Cairns or Noosa?

Noosa is the beach destination of the two. Main Beach is a sheltered, north-facing bay with gentle waves right at the foot of Hastings Street. Small coves lie along the national park track, and Sunshine, Marcus and Peregian offer open surf for stronger swimmers.

Cairns's own waterfront looks onto mudflats, so swimming in town means the Esplanade Lagoon. The palm-backed coves from Machans to Ellis Beach are a drive north, and from November to May you swim inside stinger nets. Its best swimming is offshore, on the coral sand of Green and Fitzroy islands.

Noosa eats a little better. Its strength is the long brunch after a swim and relaxed waterfront dinners on Hastings Street and the Noosaville riverfront, with Moreton Bay bugs and produce from the hinterland farms. The range is narrow and cheap food is scarce.

Cairns is more casual and cheaper. It has reef fish and mud crab on the Esplanade, Asian food in the centre, and tropical fruit you won't find in Noosa at Rusty's Markets, but very little fine dining.

Neither town is a place for sightseeing, but Cairns has a little more to fill a day. The Cairns Art Gallery is strong on Torres Strait Island art, a small museum tells the story of the gold-rush port and sugar, and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art turns up in galleries across the city. Noosa has a small regional gallery at Tewantin and not much else, so for museums you would go to Brisbane.

Cairns has a real night out, mostly a young one. The blocks around Shields Street fill with hostel crowds and dive-boat crews moving between big pub-style bars, and a couple of clubs stay open into the early hours.

In Noosa, an evening means dinner and a cocktail on Hastings Street or a drink on the surf club deck. The town is quiet well before midnight, and there is effectively nowhere to go clubbing.

Both are strong for nature, but Cairns is in a different league. From the marina, boats go out to coral gardens on the outer reef with turtles and reef sharks. Behind town the Wet Tropics rainforest runs from Barron Gorge to the Tablelands' crater lakes and on to Cape Tribulation, where the Daintree meets the reef.

Noosa's nature is gentler and right next to town. The headland track has koalas and lookouts for whale-watching in winter, there are famous point breaks for longboarders, and you can paddle the mirror-still channels of the Everglades.

The outings from the two are similar in scope, both modest, but different in flavour. From Cairns, the classic day is up to Kuranda on the 1880s railway and back down by cableway over the canopy, with Port Douglas, the Tablelands villages and Paronella Park as other options. From Noosa, you head inland to the Eumundi market and the ridge-top villages of Montville and Maleny, or two hours south to Brisbane for a city day.

Both work well with children. In Cairns the treat is the reef itself, with glass-bottomed boats at Green Island and pontoons with underwater observatories for children too young to snorkel, plus the lifeguarded lagoon on the foreshore. Noosa is easier for plain beach days. Main Beach is calm and patrolled, the Noosaville river shallows suit toddlers, and Australia Zoo is about an hour away.

Getting around is much the same in both: walkable cores with a car needed beyond them. Cairns's flat centre puts hotels, the Esplanade and the reef terminal a short walk apart, and tour operators collect you from your accommodation. Noosa adds a slow river ferry and buses linking its waterfront areas, but you will need a car or a tour for the Everglades and the hinterland.

Noosa has the edge, mainly for resort browsing. Hastings Street's boutiques sell swimwear, linen and homewares, and the long-established Eumundi market draws local makers. Cairns's centre is mostly souvenirs and dive gear. Its best buys are Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander paintings and carvings from the galleries.

Cairns is the cheaper of the two, and most of what you spend there goes on the days out rather than the bed. A good supply of basic rooms keeps accommodation within reach, and the waterfront costs nothing. Outer reef boats, dives, the Kuranda train and cableway and a hire car for the Daintree soon add up over a week.

In Noosa the bill starts with the room. Beachfront and Hastings Street stays are priced like a premium resort, rates climb over summer and the school vacations, often with minimum stays, and meals cost city prices or more. Self-catering in Noosaville or Sunshine Beach softens this, and the beaches and park walks are free.

Cairns has somewhat more on stage, though neither town is a place to plan your evenings around shows. Touring theatre, comedy and concerts come to the performing arts centre beside the Munro Martin Parklands, whose open-air stage is used on dry-season evenings, and Tanks Arts Centre in Edge Hill puts on gigs inside old wartime fuel tanks. What Cairns has and Noosa lacks is Indigenous dance and music, which you can see at cultural centres and regional festivals.

Noosa's stage is smaller. It has a community theatre in Noosa Junction, a short run of concerts and theatre during the Noosa Alive festival, and acoustic sets at the surf club at weekends. Neither town has a resident opera company or orchestra, but from Noosa you can reach both in Brisbane, about two hours' drive south.

Noosa is the more restful place. The whole town runs on swims, walks and long breakfasts, there are plenty of spas around Hastings Street, yoga is part of everyday life, and retreats in the hinterland run multi-day programmes.

In Cairns you have to seek calm out. Palm Cove's resort spas under the melaleucas are the place for it, because early reef departures and noisy backpacker blocks make the centre a poor base for rest.