‘It has an ancient, Jurassic Park feel': a local's guide to Port Douglas
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When I was young, Port Douglas was a bunch of local fishers, a handful of shops and the pubs. When the Sheraton resort opened in 1987, development really kicked off. Now it's one of those scenic resort towns you find all over the world.
There are no box jellyfish from May to October (dry season). That's peak season so it can go from about 3,500 people to 10,000. Wet season is from December or January until mid-April. You'll get rained on a bit but the creeks are full, the rainforest is lush and the energy is different with so few tourists around.
Four Mile beach is on the eastern side of town, then there's a bustling marina with dive shops, boat centres, cafes and restaurants. The shopping area is mostly on Macrossan Street.
People are drawn to eat outside in the tropical climate so most of the restaurants have outdoor seating. Salsa Bar and Grill is popular; it can be hard to get in. I order a steak but lots of people enjoy seafood like the saltwater barramundi.
The Surfy (Port Douglas Surf Life Saving Club) is high on the levee on Four Mile beach with an open-air veranda overlooking the Coral Sea. I do the trout tacos to start and then I'll get a steak. It does wine matching too. Zinc is a restaurant and cocktail bar that's a bit fancier.
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The Tin Shed on the marina does good bistro-style meals: chicken parmigiana, steaks, pastas and kids' meals. It does crocodile spring rolls and tacos, and gets fresh fish right off the boats, like nannygai (red snapper), red emperor, Spanish mackerel and tuna.
For coffee, Sparrow Port Douglas opens at 6am so it's good for early starts. Origin Espresso roasts its own beans and has baked goods and French pastries. It serves cold brew, green tea lattes and chai too.
Mossman Gorge is in the south of the world's oldest rainforest, the Daintree. It has an ancient, Jurassic Park feel and is thought to be 180m years old, predating the Amazon by about 100m years.
The Kuku Yalanji dreamtime walks at Mossman Gorge are called ngadiku (stories from a long time ago). There's a soap and paint-making demonstration as well as bush tea and damper.
The rainforest is so diverse. There's red mahogany trees, red tulip oaks and old strangler figs. Most of the bigger animals like pademelons and wallabies are nocturnal but you might see forest dragons, tree snakes or pythons and there are plenty of birds, butterflies and insects.
Port Douglas is about 30 minutes closer to the Great Barrier Reef than Cairns. The smaller boats are the best option. Sailaway operates a solar-powered glass bottom boat and goes to the outer reefs. You'll likely see turtles and reef sharks as well as fish. Wavelength Reef Cruises is a good small snorkelling boat and Calypso Reef Cruises and ABC Snorkel Charters do scuba diving too.
Four Mile beach in Port Douglas is pretty touristy. It's the only beach with a designated swimming area year-round with a box jellyfish enclosure and lifeguards watching for saltwater crocodiles. The crocs move around the coast all year here; not only during the wet season.
At other beaches, you might not see another person all day. Wonga beach is a 30-minute drive north. It's a long stretch of white sand fringed with rainforest trees, coconut palms and beach lettuce. It's fun to go beachcombing with kids to see different shells and driftwood. We recommend taking a photo and leaving things in place.
Cape Kimberley beach is across the Mossman River and is similar to Wonga. Further north in Cape Tribulation is Coconut beach, where the rainforest and the reef meet. At low tide, you can see the reef's northern fringe.
I live at Cooya beach, five minutes from Mossman. The water recedes more than a kilometre at low tide and you can walk to some smaller sections of the fringing reef.
If you've been out on a boat all day, Hemingway's Brewery is an easy stop on the marina. It brews ales, lagers, pilsners and hefeweizen (wheat beer) and serves them on a big open deck overlooking the yachts.
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Chillys Pizza has open-air dining and a nice little bar. You can have a punt on the cane toads too. You pick a toad and they race from the centre of a circle. If yours is the first toad to jump out, you win. It gets pretty rowdy.
Jimmy Rum's is a cocktail bar that does fancy drinks. It's a city-style small bar that does cocktails with smoke and flames and the lot.
Rattle n Hum is great for younger folk. Its kids' meals are all $12, including pizza made in its large stone oven. Paddy's Irish pub is very popular. It has live music on weekends, an open mic on Wednesday night and a Sunday roast lunch.
My company, Walkabout Cultural Adventures, does spearing and mud-crabbing walks on Cooya beach. You can see a beautiful place anytime, but people on our tours come to understand how differently Kuku Yalanji and Aboriginal people see things. We notice everything – the changes, the animals and the ecosystems. Nature is still so important for human survival.
Janbal Gallery is an Aboriginal art gallery in Mossman run by Brian 'Binna' Swindley. He does contemporary dot art with designs of fruits, medicines, seeds and wildlife from cassowaries to sea turtles, crocodiles and goannas. Binna's depictions are all about how we find them. He runs art classes too.
Mossman markets are on Saturdays unless it's bucketing down with rain. There's tropical fruits and local chocolate tastings. The vendors are culturally diverse and everyone's keen for a yarn. Port Douglas market on a Sunday is bigger and has everything from fresh sugarcane juice to coconuts, chocolate-coated bananas, tandoori, massage and local buskers.
Taste Port Douglas (6-9 August 2026) is a tropical food and drink festival based at Sheraton resort. They get Australian and global chefs up to do classes on their signature dishes, like laksa or prawn shell bisque.
Sheraton Grand Mirage (from $395 for an entry-level room) is the only resort right on Four Mile beach. It has palm trees and lagoon-style pools and is high end. Silky Oaks Lodge (from $1,200 a night including food, wine, minibar and yoga) is on the Mossman River. It's very flash treehouse-style accommodation and the restaurant uses lots of native ingredients.
Pullman Port Douglas Sea Temple Resort and Spa (from $295 for a studio room) is away from the crowds. You can walk out of your room right into a central pool. My kids love waking up and having a swim or a Jacuzzi. Mandalay (from $425 a night for a two-bedroom standard apartment) is great for families too and right opposite Four Mile beach.
Tropic Breeze Caravan Park (from $38 a night for a campsite) is quieter than the other caravan parks. If you want party-style camping, Dougies Backpackers Resort (from $38 a night for a supplied tent and linen) is the one.
Juan Walker is a Kuku Yalanji man and the owner of Walkabout Cultural Adventures
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