Sydney to Cairns
 

What is the best way to get from Sydney to Cairns. I've been pricing flights and they're expensive so my husband and I were thinking of either renting a car and enjoying the scenery or, taking the train. We know there is quite a distace between the two and would appreciate any insite. Thanks!

Well, it's a hell of a long way to drive, and you'll find that despite the fact that the (often 2-lane) road is called the Pacific Highway much of it is inland rather than following the coast and not very interesting. But if you have plenty of time you'll certainly get the opportunity to see a variety of Australian towns and scenery. The distance incidentally is 2730 km (if you're from the US that's about 1700 miles). As for the train, maybe someone else can help there, but my guess is it would be a leisurely journey to put it mildly.

I don't know how you've been pricing the air fares but there are frequent specials at very attractive prices. If you haven't done so I'd register at the websites for Qantas, Jetstar (Qantas' budget subsidiary) and Virgin Blue for email alerts.

A leisurely train journey is putting it mildly! How about "boring as batshit!"

I've travelled Brisbane to Sydney and Proserpine to Cairns by train over the years. These are long, tedious, uninteresting trips (there's nothing to see really - like the road, it's all inland. The food's uniformly appalling and - it's probably more expensive than flying.

As Neil suggests, get on the mailing lists for all the airlines, and jump in when fares go on sale. And they do. Both Jetstar and Virgin Blue have happy hour sale times - I'm not sure when, though.

Even without jumping in to the sales mentioned by Neil and Margo (Virgin Blue has a Happy Hour daily sale 12 midday to 1pm AEST and Jetstar a Friday Sale between 4-8pm AEDT) the airfare Sydney-Cairns is still incredibly cheap for a flight of that distance (nearly 3 hours). Without looking hard I can see a Virgin Blue as low as $159, if you're American that's about US$111 on today's rate. That's about the same as a couple of tanks of petrol, and you'll go through a lot more than that if you drive, not to mention costs associated with car rental, food and accommodation.

It's a great trip to drive if you have oodles of time, and necessary funds, but a total misery if you hurry through, trust me, have done it many times, but only because I had to and that was back in the days when airfares were expensive and petrol was cheaper.

And Margo's right, the train fare is far more expensive than flying and it will take a couple of days and nights out of your time. The other alternative is coach, a long and tedious haul, and still costs a lot more than flying.

As Pat says, if you have oodles of time and dollars you can make a great trip out of it, anything less than a month being too rushed.

But also depends on time of the year you want to go as to, best to avoid the wetter months December to March at least to avoid possibility of localised road flooding and humidity further north.

If you only had a couple of weeks in which to do the trip, you could drive Sydney to Brisbane, perhaps even as far north as Rockhampton and then fly from there but time of year will also affect flight pricing.

An alternative to registering with the individual airlines would be to register with the one site, say www.bestflights.com.au and they send out regular emails about airline sales.
www.webjet.com.au does a scan of all airlines to show all prices and then just book with the cheapest.

As everyone has said, flying is the way to go. However, the cost of the fare varies enormously depending on whether you have to pay premium whack or can get a cheapie. So here's where you need to approach planning from a different angle. I find it works for me like this.

If there is a component of a proposed journey that is essential or expensive then I start with that; find the best solution to that problem, then build the rest of the trip around it, instead of making the difficult one fit into an already set itinerary.

Hope that makes sense. But if you browse the budget carrier websites at length you will find that the cheap flights tend to be midweek, so if you have an itinerary that insists that you fly on a Friday afternoon, then sure the flights are going to be expensive.

Finally, I guess you could mix and match. The road south of Cairns is quite scenic and it can be fun to bus it for a day (not all the way to Sydney!!!). So you could take the Greyhound down to say Townsville (maybe even visit Magnetic Island) then fly on from there. Or better still, bus it to Airlie Beach and visit the Whitsundays, flying on to Sydney from Proserpine (Whitsunday Coast).

Be devious!

Best of luck.

Fly i did Sydney to Brisbane and whilst there were some pleasant interludes we felt we wasted time getting to them. FLY its cheap.

iTS A REALLY LONG WAY TO DRIVE!! bOOK CHEAP FLIGHTS WHEN YOU ARRIVE IN AUSTRALIA, GO TO JETSTAR.COM IT WILL BE ABOUT 150aud ONE WAY EACH...
IT TOOK US 2 FULL DAYS TO DRIVE FROM BRISBANE TO CAIRNS AND THAT WAS RUSHING IT ALSO THE ROAD WAS NOT A HIGHWAY!! ITS ONE LANE MOST OF THE WAY AFTER YOU GET PAST BRISBANE.. BETTER OFF FLYING FOR SURE1

I know it's an old post susaweno but just so as you know, use of all capitals is just like shouting in a group that is having a normal level conversation.

That road btw is the Bruce Highway and most highways in Australia are of a dual direction on a single carriageway construction, all about population density and funding available courtesy of public purse but by far the greater majority of Australians are able to safely drive on such highways.

Thank you everyone for your responses, my husband and I are going to fly after reading everyones posts. We purchased tickets on Jet Star and will now be able to spend an extra day in Cairns, can't wait!

An extra day! YOU'RE JOKING RIGHT? If you thought you could drive it in two days please have a medical examination before visiting this country in case the stupidity is contagious. If you think I jest ask google maps for the travel time.

Wow saltaurius that seems pretty harsh. Just because the whole world is not knowledgeable about the size of Australia and relevant traveling times does not make them stupid. However, making comments like you have does make you rude.

Hez, you may be right.

In March the OP wrote, "We know there is quite a distace between the two and would appreciate any insite." I wrongly assumed that this lady had found out the distance, nearly three thousand kilometres. I also assumed that she had read the prompt and informative replies on this thread. To decide in July that they could, "spend an extra day in Cairns," through not driving reminded me of St Augustine's, "It is human to err, diabolically spiteful to remain in error."

I now realise that my animus was based on assumptions I cannot prove.