Where to stay north of Cairns
 

Planning on spending a week near Cairns in mid September. I'm thinking about using Kewarra Beach, Pt Douglas or Palm Cove as a base. This will allow my family (2 adults and 1 child) the ability to go to Kuranada, Daintree and see the GBR. Thoughts? Wondering if it makes sense to also perhaps spend 2 nights on Green Island as it is so close and easy to get to.

Thanks,

My vote is for Palm Cove - delightful little place, good beach, and so pretty with good choices for accommodation and meals and only about 20 minutes from Cairns. The Skyrail is about ten minutes south of Palm Cove and Port Douglas about 30 minutes north.

There's always Cape Tribulation further north if you like low key.
And I'm not sure I'd spend time on Green Island to be honest.

I guess you mean Kewarra Beach Resort, johnathome. I'm probably a bit biased here, but am a local and really love that place, its not flash and a bit dated in terms of accommodation but the setting is gorgeous, established tropical gardens with natural lagoons, wildlife galore and right on the beach. Kewarra Beach is actually part of a long sweep of beach with Palm Cove to its north, and is protected from prevailing winter south easterlies which could well be still blowing in September, by Taylors Point headland to its immediate south.

Palm Cove has a lot more tourist infrastructure than Kewarra, which is mainly a residential Cairns beach suburb with the resort tucked away from houses, PC very pretty and not as built-up as Port Douglas. Restaurants and eateries at PC range from family to up-scale, at Kewarra, unless you have a car, you'd need to eat at resort, which is fine as food is good.

Both PC and Kewarra are short distances from Skyrail for Kuranda, Port Douglas is about half an hour closer to Daintree. Reef trips pick up at all three locations, as do Daintree trips.

Green Island is heavily visited by day trippers, but just lovely when they leave in afternoon or before they arrive in mid morning. Whilst the coral and marine life aren't as prolific as on outer reef, its a great place for kids to swim from beach and Great Adventures picks up there to take you further to outer reef. Healthy sea grasses there make for sea turtles, easily spotted.

We stayed in Palm Cove and did day trips to Pt. Douglas/GBR etc. and felt we had definitely made the right choice.

In the early mornings we had the beach to ourselves for walks - outrageously beautiful.

Sorry, meant to add this pic - http://tinyurl.com/59taw7

we stayed in Port Douglas and loved it. Its not exactly a large town but has some great restaurants.

We stayed in Palm Cove as well. We call it a little piece of heaven. We day tripped up to Port Douglas. Lots of fun shops and we really enjoyed our time spent there. I don't think you can go wrong by booking either one. But my vote is Palm Cove.

gardyloo, where did you stay in Palm Cove?

youve probably booked something by now ....
we are basing ourselves in port douglas this time
been to palm cove
with the kids and stayed right across the beach ( it's a narrow street with not much traffic and has a good childrens playground on the sand)

only thing i found frustrating was thefood shopping
super expensive and i dont think theres a big supermarket - just a small shop
was hard to buy fresh produce too
we had an apartment at Paradise on the Beach
quite satisfied with the location but were frustrated by the rooms which were quite dark despite having a large sliding door to the pool in the back
also you had to wait to get the toaster in the morning
apparently the toasters would set off the fire alarms and the hotel would be penalised for false alarms

even though there was a kitchen itwas not user friendly
very few pots and pans
cant remember which appliance was missing but we did miss whichever one you always take for granted
i always ring and ask ifthey have an oven or a stove top and microwave
oh and the fridge was tinyyyyyyy
that wasterrible
we couldntstock up
i guess it's all a ploy to get you out to the restaurants but when you have kids it's just a nuisance
why have a family apartment and not be family oriented?
still
it was well located and the staff was very friendly and helpful

Yes, Palm Cove locals shop at the Coles supermarket on the highway at nearby Clifton Beach. Or further south at Smithfield, a larger shopping mall with two supermarkets, a KMart and dozens of specialty shops.

I actually have reserved my rooms. We are going to stay at the Peppers in Palm Cove. But planning to split my time btwn Palm Cove and a few nights up in Daintree. Will hire a car so moving around should be fine. Thanks for all the suggestions.

When in Palm Cove eat at NuNu for if it is as good as it was 2 years ago you will not be disappointed .
They also do a wonderful breakfast .

We stayed at the Melaleuca Resort, aka an apartment building converted to hotel occupancy, right across the road from the beach. Comfortable, definitely not fancy, good for self-catering.

http://www.melaleucaresort.com.au