Cairns City Motel
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Cairns City Motel

Front view of the motel
Traveller (54)
Room & Suite (87)
Pool & Beach (4)

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Avg. AU$115 /night, 2/11 - 2/12
AU$123
per night
AU$119
per night
AU$115
per night

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About

#6 of 6 motels in Cairns
4.4 of 5 bubbles
Location
3.4 of 5 bubbles
Rooms
3.3 of 5 bubbles
Value
3.5 of 5 bubbles
Cleanliness
3.5 of 5 bubbles
Service
3.1 of 5 bubbles
Sleep Quality
Finding a comfy budget friendly motel in Cairns does not have to be difficult. Welcome to Cairns City Motel, a nice option for travellers like you. Rooms at Cairns City Motel provide a flat screen TV, air conditioning, bar fridge, kettle, toaster and microwave. All rooms have a private ensuite bathroom with shower. Free wifi is available. In addition, while staying at Cairns City Motel guests have access to express check-in and check-out and baggage storage. You can also enjoy a nice refreshing pool on-site. Need a place to park? Free limited parking (6 spots) is available at Cairns City Motel. Close to some of Cairns' most popular landmarks, such as the Esplanade lagoon and CPAC, Cairns City Motel is a great destination for tourists.
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Property amenities
Free parking
Wifi
Saltwater pool
Baggage storage
Outdoor furniture
Express check-in / check-out
Private check-in / check-out
Washing machine
Sun loungers / beach chairs
Room features
Air conditioning
Microwave
Refrigerator
Flatscreen TV
Bath / shower
Room types
Non-smoking rooms
Family rooms
Good to know
HOTEL CLASS
Star ratings are intended to indicate the general level of features, amenities, and services to expect. This property is classified according to Giata.
2.0 of 5 stars
HOTEL STYLE
Budget
Languages Spoken
English, French, Spanish, Chinese

Location

169 Lake St, Cairns, Queensland 4870 Australia
Getting there
Great for walkers
Places to stay are graded on a 0-100 scale. The higher the grade, the easier it is for travellers to find restaurants and things to do within walking distance.
Grade: 96 out of 100
96
Cairns Airport
4.9 km•
See all flights

Reviews
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Detailed Reviews
Allan T wrote a review Sept 2023
Brisbane, Australia
Hotel's Favourite
3.0 of 5 bubbles
A clean and comfortable motel in a good location. Friendly and helpful receptionist and staff. Reasonable nightly rates. Bar fridge, microwave and jug included in the rooms. Air conditioning, but did not use. A short walk to the Cairns Esplanade and shops. Various restaurants in walking distance. Limited parking on the premise, but more available in the street. A pleasant stay. I would give 3.5 stars if possible.
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Date of stay: September 2023Trip type: Travelled with family
Room Tip: Parking is limited, and you may have to park in the street.
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Rowan M wrote a review Apr 2021
Geelong, Australia
3.0 of 5 bubbles
I was lucky enough to recently have a trip to Cairns to explore the Great Barrier Reef. Due to the type of year l had the budget was very tight and most of the budget was used to ensure l could travel to the reef as much as possible over my stay. So l chose to stay at this Motel not expecting a lot for my $72.00 a night stay.. The other reason l chose this Motel was its location being close to all the action with only short walk to the waterfront area of Cairns but in one of the quieter streets. The street was quiet but my room was located under one of the stairwells leading to the up stair rooms. So every time someone walked up or down the stairs its sounded like a bomb had gone off. Then the Motel has dead locks on the very cheap quality doors to each room. So every time a guest was coming or leaving there room with closing the door another bomb went off. Overall the room was clean but as expected very dated. Also as advertised the motel has limited guest parking and told if no parks were available to park in the street.. On the few times l had to park on the street it took a long time to find a suitable park..
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Date of stay: April 2021
3.0 of 5 bubblesValue
4.0 of 5 bubblesCleanliness
4.0 of 5 bubblesService
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Sam H wrote a review Aug 2023
Chelmsford, United Kingdom
3.0 of 5 bubbles
Left key for us as we arrived very late. Took a cab to and from Cairns airport, they booked the return journey for us which was very helpful.
Cooking and cleaning stuff was included with a microwave.
Very close to the activities we were doing in Cairns.
The room constantly had a clinical/disinfectant smell, it was cold and needed more bedding. Bathroom door easily falls off the rail.
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Date of stay: August 2023Trip type: Travelled as a couple
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
John S wrote a review Jan 2023
Cairns, Australia
+1
1.0 of 5 bubbles
I regretfully stayed here for 2 nights. I arrived around 2:30pm and had to wait for the receptionist to eventually arrive and unlock the front office. I soon learnt that the female receptionist doesn't work in the office, rather sits at a small table looking at her phone and smoking cigarettes. She was doing this literally every time I saw her during my stay. I witnessed other guests becoming annoyed after waiting and buzzing the office for considerable time, all the while the woman was sitting around smoking. Very unprofessional. First impressions of the room were not good. Very small and pokey, furnishings very dated and in urgent need for repairs or updating. Here is a basic overview of the positives and negatives.

Positives:
Bed appeared freshly made and was satisfactory;
Small fridge was clean and functional;
Water pressure was good.
Negatives:
Two main windows didn't have flyscreens so flying insects came in including mosquitoes;
The aircon had significant black mold growth;
There was no smoke alarm in the room;
There were guests constantly smoking cigarettes outside, so smoke constantly came in;
The room smelled very musty with a mix of cigarettes and mold;
Drinking glasses were not clean and one had a chip;
Some lights in the room didn't work;
The free WiFi was extremely patchy - kept dropping out after no more than 5 minutes of use;
The wasn't off-street secure parking as described in the booking;
The ceiling fan only functions on max setting and even that was very inadequate;
There was damage throughout the room - small holes in walls and rough patches and evidence of water damage;
The walls were very thin and I could hear everything in rooms next to me;
The second night a guest starting playing loud music after midnight and refused to turn it down or off...

I could go on but I think you get the picture. Don't waste your time and money staying here. I will be contacting the booking agency and demanding a partial refund. Avoid this place!!!
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Date of stay: January 2023Trip type: Travelled solo
Room Tip: The best advice is to look elsewhere. It won't be hard to find a better motel.
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
B138877 wrote a review July 2022
Queensland, Australia
4.0 of 5 bubbles
If you want fancy, pay for fancy! Annoyed with judgey "Karens" on reviews If you want budget, but not backpacker dorm accommodation, this is for you. Hotel staff very nice. Room clean. Yes its not the "hilton" but you are not paying for that. Good solid budget private bathroom roof over your head where you spend most of your time exploring the area. Easy walking. I would like better booking on the hotel website. For multiple rooms we needed to book with booking.com. I prefer all my dollars to go to the hotel and not booking.com. And most hotels find it difficult to deal with website bookings at times.......
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Date of stay: July 2022
4.0 of 5 bubblesCleanliness
5.0 of 5 bubblesService
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Steve R wrote a review July 2024
1.0 of 5 bubbles
Room was old and tired, no blankets on main bed, no sheet on single bed. Bathroom had wrong size unsecured sliding door with no lock, no ceiling fan. Poor value for cost. Positives: aircon worked although noisy, good location for beach front and CBD. Find somewhere else.
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Date of stay: July 2024
1.0 of 5 bubblesValue
1.0 of 5 bubblesRooms
4.0 of 5 bubblesLocation
3.0 of 5 bubblesCleanliness
1.0 of 5 bubblesService
2.0 of 5 bubblesSleep Quality
Trip type: Travelled with family
Room Tip: Find somewhere else to stay
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Nerissa W wrote a review Dec 2015
Melbourne, Australia
4.0 of 5 bubbles
I needed one night's "no frills" accommodation in Cairns city after a late flight arrival and before moving on to Mission Beach. Cairns City Motel was the perfect place for that. You would be hard pushed to find a more clean and comfortable stay in Cairns at such a cheap price. Wireless internet is free and I had no trouble with connectivity. I also felt quite safe staying there. Plenty of handy kitchen equipment and utensils available should one wish to self-cater.

Only two minuses: the room was quite small and the air conditioner was very loud.
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Date of stay: November 2015
5.0 of 5 bubblesValue
4.0 of 5 bubblesCleanliness
4.0 of 5 bubblesService
Trip type: Travelled solo
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Night S wrote a review Aug 2019
Darwin, Australia
1.0 of 5 bubbles
I checked out within 30 mins of checking in. The Reception staff were wonderful. The room was dirty and smelt of urine and sweat. The AC was covered in dust,probably like the filters and was unhealthy and unhygenic.The bathroom light had no translucent cover and electrical wires were in clear view.
Avoid.
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Date of stay: August 2019Trip type: Travelled solo
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Ron B wrote a review June 2018
Sydney, Australia
1.0 of 5 bubbles
I know it's a cheap motel but there are minimum health, safety and comfort standards that even dorm type hostels adhere to. I've stayed at better places in 3rd world countries.

Firstly, reception is never open. There is someone onsite that you can phone M-F 9am-7pm Sat 10am-4pm Sun 10am-2pm. Good luck is something goes wrong at 2.01 on Sunday.

TV only worked intermittently and when it did it was pixelated. Being a Sunday evening there was no one to help.

I was awoken twice overnight by drunken guests banging on my door in error.

The sheets had red drip stains on them but as I only realized this after their hours there was nothing I could do.

The fridge was rusting away. The Kettle hadn't been cleaned on the inside for years. The plumbing throughout the building is so rotten that you're woken up by the bangs and crashes all night every time anyone in the motel opens a tap or flushes the toilet.

The place is a fair walk to retail but there isn't even a drink/snack vending machine on site.

Worst hotel I've seen in my 60+ years. Do not go there. Do not!
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Date of stay: March 2018
1.0 of 5 bubblesValue
1.0 of 5 bubblesLocation
1.0 of 5 bubblesService
Trip type: Travelled solo
Room Tip: Don't go there
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Emma H wrote a review June 2016
1.0 of 5 bubbles
My partner and I stayed 7 nights here. We arrived to a grotty reception area to be told that there was a problem with the plumbing in our room (conveniently we were told AFTER they had taken our payment) so we had to have another room until ours was sorted. We can't help but feel they were lying about this as we couldn't check in to our original room until someone else had checked out. Anyway, the first room had no fan and the air con system looked like something from 1940 (didn't work anyway), it was extremely loud and one night we had people drinking and playing music at stupid o clock outside our room while we were trying to sleep. Realised the next day it was the motel staff. Constant smell of smoke everywhere, even in the room with all the windows closed, not nice for non smokers. We moved rooms after 4 nights, the second room was slightly better as we had a ceiling fan and bigger bathroom. However it was still as dated and grubby as the first one. We agreed with one of the staff members that we could keep our room until 2pm on the day of check out because we were inconvenienced having to move rooms. 10am arrives and the guy who runs the place is knocking on our door. His attitude was DISGUSTING and he spoke to me like I was stupid. Then he walked off in a strop like a child. We were so happy to leave this place I practically threw the keys at the lady. The staff have no idea how to run a business, and they use the excuse of being 'budget accommodation' for being crap.
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Date of stay: June 2016
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
…
Michelle P wrote a tip Oct 2024
Brisbane, Australia4 contributions
4.0 of 5 bubbles
"Check the motel room out first and ask if the shower have a great flow if not don't stay there."
Read full review
Steve R wrote a tip July 2024
4 contributions
1.0 of 5 bubbles
"Find somewhere else to stay"
Read full review
Allan T wrote a tip Sept 2023
Brisbane, Australia50 contributions13 helpful votes
3.0 of 5 bubbles
"Parking is limited, and you may have to park in the street. "
Read full review
John S wrote a tip Jan 2023
Cairns, Australia115 contributions11 helpful votes
1.0 of 5 bubbles
"The best advice is to look elsewhere. It won't be hard to find a better motel."
Read full review
Karen P wrote a tip Oct 2019
1 contribution
1.0 of 5 bubbles
"find somewhere else"
Read full review
Not the right property for you?
There are more places to choose from in the Cairns area.
PRICE RANGE
AU$112 - AU$123 (Based on Average Rates for a Standard Room)
FORMERLY KNOWN AS
Poinsettia Motel
LOCATION
AustraliaQueenslandCairns RegionCairns
NUMBER OF ROOMS
19
Prices are provided by our partners, and reflect total costs of the stay, including all taxes and fees known to our partners. Please see our partners for more details.
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CAIRNS CITY MOTEL (AU$112) - 2025 Prices & Reviews - Photos of Motel - Tripadvisor

Frequently Asked Questions about Cairns City Motel
Which popular attractions are close to Cairns City Motel?
Nearby attractions include Cairns Aquarium (0.2 km), Muddy's Playground (0.3 km), and Reef Encounter (0.3 km).
What are some of the property amenities at Cairns City Motel?
Some of the more popular amenities offered include free parking, baggage storage, and express check-in and check-out.
Which room amenities are available at Cairns City Motel?
Top room amenities include air conditioning, a flat screen TV, and a refrigerator.
Is parking available at Cairns City Motel?
Yes, free parking is available to guests.
What are some restaurants close to Cairns City Motel?
Conveniently located restaurants include Gelocchio, Mi Piace Espresso Bar, and Devine Gelato.
Are there opportunities to exercise at Cairns City Motel?
Yes, guests have access to a saltwater pool during their stay.
Is Cairns City Motel located near the city centre?
Yes, it is 0.1 km away from the centre of Cairns.
Which languages are spoken by the staff at Cairns City Motel?
The staff speaks multiple languages, including English, Spanish, French, and Chinese.
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