My husband and I will be traveling to Cairns at the end of March for 5 nights. We are currently thinking that we ought to split our stay into 2 - a few nights somewhere in/near Port Douglas or Cairns, because we want to do Daintree and white water rafting, and a couple of nights on the reef or somewhere where we can catch a tour out to the reef. We are not divers, but want to snorkel. We are in our late 20s and not interested in partying. We also don't want to be stuck in a resort full of children.<BR><BR>Green Island Resort sounded so nice in Frommer's, but I notice that a lot of people here didn't like it. Any ideas as to where we should stay for our time on or near the reef? We're looking to spend US$150-200 per night, although we could go a little higher for something good. Hayman, Lizard and Bedarra all look fantastic but way out of reach.<BR><BR>Many thanks!

You might consider Palm Cove. It's between Cairns and Port Douglas. I stayed in Cairns for 4 nights. I did some diving in Port Douglas with Quicksilver (they also have snorkeling packages). Quicksilver picked us up from our hotel in Cairns to take us to dive off the reef in Port Douglas. Along the way, we picked up others in Palm Cove. Very small community but it looked nice. Cairns is quite commercial, but it worked for us. By the time we would get back to Cairns from our day trips, we had just enough energy to get bite and a pint before resting for the next day. Although, Port Douglas is closer to Daintree which would make for less of a journey to do your day trip adventures. <BR><BR>You can get tours to the reef from Cairns, Port Douglas and the communities in between. I'm sure you'll be able to arrange your other day trips from any of these areas as well. We arranged a trip to Kuranda via the skyrail, which was really quite nice. We took the skyrail up to Kuranda and the train down. Unless you really like train rides, I would recommend going back down on the skyrail. The train ride seems to last forever. <BR><BR>Whatever you decide, have a great time. I went in September and am already planning my next trip. You'll love it!<BR><BR>

Green Island gets heaps of day trippers and people are everywhere AND its a small island ( Coral Cay actually.) If I were you I would not stay in Cairns as its not really a place to stay and there are no beaches there. If you spent your time in Port Douglas you are closer to the Daintree there and you can catch the reef boats from PD. It has the feel of an island without the pricetag to match. <BR>You could go to Hamilton Island in the Whitsundays though as you can get quite good fly/stay packages for there and Hayman too for that matter. Then you would get day trips to the outer reef and/or rent a little boat to potter around the different islands. <BR>This is Qantas's holiday fly stay to Hayman Island from Sydney - less from Brisbane which may fit in with your plans<BR>http://www.qantas.com.au/cgi-bin/qantasholidays/holidays.cgi?inputname=4782.txt<BR>That gives you 5 nights accommodation on Hayman - there are also 3 night stops too. <BR>HTH

We stayed in that area last June and had 4 nights in Cairns and 5 nights in Port Douglas which was perfect. In Cairns, we shopped, went to Kuranda by train and back by skyrail, drove to Paronella Park which was interesting but not well known outside Australia.<BR>From PD we did a reef trip with Quicksilver, did a day trip to Cape Tribulation across the Daintree, went to the Sunday Market etc. It was good to stay in both places but because you only have 5 nights, I'd recommend staying in PD only. If you had longer, I'd suggest 3/4 nights in PD and 3/4 nights in the Whitsundays where there are lots of islands to choose from.<BR>From what I've heard from friends and family, I wouldn't recommend Green Island to stay on either. Fitzroy Island, off from Cairns, may be a possibility for you but islands do tend to be more expensive than the mainland.<BR>Hope this helps. Kay

Buster,<BR><BR>My wife and I spent two nights on Green Island because we got a fabulous deal.<BR><BR>THis island is small...gets inundated with day trippers (and gears most things towards them).....and we found out is a popular honeymoon resort for Japanese newlyweds.<BR><BR>The hotel guests were 95% Japanese...so Americans can get a great deal if they fo( I think the resort doesnt want to be known as 100% Japanese)<BR><BR>The day trippers made the island feel like a theme park