Move over Melbourne! Your cool cafes, craft breweries and laneway art have a new rival – and it’s in tropical north Queensland.
According to those in the know, Cairns is officially the second hippest city in the country… Yes, Cairns!
Seeking out the tropics’ trendy side is easy when you join a tour with Konrad from No Limits Adventures.
Konrad tracks down and leads you to those bastions of hipster chic – the city’s boutique and craft breweries and distilleries.
Hang with the cool kids and sip on small-batch, high-quality beverages from the likes of Wolf Lane Distillery (Cairns’ only CBD gin den) and Coral Sea Brewing Company (also in the CBD).
Not every location on the Cairns Breweries and Distilleries Tour is in the city heart. Macalister Brewing Company is a breezy alehouse overlooking the sugar cane fields of suburban Smithfields.
If you’re bedding down in hipster Cairns, you’re going to need a hip place to stay.
DoubleTree Hilton sits on the esplanade, overlooking the Coral Sea – but in the heart of its atrium, you’ll swear you’re deep in a tropical rainforest.
You can even join in the daily feeding of resident Barramundi in the hotel’s lagoon.
Rooms are spacious – and some have those panoramic ocean views for which Cairns is famous.
And when twilight turns the sea from blue to sparkling gold, we suggest settling in at the Vine Room on the Esplanade.
Menu choices include the chef’s signature Cuban Sandwiches – the exotic lunch of choice for workers in Cuban cigar factories of the 1800s.
Or go the whole tropical experience with a Reef Charcuterie Board… featuring smoked Barramundi, cured Salmon, Prawns, Brie, Goat’s Cheese… and crispy calamari.
