Esplanade Lagoon
A 4,800-square-metre saltwater pool on the seafront, open to everyone.
Duration
1 hr – 3 hrs
Best time
Late afternoon
Open
Every day
Entry price
Free
Cairns's waterfront has no beach: it is a mudflat that the tide uncovers for hundreds of metres, and the water holds saltwater crocodiles. So in 2003 the city built an artificial lagoon of four thousand eight hundred square metres, in filtered salt water, right at the edge.
It is free, lifeguarded, open to everyone, and it works: it is the town's meeting point at the end of the day, with public barbecues along the esplanade.
Getting there
On the esplanade, in central Cairns, five minutes on foot from the boat terminal.
Rules on site
Never swim in the sea off the esplanade: saltwater crocodiles are regularly seen there, and that is why the lagoon exists. The lagoon closes on Wednesday mornings for maintenance.
