The Luxury Hotel in Cairns City
Shangri-La The Marina Cairns: our hand-picked 5-star hotel in Cairns City. Every suitespot booking comes with free breakfast for 2, a room upgrade subject to availability, hotel credit and VIP service – benefits worth over €500.
Your guide to the best luxury hotel in Cairns
Shangri-La The Marina Cairns · The PierFor this guide we reviewed the best hotels in Cairns and chose one: a luxury hotel right on the marina where the reef boats lie – where half a square metre decides the sea view. What that means for booking is below.At no extra cost: booking through suitespot costs the same as booking direct with the hotel – the benefits come on top, free of charge.
One luxury hotel in Cairns – and who it suits
Our choice for Cairns is the Shangri-La The Marina Cairns on Pier Point Road, directly on the marina. In our ranking it stands at 4.6 out of 5, and a night starts at 170 euros. The hotel belongs to the Shangri-La Group and to their Golden Circle loyalty programme.
Why we recommend it: Because it is the hotel that stands on the pier the reef boats leave from: 255 rooms and suites with floor-to-ceiling windows on the Cairns marina, a pool among tropical gardens and the restaurant The Backyard by the water. Add the Horizon Club with its own lounge on the mezzanine level, where breakfast, snacks and evening drinks are served – anyone booking a Horizon category has breakfast upstairs rather than downstairs. The Esplanade Lagoon is two hundred metres away, the airport five kilometres. Our recommended category is called Deluxe Sea View.
Our travel advisors’ insider tip
Fifteen categories – and half a square metre decides the view.
The categories: 32.5 square metres in two Deluxe, 33 in two Deluxe to the sea and two Executive to the marina, 50 in three Executive Suites, among them one to the marina and one to the city, 56 in two Horizon rooms, 58 in two suites and a Horizon Suite and 140 in the Royal Suite.
What that means: between the entry and our recommendation lies half a square metre – 32.5 against 33. What makes the difference is not the floor space but the view: the 33s are called Sea View. Rarely is a decision this clear: nobody pays for half a metre, but for the window they do.
Our recommendation Deluxe Sea View at 33 comes in two variants. Beside it there are two Executive rooms of the same size with Marina View – the view of the boats rather than the open bay, and a rare one at that.
Anyone booking a suite asks our travel advisors about the side.
The package: six benefits – breakfast, 50 US dollars credit, upgrade on arrival, early check-in and late check-out and a welcome gift.
Our advice: Pay for the 33, not the 32.5. And anyone who wants the Horizon Club books it directly – the upgrade on arrival depends on availability, while the lounge hangs on the category.
Where to stay in Cairns: on the marina, two hundred metres from the Esplanade Lagoon
The Shangri-La The Marina Cairns stands on Pier Point Road, at the Cairns pier – two hundred metres from the Esplanade Lagoon, nine hundred from Cairns Central, five kilometres from the airport, 19 from Kuranda, 23 from Palm Cove, 27 from Green Island and 59 from Port Douglas.
Our recommendation is therefore for anyone heading out to the reef in the morning who would rather not cross the city first – and for those who prefer the marina outside the window to a beach hotel up north.
What lies within reach: the marina with the reef and dive boats, at the door; the Esplanade Lagoon, the saltwater lagoon on the shore, two hundred metres; the night market and the restaurants of the Esplanade, in the quarter.
For orientation: Cairns airport is ten minutes away, Kuranda with the scenic railway and the Skyrail half an hour, Palm Cove half an hour, Port Douglas as the gateway to the Daintree rainforest an hour. Green Island is 45 minutes by boat. In Cairns one walks the Esplanade; to the reef one sails from the pier.
15 categories: the best hotel in Cairns from the inside
The Shangri-La The Marina Cairns offers 15 categories, seven suites among them.
The rooms: 32.5 square metres in two Deluxe, 33 in two Deluxe to the sea – our recommended category – and in two Executive to the marina, 56 in two Horizon rooms.
The suites: 50 in three Executive Suites, among them one to the marina and one to the city; 58 in two suites and a Horizon Suite; 140 in the Royal Suite.
On the view: this hotel’s motif is the marina on Trinity Inlet, where the reef boats lie – three times as Marina View, plus the open sea twice as Sea View and the city once.
What applies equally to every category: breakfast for two, 50 US dollars credit per stay, the upgrade on arrival subject to availability, early check-in and late check-out subject to availability and a welcome gift.
What a night at the luxury hotel in Cairns costs
A night at the luxury hotel in Cairns starts at 170 euros.
The suitespot benefits apply here from the first night. Included are: breakfast for two, 50 US dollars credit, an upgrade on arrival subject to availability, early check-in and late check-out and a welcome gift.
When it is loveliest: from May to October, in the dry season, when the sea is calm and visibility on the reef reaches furthest.
What belongs to North Queensland: the wet season. From November to May it is humid, the rainforest green and the water warm; on the reef one swims in a stinger suit in those months. That is not a warning but the calendar – the boat operators provide the suits.
When to ask early: in the Australian winter holidays from June to August, when the south travels north, and at Christmas.
How long to stay: four nights – a day on the outer reef, one in Kuranda, one at the Daintree and one by the pool.
And whatever the date: you get the suitespot benefits in the quietest week of the year just as you do in the busiest.
255 rooms, a pool on the marina and exclusive services in a 5-star hotel
North Queensland is the stretch of country where two World Heritage sites meet: the Great Barrier Reef offshore and the Wet Tropics behind it, the oldest surviving rainforest on earth – and Cairns the city that opens both.
Personal luxury travel adviceOur travel advisors personally accompany your booking – 365 days a year, from the first offer to late check-out. Reach the suitespot VIP service via email or WhatsApp.Phone: +49 30 81452346 · hotel@suitespot.comThree things belong to it. First the outer reef: the day trips to the pontoons at Agincourt and Moore Reef, from the pier outside the hotel. Second Kuranda: the village in the rainforest, reached by the railway of 1891 and back by the Skyrail above the canopy, half an hour. Third the Daintree: the rainforest north of Port Douglas, where it meets the beach, two hours.
The package at this hotel is breakfast, credit, upgrade, check-in and check-out and gift.
What our travel advisors arrange most often: the category with a sea view, the place on the reef boat early in the morning and the Horizon Club – because breakfast above the marina is the better start to a reef day.
Earn points & use your status in Cairns City
The properties in Cairns City share a single loyalty program. Your booking counts within it as usual – a direct rate with points, elite nights and your status benefits, plus what suitespot adds. The most widely represented is Shangri-La Golden Circle.
At no extra cost: you pay the same rate as booking direct with the hotel – the suitespot benefits come on top, free of charge.
| Program | Hotels | Examples in Cairns City |
|---|---|---|
| Shangri-La Golden Circle | 1 hotel | Shangri-La The Marina Cairns |
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Frequently asked questions about luxury hotels in Cairns City
How many luxury hotels in Cairns does suitespot offer?
We reviewed the best hotels in Cairns and chose one: the Shangri-La The Marina on Pier Point Road, directly on the marina.
How much does a luxury hotel in Cairns cost per night?
A night starts at 170 euros. Since it is our only hotel in the city there is no price range, just this starting point.
How big are the rooms at the luxury hotel in Cairns?
32.5 to 56 square metres in the rooms, 50 to 140 in the suites. Our recommended category Deluxe Sea View has 33.
Which is the best hotel in Cairns?
The Shangri-La The Marina. In our ranking it stands at 4.6 out of 5: 255 rooms and suites on the marina, a pool in tropical gardens, the restaurant The Backyard by the water and the Horizon Club with its own lounge.
Which rooms in Cairns have a sea view?
Two of 15 categories face the sea – the two Deluxe Sea View at 33 square metres, our recommendation among them. Three more face the marina, one the city.
Is there a minimum stay in Cairns?
The suitespot benefits apply here from the first night. The package includes breakfast, 50 US dollars credit, the upgrade on arrival subject to availability, early check-in and late check-out and a welcome gift.
How far is the hotel in Cairns from the airport?
Five kilometres – ten minutes. The Esplanade Lagoon is two hundred metres away, Kuranda 19 kilometres, Palm Cove 23, Port Douglas 59.
When is the best time to visit Cairns?
From May to October, in the dry season. From November to May it is the wet season and one swims in a stinger suit on the reef; in the Australian winter holidays and at Christmas the hotel fills early.
