Darwin or Port Douglas?

Darwin has long sandy beaches at Mindil, Casuarina and East Point, but box jellyfish and saltwater crocodiles keep locals out of the sea. You go to the shore for a sunset walk or the market, not for a swim. To swim, you use the netted lagoon and wave pool at the Waterfront, or drive out to the spring-fed pools at Litchfield.

In Port Douglas the beach is the main event. You can walk, lie on and swim off Four Mile Beach, using the patrolled stinger net from November to May and the whole beach once the dry season begins. The water is often milky green rather than clear, but it is a proper beach vacation in a way Darwin is not.

Darwin eats better, mostly thanks to its Asian-leaning markets. You can have Thai, Indonesian and Sri Lankan dishes on the sand at the Mindil sunset market or laksa at Parap on a Saturday, and crocodile and buffalo are there for the curious.

Port Douglas is built around a long outdoor dinner of reef fish, prawns or mud crab on Macrossan Street or at the marina, with fresh mangoes and papayas at breakfast. Its food is more polished and resort-like but has less character of its own, and both places run out of new options within a week.

Darwin's sights are few, but they are serious. The Fannie Bay museum holds a fine collection of Aboriginal art and a sobering gallery on Cyclone Tracy, and the 1942 bombing can be traced through the oil storage tunnels, the East Point fortifications and the Esplanade memorials.

Port Douglas has the old Court House and the chapel of St Mary's by the Sea, each worth only a few minutes. Its most meaningful cultural experience is outside town, on a walk with Kuku Yalanji guides at Mossman Gorge.

Darwin has an actual night out. The open-air pubs and backpacker bars of Mitchell Street get loud and stay busy past midnight on weekends and through the dry season, though there is little clubbing beyond that strip.

Port Douglas evenings are dinner and a drink on a pub terrace, maybe with a cover band, and then bed, because the reef boats leave early. Anyone who wants more has to drive an hour to Cairns.

Both are gateways to wild tropical country, but Port Douglas has the rarer pairing. Boats run from its marina to the outer ribbon reefs of the Great Barrier Reef, with turtles, reef sharks and minke whales in midwinter, and the ancient rainforest of Mossman Gorge, the Daintree and Cape Tribulation lies just up the coast.

Darwin's landscape is the drier, flatter Top End. You get Litchfield's waterfalls and magnetic termite mounds about an hour and a half away, croc-filled river cruises on the Adelaide and Mary rivers, and barramundi fishing. It is impressive, but there is no reef, and the great prize, Kakadu, needs an overnight trip.

Port Douglas has more places to visit. Cairns is an hour down the coast, Kuranda is reached by the old mountain railway or cable car, and the Atherton Tablelands have crater lakes and villages such as Yungaburra.

Most outings from Darwin go into parks rather than towns. The real exception is the Tiwi Islands, reached by a short flight or ferry, for their art centres. Otherwise there are the war cemetery at Adelaide River and Katherine Gorge, which is a long day away.

Both work well with children, in different ways. Darwin's highlight is crocodiles: you can see huge salties up close in town and watch them jump on Adelaide River cruises. There is also the Waterfront wave pool, a free water park and fish feeding at Doctors Gully, but most outings need a car.

Port Douglas is a smaller, calmer base where resort pools stand in for the sea. Children can meet koalas and cassowaries at the Wildlife Habitat, snorkel straight off the sand at Low Isles, or see coral from a glass-bottom boat before they are old enough to swim with it.

Neither place works without some help with transport, but Port Douglas is a little easier. Its flat centre is easy to walk or cycle, a shuttle runs along the main road, and reef and rainforest tours pick you up from your hotel. The catch is the hour-long road transfer from Cairns airport.

Darwin has its own airport and a compact centre, but the midday heat makes even short walks tiring and the buses are too infrequent to rely on. Getting to the parks means hiring a car, sometimes a four-wheel drive, or joining a tour.

Neither is a shopping destination, and what they sell is quite different. Darwin's reason to shop is Aboriginal art from Arnhem Land, the Tiwi Islands and the desert communities, ideally bought from galleries linked to community art centres. Beyond that there is just the everyday Smith Street Mall and Casuarina.

Port Douglas is more about browsing than serious buying. Linen resort wear, swimwear and South Sea pearl jewellery line Macrossan Street, and the Sunday market under the trees in Anzac Park adds crafts and sarongs.

Darwin leaves more room to save than Port Douglas. A meal at the Mindil or Parap market stalls costs far less than a restaurant dinner, and the Fannie Bay museum and many outdoor sights are free. The big costs come from getting out of town, since the parks need a hire car or a tour, and from the long flights in and out.

Port Douglas is the dearer of the two from day to day. Most rooms are upmarket resorts and serviced apartments, restaurants charge resort prices, and the reef and rainforest trips you come for are all paid excursions. Self-catering, takeaway seafood by the beach and free days on Four Mile Beach help, and both towns are cheaper to stay in during the wet season.

Darwin has the one real draw here, the Darwin Festival every August, with theatre, dance, comedy and Aboriginal performance on outdoor stages. The rest of the year there are touring shows at the Entertainment Centre and local theatre at Brown's Mart.

Port Douglas has no theatre or concert venue. Live music is a pub cover band, apart from the street parades and outdoor music of its autumn carnival.

Port Douglas is built for doing very little. You get palm-shaded lagoon pools, resort day spas using native botanicals, and yoga and massage in town, all set to an easy daily rhythm.

Darwin has an unhurried foreshore at sunset and the shady spring-fed pools at Berry Springs, about 45 minutes south. Beyond that it has only a few hotel spas, and from October to April the humid heat tires you out rather than restoring you.