Green Island, Fitzroy Island, Frankland Islands and Michaelmas Cay. We reviewed every operator. Here's who stood out, and why.
Cairns is the gateway to some of the most accessible tropical islands in the world, each one completely different in character. Green Island is a living coral cay right on the Great Barrier Reef: small, reef-fringed, and easy to reach in 45 minutes. Fitzroy Island is a continental island draped in rainforest, with excellent reef access directly from its beaches and more active pursuits than any other island nearby.
Frankland Islands are five uninhabited coral islands in a national park, remote enough that only one operator is licensed to take you there, which means the reef stays uncrowded. And Michaelmas Cay, the furthest out, sits on the outer reef and is a National Park and sanctuary for migratory seabirds.
We spent time on each island and compared every operator that departs Cairns. What follows is an honest breakdown: prices, inclusions, what's genuinely worth paying for, and who we think gets it right.
All four islands depart from Cairns Reef Fleet Terminal, 1 Spence St. Green Island and Fitzroy are 45 min each. Frankland and Michaelmas are further out.
Not sure which island fits your day? All four compared across the things that actually matter.
| Island | From | Travel | Departs | Duration | Lunch | Vessel | Snorkeling | Beach | Overnight | Activities | Best For | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Green Island🏆 Best Overall | $112 | 45 min | From 8:30am | ~7–8 hrs | ✗ Extra | Catamaran | Good Inner reef · 27 km Pinnacle Reef via Ocean Free |
✓ SandyCoral cay beach | ✓ ResortGreen Island Resort Ask us for rates |
🤿 Snorkel🚤 Glass-bottom boat🌿 Rainforest🦎 Marineland🍽 Restaurant |
Families · Non-swimmers Couples · First-timers |
› |
| Fitzroy Island⚡ Best Active Escape | $108 | 45 min | 8:30am / 10:45am | ~7.5 hrs | ✗ Extra | Catamaran | Good Fringing reef from beach Welcome Bay · Nudey Beach |
⚠ Crushed coralNo classic sandy beach | ✓ Resort + CampingFitzroy Island Resort · campsite available Ask us for rates |
🥾 Summit hike🐢 Turtle rehab🚣 Kayak + SUP🌿 Rainforest🍽 Restaurant |
Active travellers · Budget Couples · Solo |
› |
| Michaelmas Cay🌊 Best Outer Reef Island | $280 | ~1.5–2 hrs | 7:30 / 8:30am | ~8.5–9 hrs | ✓ Buffet | – | Excellent Outer reef · sand cay + Hastings Reef (SeaStar) |
✓ White sandLanding zone limited (seabirds) | ✗ NoProtected wildlife sanctuary | 🦅 Birdwatching🤿 Guided snorkel🚤 Semi-sub🍽 Lunch incl. |
Outer reef seekers · Families Birdwatchers · Couples |
› |
| Frankland Islands🤿 Best Snorkeling | $195 | 1.5–2 hrs | – | 5.5–8.5 hrs | ✓ Buffet | Coach + river cruise | Very Good Fringing reef · sole operator No crowds · national park |
✓ SandyUninhabited island beaches | ✗ NoUninhabited national park | 🤿 Guided snorkel🚣 Kayak + SUP🚤 Semi-sub🍽 Lunch incl.🛶 River cruise |
Snorkellers · Couples Off-beaten-track seekers |
› |
* "From" prices are adult day-tour rates. Overnight rates aren't listed publicly, so we'll confirm them for you when you book. All prices AUD incl. GST, verified May 2026.
Green Island is a 6,000-year-old coral cay sitting directly on the Great Barrier Reef, 27 km from Cairns. It's the only inhabited coral cay in the region. Small enough to walk around in 20 minutes, but rich enough to keep you occupied all day. Three operators run daily tours, each with a different angle on the same destination.
Best Value
The most popular Green Island day: 5.5 hours on the island, snorkel gear or a glass-bottom boat tour included, and no fuel levy.
Most Inclusions, Green Island
Three fares to choose from. Even the ferry-only fare includes the marine biologist reef talk, the eco island walk and the island pool.
Most Exclusive
The only genuine sailing tour to Green Island: a 16-metre schooner to Pinnacle Reef, an exclusive mooring 1 km off the island.
Fitzroy Island is a continental island, meaning it was once part of mainland Australia. The result is something fundamentally different from Green Island: dense tropical rainforest, a summit with panoramic views, walking tracks, and a fringing reef you can snorkel directly from the beach. It's the island for people who want to do something with their day.
Honest note: Nudey Beach, regularly voted one of Australia's best beaches, is made of crushed coral, not fine sand. It's beautiful, but manage expectations if you're after a classic sandy stretch.
Best Value
The only operator that runs exclusively to Fitzroy. $108 covers the ferry and up to 6 hours on the island; activities are add-ons, so you pay only for what you use.
Best All-Inclusive Package
One price and it's sorted: the Best of Island package ($166) bundles snorkel gear, a glass-bottom boat tour and a lunch box, with a relaxed 10:15am start.
Michaelmas Cay is a small white sand coral cay sitting on the outer Great Barrier Reef, about two hours by boat from Cairns. It's different from every other island in this list: visitors spend around 4 hours on and around the cay, on a roped beach area, with seabirds overhead. It's a boat trip and a landing, genuinely unlike anything else you can do from Cairns in a day.
Best Small Group
The more intimate Michaelmas Cay tour: capped at 36 guests, with stops at Michaelmas Cay and Hastings Reef and a guided snorkel at both.
Best Sailing Experience
A 32-metre sailing catamaran to Michaelmas Cay, with four hours at the cay and the reef tax already included in the fare.
The Frankland Islands are five uninhabited coral islands in a national park about 45 km southeast of Cairns. Only one operator is licensed to go there, which means no other tour groups on the reef, ever. The snorkeling experience here is defined by that exclusivity: guided, unhurried, and without the crowds that follow every other island from Cairns. The journey itself adds to it: a coach, a cruise down the Mulgrave River, then a sea crossing to islands most visitors never reach.
Exclusive Operator
This is the only operator licensed to take visitors to the Frankland Islands, which immediately changes the experience. The full day tour is 8.5 hours door-to-door and includes a full buffet lunch, semi-submarine, snorkel, kayak, paddleboard and a guided island walk, all bundled. The express option ($195) is 5.5 hours total with 2.5 hours on the island, still including all water activities.
Short on time? Three operators let you combine destinations in a single day from Cairns, each with a different pairing and price point.
The only same-day combo covering both Green Island and Fitzroy Island. Departs Cairns at 8:30am: 2.5 hours at Fitzroy, then transfer to Green Island for 3.5 hours before returning to Cairns. Snorkel gear or a glass-bottom boat tour is included in the price. Saves up to $63 per adult compared to booking separately.
Sunlover's full-day combo combines a morning at the Moore Reef pontoon, with its waterslide, ocean pool and buffet lunch, followed by an afternoon on Fitzroy Island. It's the only tour in Cairns that gets you to the outer reef AND an island in a single day from the same operator, with snorkelling at both.
Great Adventures combines 2 hours on Green Island with 3 hours on their outer reef platform, including morning and afternoon teas, snorkelling equipment, a lycra suit, the eco reef talk, the semi-submarine, the underwater observatory and a hot and cold buffet lunch. Departs the Reef Fleet Terminal in Cairns. We'll confirm the exact departure and return times with you when you book.
The honest answer depends less on the island and more on what you want from the day. Here's how we'd break it down.
Three operators, multiple activity layers, easy access and no long transfers. Big Cat is the most popular and best value at $122. If you want something quieter and more personal, Ocean Free's sailing tour with 25 guests is in a different league entirely, but at $289 you're paying for that difference.
Fitzroy is the one for walkers, snorkellers and people who find "beach resort" days underwhelming. The summit track gives proper views, Nudey Beach (crushed coral, not sand) is striking despite what Instagram might suggest, and the fringing reef is genuinely accessible. Fitzroy Island Adventures at $108 is the cheapest full-day island tour from Cairns.
Michaelmas Cay is unlike everything else on this list. It's on the outer reef, it's a National Park and seabird sanctuary, and it combines snorkelling with a genuine landing on a white sand cay in the middle of the ocean. Not the cheapest option, but there's nothing else like it.
The Frankland Islands have one operator and no crowds. The combination of a river cruise, uninhabited islands and excellent reef makes it feel like an expedition rather than a tour. More expensive and further out, but if the reef is the point, this is where to go.
The Two Island Explorer at $196 covers Green Island and Fitzroy Island in one day. It's the best-value combo and genuinely does justice to both islands rather than rushing through them.
Green Island with Big Cat or Great Adventures. Closest island, most facilities, glass-bottom boat option, and no fuel levy. Half-day available if kids tire out. Use of the island swimming pool is in every Great Adventures fare, including the $112 Transfer.
Frankland Islands for the best uncrowded reef. Otherwise Fitzroy Island: snorkel directly from the beach at Welcome Bay with a fringing reef right off the sand. Budget around $34 extra for gear if booking Fitzroy Island Adventures.
Green Island is the clear pick: rainforest walks, Marineland Melanesia crocodile habitat, shops, cafes, glass-bottom boat tours and a semi-submarine. You can have a full day without entering the water. Fitzroy Island also has excellent walking tracks and a turtle rehab centre.
Ocean Free to Green Island for the most intimate sailing experience on the reef. Or SeaStar Cruises to Michaelmas Cay, with max 36 guests and a genuinely different kind of day that most travellers haven't done.
Fitzroy Island Adventures at $108 adult is the cheapest full island day from Cairns. No fuel levy, up to 6 hours. Bring your own snorkel gear to avoid the $34 hire fee, or skip snorkelling and walk the tracks, which are free.
Answers based on verified operator information as of May 2026.
It depends on what you want. Green Island is the most accessible and versatile, with tours from $112 adult. Fitzroy Island is best for active travellers from $108. Frankland Islands offers the most exclusive snorkelling experience at $195–$270. Michaelmas Cay is the most unique at $280–$288, a coral sand cay on the outer reef.
Green Island is 27 km northeast, 45 minutes by catamaran. Fitzroy Island is 29 km southeast, also 45 minutes. Frankland Islands are ~45 km southeast, roughly 1.5–2 hours including a coach and river cruise. Michaelmas Cay is the furthest out, taking about 1.5 to 2 hours by boat depending on the operator.
Fitzroy Island Adventures at $108 per adult is the cheapest full-day island tour from Cairns: ferry return plus up to 6 hours on the island with no fuel levy. Green Island starts from $112 with the Great Adventures Transfer fare (no snorkel gear). Both include genuine island time without cutting the day short.
Nudey Beach is made of crushed coral rather than fine sand, which is beautiful in its own right but noticeably different from a classic sandy beach. It was ranked #1 on Brad Farmer's list of Australia's 101 Best Beaches in 2018 for its scenery, not its texture. Worth visiting, but set the right expectations.
Yes. The Two Island Explorer (Big Cat) covers Green Island and Fitzroy Island for $196 adult. Sunlover's Reef & Island in a Day combines Moore Reef and Fitzroy Island for $337 (+$10 fuel). Great Adventures offers the Green Island & Great Barrier Reef Adventure, the island plus their outer reef platform, for $343 (plus a $10 adult and $5 child fuel surcharge at check-in).
Frankland Islands for dedicated snorkellers: one operator, five uninhabited islands, uncrowded reef. Fitzroy Island also offers excellent snorkelling directly from the beach at Welcome Bay and Nudey Beach. On Green Island, Ocean Free's exclusive mooring at Pinnacle Reef is the standout option for a proper snorkel.
It varies by operator. Frankland Islands (Full Day), the Great Adventures Green Island & Great Barrier Reef Adventure, Sunlover Best of Island, SeaStar Cruises and Ocean Spirit all include meals. Big Cat Green Island, Fitzroy Island Adventures and the three Great Adventures Green Island fares do not; lunch is an optional extra. Ocean Free includes a full seafood smorgasbord.
All operators depart from the Reef Fleet Terminal at 1 Spence Street, Cairns, a 5-minute walk from the CBD. Frankland Islands tours also include a coach from Cairns before the boat. Most hotels can arrange transfers to the terminal.
We live in Cairns and we book these tours every week. These are the guides we send guests before they choose.
Every day trip compared, and the order to do them in.
Read the guide → FamiliesCairns With KidsWhich tours suit children, and the age rules.
Read the guide → SafetyIs Snorkelling the Reef Safe?Flotation vests, age limits and the rules on board.
Read the guide → AccessCairns for SeniorsThe easiest version of every big day.
Read the guide →
