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5 days is a really common length of stay in Port Douglas because of flights, particularly for visitors from Sydney, Townsville, Brisbane and the Gold Coast airports. It’s long enough to experience Port Douglas, the Great Barrier Reef, and a few extra activities in Far North Queensland. In this post we’ll give you a 5-day itinerary, with travel tips on where to stay, what to pack, when to visit, and more!
There are optional extra days in the itinerary, this could stretch your stay to 6, 7 or 8 days. For 2 weeks, we have an itinerary here.
A 5-Day Itinerary For Visiting Port Douglas
This post is broken down into the following sections, click on these links to visit the section you need.
- Travel Tips, Packing, & When To Visit Port Douglas
- A 5-Day Itinerary of Most Important Things To Do
- Where Should You Stay in Port Douglas?
- Hire a Car, or Book The Shuttle?
- Your Budget and Costs of a 5 Day Trip To Port Douglas
Travel Tips, Packing, & When To Visit Port Douglas
- You can visit Port Douglas at any time of year. The reef trips run year-round and you can swim at the beach in the stinger enclosure. However, if you visit in the wet season you have a greater risk of bad weather and a storm or high winds can stop tours running. School holidays are generally busy in Port, Christmas is popular through to Australia Day. Easter works well, but most tourists visit Port Douglas in June and July. August is a bit quieter, and then September and October get busy again. You can read our full guide to the best time to visit here. For our European, US, and UK visitors I’d suggest August, Australian schools do not have August holidays. The shoulder seasons are good and hotels and car hire may be cheaper. Tour costs do not fluctuate. Whale season is July to September, August being best.
- Cairns International Airport is the nearest airport to Port Douglas. It is about an hour away by road. You will need to book the shuttle bus (this one works for domestic or international terminals, some don’t, $60 approx) or hire a car to pick up at the airport. Car hire prices vary, but expect to pay around $90 to $100 per day or $300 to $350 for 5 days. Don’t forget your excess insurance, it’s steep in Australia. Use this tool to find a rental car. The drive is beautiful, one of the most scenic in the world, but there are road repairs and delays currently.
- Book your day on the Great Barrier Reef in advance; the boats do get full. For the best day snorkelling on the GBR we recommend this cruise operator, this is the one we use ourselves, it’s a smaller operation, no crowds, and is very conservation and marine biology-focused. They throw in underwater photos for free, most boats charge for this.
- What should you pack for Port Douglas? You can dress up or dress down, it’s up to you. Bring swimwear and sun protective items and rubber thongs (flip flops). You don’t want your best leather sandals or Berkenstocks getting wet on the boats, and they probably will. You do not need your own snorkelling equipment or stinger suit unless you plan to use it at the beach. Take a towel and a wet bag for your reef cruise. The boats can provide sea sickness medication and sunscreen. I wear jeans all the time, and I live here. Don’t believe bloggers who say you can’t!
- Don’t forget your travel insurance and, for international travellers, your visa for Australia and a SIM card. (Here’s info on SIM cards for Australia.)
A 5-Day Itinerary of Things To Do in Port Douglas
- Day 1. Arrival at Cairns Airport, drive or transfer to Port Douglas, check into your hotel and relax, or go to the beach. In the evening, visit one of the restaurants in Port Douglas. See our restaurant guide here. Don’t stay up too late, you have a big day tomorrow.
- Day 2. Your day on the reef. You should have booked your Great Barrier Reef day cruise in advance. Be at the Port Douglas Superyacht Marina with plenty of time to get a coffee or full breakfast (if your hotel doesn’t offer breakfast) at Choo Choo’s on the marina. Enjoy your day. You will probably have a snooze on the way back. The boats arrive back in Port between 4 and 4.30 pm. Change into dry clothes for the journey home. Head to Hemingway’s on the marina for drinks and an early dinner, or go home, shower and change and visit a restaurant of your choice.
- Day 3. I wouldn’t book two big full-day tours back to back, so today we’ll be a little more relaxed. Visit The Wildlife Habitat in Port Douglas, watch the crocodile show and feed the Australian wildlife. Allow half a day. If you’d like to, you can book Breakfast With The Birds at The Habitat, or even a swim with the crocodiles. My son has done this, it’s good! If you have a car, maybe drive out to Shannonvale swimming hole and visit the Australian Chocolate Farm.
- Day 4. Your day in the rainforest!
- Day 5. If it’s Sunday, it’s market day! Head to Port Douglas Markets and admire views of The Sugar Wharf and the Inlet. Walk the Flagstaff Hill walking trail. Catch live music at The Courthouse Hotel (pub) and watch the sunset at Rex Smeal Park, the kids will enjoy the new playground here under the big fig tree.
- Day 6 Departure Day. You may be able to visit Hartley’s Crocodile Adventures for the day, as it’s on the way south to Cairns, near Palm Cove. You could check out the beach at Palm Cove too, or spend some time in Cairns at the lagoon pool. If you have a car it’s easy. Otherwise tours will pick you up in Port and take you to Hartley’s. You may be able to get a taxi to Cairns from there. There is a shuttle bus to Cairns city from Port Douglas, if it’s the weekend, check oyut Rusty’s Market.
So in 5 days you’ve done the must do things. I haven’t included a day visiting Kuranda and Barron River Falls via the Cairns Skyrail cable car and scenic train. This is best done from Cairns, but you can do it from Port Douglas.
Keen fishermen and women may choose to spend a full day on one of the fishing charters from Port Douglas, o, for beginners, you can go barramundi fishing at “Hook-a-Barra“.
You may also want to see something of The Tablelands, if so, a guided foor tour will give you a “taste” of Far North Queensland and allow you to see some of the sights. If you’re brave there are also dawn hot air balloon flights from Mareeba. Take a look at balloon flights here.
Just swap out the days to suit you, but you can see and do plenty in Port Douglas in just 5 days.
Where Should You Stay in Port Douglas?
I would suggest that you stay within walking distance of Four Mile Beach, Macrossan Street, and Port Douglas Marina.
If you’d rather stay somewhere with a huge lagoon pool and swim out rooms, book The Sheraton Mirage or Pullman Sea Temple. The latter is out of town and you’ll need to use local shuttles or have a car. The Sheraton is right behind the beach and you could walk along the beach into town fairly easily. Both are 5-star resorts.
Both hostels in Port Douglas are in the centre of town.
Beaches Resort Port Douglas is a good choice, it’s on the Port Douglas Esplanade, right behind the Lifeguard Station. They have self-catering apartments and family apartments. Take a look here.
Hire a Car, or Book The Shuttle?
For such a short stay in Port Douglas it will probably be cheaper, and easier for you to book the shuttle bus from Cairns Airport to your Port Douglas hotel.
You won’t have a lot of time to explore in your own vehicle and most of the tours you will book include transportation. Often with pick-ups from your hotel.
If you need transport from your hotel to Macrossan Street, there are small shuttle buses around town. We’d suggest that you stay close enough to Macrossan Street and the swimming enclosure at Four Mile Beach to be able to walk to the marina, shops, restaurant and market. We’ll give you some hotel options that allow you to walk everywhere in our “Where To Stay” section on this page.
Your Budget and Costs of a 5 Day Trip To Port Douglas
How much will 5 days, 5 nights in Port Douglas cost? It’s not cheap. Australia is an expensive place and these tours really add up. We’ll give you estimates here at different price points.
These costs are for 1 person, in Australian and US dollars. There are discounts for a family of 4 on most trips, tours and attractions.
- Car hire $300 or the shuttle bus $120 Au,
- A 1-day Great Barrier Reef tour $290 Au,
- A 1-day Daintree Rainforest tour. $260 Au and up, but there is a lot of variation in these tours.
- 5 nights in a Port Douglas Hotel (based on 2 person occupancy – a couple), 5 Star, $1000 – $2000 Au. A budget motel stay around $700 Au. A single berth in a hostel (backpackers) in Port Douglas is $35 to $40 Au per night. Availability of hostels in high season seems very limited. There are camp sites in and near Port Douglas, I’m not a camper so I don’t know how costs compare.
- A good one-course meal at a restaurant will probably cost $40+ Au per person. This menu from one of the better restaurants should give you an idea. Tipping is not required in Australia as it is in the US, but it’s nice to reward good food and service. A one-course pub meal starts at around $25 Au. A typical Australian pub menu is here, you’ll see a lot of chips, fried foods and steaks.
- A glass of wine starts at around $12 Au. A bottle of wine from a bottle shop is a similar price at the cheaper end.
A couple may expect to pay at least $3000 for these tours and a car for a 5 day, 5 star stay. A budget hotel for a couple will cost from $2100, using the shuttle. I’m not including food or any activities outside those 2 big day trips, nor flights to get to Cairns airport. The sky is the limit. Spend on what is important to you. If you need any help with budgeting or planning an itinerary, we’re here to help, sign up and reply to our welcome email.
