Noosa or Port Douglas?

Noosa has the more varied beaches. Main Beach is a sheltered, north-facing bay with gentle waves. The coves in the national park and the long surf beaches at Sunshine and Peregian add variety, and you can swim in the sea in every month.

Four Mile Beach at Port Douglas is longer and warmer, a firm, palm-backed curve that is lovely to walk. The water is often milky, though, and from about November to May swimming means the netted enclosure or a stinger suit. Creeks and river mouths are off limits because of crocodiles.

Both towns eat in a similar resort style, with seafood outdoors and Australian wine, and neither has a cuisine of its own. Noosa has a little more depth: farm produce from the hinterland on its menus, a serious brunch culture and riverside dinners at sunset in Noosaville.

Port Douglas eats mainly on Macrossan Street and around the marina, where mud crab and reef fish share menus with Thai food and pizza. What sets it apart is tropical fruit, from mango at breakfast to sugar cane juice at the Sunday market in Anzac Park.

Neither town is a place for sightseeing. For museums and galleries you drive to Brisbane from Noosa or to Cairns from Port Douglas. Noosa has the small regional gallery at Tewantin. Port Douglas has its Court House museum and the chapel of St Mary's by the Sea, and something more meaningful: walks at Mossman Gorge led by Kuku Yalanji guides, who explain the rainforest as their country.

Nights end early in both towns, and evenings centre on dinner and a drink. Noosa leans towards the wine and cocktail bars of Hastings Street and a surf club deck over the beach. Port Douglas has old pubs on Macrossan Street with a cover band some nights, and a crowd that goes to bed early to catch the reef boats at dawn. For a real night out, Cairns is an hour's drive away.

Port Douglas has the bigger natural draw. The outer Great Barrier Reef is ninety minutes away by boat and Low Isles offers gentler coral. The Daintree rainforest runs down to the sea at Cape Tribulation, with cassowaries, crocodiles, and minke whales offshore in season. The catch is that the wet season can cancel boat trips.

Noosa is not far behind. The national park headland starts at the end of the main street, with koalas in the trees and humpback whales offshore in winter. The point breaks draw longboarders, and the Everglades offer quiet paddling through tea-tree lakes, but there is no reef.

Noosa has more towns within an easy drive. There is the craft market at Eumundi, the ridge-top villages of Montville and Maleny with views to the Glass House Mountains, the harbour at Mooloolaba and a city day in Brisbane.

From Port Douglas, most outings are to the reef and rainforest. Cairns is an hour south, Kuranda makes a good day of markets and the old mountain railway, and the Atherton Tablelands take most of a day. Beyond these, towns are few.

Noosa is the simpler choice with small children. Main Beach is calm and patrolled, the river shallows at Noosaville suit toddlers, and the sea is open for swimming all year. For a zoo or an aquarium, families drive about an hour.

Port Douglas has more wildlife excitement, with the Wildlife Habitat and glass-bottom boats over the reef. But the tropics set limits: swimming only inside the nets in summer, crocodile warnings on the creeks, humid heat in the wet and long boat rides to the outer reef.

Both towns are walkable at the centre and need a car beyond it. In Noosa a boardwalk links Hastings Street, Main Beach and the national park, and local buses and a river ferry cover the rest of town. Port Douglas is flat and easy on a bicycle, with a shuttle along the main road and tours that collect you from your hotel.

For excursions, the Daintree and the Tablelands, like Noosa's Everglades and Cooloola coast, need a hire car or a tour. Port Douglas also means a road transfer of about an hour from Cairns airport.

Noosa offers a little more. Hastings Street has boutiques for resort wear and linen, and Noosa Junction has everyday shops. The Eumundi market in the hinterland is a long-established gathering of local makers.

Port Douglas has a smaller strip on Macrossan Street, though with its own specialities in South Sea pearl jewellery and Aboriginal art, plus crafts at the Sunday market in Anzac Park. Serious shoppers go to Brisbane from Noosa and to Cairns from Port Douglas.

Both are expensive resort towns, so neither suits a tight budget. In Noosa most of the cost is accommodation, which peaks over summer and the school vacations. In Port Douglas the paid reef and rainforest excursions that are the reason for coming add a lot to the bill. Self-catering helps in both, as do Noosa's free national park walks and the cheaper rates of the wet season in Port Douglas.

Noosa has slightly more on offer. A community arts theatre in Noosa Junction stages touring shows, and the annual Noosa Alive festival brings a short run of concerts and theatre. Port Douglas has no theatre at all, only cover bands in pubs and a yearly carnival with street parades. For anything formal, Brisbane is two hours from Noosa and Cairns an hour from Port Douglas.

Both towns are made for slowing down, with day spas, massage and yoga, and neither has a bathing tradition. Noosa adds multi-day health retreats in the green hinterland, but its calm fades during the school vacations. In Port Douglas, rest comes from resort spas using native botanicals and lagoon pools under the palms, with days that follow the sun and the tide.