Tips For Travelling to Cairns and Port Douglas With The Family
Cairns, Porth Douglas and the Daintree are magnificent places to visit with kids. Here follows a bit of a round up on how myself and my four spend a very happy trip there. I had been to Cairns and Townsville a few times in the dim and distant backpacker past, and had really just been there to jump on boats to go diving on the Great Barrier Reef.
So this was the first family visit. And I was a solo mamma for this trip – busy!
Here’s what I’ll cover, you can click on the headings to go straight to that section if you like.
When to go
Ah well, that depends on what you are looking for. In Australia, we often think the best time to go is the winter school holidays time, around June – September as the weather is so much better in north Queensland than it is in the southern states. Also, the stinger season, when you need to swim on netted parts of the coastal beaches, is from around November to May. Now that doesn’t affect your time on the Great Barrier Reef though as they aren’t found there.
I like the hotter months as I love snorkelling and diving with no wetsuit which you can really only do when it’s very hot, over the Aussie summer. School holidays in summer will always be busy, best bargains to be found in February/March.
We went this time in late September and early October, we did need wetsuits on the reef. The daytime top temperatures were 25 – 30 degrees C which was very pleasant, and a lovely change to Sydney’s weather.
October – December is described as the best time to visit the GBR as the wind tends to be low then which means for smoother seas and less seasickness. Works for me.
The wettest time of year in December – March, but it often rains at night and there’s still heaps of good stuff to do even when it’s wet.
What I say is… go when you can, when it suits you, when you can get away, when the price is right… there’s no best time.
Weather
Lovely – very tropical! Here’s the annual summary from the Bureau of Meteorology.
Keep your eye on the weather before you go at Cairns Weather.
Where to stay
We wanted to be right in the heart of Cairns so we stayed very happily at the Novotel Cairns Oasis Resort, see our full review and photos here.
Other places that look good include:
The Shangri La right on the Marina looks gorgeous- mentioned by my friend Deb on Dive Planit here.
The Cairns Coconut Holiday Resort is a Big4 resort with great kids facilities and a wide variety of accom.
In Port Douglas, we stayed at some very new (expensivo) apartments on Macrossan Street, great location, called Coconut Grove.
I liked the sound of the Peppers Beach Club in Port Douglas as described by Mrs Woog here.
What to pack
I’m glad you asked that… click below on a post I wrote with a packing list. There’s a printable list there for you too.
Family Holiday Packing List For Cairns And Other Hot Spots
Kids and I at Daintree Far North Queensland 2014
Things to do with kids
This is the biggie. Here’s a list of the stuff which we highly recommend.
Visit the Lagoon on Cairns Esplanade
Visit Muddy’s Playground on Cairns Esplanade
Meet the unique animals of the Daintree Rainforest
Coral Sea Dreaming – A Sleepover Yacht Trip To The Great Barrier Reef
River Tubing On The Mulgrave River
Whitewater Rafting Adventure – Teen17 did this
Visit Hartley’s Crocodile Adventure
Have lunch at cafe with fab sea views at Palm Cove
Jetski around the Marina at Port Douglas
Take a trike ride with Grub’s Trikes
Walking and kicking balls on Four Mile Beach, Port Douglas
Aboriginal Dreamtime Tour at Mossman Gorge
Photos the teenagers took when jet skiing- lucky ducks
Good stuff we didn’t do but will next time
The Skyrail and Kuranda Railway, Cairns
Cairns Night Zoo
Visit the Atherton Tablelands
Get more ideas from these four bloggers
Kate from The Adventure Mumma
Jan from Budget Travel Talk
Danielle from Bubs On The Move has a big North Queensland section as she used to live there.
The Fealy Family’s Are We There Yet?
Queensland and Cairns official tourism websites
Cairns Tourism
Tourism Port Douglas
Do we need to book activities ahead?
We booked the yacht trip ahead as it involved accommodation and we knew it would get booked out. You really don’t need to book other trips and tours ahead, although you may be wise to if you want to get onto a tour on a specific day.
Where to eat
Ummm… I am so not the best person to ask about this as eating out with my kids is always a stressful activity…. ummm….we ate mainly at the Novotel in Cairns.
In Port Douglas we did enjoy our meals at the Jade Inn Chinese on Macrossan Street, also at the Indian called Maharaja in Grant Street just off Macrossan Street and at the Sushi Train also on Macrossan Street. We also frequented the ice cream shops several times a day.
But here’s my advice, pop over to visit Mrs Woog at Woogsworld where she describes some good spots she found to eat in Port Douglas.
Flying into Cairns
Cairns Airport is pretty small, you tend to exit the aircraft onto the tarmac…and be hit by a wave of tropical heat.
The airport is 6km from the city so it’s a quick trip. We used a taxi to get into the city, then arranged to drop our rental car off there. You can also book airport shuttles, try www.sunpalmtransport.com.au or phone (07) 4099 1191. Many hotels arrange pickups from the airport.
Transport
We chose to stay right in the centre of Cairns so that we could walk to all the central locations. The tours we did when staying at the Novotel picked us up at the door.
We then hired a car (big enough for five of us, five big bags and a guitar – expensive!) and drove to Port Douglas. This was handy for stopping off on the way and for driving around Port Douglas and beyond. Next time I will aim to have a car for a few days in Cairns and explore further afield.
You’ll love these posts
If you’re thinking of a holiday to Cairns or Port Douglas start with..
Family Packing List for Cairns, Port Douglas and Other Hot Places
And here are detailed posts on what we enjoyed
Coral Reef Dreaming – Overnight Yacht Trip to the Great Barrier Reef
River Tubing On The Mulgrave River With The Kids
Why We Are Loving The Novotel Cairns Oasis Resort
Muddy’s Playground On The Esplanade In Cairns
Now then… what have I forgotten?
Have you visited Cairns?
What’s your fave thing to do there?
Who’s coming snorkelling!?
PS If you have any questions about holiday up in Far North Queensland, do ask in the comments and if I don’t know the answer already I will find it out for you.