Port Douglas/Palm Cove indicision
 

This is the best site! My intinery has changed dramatically...I'm certain for the better...because of the excellent information presented here.

We are family of 4, 2 teenagers travelling in July 2004. 3 nights in Sydney (marriott, free) followed by 3 at Silky Oaks.

Now for the last 4 nights...Have a tentative reservation at the new Sea Temple/Palm Cove. Beginning to think Port Douglas as a better area for 2 teenagers to wander on their own. Palm Cove is sounding too sleepy, and after decompressing in the rainforest, a little village activity will be in order. In addition, it appears that PD is a great steeping off place for side trips and tours.

Considering The Hill apartments and Mandalay/Shalimar. The Hill seems closer to the village center, without losing the beach access. Any experiences out there with either of these properties or alternate suggestions? Should we just commute from Palm Cove?

Also, the discussions mention short snorkel trips to the Low Isles, Wavelength as another great snorkel only group, and the dream option of Daintreeair to Lizard for the day. Thoughts?

(Visited Sydney last trip in the late 1980's and regretted no opportunity for Queensland. Determined to put that regret to rest!)

Hi,kuzmagirl,
I suspect it depends upon how much peace quiet and tranquility you need.
We were in PC 2 years ago with 2 teenagers and they really enjoyed it.But we used it as a chillout after a hectic week around Sydney.
The other point was that we hired a car from PC and visited the surrounding area too.
You are correct in thinking PD is livelier than PC, but I guess it depends upon what you want from the visit.
One thing I will say is that all the accommodation in PC appears to fabulous,there are plenty of posts here about both PC & PD.

Also check out:

www.palmcove.net

I see no reason not to go to PC with teenagers.

Muck

hi,
Had to respond,We are traveling with 3 teens in July. After reading posts here I choose Palm Cove, we are staying at Angsana. I liked it because its right on the beach. PC seemed quieter that PD. Just my feeling. I booked Daintreeair to Lizard our first full day in PC,( 4 nights in Sydney first) to get the feel for the area. Greg was fantastic and very helpful.
Good luck! I don't think you can go wrong either way.

I spent a week in Port Douglas a few years ago and loved it. There are lots of activities that leave from there, including reef trips and rainforest trips. There are lots of different restaurants and shops to choose from. It's still a very small town and everything is within walking distance, except for the big resort-type hotels south of town. The beach is something like 7 miles long and very convenient to the lodgings (mostly apartment-type rentals) in town.
Martha

Our teenagers hated Palm Cove. "Too Boring". The town consists of about 4 little shops. a pizza parlor, an internet cafe, the resorts, and the beach.

The weather was pretty grey and damp when we were there in early June, os the beach was not an option, so we had to rent a car in order to go find fun elsewhere.

Once we discovered Port Douglas with hundreds of fun shops, galleries, and eateries, all of us were disappointed that we hadn't made it our base.

I will have to say that Palm Cove has some great restaraunts and the hotels are right off the beach, but it has very little of interest otherwise to kids. More like a honeymoon or recuperation destination.

After the quiet of Silky Oaks, I think you'd like PD much better

Hi,
It was a real shame that icuy was hit by poor weather in PC. I suspect that this does limit the options for things to do.
Don't be put off by icuy's experience PC is a lovely place, with a fantastic beach which has won awards as best in Australia ?? Right Pat?
We too had rain and boy did it rain ! however we took the opportunity to hire a car and see the surrounding area too.
Its a great opportunity as we didn't really want to spend the whole time in one place all day everyday.
We also had tennis courts at the apartments which our teenagers enjoyed.
Also if you like golf (we don't) there is at least one great golf course in PC.
The lifeguards club is somewhere most people dont go but we had some great meals and drinks there with some of the locals which we enjoyed immensly.

Good luck with whatever you decide, and don't forget to come back and let us know how you got on.

Muck

Actually, even if the weather had been perfect, We still would have found PC too quiet. Since we live in Hawaii, weather and beaches are not all that important to us.

We had a car and spent much of our time seeing things outside of Palm Cove. In the few evenings we stayed in Palm Cove, there was really nothing for the kids to do but watch TV.

I just think for most families, Port Douglas offers a lot more activities, especially within walking distance.

ICUY, you drove to see sights? That's the plan with our family also...do you have a "would do again, would rather not" list?

I saw a friend's cam of Kuranda, for example and the appeal was the cable car trip rather than the destination. Nice scenery, touristy entertainment. Posts here talk of a market on certain days. Haven't given much thought to rainy day option.

As far as the PC or PD, the posts have really clarified the personality of each locale for me. This is one fine on-line community of helpful travellers. Viewed "frommers.com" and it just didn't cut it, full of proprietors repeatly answering and very little active dialog by comparison. Sorry, I digress...

Funny, when I first planned the trip, I thought the only thing to do up there would be to go see the reef, and wondered how we'd fill our week. In the end, we only scratched the surface of the great activities.

Just driving around was a lot of fun. Yes, we rented a car, took a deep breath and headed down the road (on the "wrong" side :-) of course! The road north from Cairns is relatively easy driving...kind of a country highway..mostly 2 lanes and they use round-abouts so you don't need to worry about cross traffic in busy intersections. My husband and girls kept chanting "to the left" to help me.

We really enjoyed the skyrail to Kuranda. We reserved the first time slot of the day, as the tours come a bit later. Definitely stop at the way stations and follow the park rangers around. We learned some really fascinating things about the forest from them, and because we were really interested our tour went much longer than others. (its free!)

Kuranda was fun in a tourist trap sort of way. We really enjoyed the butterfly sancturay, the night animal zoo, and just walking toward the river. We took the train down the mountain...we thought it was pretty dull compared to Skyrail. Lots of people and kids running around, and limited view, especially if you didn't get a window seat on the left.

We also enjoyed the Tjabukai center. It has a bunch of aboriginal art and displays, but what we really loved was talking with the boys who ran the outdoor activites (spear & boomerang throwing, etc). Most of them had very interesting stories, and had a lot of questions for us too (being from Hawaii).

In Cairns we went to several nice art galleries, visited the big, semi-outdoor market in the evening.

Other things we liked were Hartleys croc farm (really tacky, but the best up-close experience to the crocs), the Rainforest experience (name?) in Port Douglas, wandering around PD, and racing at the go-cart center outside Cairns (Don't laugh! We take turns with the kids choosing activities.)

We did eat at a lot of good places- so cheap with the exchange rate- and liked the drive north of Port Douglas as well.

I wish we'd gone of one of David Armbrust tours..waited too long to book..and next time we go, we'll stay at Silky Oaks. We didn't go into the tableland areas, as I knew we'd be doing similar with my brother who lives on the Gold Coast, and same with horseback riding.

You'll have a great time...It is hard not to find really interesting stuff no matter where you wander!

Also, make sure to read Bill Brysons's boook "In a Sunburned Country" before you go.