The city has used its natural surrounds to its full advantage with the construction of many small theme parks for tourists. Among them is the Tjapukai Aboriginal Cultural Park， and Skyrail， a Gondola Cableway that extends for 7.5km over World Heritage rainforest.
Cairns is located on the eastern side at the base of Cape York Peninsula on a coastal strip between the Coral Sea and the Great Dividing Range. The northern part of the city is located on Trinity Bay and the city centre is located on Cairns Inlet. Some of the city，s suburbs are located on fertile flood plains. The Mulgrave River and Barron River flow within the city，s boundaryboundary n.边界， 分界线 ，but not through the city itself. The city centre，s foreshow is located on a mud flat. The highest mountain in Queensland Mount Bartle Frere is located within the city，s boundaries.
Urban Layout
Cairns is a third class metropolis and has a linear urban layout that runs from south (starting at Aloomba) to north (ending at Ellis Beach). From north to south is approximately 52 km，s in length. Cairns has an urban sprawl problem with suburbs incurring and occupying land previously used for sugar cane farming. Many houses have also been built on hillsides partly dues to lack of space and partly due to a perception of prestige living. Building on Cairns hillslopes is extremely dangerous. According to national geologists and geographers Cairns is the most likely place in Australia for a landslide to occur because of the fertilefertile adj.肥沃的， 富饶的， 能繁殖的 but weak clay based soils. The urban layout of Cairns is similar to Honolulu，s urban layout.
The Northern Beaches are low in elevation and consist of a number of beach communities extending north along the coast. In general each beach suburb is located at the end of a spur road extending from the Captain Cook Highway. Extending from south to north these are： Machans Beach， Holloways Beach， Yorkeys Knob， Trinity Park， Trinity Beach， Kewarra Beach， Clifton Beach， Palm Cove and Ellis Beach.
The suburb of Smithfield is located inland and against the mountains of the Great Dividing Range and serves as the main centre for the Northern Beaches. It is located between Yorkey，s Knob and Trinity Park at the base of the Kuranda Range Road.
Located inland from the Northern Beaches along the edge of the Barron River flood plain are the suburbs of Caravonica， Lake Placid， Kamerunga， Stratford， and Freshwater. This area is sometimes referred to as the Freshwater Valley， and can be considered as part of the Northern Beaches area. Further up the Freshwater Valley is the Redlynch Valley. The suburb of Redlynch is located on the western side of the Redlynch Valley， and Brinsmead lies on the eastern side. Stratford， Freshwater， Redlynch and Brinsmead are separated from Cairns city by the Mount Whitfield (elevation 365m) and the Whitfield Range.
Cairns City which is based on what once was swampswamp n.沼泽， 湿地， 煤层聚水 v.陷入沼泽， 淹没， 覆没 includes： Cairns CBD， Manunda， Edge Hill， Whitfield， Parramatta Park， Mooroobool， Manoora， Portsmith， Earlville， Bungalow and Woree. The small suburb of Aeroglen is pressed between Mount Whitfield and the airport on the Captain Cook Highway north of the CBD towards Smithfield.