Townsville to Cairns by bus

Typical ride 4h 30m over 350 km. Starting fares around $25 ($25–50). Compare operators - we don't sell tickets.

Route snapshot

Duration

4h 30m

Distance

350 km

Typical price

$25–50

Tip

Greyhound runs along the Bruce Highway via Innisfail and Ingham and takes about four and a half hours. Townsville is the gateway for Magnetic Island ferries.

Over 350 km the starting fare works out at $7.14 per 100 km - cheaper per kilometre than 32 of the 475 $-priced routes we track. See the bus fare index. Fares are editorial starting prices, not live quotes.

Trip plannerEstimates

Townsville to Cairns: bus, train, flight or drive?

We compared the ways to travel for Mon 2 Nov 2026 and 1 traveller. Bus figures come from our route data; train, flight and drive are our estimates, not live prices. We don’t sell tickets - the real fares are with the operators below.

Best overall

Train

Strong on cost and CO2. Scores 83/100 on our weighted mix of time, cost, comfort and CO2.

Score weights: time 35% · cost 30% · comfort 20% · CO₂ 15%

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Door to door: 5h 35m4h 45m on the move
Estimated fare: $17–45per person
Carbon: 14 kgCO₂e per traveller

Cheapest

Train

$17–45

About 18% less than the next cheapest option (bus), counting typical fares.

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Quickest

Flight

4h 20m door to door

Door to door about 4h 20m - 25 min quicker than the next fastest (drive).

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Greenest

Bus

11 kg CO₂e each

About 11 kg CO2e per traveller, roughly 84% less than flight.

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Door-to-door time

The real trip, not just the ride: getting to the station or airport, check-in and waiting all count.

Estimated cost

Typical cheap-to-flexible range. The dot marks the middle of the range. Not live prices.

Scorecard

Each way scored 0-100 on four things. A bigger shape means a better balance.

Bus 77 out of 100
Train 83 out of 100
Flight 60 out of 100
Drive 57 out of 100

Train: step by step

83/100

Leave your door for the station20 min
Security-free boarding buffer15 min
Train ride4h 45m
Station to your final stop15 min

Door to door5h 35m

Time weight 35%78 out of 100

Cost weight 30%100 out of 100

Comfort weight 20%66 out of 100

Green weight 15%84 out of 100

Rough estimate - assumes a direct intercity rail service exists; check timetables.

Our estimate

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Split the cost

Per person, a shared car beats the typical bus fare once 3 people share it (✓).

Per-person figures use the middle of each estimate. The low end of the car range assumes your own car (fuel and tolls); the high end adds a one-day hire car.

See the numbers (table)

Estimated comparison of ways to travel from Townsville to Cairns
Way	Door to door	On the move	Fare	CO₂e each	Score
Train*	5h 35m	4h 45m	$17–45	14 kg	83/100
Bus	5h 25m	4h 30m	$25–50	11 kg	77/100
Flight*	4h 20m	1h 05m	$65–160	64 kg	60/100
Drive*	4h 45m	4h 20m	$40–165	60 kg	57/100

* Our estimate, not a quote. Bus: duration, distance and fare range from our route data.

How we estimate

Bus uses the duration, distance and typical fare range in our route data (editorial figures, not live quotes).
Train, flight and drive are estimated from the 350 km road distance (with fixed average speeds and per-kilometre price bands, scaled to this route’s own bus fare level). A straight-line distance of about 80% of the road distance is used for flights.
Door to door adds the time that is not travelling: about 55 min for a coach (to the station, boarding, onward), 50 min for a train, 195 min for a flight (to the airport, check-in and security, baggage, into town) and 25 min for a car (loading, parking).
Cost is a cheap-to-flexible range per person; flights include airport transfers; cars are priced per car (fuel and tolls at the low end, plus a one-day hire car at the high end) and split between up to four people.
CO₂e per traveller uses typical factors per passenger-km: coach 0.03 kg, train 0.04 kg (0.015 kg on electric high-speed lines), short-haul flight 0.14-0.23 kg without radiative forcing, car 0.17 kg per vehicle-km shared between the people in it.
Scores run 0-100: time (fastest door to door = 100), cost (cheapest typical total = 100), comfort (our editorial rating, lower for very long rides) and green (lower emissions per km = higher). Best overall weights them time 35%, cost 30%, comfort 20%, CO₂ 15%.
Not every corridor has a direct train or airport service, and car journeys may involve ferries or tolls we do not know about. Treat everything except the bus figures as a starting point and check the operators.

The cheapest way from Townsville to Cairns is the train (about $17–45 per person); the quickest is the flight (about 4h 20m door to door); the best overall balance is the train; the lowest-carbon choice is the bus (about 11 kg CO2e per traveller). The bus takes about 4h 30m on the road over roughly 350 km. Bus figures come from our route data; train, flight and drive figures are our own estimates, not live prices.

Fares and times other than the bus figures are estimates for planning only - they are not offers or live prices. We don’t sell tickets; compare live prices with the providers further down this page.