Mini Road Trips in Tropical North Queensland
2 October 2025Discover local specialties and hidden gems on a mini road trip through Tropical North Queensland with these one day wonders.
Ask anyone who’s gone on a family holiday and they’ll tell you the best memories are created outdoors.
With reef, rainforest, gourmet food trails, and geological wonders on your doorstep, Tropical North Queensland provides memorable moments in all directions.
1. Port Douglas to Daintree and Cape Tribulation
If you can tear yourself away from your book and beverage by the pool of your Port Douglas accommodation, there’s a day trip to Cape Tribulation with your name on it.
Break up your road trip with stops at signed lookouts, bays and beaches along the way – Mount Alexandra, Cow Bay, Thornton Beach and Myall Beach – before you reach the most iconic attraction, Cape Tribulation, where the rainforest meets the reef.
For tour ideas when you get there, step over to this guide.
2. Mission Beach to the Cardwell Spa Pool
Enjoy the best kind of blues at the Cardwell Spa Pool
When vanning is a way of life you don’t need to travel to Iceland to find an Insta-worthy blue pool, just south of Mission Beach you’ll find Queensland’s own version, the Cardwell Spa Pool.
To make a day out of it, start your adventure in Mission Beach before heading south via the wettest town in Queensland, Tully, for a photo stop with the giant gumboot that immortalises Tully’s title in fibreglass, or take a detour to the beautiful Murray Falls.
The Cardwell Spa Pool is the headliner of the Cardwell Forest Drive, which also features various scenic lookouts and the beautiful Attie Creek Falls. Coloured by nature, this swimming hole is a striking shade of blue that varies depending on water levels and rainfall.
3. Cairns to Paronella Park and Mamu Tropical Skywalk
It doesn’t get more magical than a Spanish castle in the rainforest.
From the minute you cross the threshold of Paronella Park, you step into Jose Paronella’s dream of building a castle and five hectares of gardens for his wife in the 1930s; a mystical wonderland where lush rainforest and a thundering waterfall shoulder the castle ruins.
Work up an appetite best sated by quintessential Queenslander pub, The Mena Creek Hotel, only 200m away.
Explore the Wet Tropics rainforest from new heights at Mamu Tropical Skywalk.
Mamu Tropical Skywalk transports you from the forest floor to the canopy over a series of elevated walkways, including a cantilevered platform jutting out over the iconic rainforest landscape.
4. Cairns to Waterfall Circuit
Millaa Millaa falls is Australia’s most photographed waterfall
Zillie Falls delivers breathtaking views
Enjoy nature’s best shower at Ellinjaa Falls
What do you get when you have high altitude, mountains and rocky outcrops? Find your answer on the aptly-named Waterfall Circuit that lures bikini and boardshort-clad travellers inland.
From Cairns, follow this itinerary which can be tackled in either direction along the Gillies Highway or the Palmerston Highway. Once you reach the Atherton Tablelands, simply follow the brown Waterfall Circuit signs which lead you to these top drops.
The only packing essentials are togs, a towel and closed-in shoes – and don’t worry, this otherwise fashion faux pas is the uniform of every traveller up here.
5. Cairns to Port Douglas
Hit the road for the stunning Great Barrier Reef Drive
Road trips rarely come as scenic as the one that rolls from Cairns to Port Douglas, with the sparkling coral sea flanking one side and the Wet Tropics Rainforest the other.
It might only be 67km long, but there’s plenty of opportunities to break up the Great Barrier Reef Drive journey and soak in the views – whether its Rex Lookout for its vista over Trinity Inlet and back to Cairns, or Ellis Beach for a moment of pristine beach exploration.
Need accommodation?
Looking for somewhere to stay on your Tropical North Queensland adventure? Why not check into one of the many welcoming caravan parks in the region?