Port Douglas

Introduction

Four mile beach, Port Douglas, Qld.

© Utrecht

Port Douglas is a smart resort town 70 kilometres north of Cairns. There are plenty of nice, if pricey, places to stay and eat here, and good upscale shopping. Many Great Barrier Reef tours start from Port Douglas.

Sights and Activities

It is the place where the reef meets the rainforest, a tropical wonderland of diversity.
Port Douglas provides access to the Great Barrier Reef and also the Daintree Rainforest.
Another great day trip is also the nearby Atherton Tablelands.

Getting There

By Plane

There is no airport in Port Douglas, the nearest is in Cairns, an hour south.

By Car

Port Douglas is a one hour drive north of Cairns on the Captain Cook Highway, a well-maintained sealed road, albeit windy.

By Bus

Bus transfers are available: Sun Palm runs a shuttle from Cairns airport and downtown ($35/$15) a good option is Exemplar Coaches and Limousines.

Getting Around

There are 2 bus systems that will take you into town for $5 round trip. The return ticket is only good with the bus company you went in to town with. On Sundays there is a small sightseeing train that runs into and out of town. Tours to the reef or rain forest pick you up at your hotel.

Buses go past 4 times per hour from 7:00am til around midnight.

The main downtown area (along Macrossan St) is easily walkable if you choose a hotel/hostel in that area.

Eat

There are plenty of restaurants on Macrossan street. 2Fish, Zeus, The Living Room and Salsa restaurants on Wharf street (among others are also very lively in the evening. "On the Inlet" restaurant offers great sea food, including many barramundi recipes. The Rainforest Habitat Wildlife Sanctuary has a great buffet experience with Breakfast with the Birds or Lunch with the Lorikeets: as you dine, birds and other wildlife wander amongst the tables!

4 Mile Beach takeaway on the road in lets you have local reef fish and chips. Add a bottle of sav blanc from the bottleshop next door and take it down to 4 Mile Beach.

Drink

The Iron Bar - good patter.

For cocktail lovers, Watergate & Zinc are front runners.

Sleep

While there are a number of expensive places in Port Douglas, there are also some great cheaper options to allow everyone to rub shoulders with the rich & famous in Port Douglas!

You can use the form below to search for availability (Travellerspoint receives a commission for bookings made through the form)

Keep Connected

Internet

Internet cafés are very common in the larger Australian cities and popular tourist destinations. However, once you leave the major population centres, you might have trouble finding somewhere to log on. Free wifi is getting more and more common (either with or without a code) in places like restaurants, some bars and coffee places and hotels. Sometimes a fee is required.

Phone

See also: International Telephone Calls

Australia is on a GSM 900/1800 network, so if you have an unlocked phone that works on those frequencies, you will be able to buy a prepaid SIM-card and stick into your phone when you're in Australia. You will receive a new Australian phone number with the SIM-card.

To dial out of Australia use the prefix 0011, followed by the calling code of the country you are trying to reach, followed by the area code of the city/town (without the 0!) and finally the phone number.

Within Australia, it is necessary to add an area code to the phone numbers if you are calling from outside the area. Below are Australia's area codes:

• 02 - New South Wales & Australian Capital Territory (Sydney, Canberra)
• 03 - Victoria & Tasmania (Melbourne, Hobart)
• 07 - Queensland (Brisbane)
• 08 - Western Australia, South Australia & Northern Territory (Perth, Adelaide, Darwin)

000 is the emergency telephone number in Australia, but the international GSM mobile emergency telephone number 112 also works on mobile phones.

Post

Australia Post is the government's postal service. Most suburbs will have at least one post office. Opening times are mostly from around 8:00 or 9:00am to 5:00pm though larger ones keep longer hours sometimes. A standard letter or postcard sent within Australia will cost $0.70. Internationally, it costs $1.70 to send postcards anywhere in the world. Letters cost $1.85 to send within the Asia Pacific region and $2.60 to anywhere else in the world.^[1]. It is also possible to send things as parcels or by express mail. You can also use use private courier companies like TNT, UPS or DHL as they are competitive and reliable.

External Links