The Cotton Club
Cocktail lounge
Vintage glamour with velvet booths and art deco interiors, pouring creative cocktails, champagne and Espresso Martinis, with DJs and food from local produce.
📍 24 Shields Street, Cairns City QLD 4870
Live music: 7 bars
Swipe to see all 7 bars →
The Pier Bar
Waterfront bar
Waterfront views, cocktails, live music and DJs. Known for its Sunday sessions.
📍 The Pier, 1 Pier Point Road, Cairns City QLD 4870
The Conservatory Bar
Small bar
A small, relaxed bar with Queenslander-style design, a strong wine list, cocktails, grazing boards and live music.
📍 12-14 Lake Street, Cairns City QLD 4870
Gilligan's
Party venue
One of Cairns' biggest nightlife venues, with three bars (Main Bar, Beach Bar and Attic Bar), DJs and themed nights.
📍 57-89 Grafton Street, Cairns City QLD 4870
Rattle n Hum
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
P. J. O'Brien's
Irish pub
An Irish pub with Guinness on tap, Irish whiskey, Irish music gigs and daily meal specials.
📍 87 Lake Street, Cairns City
Elixir Music House
Music bar
A bar and music venue with live music across genres, craft beer and fried chicken.
📍 1/92 Abbott Street, Cairns City
Map: live music
Tap a pin for the bar. Numbers match the list.
Your questions
Which Cairns bars have live music?
Start with The Cotton Club, The Pier Bar, The Conservatory Bar, Gilligan's and Rattle n Hum. Our full list has 7 bars.
More Cairns bar guides
- Cocktail barsCocktail bars in Cairns: Three Wolves, Rocco by Crystalbrook, Flamingos Tiki Bar and Calyp
- Date nightDate night bars in Cairns: Three Wolves, Rocco by Crystalbrook, Whiskey & Wine and The Cot
- Rooftops and viewsRooftops and views bars in Cairns: Rocco by Crystalbrook, Salt House, Oak and Vine and The
- Fun bars for groupsFun bars for groups in Cairns: Flamingos Tiki Bar, Calypso Club, The Cotton Club and Pacha
- Whisky, gin and agaveWhisky, gin and agave bars in Cairns: Three Wolves, Flamingos Tiki Bar, Wolf Lane Distille
- Cocktails and foodCocktails and food bars in Cairns: Calypso Club, Pachamama, Salt House and Hemingway's Bre
- Pubs and beer barsPubs and beer bars in Cairns: Hemingway's Brewery, Rattle n Hum, P
- Wine barsWine bars in Cairns: Whiskey & Wine, The Fox Small Bar and The Conservatory Bar.
- Cocktail trailsA ready-made Cairns cocktail trail on foot: Abbott Street and the city centre and The Espl
Who wrote this guide
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
Want your bar in this guide?
Run a bar in Cairns that should be here? Get in touch at hello@cocktail-week.com and tell us about it.