A Disneyland-esque Experience in the Rainforest This tour has a lot of interesting tidbits inside it, but it’s a brutally long day especially if you take this tour out of Port Douglas as we did. You start and end with a 1 hour bus ride to/from the tour starting point.

Overall, we found this day to be too much like going to a rainforest oriented Disneyland in the village of Kuranda. It was crowded with many hundreds (thousands?) of tourists, many of them pushing and shoving their way to the front of the exhibits poor behaviour by foreign tourists (we are patient and polite Canadians).

After the bum-numbing bus ride we started off with a fairly cool cable car ride which had 3 segments. At one of the stops was a fantastic view of Barron Falls.

The Duck Car/Boat tour was nothing short of a complete and utter joke. The “lake” that they took us on was essentially a small pond in the forest. And our driver’s sense of humour was essentially Grade 3 level potty humour. It was so bad it was humiliating.

The food at the lunch buffet was “Australian BBQ”. It was okay at best. And of course, we were once again caught up in that ocean of aggressive foreign tourists.

We signed up for the “Hold a Koala” experience. Even that turned out to be a farce. When we showed up 5 minutes early for our reserved time slot, there were about 25 people already lined up at the door! When the time came, they took all 35(?) of us into the room. It was nothing short of a quick assembly line, with each person holding the koala for no more than 5 seconds. For $33.50 a shot, that koala is earning about $350 a minute. What an embarrassing joke! At a wildlife farm in Sydney, our friend got to hold a koala for a minute or two, for $45, while chatting with the keeper and enjoying the whole experience. The Kuranda wildlife sanctuary should be ashamed of their koala nano-second experience. You get a printed picture and a digital version of it too. And just to add insult to injury, they send you a low-res picture that is less than 300KB in file size. THAT. KOALA. EXPERIENCE. SUCKED!

We saw a demonstration of boomerang throwing, and got to throw one ourselves. That was pretty cool. In the wildlife park, we got to go pet kangaroos and see the elusive Cassowary that we didn’t see on the Daintree tour. Plus a few other interesting things like a Tasmanian Devil.

The last journey of the day was a train ride on the Kuranda Railway, along which we also saw some good sights. Seating on the train is pre-assigned and is a crapshoot. We lucked out and got 2 window seats for the 4 of us, but the couple seated with the 4 of us had no window seat at all. They were clearly unhappy about that.

And then there was the bum-numbing ride back to Port Douglas. All 4 of us said “never again”.

I can’t recommend this excursion. If you do it, don’t take small children. Most of them were whining at Mom & Dad long before the day was over. If I was to suggest a better way to do this, I’d forego the cable car and train ride. Just drive up to the village, pay the entry fee and go see/do all the stuff, then drive home. You could do all of that in half a day.

We went on a train ride from Cairns to Kuranda village and returned via Skyrail, but we wasn't very satisfied with the organization. There wasn't enough time allocated in Kuranda village during the tour, and we didn't get enough time to explore the places to visit and the activities. Therefore, the tour didn't meet our expectations, and we was disappointed, it ruined our whole day!

Amazing Service Victor was the BEST....We loved his commentary....was a perfect smooth experience. WELL DONE

Great service and staff! Jun, our driver, was great. We were halfway through our trip when one of us forgot our phone. He was well happy to drive us all the way back to pick it up with no extra cost. Love that man with my life!

Kuranda railway up and Skyway down with transfers. What a fantastic day! The train trip up was wonderful and the Skyway down is breathtaking. Make sure to leave time on the way down for both stops, absolutely gorgeous!

Highlight of my Cairns holiday. Kuranda railway up and Skyway down with transfers. What a fantastic day! The train trip up was wonderful and the Skyway down is breathtaking. Make sure to leave the on the way down for both stops, absolutely gorgeous!

Great day, highly recommend. Great day from start to finish. Grant was a very informative, thoughtful guide. Picked up from hotel on time. Well worth paying extra $50 for first class on train. Melinda our hostess was fantastic. Travelled with a 4 year old that had a fantastic day. Thanks guys keep up the great work.

Port Douglas Bus Tour Had a wonderful day at Port Douglas. Kevin our bus driver was very friendly and informative. Would recommend

DO NOT BOOK AT Global Travel Services (GTS) !!!

We have booked a Kuranda Full Day Trip - Kuranda Train Up, Skyrail Cableway Backtour for 218$ (109$ each), due to weather conditions the Skyrail Cableway Back was cancelled (heavy rain in wet season, not so surprising).

GTS representative told us that we will get refund for the Skyrail, which is half of the whole program and ticket price is 55$ per person. WE HAVE RECEIVED 4$ EACH AS A REFUND, WHICH IS CLEARLY A SCAM. The 4$ refund per person is not even 4% of the entire trip.

After inquiring about the amount (which we thought was a mistake), they told us that the amount refunded is final and guess what, the price included door to door service and professional guidance (gave us some information on tropical north on the way to the station) and also ticket assistance, which meant that the guy got our tickets from the counter in case of the train (in case of skyrail we had to get our own tickets). So they have provided these “services” for 110$......

All in all GTS took advantage on us and the situation, we were really disappointed in this company, we usually had positive experiences in Australia, except GTS, we really REGRET CHOOSING THEM. Also there is no indication anywhere on their website on the terms and conditions regarding cancellation and refund.

We wrote this to make sure everyone is aware and also to emphasize that you are way better of if you take an Uber go to Kuranda station have your tickets to the train, go see the village, head back with Skyrail (or vica versa).

Excellent. Such a good day, very friendly informative host beautiful rainforest plenty of interesting things to see

Excellent. Such a good day, very friendly informative host beautiful rainforest plenty of interesting things to see

Lovely excursion from Cairns Our last day in Cairns as part of a trip around NZ and Australia, which didn’t disappoint. We were collected by Kevin from Cairns Charter Tours who provided excellent commentary on the way and was able to offer us flexibility on our leave time. A most enjoyable day. There was plenty to do during our full day, which could also be condensed into a half day. The park was very well kept and easy to get around. The animals were in very good condition and staff very informative and educational about them. Lots of excitement on the crocodile boat trip and crocodile attack activities.

Kuranda Village and Scenic Railway Quiet,easy day in the country and small Village. Lots of food and small craft shops. Don't sit in first cars on the train! Engine fumes were nasty. Easy walking in area. Three hours to see tours of butterflies, birds, or Kuala bears (and native animals) after you arrive in Kuranda. Full day.

Wonderful travel experience, Stu's rich knowledge base, professional English accents, and also provide us with a lot of information on eating, drinking, and fun, Cairns best tour guide “Stu”.

I was participate GTS's Hartley's tour. I spend a day at Hartley's, there are a lot of different activities , cassowary feeding, croco feeding, croco track and Kangaroo&wallaby feeding!!!!! I love feed those lovely animals. I even saw a baby wallaby in mom's belly. Before every feeding, the staff will explain in detail, easy way to know about this animals, I was enjoy the day.
BTW, Wayne, the driver who picked us up that day was so nice, he explains every thing about Cairns on the way to Hartley's and back Cairns, thank you.

Had a great time in Kuranda taking the scenic railway up and bus back, led by the wonderful Jude whose service was excellent throughout. He arrived early and was friendly and chatty. Impressed at the many options GTS had for this Kuranda trip so could pick the one that suited best. Thanks