Machans Beach

Cairns' Closest Beach

Machans Beach is Cairns Closest beach, approximately a 10 minutes drive north of Cairns.

However forget about swimming here!

Machans Beach has a rock wall all the way down the Esplanade and has no real beach to swim or sunbake on.

If on the other hand you enjoy fishing and exploring then it’s worth a visit to Machans.

There’s stairs built into the rockwall at various places, with fishing rod holders too, and a lot of signage up about fishing.

A small, quiet residential and laid back suburb, with a restaurant and a groovy cafe.

There is a playground at the southern end of the Esplanade.

Little bit of history

Machans Beach is one of the first residential beach settlement in Cairns.

There was once a beach here until the Barron river broke through to a new entrance – causing a northward drift of sand and erosion.

During world war 2 Machans Beach was occupied for defence purposes.

In March 1945 an aeroplane crashed into the sea by Machans Beach – a RAAF Hudson. You can see a memorial to this at the southern end of the Esplanade.

Barron River Mouth

The Barron River Mouth is located on the southside of Machans Beach.

This is a popular fishing spot!

Beware crocodiles are plentiful in the Barron River.

When the tide is low is the BEST time to go.

FNQ Adventures

Here are some great shots of the Machans Beach River mouth, thanks to FNQ Adventures – follow Miranda and her family on Facebook for more outdoor adventures-

Machans beach on a low tide is a great place to be with the kids and your dog. The dogs love it and the kids love catching yabbies for bait. If your after yabbies it's a great spot for them. Even pulled up a few blood worms. Also love that you get little shallow pools that the kids can swim in without having to worry about crocs, just the odd hermit crab