I was looking for somewhere to have a quiet, long weekend with my boyfriend. Fri - Mon - straight from Sydney without having to worry about driving, and with min travel time.

We flew out of Sydney on the Thursday night and arrived into Cairns for one night. We stayed at Hides hotel, great location, basic room but clean. Would recommend somewhere nicer if you are staying for more than one night. Friday morning, we headed to the ferry terminal. There was a huge queue but we managed to find one of the helpers who took us to the front of the queue, and we were booked on in seconds. They even take your bags!
We arrived 45 mins later on green island.


The island is a great place to stay and is made even more magical by the fact that there are not many people around! As we went in monsoon season it was very wet and we spent most of our time in our wetsuits wandering about. Whilst not terribly sexy, it was a good giggle, and was the only way to avoid being soaked all of the time. I would recommend bringing your own full suit as I found the water to be cold enough to stop you snorkelling after half hour (but i'm a very cold person, most people would probably not have a problem). You can rent them if you need to, but they only provide half suits.

The room was lovely and spacious. We were in a lower ground appt and it was perfect. The room looked onto the pool, rather than the sea however as the pool is nicely lit, it was all rather pretty. It was cleaned daily and was kept spotless which was rather difficult considering the amount of sand we bought in with us throughout the day : )

During the day, unfortunately, a stupid amount of people do seem to come to the island but you can stay within the hotel to avoid them or walk to the other side of the island as they have a tendancy to stay on one side of the island. Also, you can avoid the people by snorkelling lots. We saw great big turtles most days, reef sarks and other wonderous fish. There is a lifeguard on duty by the busy beach section.

There is a decent restaurant on the island, however it is slightly expensive. There is an alternative day snack bar, but we didn't try anything as the food was so tasty in the main restaurant. They also cater for gluten-free diets.


The three most fun/important things to do on this island:

1. Snorkell in the water when they are feeding the fish. You are guaranteed a bumper selection of big scary, and small pretty fish. We saw a reef shark!

2. Champagne cocktails after the fish feeding. Its a lovely way to start your evening and you may even make some friends. Be careful though, they also supply twisties which are guaranteed to get you addicted!

3. Have a beach breakfast. You will get a beautiful hamper full of delicious nibbles and it is very romantic lying there being fed in the warm morning sun before the hoards of people arrive.

Points to note:
1. Take a full wetsuit and your own snorkel gear if you have it.
2. Pre-book your catarmaran transfer. There are only 3 a day so try and get the 0830 one to arrive early on the island.
3. Don't wait in the queue at the ferry terminal. Find a helper and you will get vip treatment to the front of the queue. (actually, they have someoen waiting to one side so don't worry about jumping in front of someone else!).
4. On your first day, pre book some of the lovely hampers and arrange a beach dinner. (We didn't manage to do the beach dinner because it was too wet however it was recommended by other guests).

I travel for a living and have to stay in hotels about 75 times a year so I am pretty picky on my accomidations. I have to say I was very impressed with my entire experience on Green Island. From my arrival at the Ferry Terminal all the way to my departure. Service was exceptional from our greeting at the docks when we first arrived (it was raining and they met us with umbrellas and ponchos), at dinner time with great service, to the bell men, bartender, every part was perfect. Champagne arrived 10 minutes after we checked in with two sodas for the kids. (nice touch) Accomidations were very nice and comfortable. We were traveling with our children 9 & 7 and they had a blast. Night hike with staff was awesome. The snorkeling at Green island is underrated. It was very good as the next week we went snorkeling and diving on the outer reef and Green Island was good in comparison. If you are looking for something very cool you have to stay. Yes the daytrippers are a little annoying as you feel like it is your private island but get over it and you will have the coolest experience ever.

I was just reading the reviews for this resort out of curiosity because we stayed there in March (but it is now November) and I felt it necessary to say that we had a fantastic time.The staff were terrific, the food was delicious and the room was clean and quiet and very nice.
The day trippers didn't worry us at all - in fact we enjoyed the passing parade!
We were there for 5 nights and would go back again in a blink!

We and two 17 year old teenagers had 2 wonderful quiet nights at Green Island. The perfect place to stay at the beginning of a longer holiday for that relaxing, wind-down experience.
The hotel's bush lined boardwalks, quiet and beautifully appointed rooms, and helpful and cheerful staff are fantastic, and complimentary bubbly on the beach for hotel guests at sunset after the day-trippers have gone was glorious.
Yes, the day trippers do rather descend on the place in their hordes, and trample over the coral adjacent to the beach, and it is a little irritating everything including the bar closes up at 4pm as they all evacuate.
But ..... the island was kept meticulously clean throughout the day, the sandy beach is gorgeous so we didn't mind sharing, and the clever pricing of chairs and umbrellas for non-hotel guests meant we were always able to get what we wanted.
Breakfast was good and dinner was great. We had the pleasure of meeting the new restaurant and bar manager (of 8 days) and he had plans to rectify concerns expressed in earlier reviews, especially the lack of a welcoming bar open for hotel guests after 4pm to allow them to meet and enjoy more of those delicious cocktails.
We would thoroughly recommend Green Island for a 2-3 night stay.