The Great Barrier Reef is not a single place with a single street of beds. It is more than 2,900 individual reefs and 900 islands stretching over 2,300 kilometres, so Great Barrier Reef accommodation really means choosing a base on the Queensland coast or among the islands.
This page covers the areas the reef is best known for, two caravan and holiday parks listed on this site, and the climate and drive figures that help you plan.
Choosing a base for the reef
The reef sits in the Coral Sea, off the Queensland coast, and is separated from the mainland by a channel up to 160 kilometres wide in places and over 61 metres deep. That gap is why most visitors sleep on shore or on an island and travel out for the day.
Tourism is a big part of the regional economy, generating over AUD$3 billion a year, and the reef is especially popular in the Whitsunday Islands and Cairns regions. Those two areas are the obvious places to start looking. If you would rather browse by type, our pages on Great Barrier Reef accommodation, Great Barrier Reef hotels and Great Barrier Reef resorts cover those categories.
Settings: coast or island
The mainland coast
Cairns and Port Douglas are the coastal bases in our listings. Port Douglas has its own Port Douglas destination guide, which is the place to go for the town itself. A coastal base keeps you close to roads, shops and the tour departures covered on our Great Barrier Reef tours page.
The islands
With 900 islands in the system, staying offshore is a real option. Our Great Barrier Reef islands page is the starting point. Magnetic Island and the Whitsundays also turn up in the drive distances below as places further south.
Caravan and holiday parks
Two parks are listed on this site for the area. Both offer powered sites and cabins. Contact the park for current rates and availability before booking.
- NRMA Palm Cove Holiday Park is a caravan park in Palm Cove, in the Cairns Regional area.
- BIG4 Port Douglas Glengarry Holiday Park is a caravan park in Port Douglas, in the Douglas Shire.
For a family or a group wanting a kitchen and some room, a cabin at a holiday park is a sensible alternative to a resort room. That is our view, not a measured comparison.
When the weather suits
These figures are for the Port Douglas area, about 37 km from the reef, and are 1991-2020 averages. The wet season is plain to see: February averages 421.7 mm of rain over about 24 days, while August gets 35.3 mm over about 8 days.
| Month | Max C | Min C | Rain mm | Rain days | Sunny days |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 28.8 | 25.1 | 360.3 | 24.2 | 27.7 |
| February | 28.4 | 25.2 | 421.7 | 23.7 | 24.0 |
| March | 27.6 | 24.5 | 370.3 | 22.0 | 27.1 |
| April | 26.5 | 23.3 | 178.8 | 19.2 | 28.1 |
| May | 25.2 | 21.7 | 87.0 | 15.1 | 29.6 |
| June | 24.1 | 20.2 | 51.0 | 10.8 | 28.5 |
| July | 23.8 | 19.4 | 43.0 | 8.7 | 29.7 |
| August | 24.5 | 19.7 | 35.3 | 7.6 | 30.1 |
| September | 26.2 | 20.9 | 28.9 | 6.1 | 29.7 |
| October | 27.4 | 22.3 | 52.8 | 8.1 | 30.4 |
| November | 28.6 | 23.6 | 90.0 | 11.9 | 29.5 |
| December | 29.3 | 24.7 | 197.0 | 17.8 | 28.8 |
October has the most sunny days at 30.4, and July is the coolest month, with a maximum of 23.8 and a minimum of 19.4.
Getting between bases
Distances below are by road from the Port Douglas area.
| Route | Distance | Drive time |
|---|---|---|
| Cairns to Port Douglas | 68 km | about 69 minutes |
| Atherton Tablelands to Port Douglas | 119 km | about 104 minutes |
| Port Douglas to Townsville | 411 km | about 348 minutes |
| Magnetic Island to Port Douglas | 426 km | about 374 minutes |
| Airlie Beach to Port Douglas | 686 km | about 563 minutes |
| Port Douglas to Whitsundays | 689 km | about 570 minutes |
| Mackay to Port Douglas | 800 km | about 649 minutes |
Cairns to Port Douglas is 68 km, so a stay in one place can be paired with a day trip to the other. The Whitsundays are a long way south, so treat them as a separate trip.
Planning around the reef itself
Much of the reef is protected by the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park, which helps limit the impact of fishing and tourism. Read our Great Barrier Reef Marine Park page before you go. For things to do once you have a bed sorted, see our Great Barrier Reef travel guide.
For official trip ideas, Tourism and Events Queensland runs the state tourism site at queensland.com. Background on the reef's size, history and condition is on Wikipedia's Great Barrier Reef entry.
Frequently asked questions
Can you stay on the Great Barrier Reef itself?
The reef is made up of more than 2,900 reefs and 900 islands, so island stays are possible. Most visitors choose a coastal base such as Cairns or Port Douglas, or an island, and see the reef on a day out.
Are there caravan parks near the reef?
Two are listed on this site: NRMA Palm Cove Holiday Park and BIG4 Port Douglas Glengarry Holiday Park. Both have powered sites and cabins. Contact the park for rates and availability.
When is the driest time to visit?
In the Port Douglas area, August to October are the driest months, with September averaging 28.9 mm of rain over about 6 days.
