What this logbook is, and what it is not

Every entry here starts from something published: the hotel's own pages, the booking page Accor runs for it, timetables and notices from the people who run the boats, trains and lagoon, and — clearly marked — a few secondary sources such as Wikipedia. Each page ends with its list of sources and the date we read them. Where two sources disagree, we print both and say which one we lean on.

We have not been hosted by the hotel, and we do not invent guests, quotes or star ratings. When something is not published — spa treatments, pool hours, how many rooms of each type exist — the page says so instead of guessing. The site is not the hotel's: for anything binding, the hotel's own website and its reservations team have the final word.

Address

35-41 Wharf Street, Cairns City QLD 4870

Rooms

128, each with a spa bath and a private garden balcony, per the hotel

Check-in / out

from 2:00 pm / by 11:00 am (Accor)

Casino

18+ only · daily 10 am–4 am · closed Good Friday and Christmas Day

Reef boats

Reef Fleet Terminal about 100 m away (Accor)

Airport

about 10 minutes by road (Accor)

The name on the door

For years this was the Sofitel Reef Casino, and by January 2009 it was trading as a Pullman. Today the hotel's website simply says The Reef Hotel Casino, Cairns, and Accor sells the rooms as part of its Handwritten Collection. Search engines, taxi drivers and old bookmarks still use the Pullman name, so we keep it in brackets. The story of the rename, and what we could not confirm about it, is in the logbook entry The name on the door.

Where to start

On the chart

The hotel's address is on Wharf Street, on the Cairns waterfront; its heritage Customs House wing opens onto Abbott Street, and Trinity Inlet lies on the water side. The map below loads from Google only when you press the button.

Open in Google Maps · Directions to 35-41 Wharf Street

Arriving by plane, bus or boat? The getting-here page has a route link for each starting point and a live map further down the page.

From the logbook

• The name on the door — Sofitel, Pullman, Handwritten Collection: what changed and when.
• Wharf Street to the outer reef — the morning of a reef day, minute by minute.
• The Customs House and the casino — a 1930s building inside a 1990s complex.

Before you send a request

Read the room page for the category you want, decide whether you need a water view, and note anything the desk should ask the hotel about — interconnecting rooms, a twin set-up, an accessible bathroom. Then use the coloured form at the foot of any page. We reply by email; nothing is booked until you confirm.