Hello! It’s been a while… Before getting into this post I just wanted to say that I am sorry for the big gap in posting but there are good reasons to why I haven’t posted in 3 months (yikes). More on this at the end of the post.

So… why visit Port Douglas, and where even is Port Douglas?

Port Douglas is located in Far North Queensland and is about an hour drive from Cairns airport. It’s known for its small town energy and is a great home base for day trips to either the Daintree Rainforest or the Great Barrier Reef. If I had to compare it to a place in NSW it kind of reminds me of Kiama/Jervis Bay but with crocodiles haha. I visited Port Douglas to see my girlfriend who is doing her 88 days of visa rural work.

As most activities in Port Douglas are outdoors this is a very important factor to consider. I visited in September and the weather was great. Disregard the weather apps as in the dry season as it rarely rained even if the apps said it would.

In saying so, I recommend visiting in the dry season (May – October)

If you do choose to visit during the wet season (November – April) there are some pros. The wet season is known for lush landscapes due to increased rainfall but there may also be increased stingers (jelly fish etc.) making swimming a bit unpleasant.

Cairns will be your main launching point for getting into Port Douglas and most people either rent a car or take a shuttle directly into town.

I used SR coaches for a shuttle ride into Port Douglas, and I used Excellence Coaches for my shuttle from Port Douglas to Cairns airport. Both were $58 one-way and I had no problems with either service. The drivers were friendly and efficient.

Transport in town really surprised me. The town itself is very small and public transport is extremely limited. However, most people either walk, cycle or use the on-call shuttle services to get around.

I was able to cycle from the main town centre to Wildlife Habitat in around 30 minutes, yet an on-call shuttle would only take less than 5 minutes to drive up Port Douglas road. Shuttle companies I used in Port Douglas include:

1. Excellence Coaches
2. Sizzling Wheels
3. Star Local Shuttle

They are basically all the same with the set up being: you call them directly and they come pick you up wherever you are.

Port Douglas pleasantly surprised me when it came to food. It wasn’t as expensive as I expected it to be (being a small town). If you’re thinking of eating out I recommend checking out these places below!

1. The Little Red Kitchen: $ Great ambiance and I had the soba duck lychee salad.
2. Tin Shed: $$ Seafood restaurant with a beautiful sunset water view.
3. Jade Inn: $$$ Chinese restaurant with yummy Asian food and great service.
4. Chilly’s Pizza and Trattoria: $$ Italian restaurant with cane toad racing most nights.
5. Origin Espresso Port Douglas Coffee: $$ Great coffee and I was addicted to the yuzu ice tea.
6. Mocka’s Pies: $ Award winning pies with unique flavours such crocodile laksa.
7. Viet Pho Cafe: $ Surprisingly decent pho and bun bo hue for being in such a small town.

$: meal for < 25$

$$: meal for ≈ $25

$$$: meal over $25

There are many activities to do in Port Douglas! To help you decide what to do, I organised everything I did by things you can do outdoors and if its raining.

1. Visit Four Mile Beach
2. Do the Four Mile Beach Cliff Walk
3. Watch the sunset at Rex Smeal Park
4. Rent a boat and go crocodile spotting/fishing from Crystalbrook Superyacht Marina
5. Spot crocodiles during low tide on Mowbray River Bridge

1. Visit Wildlife Habitat
2. Do an escape room at Port Douglas Escape Room
3. Visit Bailey and the sweet old man at The Book Lounge
4. Visit the local markets at Rex Smeal Park on Sundays
5. Watch the Cane Toad Racing at Chilly’s Pizza and Trattoria most nights at 6PM

The Daintree Rainforest is one of the largest rainforests in Australia and some sources say its the oldest rainforest in the world! So visiting this stunning biome should be a priority when in Port Douglas. To get there, you can either take an organised tour or rent a car. I chose to rent a car for the increased flexibility and it ended up being cheaper than a tour. I visited 3 different car rental places but went with SixT as the lady was the nicest and they had plenty of cars available without needing to book.

The car rental was $159 for the day and was around $50 per day after if you want to extend your rental.

The drive into the Daintree is around an hour from Port Douglas and you need to board a short 10 minute ferry to get into the rainforest. It costs $51 return and is the only mandatory expense for getting into the rainforest (no park fees).

We only spent a day in the Daintree and I wish I had more time to spend a night camping as the campsites in the rainforest looked so beautiful.

But if you are pressed on time like we were, here is what we did during our daytrip.

1. Visit Daintree Ice Cream Company for unique local ice cream flavours
2. Check out Thornton Beach
3. Do the Madja Boardwalk and look for cassowaries.
4. Swim and eat crocodile and emu burgers at Mason’s Swimming Hole
5. Do Kulki Boardwalk at Cape Tribulation

The Great Barrier Reef is the largest coral reef system in the world. It’s teeming with life, world famous and theres a lot of hype around it. That being said my expectations were high and the reef did not disappoint. We chose to do a snorklling tour that had 3 different diving spots included. We went through Calypso Reef Cruises, its $319 full price but we got a local discount as Mita has a residential address in Port Douglas. Although, we had a poor experience with the staff on the phone (super rude) the staff on the boat were extremely nice and I had a perfect day and highly recommend going on a snorkelling tour to check out the reef up close.

When I tell people about Port Douglas they usually go “oh that sounds familiar is that in Tasmania or something?” And I feel like that perfectly encapsulates how well known yet underrated this place is. Although, it’s usually a place thats low on people’s travel list, I recommend giving it a serious consideration the next time you go on holiday. It’s laid back, filled with a diverse, friendly community and honestly it helped me re-centre and reminded me how easy it is to get swept up in the hustle culture that prevails in Sydney.

Thanks for reading and thank you for your patience! If you have made it this far you must really care about what I have to say. So I wanted to share with my beautiful readers that I have taken a couple months off writing to focus on making videos! I started a Youtube channel and honestly its taken up a lot of my free time. I even made a video about this Port Douglas trip so check it out if you’re interested!

My Port Douglas Youtube Video