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.