Great Barrier Reef

Great Barrier Reef cruises and sailing trips are one of the best ways to explore the top attractions. Full- or half-day cruises zip you out to well-equipped reef pontoons for easy access to the water. Freshwater showers, change rooms, and underwater observatories are some of the facilities available here.

Staying in Cairns? From here, you can join a Great Barrier Reef Cruise, which whisks you out by catamaran to a pontoon for snorkeling, as well as glass-bottom boat and semi-submersible tours. This full-day tour includes a buffet lunch, and you can choose an upgrade such as a Seawalker Helmet dive and scuba dive. Or hop aboard the Great Barrier Reef Snorkeling and Diving Trip from Cairns, which visits two exclusive outer reef locations and offers an optional helicopter flight.

The Great Barrier Reef is one of the world's most desirable dive destinations. This underwater wonderland is home to more than 2,900 separate reefs, featuring kaleidoscopic walls, spectacular coral canyons, swim-throughs, and pinnacles. Gliding off the edge of the continental shelf over 90-meter drop-offs can feel like flying over an underwater jungle.

Whitehaven Beach on Whitsunday Island is one of Australia's top beaches. This stunning seven-kilometer swirl of dazzling white silica sand and vivid blue sea is one of the top places to visit on the Great Barrier Reef and also graces lists of the most beautiful beaches on the planet.

Strung along the Great Barrier Reef, the 74 tropical islands of the Whitsunday Group are great bases for exploring the wonders of the reef. Six national parks protect their fragile ecosystems, and several are home to eco retreats, campsites, and luxury resorts. To explore the reef from these sun-splashed shores, you can sign up for a snorkel or scuba diving trip, enjoy a cruise, or hop aboard a sailboat.

Sightseeing cruises visit some of the top attractions in the Whitsundays. See sublime Whitehaven Beach on Whitsunday Island, one of the most beautiful beaches in the world, and snorkel along fish-rich reefs. Are you an avid diver? Heron boasts some of the best diving of all the Whitsunday Islands.

The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park was established in 1975 to protect the reef's fragile ecosystems. Within its borders lie more than 2,900 coral reefs, 600 continental islands, 300 coral cays, seagrass beds, and many mangrove islands.

One of the top things to do in the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park is marvel at the astonishing variety of marine life. More than 600 species of hard and soft corals flourish here, ranging from bulbous spheres of brain coral to craggy staghorn and graceful gorgonian sea fans. These thriving underwater jungles are also home to mollusks such as giant clams, and more than 1,625 species of fish. In the surrounding waters, you can spot sharks, rays, sea snakes, dugongs, turtles, dolphins, and whales.

Unlike some other marine reserves, the park operates as a mixed use protected area and allows sustainable fishing in designated zones. The Great Barrier Reef Marine Authority administers the park in consultation with the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders, whose heritage is closely linked with the region. Together, they work to protect this rich patchwork of fragile ecosystems and astounding biodiversity.

The World Heritage-listed Great Barrier Reef is, quite simply, Australia's top tourism treasure. Stretching from the northern tip of Queensland south to the coastal town of Bundaberg, it's the planet's largest coral reef system and comprises one of its richest ecosystems. So vast is this complex of reefs, islands, coral cays, seagrass beds, and mangroves, it is the only living structure visible from space.