Canberra to Cairns

The fastest journey from Canberra to Cairns takes 8h 1m door to door, of which 4h 3m is spent moving, on the flight. Most services take around 9h 1m, because that average includes slower stopping services and journeys with a connection. Times include reaching the terminal and leaving it at the far end.

The cheapest fare from Canberra to Cairns is €176.34, as of 23 September 2026. A typical fare across the next three weeks is €294.55. Both figures are the total for one passenger, including taxes, supplier fees and our service fee, so nothing is added at checkout.

The cheapest way from Canberra to Cairns is by train, at €176.34 for one passenger on 12 October 2026. That journey takes 8h 19m door to door. Cheaper is rarely faster on this corridor, and the comparison table on this page shows what each mode costs against what it saves.

The fastest way from Canberra to Cairns is by flight, at 8h 17m door to door. Only 4h 3m of that is spent moving; the remaining 4h 14m is reaching the terminal and leaving it at the far end. The cheapest fare on that mode is €223.16.

Fares from Canberra to Cairns bottom out around 60 days before departure, at €192.84. Across the whole booking window the gap between the cheapest and the dearest lead time is 229 percent, measured on 23 September 2026. Booking inside the last week has consistently cost more on this corridor.

Tuesday is the cheapest day to depart from Canberra to Cairns, at €220.89. That is the median of 21 priced departure days across the next three weeks, as of 23 September 2026. Shifting a departure by one day is usually worth more than shifting the booking by one week.

November is the cheapest of the next 5 months to travel from Canberra to Cairns, at €159.84 for one passenger. Each month is priced on its fifteenth, so the comparison is like for like rather than a mix of weekends and midweek departures.

5 operators sell services from Canberra to Cairns across 2 modes: Alliance Airlines, Cathay Pacific, NSW TrainLink, Tiger Airways Australia, Virgin Australia. Journey times, fares and fare conditions differ between them, and the operator table on this page compares all of them on speed, flexibility and what is provided on board.

0 percent of the services we sell from Canberra to Cairns are direct. The rest connect at Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, with about 64 minutes between the two services. Both legs are sold on one booking, so a missed connection is rebooked at no charge.

Travelling from Canberra to Cairns by train produces about 473.0 kg of CO2 per passenger, the lowest of any mode on this corridor. The same journey by Flight produces about 502.4 kg, roughly 1 times as much for one passenger.

Services from Canberra to Cairns by flight leave from Canberra Airport CBR and arrive at Cairns International Airport CNS. Allow about 3h 10m in total for reaching the departure terminal and leaving the arrival one, which is already included in every door to door time on this page.

1 of the 5 operators we sell from Canberra to Cairns allow a change or a refund. A change on a changeable fare costs €5.00. The operator table on this page names which is which, and the condition is shown again before you pay.