What is the Cairns Esplanade?

The first place we headed to after checking into our hotel in Cairns was the Cairns Esplanade. What is an Esplanade? It's an open walking area, paved or with grass, near the water. Read on for my pros and cons of the Cairns Esplanade.

The Pros

1. Where we stayed, at the Cairns Hilton, is right along the Cairns Esplanade. Walking out of the hotel, we saw water to the right of the walking path, and restaurants on the left. Beautiful area. 

2. There are a number of restaurants on the path to pick from, and we stopped at one of them - our first meal in Cairns. And actually, our first meal in Australia! 

3. From there, we continued to walk along the path. We got on the Ferris wheel, which had a pretty view of the waterfront promenade, lagoon, mountains, Coral Sea, and city. 

4. I also got in the Cairns Esplanade Lagoon, a 4800 square meter saltwater pool. This was recommended to us by our airport shuttle driver, as the ocean around Cairns is not safe to swim in due to crocodiles and jellyfish (stings can be fatal - different from U.S. jellyfish). I was excited to check out this large public pool, and it did not disappoint. To me, it was like a private white sand beach spot in the middle of the city since the water was clear light blue and it had sand. The water was warm and I could have spent a MUCH longer time in there. There were lots of people in it but the lagoon is so large, I didn't feel crowded at all. There was also sand as you get in the lagoon and soft sand on the bottom. I loved how there were picnic tables around too in grassy and paved areas for people who didn't want to get in and to put your stuff on.

The Cons

1. At $10 per person, the Ferris wheel was a bit pricy, so for my party of four the cost of a Ferris wheel ride for everyone was $40.

2. There wasn't much shade. Most of the areas we were in were open sun. 

There is so much to see and do at the Cairns Esplanade that I would love to go back and explore it more. The Lagoon is open 6 a.m.(!) to 6 p.m., which is awesome and I would love to stay at the Hilton again, wake up, early and go for another swim in the Lagoon.