INSTANT BOOKING OPTIONS
ON REQUEST BOOKING OPTIONS
Kuranda Train & Skyrail Self-Drive Info
KURANDA, SELF-DRIVE, SCENIC RAIL & SKYRAIL
(Self-drive; Train Up, Skyrail Down)
Itinerary:
- Self-drive to Skyrail Rainforest Cableway, Captain Cook Highway, Smithfield
- Park your car free for the day
- Meet Down Under Tours coach at Skyrail, Smithfield
- Coach transfer to Freshwater Station
- Have a look around this pretty station and Museum
- Kuranda Scenic Rail departs
- Free time in Kuranda
- Skyrail depart Kuranda at your allocated time
- Disembark at Skyrail Smithfield to collect your car
- Self-drive back to your accommodation
In summary: When you reach the end of your Skyrail journey you are able to simply get into your car and drive back to your hotel. If you plan to do the Gold Class upgrade you will be served an alcoholic beverage if you wish. Gold Class is offered on the 9:50am train in the morning. If you prefer to do the Skyrail in the morning followed by the Gold Class Train in the afternoon so that you can enjoy an alcoholic beverage in the afternoon this is possible but it is a different tour.
Self-drive to Skyrail on the Captain Cook Highway, Smithfield. Leave your car in the car park - free of charge. Meet the Down Under Tours Tours coach in the car park. You will be greeted by your Driver, who will collect your voucher, issue your Kuranda Boarding Pass and transfer you to Freshwater Station. Do not go into the Skyrail terminal to check-in. You are being transferred to Freshwater Station to meet the train first.
Kuranda Boarding Pass
Kuranda Scenic Rail: At Freshwater Station, board the famous Kuranda Scenic Rail for your 1.5hr journey to Kuranda.
Kuranda Village: Free time is allowed to explore this quaint village, including the Markets which operate daily.
Skyrail Rainforest Cableway: Journey into one of the oldest continually surviving rainforests on earth. Enjoy two stops at Barron Falls and Red Peak Stations before returning to Cairns.
Barron Falls: Spectacular views of the Barron Gorge and Barron Falls via three viewing platforms; Skyrail-CSIRO Interpretation Centre; historical pioneering displays.
Red Peak: Lush rainforest including the towering 500 year-old Kauri Pine. Interpretive boardwalk tour with Skyrail Ranger available throughout the day.
We suggest you allow 1.5 hours for your Skyrail journey to Smithfield. This allows for time at the two stops en-route to enjoy the boardwalks. Skyrail Smithfield disembark to collect your car.
**Please note this is a self-guided tour
OPTIONAL UPGRADES (ADDITIONAL COST)
Gold Class Kuranda Scenic Rail provides a premium experience for passengers wanting that extra comfort and a little bit of luxury for a most memorable experience. Gold Class includes:
- 9:50am departure from Freshwater Station to Kuranda
- Dedicated personalised Gold Class attendant
- Individual seating, lounge-style chairs (24 seats in each carriage over 4 carriages)
- Ambient, historical décor, including timber look flooring, historical photographs and cedar interior
- Gift pack including Kuranda Scenic Railway badge, pen, postcard
- Souvenir trip guide available in 9 languages
- Optional exclusive tour of the Heritage-Listed Signal Cabin at Kuranda station
- Conducted 15 minutes after arrival for morning trains - Food & beverage offerings will focus on Queensland and local Tablelands produce such as:
o Gallo Dairyland Cheese
o Skybury Coffee & Daintree Tea
o Wondaree Macadamias
o Mango to Go (100% pure mango "ice-cream" style treat)
o Freshly baked muffins with local fruit
o Sirromet Wines & Great Northern Brewing Company Super Crisp Lager
Kuranda Wildlife Experience includes entry to the Kuranda Koala Gardens, Birdworld and the Australian Butterfly Sanctuary. You will have access to all three attractions at a great saving off the normal admission price!
Skyrail Diamond View (glass floor) gondolas not only provide guests with amazing panoramic views of the rainforest canopy, tropical landscape and Coral Sea, but also the unique perspective of looking straight down at the treetops through to the forest floor. Maximum 5 people and an waiting time of 7 minutes. (extra cost and by request only)
Departures: Daily
Skyrail Rainforest Cableway GPS coordinates
Latitude: -16.84723
Longitude: +145.69574
GOOD NEWS! All payments made to Travstar do not incur a credit card surcharge.
Guest Reviews
Great service
Travstar - a big thank you for your great service - professional, easy, enjoyable...
And our Kuranda experience - despite of a cyclone - was magnificent !
Warmest regards,
Jolanta
Posted By Jolanta
So smooth
We booked this trip very last minute and I found the process to be painless and very easy my end. Communication was fantastic from the time we booked online and continued once arriving and waiting for the bus. A lovely, friendly lady greeted us and likewise, the bus driver was friendly with a great sense of humour. Thank you for a great day.
Posted By Anna Shaw
Spectacular scenery
Spectacular scenery on both the train and Skyrim. Staff on train were so nice. This was great value and we loved it
Posted By Catherine Dyck
Great experience
Great experience and awesome friendly staff.
Posted By Michelle Caton
Smooth booking and communication
A great experience. Was in the carriage towards the back of the train which was perfect for viewing the front of the train she. Going around the big bend, great commentary along the way, the sky rail back was also perfect with opportunity to get off and explore as was the same with the train. I didn't realise I had booked the self drive feature and when I realised it and rang in the morning they were very helpful in arranging transport for me. A very smooth booking and communication process. Thankyou
Posted By Judy Madigan
Very good service
We had a great day up on the train and back on the Skyrail, very good service. Best to go this way round because the Skyrail goes all the time and we were an hour later than the time we booked and didnt matter. There are 2 trains back so you have to be there that time.
Posted By Dianne Huband
Great customer service & very helpful
Great customer service and very helpful with our requests.
Posted By Anon
Fabulous views from train and Skyrail
Fabulous views from train and Skyrail. Enjoyed historical commentary about construction of railway.
Plenty of room to sit in both train and gondola.
Posted By Yvonne Fisk
Great day
Very good, enjoyed
Posted By Yvonne Hughes
Great day in Kuranda
Well organised. Staff friendly. We had a great time!
Posted By Mary Spanoudis
A wonderful experience with Cairns Tours
The staff were wonderful from the person i spoke to on the phone booking our trip through to the people on the platform and train.
The lady on our carriage went above and beyond to make not only ours but all passengers trip memorable.
A wonderful experience!!
Posted By Michael Phillips
Amazing to book with
Can not praise your staff enough, everyone was very friendly and helpful. We had a lovely time.
Posted By Joanne Daly
Kuranda Self Drive
Very pleased with the service and we will definitely come back again for more help.
Posted By Kevin Holley
Thoroughly enjoyed our day.
We thoroughly enjoyed our day on Kuranda Train & Skyrail.
Posted By Andrea West
Kim at Travstar was extremely helpful
Kim at Travstar was extremely helpful with all of our enquiries. Her information on the Cairns Tours Self Drive Train-Skyrail was excellent..The service and the trip was outstanding.
Posted By Barry Bache
Fabulous. Enjoyed the trip immensely!!
Fabulous. Enjoyed the trip immensely!! Would highly recommend Self-Drive Kuranda Train & Skyrail.
Posted By Maria Waddell
Great day! Good service by Travstar
Great day! Good service by Travstar and the driver. Would certainly use your company again. Philip
Posted By Philip Rowley
Good Day out
Both the train & the skyrail drive are exciting, great views into nature, Kuranda villagea bit too touristic, but definitely try the f.o.c. jungle walk and visit the hippie area with nice shops & great people.
Posted By Marcus Schultz
Great Experience
Great Experience, especially the sky rail with the glass floor (the upgrade ist worth every penny).
Posted By Matthias G
Amazing Journey
The station at Kuranda is so picturesque and there is a very good commentary throughout the train journey. The Skyrail over the canopy was spectacular and unexpectedly better than the train!
Posted By James McCormick
Great Day
Very helpful and friendly booking staff.
Great information on how everything worked on the day.
Posted By Sarah Charman
Would recommend to everyone.
Would recommend to everyone. Well organised. Great customer service. A real pleasure.
Posted By Susan Smith
Highly recommend travstar, Great day !!!
Highly recommend to book through travstar .Great trip up in the train and great views on the skyrail back down .Great day !!!
Posted By Michael Girvan
Really good service, recommend
The staff were really good service was excellent would recommend
Posted By Trevor Abbott
Gold Class is fantastic
Experienced an excellent trip. The gold class train is fantastic. We first requested for hotel transfer arrangement, but we changed our mind one day before and decided to self drive. We were appreciated that we had received email message which advising us for the parking location.
Posted By Yee Man Peggy Tang
Great day out
Lovely day out and everything went very smoothly. We were met at the terminal and our shuttle left on time. We decided to upgrade our train and that was very pleasant. Snacks and drinks on route and a welcome drink before boarding the train. We enjoyed 4 hours in Karunda in which we did shopping and interaction with kangaroos and koalas. The glass bottom cable car was enjoyable and we had a separate queue for this of which we were the only ones. A pity that it had started to rain quite heavily and was quite cloudy high up. We decided not to stop at some beauty spots on the way down because of poor visibility but I can imagine it would be really lovely on a clear day. A great day out and thanks to Travstar for the ease of booking this trip.
Posted By David Rogers
Great Day
All good, everyone great, and Sarah! :-)
Posted By Amanda Presnail
Amazing Day
Lovely day out and can fully recommend it.
Posted By Valerie Daniels
Sensational
Great day out even with the rainy weather. Good service from the moment we met our bus driver taking us to Freashwater Station for the train ride up to Kuranda. Skyrail was amazing and would have been sensational if the weather was better and. Clear. All said we did go through the clouds.
Posted By Peter McFarlane
Great Trip
great trip, all went as planned, No complaints
Posted By John Reid
Would highly recommend
Best way to visit Kuranda. There are only 2 trains up in the morning and as the Skyrail runs continuously it gives you much more flexibility in terms of time spent in Kuranda. Would highly recommend this option.
Posted By Angela
Great trip
Great trip - going gold pass was the way to go
Posted By Christopher Adams
Great day out
the Service was just great. Thank You for a great day out. Hermann Haltiner
Posted By Hermann Haltiner
Excellent
Booked Scenic Railway outwards and Skyrail return via Travstar. Speedy confirmation and excellent, organised service.
Posted By Vivien Salisbury
Truly Enjoyable
We truly enjoyed the Gold Car Train Ride and running historical commentary.
Posted By Janet and Paul Stiegler
Highly recommended.
One of our favourite experiences on our whole trip. Highly recommended.
Posted By Marnie Bentley
Fabulous.
I took my aunt who was visiting from the UK, she has a bad knee requiring me to hire a wheelchair. I was very concerned that it would hamper the day but the staff and the whole process was fabulous. I cant praise the staff highly enough for the respect and care given to my aunt to ensure she was comfortable and secure at every point of the train up and skyrail down. Just brilliant. Thank you for helping make the day so special.
Posted By Sue Marriott
Great Service
Sevice was on time and organised
Posted By Vicki Coburn
Very enjoyable experience
Very enjoyable experience, stunning scenery and informative train ride. I live locally so look forward to taking visitors on this trip, it never gets boring.
Posted By Vivienne Harkness
Would highly recommend it to everyone!
We had a fantastic day, the train ride was the highlight of my 3 year old nephews holiday. The service was great and and views were amazing, thank you for helping us to organise such a great trip. Would highly recommend it to everyone!
Posted By Emma Goddard
Spectacular
We were very happy with our trip to Kuranda on the Scenic Railway and return trip on the Skyrail. The views are spectacular and the 7km return trip over the rainforest was brilliant, especially given the stops on the way for the boardwalk and Barron Falls.
Posted By Louise Kelly
Would recommend this to anyone.
A great day out, with everything working like clockwork. Would recommend this to anyone.
Posted By Graeme Dewe
A must see tour.
Enjoyed this fantastic tour. Well organized by Travstar and the day went smoothly. The Skyrail was just amazing, a ride not to be missed. Would love to do again. Loved the old train ride and the history behind the building of the rail line. An awesome day as we took in all what Kuranda had to offer in the way of markets, awesome lunch and loved the butterfly house. A must see tour.
Posted By Alexandra Pankhurst
Great tour
Great tour, we really enjoyed it.
Posted By Haden Shaw
Excellent
We travelled gold class on the train and our personal assistant Maria was excellent. She was also knowledgable,helpful and very friendly. Thank you Maria you made our journey all the better for it.
Posted By Sheena Dunn
Just sit back and relax
Very enjoyable day everything taken care of. Just sit back and relax
Posted By Graham Armstrong
Loved it!
Loved it!
Posted By Tom Allan
Great experience.
Andrea and I thoroughly enjoyed our day. Gold class in the train is really worth the little extra. Thank you for a great experience.
Posted By Rod Woodham
Very good
Train gold class very good nice staff return skyrail queue waiting time was quite long need to be looked at they could have a comentary as you go long
Posted By Beryl Pooler
A most enjoyable day
A most enjoyable day, by doing both the Kuranda Train & the Skyrail, it gave us the best experience to see what an enormous task it was to build the railway, as well as being able to view the rain forest & surrounding ranges from above the canopy.
Posted By George Zimmerle
Had a lovely day
Had a lovely day. The train journey up was fascinating and the gondola down was spectacular. We loved that it took a while in both directions as we got longer to enjoy the rides.
Posted By Debbie Westwell
Amazing experience.
Gold class is worth every extra dollar. Completely recommend and the diamond view gondola was an amazing experience.
Posted By Belinda Zimmermann
Fabulous experience
Had a fabulous experience
Posted By Julie Stott
Great experience
We had a great experience with Travstar. The whole trip was easily bookable and all went smoothly on the trip
Posted By Michael Owen
Great views and relaxing trip.
Certainly worth the money. Great views and relaxing trip.
Posted By Laurence Acreman
Very well organised
Very well organised, lovely range of snacks and drinks on train up to Kuranda
Posted By Lindsey Wainwright
Great!!!
Totally satisfied. Great!!!
Posted By Vaibhav Kumar
Highly recommend
We had a fantastic day. Everything was so easy from the minute we arrived at the meeting point to the time we board the the skyrail. Gold class is definitely the only way to travel up the mountain, the service was not only amazing but made the trip seem a lot shorter and with 2 children (aged 8 & 5) it was the one thing we were worried about,but they had a great time and never complain once. Worth every dollar and would highly recommend this trip to anyone.
Posted By Christine Spiteri
Great day
Great day would recommend to anyone kids loved the shyrail.
Posted By Simone Murphy
Enjoyed our day
We enjoyed our day and wished we could have spent more time in Kuranda. Experiencing both the train and skyrail added to our adventure and the self drive option made the whole day possible for us as we had a flight out later that afternoon. After riding the diamond view gondola, I think we would have been just as happy with the regular car.
Posted By Vernice Shust
lovely day trip
This was a lovely day trip and the scenery was just beautiful. The Skyrail is a must do, we loved it. The only dislike was the heat, we struggled with a long day in the heat. So take plenty of water.
Posted By Andrea W
Totally loved the experience!!
Fantastic day on the train & even better the Diamond View Skyway!
Totally loved the experience!!
Posted By Vanessa Berry
Highly recommend
We left our hire car at Smithfield and was taken by bus to Freshwater where we boarded the train. A fantastic journey up to Kuranda where we walked around the Village, had lunch and then caught the Skyrail to Smithfield. The Skyrail was great, the gondola sailing over the treetops with magnificent views of the countryside. A most memorable journey with our car waiting for us on our return. Highly recommend this way of going.
Posted By Peter Wilkinson
Service was excellent
The service was excellent, from beginning to end. A service well done.
Posted By Jacob Kurien
Very beautiful
Very beautiful.
Posted By Maria Good
Wonderful
A thoroughly enjoyable way to show off our wonderful country to overseas visitors. We all enjoyed the experience immensely.
Posted By Peter Joseph
Throughly enjoyable
Throughly enjoyable. Staff polite and accomodating.
Posted By Ann Hammond
What a great day.
What a great day. Definitely recommend this trip to both Aussie and overseas visitors alike. Enjoyable and informative.
Posted By Peter Butler
Well worth doing when you are in Cairns.
Nice day out with the family. Something well worth doing when you are in Cairns.
Posted By Carly Morrisby
Great experience
It was a great experience
Posted By Diana Wilson
Trip was great
Booking process was simple although we were unable to book the \"diamond service\" gondola. Trip was great, station is interesting and very pretty, love the train ride up, very comfortable. Kuranda was great for the kids with the butterfly park and reptile zoo highlights of the trip outside of the milkshakes for lunch! Skyrail offers great views and the lookout a much better view of the falls than from the train side. Gift shop was also excellently stocked with good variety of food and souvenirs.
Posted By Jason Hatswell
A great time
A great time was had by all.
Posted By Colin Shearwood
Seemless experience
Travstar service and staff were brilliant a seemless experience
Posted By Michelle Rowell
Fabulous atmosphere
Fabulous atmosphere and information on the train and on the stops both up and down as well as stunning views of waterfalls and rainforest. Plenty of time to visit Kuranda as well.
Posted By Sally Gibson
Worth the experience
Worth the experience to travel the train and gondola to and from Kuranda. Great facilities and the commentary on the train was informative and interesting. Bus service at the pick-up point was prompt and the bus driver was friendly and helpful.
Posted By Brett Chapman
Enjoyable.
The train ride was especially enjoyable.
Posted By John Robinson
Staff were cheery
Staff were cheery, friendly and helpful and were on time.
Posted By Therin Elms
Fantastic experience.
The Gold Class on the train and the Diamond View on the Skyrail were worth every cent. Fantastic experience.
Posted By Gary Wood
Friendly service
Friendly service changing ticket to another date.
Posted By Neil Fleming
Great time
Train and Skyrail better then expected. Great time.
But town was not as good as I expected
Posted By James Short
Great day out.
Is well organised checking in and was a great day out.
Posted By John Alexander
Very clean
Very clean, tidy and well organised.
Posted By Gary Taber
Diamond Class well worth it.
The extra cost of a diamond class on the Skyrail is well worth it. fantastic to look down right into the rainforset below.
Posted By Geoff L
Great day out
Great day out, making the most of our time in Cairns. Good to see the rainforest from two different perspectives. village at the top ok, souvenir shops competitively priced.
Posted By Steve
Fun day out
Very easy to book. Extremely easy voucher system for both the train and skyrail.
Posted By Jennifer Kerridge
a must do at Cairns
We did this for the second time & still enjoyed the views its a must do at Cairns...very professional operation ...
Posted By Lyn I
A great experience.
A great experience. The train ride was interesting and the commentary provided lots of details. The Skyrail is a fabulous way to see the rainforest up close.
Posted By Brenda
Enjoyable
An interesting and enjoyable day out - staff very helpful.
Posted By Kristina Belsham
Really worth the effort
Really worth the effort to go. Relaxing way to see area and rainforest with historic rail trip and amazing sky journey.
Posted By Bernard Doughty
Enjoyed the whole day
The 4 of us very much enjoyed the whole day, Thank you.
Posted By John Cock
Beautiful scenery
Idyllic train journey through winding tracks and beautiful scenery. Relaxing destination and breathtaking cable car journey back. The snap looked photoshopped though. But overall a beautiful day out.
Booking through travstar was so easy and we didnt even need to print the invoice, the tour provider had all our details ready on the day of the tour so no hassles.
Posted By Prasanna
Highly Recommended
Professionally Organised Self Drive Tour. Great Service, Highly Recommended if you want to to have a trip on the Scenic Rail and Sky Rail with the maximum Flexibility. Really enjoyed it.
Posted By EllisC
Amazing experience
An amazing experience and we were in awe of the achievement of the whole train line and then the cable ride. What they have built and kept up in the terrain is truly inspiring. I really enjoyed the commentary of the work and history involved to have the rail built way back when!!!
Posted By Tracey Scott-Jackson
Good day
A very good day out and good value.
Posted By Ted Brennen
Wonderful day
My girlfriend and I had a wonderful day. The scenery was just wonderful and we spent lots of time taking some beautiful pictures and enjoying walks throughout our day.
Posted By Janice Reid
Memorable day
It was a memorable day out
Posted By Graham Lloyd
Beautiful views
Was a great way to see Kuranda and surrounding areas. Nice historic train ride up and beautiful views on the way down. Easy to book online.
Posted By Jo Jenkins
A great day!
The self drive option worked out really well as our car was left at the sky rail which meant we could leave Kuranda whenever we felt like it by catching the sky rail down. A great day!
Posted By Kay Hogan
Good day
Ended up being a good day despite the weather
Posted By Robyn Orchard
A lovely family day out!
A lovely family day out!
Posted By Rachel Larmer
Thoroughly enjoyed
Our family group of 6 adults & 2 yr old child thoroughly enjoyed the train trip up and skyrail down (great views), we had lunch at Kuranda and loved the butterfly park.
Posted By Chris H
Great experience
Great experience, especially the cable car ride.
Posted By Christine McPherson
highly recommend experiencing
The train ride was fantastic -educational and very interesting. Service was exceptional. The skyrail was breathtaking. A must do when visiting Cairns. Travstar were wonderful with their help. Highly recommend using Travstar and highly recommend experiencing the Kuranda train ride and skyrail.
Posted By Andrew Toughill
Wonderful day
What a wonderful day, and looked after by so many lovely people. Fantastic value for money. Thank you.
Posted By Margaret Moore
Great day
Great days adventure!
Posted By Susan Peattie
Wonderful time
great, had a wonderful time, stress free with arrangements and thoroughly enjoyed :-)
Posted By Mardi
Best experience
Easiest on line booking made during holiday and the best experience of the trip north
Posted By Bill New
Enjoyed the experience
We thoroughly enjoyed the experience.
Posted By Mark Plunkett
absolutely magnificent
Skyrail was absolutely magnificent
Posted By Priscilla Page
Helpful, friendly and efficient.
The service provided by Travstar was exceptional. I would recommend using this service to book your activities. Helpful, friendly and efficient.
Posted By Rachelle Valdez
A must to visit
Excellent view on the train and skyrail. A must to visit if you like scenery viewing.
Posted By Glenn Goh
Fantastic day out
Fantastic day out. The skyrail was the highlight especially when we went up through the mist. Exceptional.
Posted By Robyn Sticher
Very good
Very good
Posted By Seema Nimesh
Had a great time on this attraction in F.N.Q
Had a great time on this attraction in F.N.Q. One of the best things to do when in or near Cairns, train was in first class carriage from the 1940's. Service was great and staff knew when to take the best photos. Kuranda was too arts and crafts for me but may be OK for overseas visitors. Skyrail back to start was perfect way to finish this amazing day out. I would highly recommend this to anyone that is visiting this area of Australia.
Posted By Michael M
Big Macaw tore my hat up
This is my second Skyrail and Kuranda visit. The train ride was great even though it rained. We had a fantastic time in Kuranda village, even though the koala that I was holding bit and clawed me. He thought he was going to fall from my arms and got scared. My grandkids had no problem with him. We still enjoyed our koala experience immensely. The bird sanctuary was a hoot as the big Macaw tore my hat up and some other birds landed on my grandchildren. Lunch at the restaurant was awesome.
Posted By Carl Hawthorne
Great views
Great views
Posted By Alwyn Tinkler
Relaxing with many varied activities
We enjoyed this day. It was relaxing with many varied activities and options from which to choose. We would recommend this day to anyone.
Posted By Jann
Kuranda in a Day
Really enjoyed this trip.
Posted By Lisa King
Highlight of my trip.
Just amazing. highlight of my trip.
Posted By Alison Daly
We thoroughly enjoyed the day
We thoroughly enjoyed the day out on the Scenic Rail and the Sky Rail. The few hours at Karanda was interesting as the last time we were in Karanda was in 1973.
Posted By George Weier
terrific organisation
Thank you for such terrific organisation, from the bus driver (he was great) to the girls at Freshwater station, everything was great.
Posted By Julie Drury
We really enjoyed our day
Travstar did a great job organising our bus, train and sky rail day of travel. We really enjoyed our day as everything was pre arranged and we could just enjoy ourselevs.
thank you !!!
Posted By Davina & Wayne Bodey
Well organised and enjoyable day in Kuranda.
Well organised and enjoyable day in Kuranda.
Posted By C Whittaker
Need Help With Your Booking?
Our Cairns Office is open again in 6 hours
About Travstar Booking Requests
There are some things a computer can't do.
We love helping people plan their holidays and we want to make sure we get it right.
Some holiday packages can be quite complicated with multiple tours and accommodation, pick-up times and extras.
That's why every booking made through a Travstar Website is checked by our local consultants.
It takes a little bit longer to get your tickets but we want to make sure everything is going to run smoothly for you.
How long wil it take to get my tickets?
Our team are alerted to new booking requests as they come in. During office hours you can expect to have your tickets within an hour or two.
After office hours your tickets may take up to 12 hours to arrive.