Foodies Perspective - 6 Best Places to Eat in Cairns

6 Best Places to Eat in Cairns (A Foodies Perspective)

2/9/2026

Cairns is a cute, sleepy town (post Covid) best known for one major bucket list activity - the Great Barrier Reef. Although we explored Cairns for just 7 days, we loved exploring the area and doing what's best in Cairns - exploring the Great Barrier Reef (We were able to snorkel it, TWICE!!) We also had some time to try out some local places to eat, most of which were recommended to us by our local Airbnb hosts! Trust us, you won't want to miss these 6 best places to eat while you're in Cairns!

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6 Best Places to Eat in Cairns

Donut Kings - a cute little shop inside the mall that features delicious donuts, with some really fun and cute options!

Bury Me Standing - a bagel shop recommended to us by our Airbnb hosts, this spot instantly became one of our favorites in town! with unique bagel sandwich ingredients, each one comes served with pretzels and a pickle! they also have a great iced coffee!

Jimmys Burger & Co - an excellent burger place, seriously - Jimmys in Cairns has my all time favorite mushroom burger, and it would be quite sad if you didn't make it to this spot while visiting Cairns (according to Tyler they also have great beef burgers as well!)

Our Favorite Tours in Cairns :
- Rainforest River Tubing
- Great Barrier Reef Snorkeling
- Great Barrier Reef Scenic Flight

Tokyo Dumplings - ok so we don't have any photos of the food from this spot, however we did order takeout from here a couple times during our stay, and it was excellent!

Evo Burger - not as great as the other burger spot (Jimmys) but still a great option, especially if Jimmys is too busy and has a long wait (which it seems to often!)