Best Burgers in Cairns: Esplanade and Beyond

The best burgers in Cairns are concentrated in the compact CBD and along the Esplanade, the waterfront strip where most visitors end up eating. North of the city, the Northern Beaches, Trinity Beach and Palm Cove among them, have their own beachfront cafés and pubs, and Edge Hill offers a quieter local strip near the Botanic Gardens.

Cairns eats outdoors. The tropical climate pushes meals onto footpaths and terraces for most of the year, and reef and rainforest trips leave early in the morning, so dinner tends to start early too. Seafood sits next to beef on many menus, which makes a fish burger an easy alternative to a cheeseburger. Fresh produce reaches the city from the Atherton Tablelands, the farming plateau inland, and is sold at Rusty’s Markets in the city centre.

Burgers in Cairns: key facts

• Areas to explore: the CBD, the Esplanade, Edge Hill, Trinity Beach and Palm Cove.
• Local produce: Rusty’s Markets in the CBD, open Friday to Sunday, and farms on the Atherton Tablelands.
• Climate: the wet season, roughly December to April, brings heat, humidity and heavy rain; the dry season is the busy one.
• When locals eat: early evenings, to match the early starts of reef and rainforest tours.
• Currency: the Australian dollar (AUD) is the only currency used.
• What our guides check: opening status, full address, a dated menu price and a dated rating with its review count.

Every guide we publish on Cairns is dated and lists only venues, addresses, prices and ratings we could verify. For other cities in Queensland and worldwide, see our burger restaurant guides.