Around Wharf Street · read 29 October 2026

Around Wharf Street: what is a short walk away

The hotel sits where the city meets the water. Most of what a first evening in Cairns needs is within a few blocks — here is what, and when it opens.

The Esplanade and the lagoon

Accor puts the Esplanade about 200 metres from the hotel. Its centrepiece for visitors is the free saltwater swimming lagoon that the city opened in March 2003, separated from the sea by a boardwalk. Cairns Regional Council describes it as 4,800 m² and watched by lifeguards during opening hours.

Thursday–Tuesday

6 am – 9 pm

Wednesday

12 pm – 9 pm (closed in the morning for maintenance)

Every two years

a planned closure of about five weeks

Cost

free

The council's own site blocked our checks, so the hours above come from its published pages as quoted in search results on 29 October 2026. Treat them as a guide and look at the council's notices before planning a swim around them.

The Customs House next door

Part of the hotel complex is a building older than the casino by sixty years: the former Cairns Customs House at 6A–8A Abbott Street, designed by Robert Henry Bowen and built in 1936–37. Customs moved out in 1989, the building was taken into the casino development, and it has been on the Queensland Heritage Register since 1992. Today it houses Soy Kitchen Street Food — so you can see the restored timberwork over dinner. The logbook entry has the longer story.

Cairns Night Markets

An air-conditioned market and food court at 54-60 Abbott Street, open every night, with around 70 shops. The markets say their massage shops open from 1 pm and that the crêpe stall opens daily from 4:30 pm. It is a natural first-night stop when you arrive too tired for a sit-down dinner.

Cairns Museum

The city's social-history museum is at 105 Lake Street, entered from Shields Street, in the historic School of Arts building. It opens Monday to Saturday, 10 am to 4 pm. In 2026 Cairns marks 150 years since the colonial township was established, and the Cairns Historical Society, which runs the museum, is holding a year-long programme of exhibitions and talks. Wikipedia notes the city was founded in 1876 and named after Sir William Wellington Cairns, then Governor of Queensland.

Cairns Aquarium

At 5 Florence Street, open every day of the year from 9:30 am to 3:30 pm with last entry at 2:30 pm. Its galleries follow water from rainforest rivers through mangroves to the reef, with daily shark and ray feeds and a touch pool — a useful rainy-afternoon plan, and a gentle introduction for children before a reef trip.

A first evening, on foot

1. Check in from 2 pm and leave the car, if you have one, in the hotel car park.
2. Walk to the Esplanade and swim in the lagoon until the light goes; on a Wednesday it opens at noon.
3. Eat early at Soy Kitchen in the Customs House (from 4 pm daily) or browse the Night Markets food court.
4. If there is a show at BAR36, it usually starts at 9 pm — see what's on.

Dates for shows are on what's on; opening times for everything inside the hotel are on eat and drink.