Where to Stay in Townsville, State of Queensland

What is Townsville known for?

A great pink granite hill rises over the city by the sea, a palm-lined promenade runs along the shore, and a famous reef aquarium and the island offshore draw visitors to the Coral Sea. The sun shines most of the year. Reef and hill mark the city.

What are the main landmarks in Townsville?

Castle Hill rises pink over the heart of Townsville. The great granite dome looms above the city by the sea, the emblem of the town, over the red roofs. The reef draws the crowds below.

Reef HQ keeps a living coral reef in its tanks, while the Queensland Museum Tropics and the ferry to Magnetic Island line the waterfront.

What is the history of Townsville?

Townsville rose as a port for the northern frontier. Settlers founded the town in the eighteen-sixties as a harbour to ship the cattle and gold of the inland to the coast, and it grew fast into the chief city of the tropical north. The hill watched over the port.

Ships loaded wool, sugar, and ore beneath the pink dome of Castle Hill, and the town spread along the bay and the river. The war made it a garrison. In the Second World War Townsville became a great Allied base and staging point for the fighting in the Pacific, its harbour and airfields crowded with troops.

Peace brought the reef trade. In later years the city turned to the tourists who came for the Great Barrier Reef and the island offshore, and a great reef aquarium rose on the waterfront. The Strand still runs along the shore.

Townsville guards its bay below the granite hill.

Where is Townsville?

Townsville lies on the tropical coast of North Queensland. The city spreads around a bay of the Coral Sea beneath the pink dome of Castle Hill, on a dry coastal plain backed by distant ranges, in the far north of eastern Australia. A rocky hill rises over the streets.

The blue sea stretches out to the reef.

What is the climate of Townsville?

Townsville has a dry tropical climate. Hot, humid summers bring the wet season and the odd cyclone, and the winters stay warm and dry with clear blue skies, so the city sees more sun than the rainforest coast to the north. Storms build over the sea in summer.

The dry season stays warm and bright.

How do you get to Townsville?

Townsville lies on the coast of tropical North Queensland. Its airport links the city to Brisbane and the southern cities, and the highway and rail run along the coast, while ferries cross to Magnetic Island. Buses reach the reef towns around.

Most arrive by air or along the coast.