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Port Douglas can be a fantastic place to visit at Easter. This year, 2025, Good Friday falls on April the 18th, Easter Sunday on April 21st and Anzac Day (a public holiday in Australia) is at the end of that week, April 25th. This means Easter is late in 2025, and, with all those holidays, you won’t have to book so many days of leave! This post goes into how and why you should visit Port Douglas, The Great Barrier Reef, and Daintree Rainforest, at Easter.
Easter falls in autumn in Australia. It will still be warm (hot) and the sea temperature won’t have dropped as much as it does in the winter months.
Everything in this post applies for visiting Cairns and Palm Cove too, of course. Our index (below) can take you to the information you need on this page.
- Pros and Cons of visiting Port Douglas at Easter (& Swimming Info)
- Hotels Tours and Activities for an Easter Holiday in FNQ
- How Busy is Port Douglas at Easter?
- Weather, Temperature and Conditions
- Flights To Port Douglas and Transport Options
There will be Easter church services in The Douglas Shire and in Cairns. Good Friday is a public holiday in Australia through to Easter Monday, as is ANZAC Day. Find the list of Queensland public holidays here. This doesn’t mean that all shops will be closed and tours cancelled, most businesses will run as usual. Most reef cruises operate on Easter Sunday, some restaurants may add a public holiday surcharge to cover extra costs in paying staff holiday rates. Some stores will close for Easter.
Pros and Cons of Visiting Port Douglas at Easter
Stinger season in Far North Queenslans runs from November to May, so yes, Easter does fall in Stinger Season. Easter is also technically still the Wet Season, and Cyclone Season, but it’s the tail end of all of those events. With a late Easter there will be a lower chance of storms, stingers, floods and landslides.
Cyclone season officially runs from 1st November to 30th April but cyclones may extend beyond this period. In reality, cyclones rarely affect us here in Port Douglas.
Stinger Season shouldn’t affect your swimming, visiting the beach, snorkelling or scuba diving. We take sensible precautions, like wearing a stinger suit and swimming inside the stinger net. Tourists and locals do this right through Stinger Season.
I’ve been swimming at Four Mile Beach twice myself this week (February), conditions were perfect. The Coral Sea was calm, flat, and clear, almost glassed out. If you ever want to see how the beach is looking, just visit the Port Douglas beach camera, the link is on our “weather” page.
Where Should You Stay and What Can You Do in Port Douglas at Easter
Part of planning your trip is figuring out where to stay and what tours and activities to book. We do recommend booking in advance over school holidays, some tours may be at capacity. We have a long list of things to do in Port Douglas here.
Hotels
We recommend the following hotels, resorts and apartments for an Easter holiday in Port Douglas, one of these should suit your needs. We find it most convenient to look for hotel deals on Booking.com, or Expedia, if you prefer.
- For a luxury resort stay with a stunning lagoon pool (that should still be warm at Easter), try The Sheraton Grand Mirage, just behind Four Mile Beach in Port Douglas.
- Beaches Holiday Apartments can be a more pocket-friendly resort stay. Some units have beach and Port Doulas Esplanade views.
- Pullman Sea Temple Resort and Spa (5 Star), Oaks Lagoon Resort (4 Star) are two other resort hotel options. All can accommodate a family.
- One of the cheaper places to stay in Port is the award-winning Lazy Lizard Motor Inn.
- For budget travellers and backpackers, check out Global Backpackers or Port Douglas Backpackers.
Activities
These are the most popular, essential, Port Douglas tours and activities to include in your itinerary. There are loads of smaller or more specialised tours available. You can see the full range of activities here. All of the “Things to Do” in Port Douglas should be available over Easter unless we have an extreme weather event.
- You will want to take a full-day cruise to snorkel on The Great Barrier Reef, this is the company we recommend.
- If you prefer a pontoon-based day on the reef, look here.
- Spend a day exploring Mossman Gorge and The Daintree Rainforest.
- Visit Kuranda and Barron River Falls via the Cairns Skyway Cable car and scenic train.
- Take a short cruise on The Lady Douglas to see crocodiles and other wildlife, from Port Douglas Marina.
Is Port Douglas Busy at Easter
We hope it will be busy in Port at Easter! Everyone is eager to welcome the tourists back after the wet season low period.
The quietest time in Port Douglas is usually February, visitor numbers increase slowly, with a rush over the Easter School Holidays, rising into the busy period in the winter holiday months.
Every school holiday brings more tourists, but Easter isn’t usually as busy as the winter months.
Flights and Transport
The nearest airport to Port Douglas is Cairns International, which is about an hour by road to the south. The drive is one of the most beautiful in the world and not to be missed!
Cairns Airport has a handful of international flights from Singapore, Indonesia and New Zealand, plus good coverage of domestic flights from Sydney, Brisbane, Townsville and more.
Start your search for flights below.
The drive time from Townsville to Port Douglas is about 6 hours, Brisbane to Port Douglas drive will take you 24 hours and I’ve done it, many times. Brisbane Airport has a lot more international flights.
On arrival in Cairns, either, book a rental car for your trip to Port Douglas. This tool is good for finding car hire deals. or book the shuttle from the airport to Port. Book the airport shuttle here.
Once you’re in Port there are local shuttle buses and scooters. If you have a car you may self-drive into the Daintree and to all other attractions, otherwise you can book tours with hotel pick-ups.
There is very little by way of Uber or ride-share companies in the area, and no public transport other than the private shuttle bus companies.
Temperature and Conditions at Easter in Port Douglas
We have a post called “Best Time to Visit Port Douglas” that goes into temperature and water conditions month by month. At Easter you can expect Port Douglas to still be hot, and the sea to be warm. The information from that post for April is below.
“April is a good time, temperatures are easier to take, at between 29ºC and 24º C. It can still be pretty wet with an average of 200 mm of rain this month. It is still stinger season, but it will be almost the end of the season. Humidity seems to tail off around March / April /May.”
For information on cyclone season and storm surge visit the QLD gov page. For everything you need to know on being “Croc Wise” in Far North Queensland, go here. Alternatively, see our post on the best way to see our crocodiles!
