Kuranda Koala Gardens Review
Kuranda Koala Gardens is a small, family-run wildlife park in the middle of Kuranda village, and it is one of the few places in Australia where you can pat a koala for a souvenir photo. Beyond the koalas you can hand-feed kangaroos and wallabies, meet quokkas and wombats, and walk through the only nocturnal exhibit in the Tableland region. Allow 30 to 45 minutes. It sits in the Heritage Markets, a short walk from the Skyrail and Scenic Railway stations, so it slots into any Kuranda day.
Koala Gardens tickets, koala photos and Kuranda combo passes
Park entry
Kuranda Koala Gardens. Open 9:30am to 4:00pm.
Friends in the Rainforest
Koala Gardens + Birdworld Kuranda. Open 9:30am to 4:00pm.
Kuranda Wildlife Experience
Koala Gardens + Birdworld + Australian Butterfly Sanctuary. Open 9:30am to 4:00pm.
Kuranda Koala Adventure
1 hour guided tour with a keeper, koala patting photo. Min 2, max 6. 1:30pm on Sunday, Monday, Wednesday and Thursday.
What your ticket covers
- Entry to Kuranda Koala Gardens
- Hand-feeding the kangaroos and wallabies
- The nocturnal exhibit and the Aussie Bush Collection
- Keeper presentations: nocturnal at 10:30am and marsupials at 2:00pm
- Birdworld Kuranda entry, with the Friends in the Rainforest and Kuranda Wildlife Experience packages
- Australian Butterfly Sanctuary entry, with the Kuranda Wildlife Experience package
- Koala Adventure: a one-hour keeper tour with a koala patting photo and a snake or lizard encounter
Is Koala Gardens right for you?
How the day runs
Times as published by the park.
Before you go
The full review
Koala Gardens is the easiest yes on a Kuranda day. It is small, and they say so themselves, but it packs in the animals people fly to Australia hoping to see. You are a ten-minute walk from where the Skyrail and the Scenic Railway drop you, and you need well under an hour.
The koala patting photo is why most people come. You stand next to a koala on a branch and give it a pat while the photo is taken, with a printed copy and a digital download. Places are limited each day to keep the koalas rested, so add it when you book rather than hoping on the day. Holding a koala is not offered, which is the right call.
Do not rush past the rest. Hand-feeding the kangaroos and wallabies is the part children remember, the quokkas come from a few small islands off Western Australia, and the nocturnal house shows you bilbies, bettongs and gliders you would never spot in the wild.
Why Best Koala Experience and a 4.6: for a koala encounter close to Cairns, this is the one to book, and the combination tickets with Birdworld next door or the Butterfly Sanctuary are good value. It is a short visit, though, so build it into a day in Kuranda rather than making the trip for it alone.
Kuranda Koala Gardens FAQs