Cairns Hotel suggestions??

[peterjmaerz]

Hello wet ones,

Pieceing together my PNG trip in May which will include a 36-hour stay in Cairns...obviously not long enough to dive during, but to be used to de-lag before braving the notorious Air Niugini for the hops to Port Moresby, Manus and, finally, Kavieng.
I'm sure there's info on the board here, but my searches were too inept so I ask for hotel suggestions with these criteria in mind: Comfortable, central to downtown and marina, ez transfer from airport, pool would be nice.
Any thoughts?


Thanks as always...

 

[mihrl]

My husband and I spent one day at the Oasis Resort both pre- and post- liveaboard trip. We enjoyed the resort, in spite of the fact that it is rather large. It's divided up into 3 separate units. There is a large swimming pool with sand at one end. There is a self-service laundry in the basement, which we found very convenient since we were on a 6 week trip and had plenty of dirty clothes by the time we got there. We only had one meal in the restaurant, and weren't overly impressed. Hope this helps.

 

[caymaniac]

My wife and I stayed at the Tradewinds Esplanade. Its near town - easy walking distance, it's near the pier - easy walking distance and it's about 10 minutes away from the airport. It is one of the nicest hotels we've stayed in. Trip-N-Tour uses them for their Australian trips as hosts. It's about an hour south of Port Douglas where we took a liveaboard out to the Coral Sea. As soon as I save up enough, we will be visiting PNG also. I look forward to your trip report.

All the best,
Caymaniac

 

[IslandHopper]

The Oasis was recommended to me ... I'll be staying there next week. I've gotten rave recomendations for it from several people.

 

[cdiver2]

A quiet place about 10 min walk into the center of town, small 2 units with pool and laundry and a small restaurant. Priced very good for Cairns. If you go watch the sky by the pool at dusk, flying fox's by the hundreds pass over.
Enjoy Im jealous.
David

 

[Bill H]

I was very impressed with the Coral Tree Inn (link below)

http://www.cairnshotels.org/Hotel/6578

Very low key, great staff, beautiful swimming pool and nice rooms for a short visit. The hotel is also close (about six blocks) from the Esplanade, restaurants, bars, shopping, etc.

I stayed here both on the way to, and on the way back from PNG. Good luck, you will LOVE your trip. Best diving anywhere!

 

[caymaniac]

Our view from our room......in Cairns

 

[peterjmaerz]

Thanks, folks, for your input. How did I ever plan a trip prior to finding the Board? I'm centering in on the Queens Court and Coral Tree Inn, both of which I'd found previously on the web (I prefer the smallest possible hostelries when traveling). Nice to hear about positive personal experiences. I'm sure I'll have some more PNG questions before I go (speaking of which, each time I've made one of these postings, I've asked about your Malaria prophylactic of choice ((thanks Caymaniac and Cdiver2)). Feel free to chime in). if not, I'll be filing a full report after I return at the end of May.


Again, many thanks...