns

Train ride provided an amazing view of the mountains and the water falls Eventough we had banch seating, it was comfortable and enjoyable. The stops on the way provided opportunity to take pictures. The village experience was also good.

Wonderful trip through the rainforest.

The train ride up to Kuranda was beautiful. The guide on the train did a great job explaining the history of the railway and pointing out interesting sights along the way. We were given a few minutes to stretch and view Barron Falls on the way up. Walked around town for a few minutes and then visited the Rainforestation for a duck tour. The skyrail included two stops on the way back down. One gave another great view of Barron Falls. Our tour included bus transfer to and from the stations.

Disappointing

While the train ride and cable car were excellent, did i really have to pay so much for what was essentially a pick up from Cairns CBD to the railway station, and back? It may be better if you can yourself buy tickets for the train and cable car. They charged a bomb for almost nothing! You anyway have to pay to get into the butterfly park or koalas or birds, which are essentially just zoos. Will not recommend this. Very disappointed.

NOT AS ADVERTISED!

This was a very disappointing and frustrating experience. The scenic rail trip and cable car trip up and down from Kuranda were good but that was about the only thing. I very regrettably chose the rainforestation package. We had very little time in the village of Kuranda due to having to get the shuttle bus to Rainforestation meaning I hardly got to see anything in the village. Then we got the shuttle bus to Rainforestation which is ultimately a zoo, which is not what it was described as on this website and definitely not what I wanted to see. We had very little time to even go around the zoo that I didn’t get to see half the animals (not an exaggeration) before the army duck tour which was the worst part of this trip. It was a 45min trip around the rainforest where the guide talked about trees and plants, not a single bit of wildlife to be seen or discussed such as it was described on the website. We then got the shuttle bus back to get the cable car back down from Kuranda, well before the time we were scheduled for our cable car, meaning we could have easily had more time in Kuranda or the zoo if they would have allowed it. The cable car down was nice but very little to do at the stops along the way only take in a nice view and take a photo. We arrived back for our bus back to Cairns about a half hour before the bus arrived so once again, we could have had more time actually on the trip. Overall this trip was a total waste of money and time! I would recommend booking the rail and cable car trips yourself and just making a day of it yourselves on your own schedule and not opting for this scam of a day tour. I will be requesting a refund!

Very beautiful !!

The skayrail is amazing !! Beautiful views and great stops. You can look at the inspiration that they took for the avatar movie !! It such a sight to see. The kuranda village is amazing ! Many shops and markets for anyone that loves retail therapy and the train back has some nice views aswell

Great shuttle tour!

Michael was a great guide, was very friendly and had great knowledge of the area and its history. If looking for a tour of Karanda definitely book the shuttle tour with Michael. Very quick and excellent communication about bus pickups, tickets and times. Would do this again.

An Interesting Day

The Sky Rail was great and each stop had interesting information. Kuranda itself was a bit disappointing as although it offered a variety of refreshments other shops were just boring tourist stuff. A bit sad. However the train trip back was excellent with a great commentary for all English speaking visitors. A treat although expensive for families.

Fun Day

Such beautiful views and a nice relaxing comfortable train ride to fun village. We enjoyed the birds, butterflies and koalas.

Fun day for all ages

It was a fun day for our family with a three year old. Picked up from hotel to the railway station. Our children were very excited to be on the train while went through many tunnels and bridges. Kids also liked the army duck ride also the skyrail back. We would like to recommend these activities, we had love of fun and took many nice photos alone the way.

Great Tour!!!

Very enjoyable way to see the rainforest by rail & sky!!! We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves on this tour & we would recommend it to everyone!

Rail& sky rail trip

had a great trip on the train thanx to the onboard crew & drivers for the wonderful trip up yo Kuranda onboard the 1770 locomotive that pulled our train and the onboard commentary was good and very helpful hearing about the places we passed through

The old railway which is...

The old railway which is really good experience and to know the history how it was built and the sneezy of the rainforest is beautiful

The Army Duck tour:...

The Army Duck tour: informative and entertaining. Not often one have the opportunity to dit in a vehicle from the 1940s.

Great tour, great staff!

The tour and experience were great, but the best part of it for me was Paul the one-armed bus driver. Dude is an absolute legend! Great conversation en route to the rain forest.

Perfect way to spend the day

Wonderful trip! Loved winding up the mountain at a relaxed pace. Beautiful day trip! The trip was well organized and the staff were very attentive, making sure we were enjoying ourselves.

Gorgeous day trip to the mountains!

Gorgeous day trip with beautiful views!! Absolutely stunning! The train is lovely and you gently rock your way up the mountain stopping for sights. I took the skyrail down which also was absolutely beautiful! Highly recommend this tour!

Fantastic day

Breathtaking skyrail....amazing views of coast and rainforest. Very interesting facts from the rangers about the rai forest. Kuranda village was lovely...lots of shops, places to eat and places of interest. The train ride was also amazing with the waterfalls and rai forest....just loved everything

Glad I did it

The spectacular scenery, the experience of the sky rail and learning the history of those brave people who built the railway

Best Australia tour

Great travels . Great tour arrangements. Price is better than local prices. Easy to find best local tour. Enjoy the travels this time.

Top day

Luv the train staff very helpful great day out thank you 😊 😀 great views of Cairns rain forests would higher recommend just go a head and do it

Awesome train ride

Lovely train ride steeped in history. Wonderful scenery. I would have preferred the gold class ticket with comfy seats but sadly booked up. I have to be honest the Sky Cable and the Scenic Railway were so much better than Kuranda itself. Slightly underwhelming but the travel was speculator there and back.

Very educational journey for the kids to learn how hard the last generation had done

We were lucky to be booked at the very last carriage of the train. It’s the best position to see the turns of the train

Kuranda is an awful,...

Kuranda is an awful, Americanized tourist trap. There is no cultural indigenous experience to be had there. All the animal “sanctuary” places are small cramped depressing zoos. Please don’t give them your money. The train and sky rail are fine.

A very nice tour if all goes well.

We enjoyed learning about and experiencing the incredible ride on the railway and seeing Kuranda, and the Skyway ride was amazing, but there was a 30 min. delay at the station due to some problem on the railway. They were “sorry for the inconvenience” but it really but a dent in our already very limited time in Kuranda. I know Viator had no control over this, and hopefully it was an anomaly, but we were not happy about it.

Spectacular vistas and great day

Our Grand Dad was the assistant Conductor of the Kuranda Railway Station when he was just 17 yrs old Many years ago so it was a treat to travel this way. The terrain was spectacular both on the train ride and the Sky Railway on the way down. Be sure to explore the stops they are both worth the time!! The Village of Kuranda has plenty to see and do. We needed more time to see it all And shop a little!

Fabulous

The day was great. Very informative train ride. The view from the skyrail was fantastic. Staff were friendly and helpful. Can have coffee and a bite to eat at Cafe.

Family perfect!

Great day out for the family, even when it rains. Informative Ranger enroute on cable car and lots of information on the train coming home

Kuranda

Nice trip , no large group you can explore independently, get Skyrail app for commentary. Train ride is interesting. Lots to see in Kuranda and sanctuary

Great Kuranda trip

Loved the journey we upgraded to Gold class and the waitress in the carriage was excellent. Loved everything we did