Cairns or Gold Coast?

This is where the two differ most. Cairns has no beach in town, just the Esplanade lagoon pool facing the tidal mudflats. Its sandy coves start about 20 minutes north at Trinity Beach and Palm Cove, and for much of the year swimming means stinger nets and a wetsuit. The best water is offshore, around Green and Fitzroy islands.

The Gold Coast is a beach city first. Golden surf sand runs from Surfers Paradise past Burleigh Heads to the sheltered point beaches at Rainbow Bay and Kirra, and surf lifesaving clubs patrol flagged areas at points along the way. The open Pacific brings rips, so swim between the flags, but you can swim all year.

Neither is a place to travel to for food, but the Gold Coast gives you a bit more to choose from. Burleigh Heads and Mermaid Beach have good cafés, a strong brunch culture and modern Australian cooking, and craft breweries add something more.

Cairns stays simpler and closer to its produce: reef fish like coral trout, mud crab, and tropical fruit from Rusty's Markets that you won't find further south. Tablelands coffee and cheese appear on menus, but fine dining is thin.

Sightseeing is limited in both, but Cairns has slightly more depth. The Cairns Art Gallery is strong on Torres Strait Island art, and Aboriginal art runs through galleries across the city. Add a museum on gold-rush and sugar history and a few Queenslander houses, and it fills a day.

The Gold Coast is a younger resort city. HOTA's gallery by the Nerang River and the view from SkyPoint are its main sights, and for real museums people take the train to Brisbane.

Both lean towards young, loud and cheap nights out, but the Gold Coast has more range. Cavill Avenue in Surfers Paradise has big clubs running into the small hours, Broadbeach has wine and cocktail bars near the casino, and Burleigh and Miami have rooftop and brewery terraces for a sunset drink.

Cairns packs its nightlife into a few blocks around Shields Street, with hostel crowds, dive crews and a couple of late clubs. Beyond that, the marina and Palm Cove bars are calm, and many visitors go to bed early because the reef boats leave in the morning.

Both have World Heritage rainforest, but Cairns has the Great Barrier Reef as well, and that puts it ahead. Day boats go to Moore, Norman and Saxon Reefs for turtles, giant clams and reef sharks, while the Daintree reaches the sea at Cape Tribulation. Add cassowaries, platypus and white-water rafting on the Barron, and you have a full week outdoors.

The Gold Coast's nature is gentler and further from its beds. Springbrook and Lamington are an hour or more inland, with glow-worms at Natural Bridge and long forest walks. Its real strength is the sea, with world-famous surf at Snapper Rocks and Kirra and humpback whales offshore in winter.

The Gold Coast has more towns within reach. Brisbane, with its galleries and South Bank, is a train ride away, Byron Bay and the Bangalow hinterland are about an hour south, and Tamborine Mountain adds wineries.

From Cairns the outings are mostly about scenery. The best is the Kuranda loop, up on the 1880s railway and down by cableway over the canopy. Port Douglas, the ruined castle at Paronella Park and the island boat trips fill out the list.

The Gold Coast is the easier family base by some distance. There, children's entertainment is laid on every day, while in Cairns most of the fun is nature with a guide. A Cairns week suits children old enough to enjoy wildlife: glass-bottomed boats and shallow snorkelling off the beach at Green Island, crocodiles and koalas at the sanctuaries, and the old railway up to Kuranda with the cableway back down over the trees. Summer there is harder going, with sticky heat and sea swimming only in protective suits.

On the Gold Coast the rides fill whole days, and Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary covers koalas, kangaroos and lorikeets, so the animals are there too. Pool resorts and self-catering apartments make life simpler with small children. The parks are spread along the northern end of the coast, though, so plan one big outing a day.

Both are about equally easy, in different ways. In Cairns, the hotels, the Esplanade and the reef terminal are a short flat walk apart, and tours collect you from your accommodation. The northern beach buses are infrequent, though, so a car is useful.

The Gold Coast is a long strip, linked by the G:link light rail and buses, with a train to Brisbane. That is fine for the coast and theme parks, but the hinterland needs a hire car too.

The Gold Coast offers more if you want to shop. Pacific Fair is a large open-air mall, Harbour Town sells discounted brands, and surfwear shops line the coast, while the Carrara weekend market adds local makers.

Cairns is mostly souvenirs, dive gear and one main mall. Its distinctive buys are Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander paintings and carvings from Cape York galleries, plus tropical fruit products from Rusty's Markets.

Both cost about the same, at full Australian prices. Each is cheaper than Sydney or Melbourne for a bed, but the big spending goes in different places. In Cairns it is outer reef boats, dives, rainforest tours and the Kuranda train.

On the Gold Coast, theme-park tickets and eating out are what add up, though plentiful self-catering apartments help families. In both, the beaches, waterfront and national parks cost nothing.

Neither is a stage city, but the Gold Coast has a little more going on. HOTA has theatres and an outdoor stage for touring shows, and pubs, surf clubs and brewery venues host bands, with events like Blues on Broadbeach livening up the calendar.

Cairns has its Performing Arts Centre, open-air shows in Munro Martin Parklands and gigs in the old wartime fuel tanks at Tanks Arts Centre. Its most distinctive offering is Indigenous dance and music.

Cairns does its unwinding by the sea and the Gold Coast up in the hills, but neither is more restful than the other. In Cairns, the resorts at Palm Cove sit under melaleuca trees, and there and in Port Douglas the day spas use native botanicals. In town, rest means a dusk walk on the Esplanade boardwalk or a slow hour in the botanic gardens, as long as you sleep away from the backpacker blocks.

The Gold Coast sends you inland, to health retreats around Tamborine Mountain and Currumbin Valley that combine yoga, walking and spa treatments in quiet rainforest. On the coast, the southern suburbs of Burleigh, Palm Beach and Coolangatta suit dawn yoga on the grass and long walks, well away from the noise of Surfers Paradise.