Our top pick5 h
5 hCairns: Hot Air Balloon Flight with Transfers
★ 4.9 · 95 reviews
- 5h, above the Atherton Tablelands
- Hotel pickup included
- Bestseller
- Free cancellation
$310
Check availability→ The plateau
Atherton Tablelands tour: the plateau under the balloons
Both balloon listings sold here say the same thing in their own words: the flying is done above the Atherton Tablelands, the farmed and rainforested plateau inland from the coast. The pick-up happens at the coast; the plateau is where the morning goes. An Atherton Tablelands tour by road is a different purchase, and four of them are bookable from $118. This page sets both out side by side.
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An Atherton Tablelands tour, at a glance
- Flights above the plateau
- Twoone from Cairns, one from Port Douglas
- Fare from
- $310the one from-price on this site, for the five-hour balloon morning from Cairns
- The other flight
- $313four hours from Port Douglas · 23 reviews at 5.0
- Reviews behind the two flights
- 11895 on the Cairns listing at 4.9 and 23 on the Port Douglas one at 5.0
- Road days inland
- Fourfrom 5.5 to 11 hours, as the operators publish them
- Lowest road fare here
- $118ten hours · 1,046 reviews at 4.7 — a card figure, not a second from-price
- Longest day here
- $166eleven hours · 216 reviews at 4.6
- What the flight listings name
- The plateaurainforest-covered hills, sunrise, and sparkling wine or juice afterwards
Quick answer
The short answer. For the plateau from the air, that is the $310 morning from Cairns, with 95 reviews at 4.9, or the $313 one from Port Douglas, with 23 reviews at 5.0. From the road, the ten-hour waterfall day at $118 carries 1,046 reviews at 4.7 — the most of any single listing here; the next is the gorge day with 229. An Atherton Tablelands tour by road and a balloon morning are not the same day and do not replace one another.
Where it is
What the plateau is, and why the flights go there
One plateau, two ways to see it, and no overlap between them.
The Atherton Tablelands are a plateau inland and uphill from the Cairns coast: farmland, orchards, crater lakes, pockets of rainforest and the waterfalls that drain off the edge of it. Wide paddocks rather than reef or skyline — and it is where the balloons actually fly. The Cairns listing describes floating above rainforest-covered hills of the plateau at sunrise. The Port Douglas one describes soaring above the same plateau, with a glass of sparkling wine or juice once it is down. Neither describes the city, the water or the reef.
That is why the transfer is written into both listings and into their published lengths: five hours from Cairns, four from Port Douglas. Those figures are the whole outing — collection, the drive up, the flight, the drive back. How long the basket itself is in the air is not a number either operator publishes, so you will not find it invented here.
An Atherton Tablelands tour by road covers the same country at ground level and takes longer, because it stops: ten hours for the waterfall day, eleven for the outback day that crosses the plateau heading west, eight for the wildlife evening that finishes after dark. None of them fits beside a balloon morning.
The listings
Every Atherton Tablelands tour and flight on this page
Six listings: two from the air, four from the road. Lengths and review counts are the operators’ own published figures.
- The balloon morning from Cairns, $310, 5 hours
Rated 4.9 on 95 reviews, and the from-price for this whole site. The listing describes sunrise and floating above the rainforest-covered hills of the plateau, with transfers in the title. Five hours is the length of the outing, not of the flight.
- The balloon morning from Port Douglas, $313, 4 hours
Rated 5.0 on 23 reviews — a high score on a small number, and worth reading as exactly that. It lifts from the same plateau and adds a glass of sparkling wine or juice after landing. Three dollars more than the Cairns listing, an hour shorter on paper.
- The waterfall day, $118, 10 hours
Rated 4.7 on 1,046 reviews: the most of any single listing on this page, against 229 for the next one. That makes it the Atherton Tablelands tour most people here are buying. Its description names the waterfalls and rainforests of North Queensland, with lunch in the title. An Atherton Tablelands day tour of ten hours takes your whole date.
- The outback day, $166, 11 hours
Rated 4.6 on 216 reviews and the longest listing here. It runs west past the plateau to limestone caves, ancient coral reefs turned to stone, Granite Gorge and the old smelters, and mentions birdlife and wildlife along the way.
- The wildlife evening, $153, 8 hours
Rated 4.8 on 201 reviews, and the closest thing here to an Atherton Tablelands night tour: a small, uncrowded day that goes looking for platypus, tree kangaroos and forest dragons, then stays out while the rainforest wakes after dark. Looking is what the listing describes; finding is not something it promises.
- The gorge day, $184, 5.5 hours
Rated 4.9 on 229 reviews and the highest road fare. This one is in the water rather than beside it: slides, cliff jumps and an abseil through Behana Gorge, small groups, gear supplied, ages 8 to 80 stated on the listing. The shortest road day here.
Every trip, current fare
Every flight and day on this page, priced by the hour
Cost per hour uses the full published length. A dash means the listing publishes no single duration to divide by, which is the case for both balloon mornings: the figure they publish is the outing, not the flight.
| Flight | Length | Price | What is included | Cost per hour | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cairns: Hot Air Balloon Flight with TransfersCairns: Hot Air Balloon Flight with Transfers | 5 h | $310 | — | 4.9 · 95 | |
| Port Douglas: Scenic Hot Air Balloon RidePort Douglas: Scenic Hot Air Balloon Ride | 4 h | $313 | — | 5 · 23 | |
| Cairns: Waterfall Tour with LunchCairns: Waterfall Tour with Lunch | 10 h | $118 | $11.80 | 4.7 · 1,046 | |
| From Cairns: Chillagoe Caves and Outback Full-Day TourFrom Cairns: Chillagoe Caves and Outback Full-Day Tour | 11 h | $166 | $15.09 | 4.6 · 216 | |
| From Cairns: Rainforest, Platypus & Nocturnal Wildlife TourFrom Cairns: Rainforest, Platypus & Nocturnal Wildlife Tour | 8 h | $153 | $19.12 | 4.8 · 201 | |
| Cairns: Behana Gorge Rainforest Canyoning TourCairns: Behana Gorge Rainforest Canyoning Tour | 5.5 h | $184 | $33.45 | 4.9 · 229 |
Best time
What the seasons change, and what they do not
The year has two halves here. The flight still depends on the morning.
North Queensland splits the year into a dry half, roughly May to October, and a wet half, roughly November to April. That is geography rather than an operator’s claim, and it is the honest frame for planning an Atherton Tablelands tour. In the wet half the waterfalls carry far more water; in the dry half the plateau is cut paddock and open sky. Both halves are sold; none of these listings is seasonal.
What the season does not decide is whether a balloon leaves the ground. That is wind, on the morning, and neither listing says otherwise. Both balloon listings carry free cancellation, so book the flight early in your stay and you keep a second morning in reserve. And keep the dates apart: a road day of eight to eleven hours plus a pre-dawn balloon start is a sixteen-hour day.
Before you book
Four things people get wrong about this plateau
All four come from treating the air and the road as the same purchase.
- Expecting to fly over the city or the water
Neither balloon listing describes that. Both name the plateau inland, which is why the drive is written into the price and the published length.
- Reading five hours as five hours of flying
It is not. Five hours from Cairns and four from Port Douglas are the whole outing including transfers. How long the balloon stays up is not published by either operator, so ask at checkout rather than planning around a guess.
- Taking 5.0 at face value
The Port Douglas listing is rated 5.0 on 23 reviews. The Cairns listing is 4.9 on 95. A perfect score on a small sample and a near-perfect one on four times as many are not the same claim, and the count is the part to read.
- Looking for a food day up there
There is no Atherton Tablelands food tour in this line-up. The only meal written into any of these six listings is the lunch in the waterfall day’s own title, and the glass of sparkling wine or juice after the Port Douglas landing.
Verdict
Which one to book
Asked which is the best Atherton Tablelands tour, the honest answer is a number rather than a word. The waterfall day at $118 carries 1,046 reviews at 4.7 — the most of any single listing on this page, against 229 for the gorge day. It is also the lowest road fare and the one whose description names the plateau outright.
From the air, take the Cairns morning at $310. It is 4.9 on 95 reviews against 23 for the Port Douglas listing — 95 is not a large number in absolute terms, it is simply four times more evidence than the alternative carries. If you are staying north of Cairns, the $313 listing starts closer to you and costs three dollars more.
Verdict. Book the balloon morning at $310 for the plateau from above and the waterfall day at $118 for it from the road, on two different dates. If there is room for one only and the fare decides it, the waterfall day is ten hours for a fraction of the flight.
Want the waterfall day and the rainforest night in detail?
The waterfall day→Book direct
Book the plateau
All four are bookable through the booking platform. Fares start at $310 for the balloon morning; the road days run from $118. The number under each rating is how many people are behind it.
Bestseller1,046 reviews
10 hCairns: Waterfall Tour with Lunch
★ 4.7 · 1,046 reviews
- 10h
- Hotel pickup included
- Bestseller
- Free cancellation
$118$11.80 / hour
Check availability→ 
Likely to sell out201 reviews
8 hFrom Cairns: Rainforest, Platypus & Nocturnal Wildlife Tour
★ 4.8 · 201 reviews
- 8h, like the platypus
- Hotel pickup included
- Likely to sell out
- Free cancellation
$153$19.12 / hour
Check availability→ 
11 h216 reviews
11 hFrom Cairns: Chillagoe Caves and Outback Full-Day Tour
★ 4.6 · 216 reviews
- 11h, birdlife and wildlife
- Limestone caves
- Longest tour here
- Free cancellation
$166$15.09 / hour
Check availability→ Common questions
The plateau, answered
Where do the balloons actually fly?
Above the Atherton Tablelands, the plateau inland from the coast. Both listings say so in their own descriptions: one names the rainforest-covered hills of the plateau, the other names the plateau directly. Cairns and Port Douglas are where the transfer collects you.
What does an Atherton Tablelands tour cost?
From $118 for the ten-hour waterfall day, up to $184 for the gorge day. The balloon mornings are $310 and $313, and $310 is the from-price for this site.
How long is the balloon flight itself?
Neither operator publishes that figure. What they publish is the length of the outing: five hours from Cairns and four from Port Douglas, transfers included. Ask at checkout rather than planning around a number nobody has stated.
Which listing has the most reviews?
The waterfall day, with 1,046 reviews at 4.7. The gorge day has 229 at 4.9, the outback day 216 at 4.6, the wildlife evening 201 at 4.8, the balloon morning from Cairns 95 at 4.9 and the Port Douglas one 23 at 5.0.
Is there a wildlife day up there?
If you want an Atherton Tablelands wildlife tour, the eight-hour listing at $153 is the one that puts animals in its own title: platypus, tree kangaroos and nocturnal species. The eleven-hour outback day also mentions birdlife and wildlife. Neither promises a sighting.
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