We have just returned from a second trip to PortDouglas Qld.
Fly to Cairns and then travel by car, coach or bus north about an hour to Port Douglas. The scenery along the drive is spectacular, blue seas, palm trees and deserted sandy beaches. Turning off the Cook Highway to Port Douglas you are immediately struck by the vegetation, green and lush, rows of palm trees, bougainvilleas and tropical natives. In July (winter) it is warm and balmy about 25 degrees without the humidity later in the year. The main street is relaxed and the atmosphere laid back and immediately you are drawn into a slower pace of life where you can't help but start to unwind. Throw on the thongs, shorts and dresses and wander down the street. There is a mixture of restaurants, coffee shops, pubs, a myriad of shops catering to most needs, lots of surfwear shops, a few boutiquey type shops and chemists, newsagent, supermarkets and fabulous seafood shops. At one end of the street is the marina where all the reef tours leave, clean and with the usual tourist australiana giftshops. At the other end of the main street is the start of the 4 mile beach, a magnificent stretch of white soft sand and dominated by the magnificent palm trees that line the foreshore. You can hire lounge chairs to lie on or just lie on the sand, hire kayaks, sailboats or just walk along the gentle lapping waves. \great for kids, backpackers or couples.
Our first stay was at the luxurious Sea Temple Resort at the far end of the beach, luxurious in every sense for those who love the resort style accommodation, private and has magnificent gardens and golfing facilities. Our second stay was at Mowbray by the Sea near the main street a 2 mins walk to the beach a
more budget friendly setup. Clean, a well appointed kitchen and large covered balcony, ideal for families and private with a long heated pool. Management couldn't be more helpful with information, making bookings and we could hire beach chairs for the week. A must to do is a day trip to the pristine Cape Tribulation area. We took the 4 wheel drive option (with Deluxe Tours) where our driver took us into the world heritage listed area, and we experienced the beauty of the area, saw three cassowaries, cruised the Daintree seeing crocodiles in their natural habitat and walked near deserted beaches. Our next trip will definitely include a Reef Trip, there are various tours available and all tours are very well organised. .
They collect you from your accommodation and provide an informative, and professional relaxed way to see the beauty of the area. There are so many places to enjoy the fresh food such as Zinc and The Living Room to having a beer on the verandah of the Court House Hotel to buying takeaway fish and chips and sitting on the point and watching the sun set. All tastes and budgets are well catered to (from the budget conscious to those who want the works). All in all, Port Douglas is one of the few places where you can relax and enjoy good company, friends, food in a beautiful environment. A must for all travellers.

We've returned from a fantastic week (1st week in May) in Port Douglas FNQ and now feel obliged, after benefitting from all the reviews on Tripadvisor, to contribute for future visitors! It was our first trip to FNQ and the GBR. We had 9 days of sun and 30C.

Cayman Apartments: We were very happy with this really spacious 2-bedroom apartment,with two bathrooms, large balcony with plantation shutters & well-equipped kitchen. We were on the top floor with views to the hills rather than to the pool. This was great for us - because I don't like to be near the pool in case it's noisy. The pool area was large, warm and clean. Hosts were friendly.

Restaurants: On the Inlet, Soul n Pepper, Nautilus. We had a good meal at On in the Inlet - seafood and cocktails. There's a kids' menu. I'd say it was good value and a beautiful setting especially at sunset. Kids love watching George the Groper being fed. Soul n Pepper was great for breakfast. Loved the coffee. Blueberry pancakes and service were great. Now at Nautilus we took the degustation with matching wines. I'd say the ambience was absolutely unique. Service was excellent and wines were excellent. If I was to be really critical and considering the price, I would say the food was good/v. good, but not excellent. However - we had a wonderful evening looking at it as a whole!
We had an excellent local babysitter for this evening as kids under 8 are not welcome at this restaurant - which I can understand.

Snorkelling: We went with Wavelength for a trip to the GBR. I'd say there were about 15 of us on the trip - it was all smooth going - but I still took a couple of kwells. Wavelength was a lot of fun. We visited three different parts of the reef - absolutely beautiful. We were given good instructions and all put on the lycra suits as protection against stingers. The food and drinks were simple but fresh and tasty. Our young son, 6 yrs, had a fantastic time too.

4WD Tour: We went with Gary's Safaris on the Two Waterfall tour. We were picked up early by Petrina - we were in a Landcruiser GXL with 6 passengers in total. We visited Daintree, Cape Tribulation, the Bloomfield track, Bloomfield waterfall and Dinasaur falls. There was a short walk by an aboriginal guide who told us a little bit about using certain leaves and other things to cure small ailments, as well as a bit about the locality. Quite entertaining. Lunch was very nice at Daintree tearoom (there was quite a choice). Morning tea was in a secluded spot near the river and we tried some ice cream in the afternoon "on the run" - as there was still a lot to do. We swam at the Dinasaur waterfall - I think at private property. Refreshing. We went on the electric boat on the Daintree. Saw a croc. - relaxing (the boat trip, not the croc).
All in all - a wonderful tour. Petrina was a skilled driver and we would have never been able to cover so much in one day, ourselves. She also took us to a couple of secluded spots that we wouldn't have found either.

Other food: the pizza takeaway next to the fish & chip shop on Macrossen was good. There's a fantastic pie shop - someone else will know the name - on a side street off Macrossen. Takeaway coffee is good from Zinc and the ice cream shop next to Zinc is delicious.

Paradise Gym: This is a small airconditioned gym next to the ice cream store, and they have everything you would need for a full work-out. There's a variety of free weights and cardio machines.

Other things we did: Went to Kuranda skyrail from the bottom up to Kuranda and back. This was worthwhile - we walked up through Kuranda and then back down again. We got off on all the info stops on the way up too - which we enjoyed.

4 mile beach: we walked the length of this beach and swam in the stinger enclosure. Water was lovely and warm. Beach was very clean.

Atherton tablelands: we drove to Mareeba, which was a bit of a one-horse town but we love coffee, so we tried the coffee and chocolate at "the Coffee Works" and then returned to Port Douglas. I suppose it was good to have seen it - but it was quite a drive. Maybe we went to the wrong part.

Mossman Gorge. This is really easy to do yourself, if you have a hire car. Definitely go over the swing bridge and do the walk. It was virtually deserted and you hardly even need to be moderately fit to complete the circuit.

Well, that's all i can remember about our trip - it was a fantastic week away and we'll definitely return...one day.

found port douglas to be relatively quite in early april, everyplace closes about 10pm so dont leave it late to go out to eat.stayed at the freestyle resort for eight days in a two bed apartment. there was five of us but we still had plenty of room. apartments of a high standard with everything you need.freestyle is only about 800 yards to the centre of port douglas and about 400 yards to 4 mile beach so its quite easy to get around on foot. a car is a necessity if you want to move about and see other areas.we found anne and jason who manage the complex to be most helpful, nothing was to much for them, if you needed to go anywhere or book anything just ask and it will be arranged. good advise offered on excursions, far better than our travel agents.in port douglas found the mexican , thai and chineese restaurants to be excellent and good value. went with calypso to the barrier reef, fantastic day, great crew, will make sure everybody will see the reef whether you are a good swimmer or not.

We chose to stay in Port Douglas for our trip to the Great Barrier Reef in June 2005. It was an hour or so drive from Cairns but well worth it. The scenery was beautiful as we wound our way up the coastline. Port Douglas was small, quaint, clean, and fresh. It is an easy walk to get about anywhere in town. The shops are centerally located and offer a diverse assortment of goods. Many hotels offered apartments, which was nice. We stayed at Tropical Nites, which gave us a clean, spacious place to come "home" to every night. The owners were fantastic and helped us book our day trips. We were picked up right from our hotel and shuttled where we needed to go.

We chose to go with Haba for our snorkling/diving tour. It was a smaller boat with less people and more individual attention. Couldn't have asked for a better tour. We also went on Tony's Tropical Tours which took us through the rain forest. This is a must see! And of course, we took in some Native culture as well. The beach was within walking distance of our hotel and was absolutely breathtaking.

The only negative was while swimming we felt little stinging pricks, and were later told it was from "sea lice". Other than this, Port Douglas had it all and more than fulfilled our wildest imaginations of an Australian vacation. Can't wait to go back someday!