Somewhere to eat as well as drink: the Cairns bars where the food is as good as the drinks.
Last checked 14 November 2026. No bar paid to be included.
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Poolside cocktail bar
A bright poolside bar at Crystalbrook Riley with palm trees, private cabanas, tropical cocktails and share plates. Try Tomorrow's Dust, made with cumquat gin, Aperol and apricot. Book a cabana for groups.
📍 131-141 The Esplanade, Cairns City QLD 4870
Latin American bar
Bold colours, lively music and tequila and mezcal cocktails with tropical twists on the classics, plus tacos, ceviche and share plates. Happy hour is the best-value time to go.
📍 163 Abbott Street, Cairns City QLD 4870
Waterfront bar
A sprawling waterfront bar over Marlin Marina with fire pits, palm trees and outdoor lounges, cocktails and premium wines, at its best at sunset.
📍 Marina Point, 6/2 Pier Point Road, Cairns City QLD 4870
Brewery
A brewery in a heritage-listed wharf building over Trinity Inlet, brewing on site with rotating beers and ciders.
📍 Wharf Street, Cairns City
Bar and grill
A bar and grill with sport, live music and an Outback Beer Garden under a retractable roof.
📍 65-67 The Esplanade, Cairns
Music bar
A bar and music venue with live music across genres, craft beer and fried chicken.
📍 1/92 Abbott Street, Cairns City
Pub
A decades-old Cairns institution with two bars, a tropical beer garden, big screens for sport and even a piano.
📍 6 Grove Street, Cairns North
Tap a pin for the bar. Numbers match the list.
Start with Calypso Club, Pachamama, Salt House, Hemingway's Brewery and Rattle n Hum. Our full list has 7 bars.
This guide is written by the team at M.AD Agency. We run Cocktail Week, the ten-day cocktail festival held town by town across the UK and Ireland. Now we're bringing it to Australia. Since 2022 we have taken it to more than 20 towns and cities and worked with hundreds of bars. We put this guide together from our own research and trusted local guides, including Australian Traveller and Queensland.com.
No bar paid to be included and nobody can buy a place. We check the guide regularly as bars open, change and close.
Cocktail Week in Australia
Run a bar in Cairns that should be here? Get in touch at hello@cocktail-week.com and tell us about it.
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