Cairns or Port Douglas?

The key difference is where the sand is. Cairns faces mudflats, so in town you swim in the Esplanade Lagoon, and the beaches mean a drive of about 20 minutes north to Trinity Beach, Palm Cove and the coves around them. Its clearest swimming is off Green and Fitzroy islands, an hour out by boat.

Port Douglas has Four Mile Beach on its doorstep, a long, firm curve you can walk to from your room, though the water close to shore is often milky green. The rules are the same on both coasts: stinger nets or a full-length suit from roughly November to May, and no swimming in the creeks because of crocodiles.

Neither is a food destination, and both rely on the same reef fish, prawns, mud crab and tropical fruit. Cairns is the cheaper, more everyday choice, with weekend fruit stalls at Rusty's Markets, plenty of Asian food and produce from the Atherton Tablelands. Port Douglas is more polished, with a few dressed-up dining rooms on Macrossan Street and at the marina, but the choice runs thin over a long stay.

Cairns has enough to fill a day. The Cairns Art Gallery has strong Far North Queensland and Torres Strait Island collections, and a small museum covers the town's gold-rush port and sugar history. Add a few Queenslander houses, Art Deco shopfronts and the Indigenous art galleries around the city.

Port Douglas has little beyond the old Court House and the chapel of St Mary's by the Sea, each of which takes a few minutes. Its most rewarding cultural experience is outside town: the Kuku Yalanji guided walks at Mossman Gorge, which present the rainforest as Aboriginal country.

Cairns has an actual night out, and it is loud for a town of its size. Shields Street and the Esplanade fill with hostel crowds and dive-boat crews moving between big pub-style bars and a couple of clubs that stay open until the early hours. The waterfront terraces are there for something calmer.

In Port Douglas the evening ends with dinner and a drink on Macrossan Street or at the marina, perhaps with a cover band, and there is no club to go on to afterwards. Visitors who want more drive the hour to Cairns.

Both towns sit where the Great Barrier Reef meets the Wet Tropics rainforest, and either makes a superb base for both. Cairns has more on its doorstep inland: Barron Gorge, the Crystal Cascades swimming holes, crater lakes on the Tablelands, creeks with platypus, and white-water rafting on the Tully and Barron. Its boats go out to Moore, Norman and Saxon Reefs.

Port Douglas is the closer base for Mossman Gorge, the Daintree and Cape Tribulation. Its boats go to the outer ribbon reefs, where dwarf minke whales pass from about June to August, and Low Isles gives it a gentler reef day as well.

Cairns has the better spread of outings. Kuranda is just above town: you go up on the Scenic Railway, built in the 1880s, and come back down by cableway over the canopy. Port Douglas, Paronella Park, the villages of the Tablelands and boat days to Green and Fitzroy islands are all within easy reach.

From Port Douglas, most trips lead back south. Cairns is an hour away and the Kuranda railway starts on the Cairns side, so many outings begin with that drive. Mossman and Daintree Village are close but small.

Cairns has the edge with children. The free Esplanade Lagoon has lifeguards and shallow edges, with playgrounds and water-play areas along the same waterfront, so a swim in town never depends on the season or the tide. Crocodile parks, the aquarium and the train-and-cableway loop to Kuranda add variety, and Green Island has glass-bottomed boats and snorkelling straight off the beach.

Port Douglas is smaller and quieter, which some parents prefer. Low Isles makes a gentle first reef trip and the Mossman Gorge boardwalks suit young walkers. In stinger season children swim inside the lifeguard-patrolled net on Four Mile Beach, with the resort pools as an extra option. Apart from its wildlife park, though, little in town is built for children, and the boat ride to the outer reef is long and sometimes choppy.

Both towns are easy on foot in the centre and hard without a car beyond it, and in both the tours collect you from your hotel. In Cairns the hotels, the Night Markets and the reef terminal are a short, flat walk apart, and infrequent buses run to the northern beaches. Port Douglas is smaller still: bicycles are the natural way to get between the resorts along Port Douglas Road, but arriving means a road transfer of about an hour from Cairns airport.

Neither town is worth visiting for shopping, and in both the best buys are Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art. Cairns covers everyday needs with its main mall, dive gear, opal and crocodile-leather souvenirs, and local honey and coffee to take home. Port Douglas is boutique browsing instead: linen resort-wear, swimwear and South Sea pearl jewellery on Macrossan Street, with crafts and sarongs at the Sunday market in Anzac Park.

Neither town is cheap, and in both the reef boats and rainforest tours are the largest cost. Cairns keeps the rest of the bill down, with plenty of hostels and apartment hotels, free days at the lagoon and the markets, and ordinary Australian prices for meals.

In Port Douglas most places to stay are upper-end resorts and serviced apartments, and the restaurants charge resort prices, so the room and the dinner both cost more on top of the excursions. Self-catering, takeaway seafood on the beach and wet-season rates help, but a tight budget will feel the cost of every day there.

Cairns has proper venues, even if they are regional. The Cairns Performing Arts Centre hosts touring theatre, comedy and dance, the Munro Martin Parklands have an open-air stage in the dry season, and the Tanks Arts Centre puts on shows in old wartime fuel tanks near the Botanic Gardens. Indigenous dance and music are the highlight.

Port Douglas has no theatre or music venue at all. Live music means pub cover bands and acoustic sets, plus the outdoor music and parades of its yearly carnival. For anything staged, visitors drive to Cairns.

Port Douglas is the easier place to unwind, because the whole town runs at resort pace. Day spas, massage studios, yoga classes and lagoon pools under the palms are all a short walk or bike ride from the beach.

In Cairns the centre works against rest, with early reef departures and noisy backpacker blocks. Calm there comes from the Esplanade boardwalk at dusk, the botanic gardens and cheap massage at the Night Markets. Visitors who want spa days usually stay up the coast at Palm Cove, about 25 minutes north.