Start from 41 curated places around Townsville, AU, then choose the recommendations that fit your guests.
Restaurants & cafés
Jam Corner
A modern Australian restaurant at the western end of Palmer Street that's been the dining benchmark in the city since 2010, with a menu that runs from Townsville prawn casarecce to massaman duck — Italian, Turkish, and Southeast Asian seasoning over North Queensland produce. The locals' choice for a serious dinner.
A Touch of Salt
A modern Australian restaurant on the Ross Creek boardwalk side of Ogden Street, with a deck over the water and a kitchen turning out chilli-roasted octopus and spiced goat among the steak-and-seafood standards. The CBD fine-dining counterpart to Palmer Street's Jam.
Trails & outdoors
Castle Hill Goat Track
The 760m steep direct ascent of Castle Hill from the Stanton Terrace trailhead in North Ward — sealed concrete steps and switchbacks, no shade, 286 vertical metres in roughly 45 minutes for the average climber. The locals' fitness benchmark.
Cudtheringa Track
The longer, gentler trail option on Castle Hill — 760m switchbacking up the western face from Gregory Street, more shade than the Goat Track and easier on the knees. The casual-walker's route to the same summit.
Things to do
Riverway Lagoons
A free public swimming complex on the Ross River at Thuringowa Central — three connected lagoons (deep, family, toddler) bigger than three Olympic pools, lifeguarded, set in shaded raintree parkland with BBQs and the Pinnacles Gallery next door. The summer afternoon move for locals.
Townsville Civic Theatre
The city's main proscenium-arch theatre on Boundary Street in Railway Estate, running touring musicals, opera, ballet, and local dance and drama through the year. The dress-up evening that isn't a pub or a brewery.
Landmarks & sights
The Strand
A 2.5km palm-lined beachfront promenade running North Ward from Jezzine Barracks down to the rock pool, with grassed picnic lawns, free swimming enclosures, the water park, and a string of cafes facing Cleveland Bay and Magnetic Island. The locals' default sunset walk and stinger-season swim spot.
Castle Hill
A 286-metre pink granite monolith that sits in the middle of the city, ringed by a road and laced with walking tracks to a summit lookout. The single landmark every Townsville visit ends up on top of, with a 360-degree view from the Strand round to Mount Stuart.