9 of the best bars and pubs in Port Douglas

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Want a frosty schooner or a tangy cocktail? Enjoy the tropical sunshine and long, warm afternoons at these top Port Douglas pubs and bars.

When average daily temperatures hover around the mid-20s and the ocean constantly laps lovingly at the shore, it’s only logical that you make the most of your days with good food, great drinks and stunning views.

Whether you’re after a frosty schooner or a tangy cocktail, you can enjoy the tropical sunshine and long, warm afternoons at these top Port Douglas pubs and bars.

1. Bam Pow

wontons at Bam Pow, Port Douglas bars and pubs

The standout wontons at Bam Pow. (Image: Supplied)

This funky plant-based eatery is only open from 4–9 pm, but the first two hours of service are dedicated to the happy hour specials: refreshing $12 margaritas (watermelon, spicy and classic), $7 beers and a banh-mi-and-beer combo for $24. Neon lights, board games and a fully vegan menu of chilli-topped dumplings, fresh ramen and crispy banh xeo make this eatery a must-hit hot spot in paradise.

2. Barbados

a spread of food at Barbados Restaurant and Bar, Port Douglas pubs

Pair your rum with seafood plates at Barbados. (Image: Krista Eppelstun)

Watch the sky turn from fairy-floss pink to bright orange from a generous lounger at the beachy Barbados bar, a coconut chilli margarita in hand. Once the sun sets, chase it with a plate of crispy Peking duck spring rolls, delivered while you’re comfortably supine in paradise. (Barbados is also home to over 80 different rums from around the world, best experienced in a “signature tiki" cocktail that comes out in the glass shaped like, you guessed it, a tiki.)

3. Jimmy Rums

a bartender adding toppings on a drink at Jimmy Rums, Port Douglas bars and pubs

Jimmy Rums serves up punchy tipples.

Tropical North Queensland is home to hectares and hectares of sugarcane farms, and the rum history is deeply interwoven here, too. Late-night cocktail haunt Jimmy Rums operates until 1 am, serving up fiery and flavourful drinks in an assortment of zany goblets (looking at you, skull glasses crowned with flames) and libations topped with dried rounds of banana. Go the “Where’s Wattle", which pairs rum with a nutty wattleseed reduction and chocolate bitters, for a different taste of the region.

4. Jungle Fowl

the dining interior of Jungle Fowl, Port Douglas bars and pubs

The leafy restaurant is filled with colourful murals. (Image: Chrissie Cosgrove)

The fun starts on the walls of this Thai fusion restaurant, where colourful murals reflect the buoyant buzz of beach life. Outdoor seating on Wharf Street looks out over the water and leafy trees, while indoor seats get just about the same when the accordion doors are stacked open. Happy hour runs from 5–6 pm and includes $12 cocktails such as the makrut lime-spiked mojito or zesty Thai-twisted margaritas alongside $10 ginger-topped beef-brisket bao. “Thrifty Thursdays", though, are where things get really interesting: $20 curry and rice, plus $12 margs and $10 wines all night long.

5. Port Douglas Yacht Club

the Port Douglas Yacht Club

Sip on arvo tipples by the water at Port Douglas Yacht Club. (Image: Supplied)

On Wednesdays, this yacht club offers a “WAGS" (Wednesday Afternoon Go Sailing) event, where visitors and locals are invited to join boat-owning members of the club for an afternoon sail. Whether or not you snag a spot (rock up at 3:30 pm for a shot), everyone is invited to take part in arvo tipples by the water, with festoon lights above and grass beneath your toes. Plus, if you become a club member, you’ll gain access to cheaper prices in the bar and restaurant.

6. The Tin Shed

the boat ramp at sunset, The Tin Shed, Port Douglas pubs

Relax with a drink at sundown. (Image: The Tin Shed)

Technically a not-for-profit community organisation, this eatery and bar enjoys exceptional ocean views from its perch on Dickson Inlet. On the second level is the “Bacardi Bar", from where waving to passing yachts is almost compulsory. Happy hour runs from 4–5 pm Monday through Saturday, and 3–4 pm on Sundays, where you’ll enjoy 20 per cent off drinks that can be paired with a $30 bucket of local tiger prawns.

7. Hemingway’s Brewpub

the Hemingway’s Brewpub at the marina, Port Douglas bars and pubs

Hemingway’s Brewpub’s marina location is an idyllic spot for diners.

This two-storey establishment overlooking the mega-yachts at the marina buzzes with visitors, young and old, many of the latter who flock for the cheerful ambience and schooners of locally made draft beer as they do the coconut prawns, mushroom pizza and Thursday night trivia. Extra-long picnic tables out on the boardwalk make boat-spotting and balmy Port Douglas evenings extra enjoyable.

8. Daintree Bar, Sheraton Mirage

cocktail drinks at Daintree Bar, Sheraton Mirage, Port Douglas pubs

Don’t miss out on Daintree Bar’s Happy Hour specials. (Image: Sheraton Mirage Resort)

Located within the expansive grounds of the luxurious Sheraton Mirage Port Douglas Resort, this rum-friendly bar is known for its tasting flights and cocktails. Three shelves of spirits are stacked behind the bar, and happy hour runs from 5–6 pm (and again from 8:30–10 pm for a “nightcap") with $15 cocktails and $10 wines for Marriott Bonvoy members. (If you’re not already one, you can sign up for free from your perch at the bar.) Whether you’re a guest at the resort or a visitor for the afternoon, you can munch on barramundi fish fingers while sipping espresso martinis or Aperol spritzes – plural.

9. The Court House Hotel

the sports bar at The Court House Hotel, Port Douglas pubs

The Court House Hotel transforms into a sports bar after 10 pm. (Image: Tourism and Events Queensland)

This family-friendly establishment – the oldest pub in Port Douglas, to be exact – serves up fish tacos, chicken schnitzels and rump steaks for lunch and dinner, then turns into a sports bar after 10 pm. Bring the whole crew and enjoy the live music in the beer garden five nights a week, plus Sunday strumming sessions until 9 pm.

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Riley Wilson is a journalist and editor based between Sydney, Tamworth and Tasmania. She grew up in Australia and the United States, with extensive travels throughout Europe and Asia along the way. A former newspaper editor, she currently contributes to publications in Australia and abroad, covering travel, food, agriculture, sustainability and architecture. When she's not playing with words or chasing adventures, she spends her time fishing, bushwalking and sipping hot cuppas in far-flung places. 
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The best restaurants and cafes in Port Douglas

    By Riley Wilson
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    From must-eat tropical delights to blink-and-you’ll-miss-it destinations you’ll only find up in North Queensland, these are the best places to eat, drink and be merry in Port Douglas.

    The tropical seaside paradise of Port Douglas is wedged between two magnificent World Heritage Sites – the Great Barrier Reef and the Daintree Rainforest – and surrounded by fruit farms, reef fishing hot-spots and growers of great regional produce. When it comes to where to eat in Port Douglas, we’ve made it simple: these are the best restaurants and cafes to put at the top of your itinerary.

    The shortlist

    Best outdoor dining: Treehouse Restaurant, Silky Oaks Lodge
    Great for special occasions: Zinc
    Most Instagrammable: Nautilus
    Hottest new opening: Jungle Fowl
    Fine dining gem: Harrison’s

    Breakfast

    Grant Street Kitchen

    alfresco dining at Grant Street Kitchen, Port Douglas

    Sip on iced lattes in a relaxed outdoor seating. (Image: Grant Street Kitchen)

    Cuisine: Bakery
    Average price: $
    Atmosphere: Relaxed
    Location: Shop 4/5, Corner Grant Street and Macrossan Street, Port Douglas

    Flaky almond croissants and succulent pies (creamy prawn and coral trout, anyone?) are handmade onsite by the owners at this buzzy bakery that sits beneath umbrellas at one of the town’s busiest intersections. Come for breakfast or lunch – there’s an all-day cafe menu, too – or pick up pastries to enjoy with an aptly iced latte. Pro-tip? The duo behind the bakery also sell their goods at Port Douglas’ Sunday market, so you can enjoy the deliciousness in store or at home.

    St Crispins

    Cuisine: Modern Australian
    Atmosphere: Relaxed cafe
    Location: 9 St Crispins Avenue, Port Douglas

    Located on the sugar-cane-centric Bally Hooley railway line, which was used to transport sugar from the now-defunct Mossman sugar mill and down to the wharf at Port Douglas, this all-day eatery enjoys views over the water and greens of the Mirage Country Club golf course. Tuck into cinnamon French toast with chargrilled local bananas or a crispy fried chicken burger (elevated with Thai-inspired chilli mayonnaise, thank you very much), and pair it with a Bloody mary, sparkling mimosa or strong flat white. Four-legged friends are welcome, too.

    Lunch

    Nu Nu

    the beachfront Nu Nu restaurant, Port Douglas

    This beachside restaurant offers panoramic views of the ocean. (Image: Nu Nu)

    Cuisine: Modern Asian-Australian
    Average price: $$$$
    Atmosphere: Relaxed, tropical
    Location: 1 Veivers Road, Palm Cove

    Technically in Palm Cove, a 40-minute drive south of Port Douglas, this beachside restaurant is a must-do if you’re in the region. Ask for a table outside, where you’ll be shaded by coconut palms and serenaded by the gentle waves while overlooking Double Island. The eatery is open from 7am to 10pm, off and on, but a leisurely lunch is the best time to experience the tangy signature thin slice of caramelised duck wrapped around a cube of pineapple, followed by spicy butter-poached reef fish with salted cucumbers and tall, glistening glasses of blood orange gin sours in true tropical spirit. Take the flavour to go, too, with a scoop of white-chocolate-and-macadamia gelato from Numi Ice Creamery (by the same folks), just down the road.

    Salsa Bar & Grill

    the dining interior of Salsa Bar & Grill, Port Douglas

    The light-filled Salsa Bar & Grill has a wraparound verandah with views of Market Park and Dicksons Inlet.

    Cuisine: Modern Australian
    Average price: $$ / $$$
    Atmosphere: Casual and fun
    Location: 26 Wharf Street, Port Douglas

    An institution in Port Douglas for thirty years (just look at the signed plates stacked into the ceiling above the bar), this all-day eatery buzzes as loudly at lunch as it does at dinner. Diners on the wraparound verandah will enjoy sparkling views over Market Park and Dicksons Inlet. Wherever you sit, you’ll be amongst the hustle and bustle of experienced local waitstaff ferrying generous plates of linguine “pepperincino” with local tiger prawns, a jambalaya with chunks of crocodile sausage, and a lunch-friendly tropical cocktail, such as the “Gone bananas”, which features Bacardi, banana liqueur, coconut cream and fresh banana. Save room for dessert: the tasting platter is a sweet (and shareable) note to end on.

    Melaleuca

    share plates on the table at Melaleuca, Port Douglas

    The menu at Melaleuca champions local and regional produce.

    Cuisine: Modern Australian
    Average price: $$$$
    Location: 22 Wharf Street, Port Douglas

    When freshly baked bread comes out in a paper bag, still warm, and is followed by thin, crispy slivers of pig ear, you know you’re in for a special kind of evening. The latter is perhaps a nod to the Scottish roots of Melaleuca’s head chef, but the remainder of the menu is a thoroughly Australian affair, championing local and regional produce across dishes such as seared Tassie scallops with smoked bacon, pan-seared Daintree barramundi with a cauliflower puree, and homemade gnocchi with a creamy, nutty mushroom and pumpkin treatment. Sit outside – beneath soft festoon lighting and swaying palms – to make the most of the warm breeze, or settle under cover; either way, the indoor-outdoor dining experience here epitomises the Port way of life.

    Afternoon Delights

    Zinc

    food and drinks on the table at Zinc, Port Douglas

    Share hearty meals and cocktails on a Friday arvo. (Image: Zinc)

    Cuisine: Modern Australian
    Average price: $$$$
    Atmosphere: Smart casual
    Location: 53-61 Macrossan Street, Port Douglas

    Grab a table on the outdoor deck at this long-time eatery on one of Port Douglas’ main thoroughfares, where the cocktail list is extensive and the dishes – generous bowls of luscious pasta with fat prawns, whole barramundi fillets in a coconutty curry, and the signature eye fillet from Queensland’s Darling Downs – are piled high. It’s a family-run operation with roots in the local community, and you can find flavour from 2pm until the late evening. The Smoking Mandarin cocktail combines tequila and mezcal with zesty citrus to create a perfect complement to whatever is on your plate.

    Wrasse & Roe

    the ocean-themed dining interior of Wrasse & Roe, Port Douglas

    The ocean-centric eatery is a seafood haven. (Image: Wrasse & Roe)

    Cuisine: Seafood
    Average price: $$$ / $$$$
    Atmosphere: Casual dining
    Location: Coconut Grove Complex, 9-11/56-64 Macrossan Street, Port Douglas

    It’s only fitting that you embark on a seafood expedition while you’re up in Tropical North Queensland; if hopping on a fishing charter isn’t on your agenda, then this relatively new ocean-centric eatery should be. Tuck into buckets of chilled locally-trawled prawns or a bowl of rich, tomatoey seafood marinara packed with calamari, mussels, clams and more, then cap off the afternoon with a suitably tropical passionfruit parfait. Seats outside are perfectly placed for people watching and making the most of languid summer afternoons.

    Dinner

    Nautilus

    al fresco fine dining at Nautilus, Port Douglas

    Nab an open-air table beneath a canopy of palms at Nautilus. (Image: Toby Stanley)

    Cuisine: Modern Australian / Seafood
    Average price: $$$$
    Atmosphere: Rainforest retreat
    Location: 17 Murphy Street, Port Douglas

    Dishes of blushing pan-seared scallops and succulent kingfish tartare look especially appealing when they’re ferried out to open-air tables beneath a canopy of palms at Nautilus, a Port Douglas institution and locally recommended must-visit dining destination. It’s been here since 1954, so the street cred is legit, and the menu puts tropical produce on a pedestal. The five-course degustation menu (available in vegetarian, pescatarian and seafood-free variations, too) gives you a little taste of everything, but you’ll want to add the signature crispy-skinned whole coral trout, which comes out vertical atop a pool of sticky, sweet, oh-so-moreish caramel sauce.

    Jungle Fowl

    the menu at Jungle Fowl, Port Douglas

    The menu at Jungle Fowl features homegrown ingredients from their kitchen garden. (Image: Chrissie Cosgrove)

    Cuisine: Modern Thai
    Average price: $$$
    Atmosphere: Youthful, fun and funky
    Location: Shop 2/28 Wharf Street, Port Douglas

    The fun factor is turned up to 100 at this Thai restaurant, where the bright, colourful murals keep pace with the vibrant dishes. Happy hour runs from 5-6pm and includes $12 cocktails such as the makrut lime-spiked mojito or zesty Thai-twisted margaritas alongside $10 ginger-topped beef-brisket bao. The rest of the time, you’ll find pinchable portions of prawn-topped betel leaf and shareable chilled squid salad keeping pace with spicy green curry and Angus laced with snake beans on a menu that features homegrown ingredients from the kitchen garden out back. (The six-course banquet menu, at $83 per person, is a great way to get a taste of everything.)

    Seabean

    the restaurant exterior of Seabean, Port Douglas

    Seabean is within a short walking distance of Wharf Street. (Image: Catseye Productions)

    Cuisine: Spanish
    Average price: $$ / $$$
    Atmosphere: Lively
    Location: Shop 3/28 Wharf St, Port Douglas

    Open Thursday to Sunday, this tapas-centric restaurant turns out pintxos and paella to deliver a trip to Spain without the jetlag. Consider the perfectly portioned terracotta bowls of grilled Spanish chorizo with poached pears, fishcakes made with local barramundi served with spicy tomato jam, or classic patatas bravas dusted with paprika, then order them all. Bite-sized pintxos change regularly, the paella is generous and piping hot, and dessert – Crema catalana served in a coconut half – is unmissable. Plus, it’s all within walking distance to both the water and the downtown action.

    Knock-Outs

    Bam Pow

    a pineapple dish at Bam Pow, Port Douglas

    The signature pineapple dish at Bam Pow. (Image: Supplied)

    Cuisine: Vegan / Asian
    Average price: $$ / $$$
    Atmosphere: Relaxed
    Location: 79 Davidson Street, Port Douglas

    Neon lights and board games help this vegan eatery pump up the fun – but the funk is innate in the menu as well. Beyond the happy hour specials (refreshing $12 margaritas in shades of watermelon, spicy and classic, $7 beers and a banh-mi-and-beer combo for $24), the menu straddles the Asian fusion brief to produce flavour-packed dishes of chilli-topped dumplings, crispy eggplant tempura and a zesty papaya salad topped with a crunchy cassava crackle. With cuisine this creative, you won’t miss the meat at all.

    Harrison’s

    the waterfront eatery at Harrison’s, Port Douglas

    Find an idyllic spot to dine on the lagoon-side deck. (Image: Harrison’s)

    Cuisine: Modern Australian
    Average price: $$$$
    Atmosphere: Poolside elegance
    Location: Sheraton Grand Mirage Resort, Port Douglas Rd

    While it’s now located within the massive 147-hectare Sheraton Grand Mirage Resort, this eatery has been a part of the fabric of Port Douglas since 2007. It moved over here in 2017 and has been turning out luxurious degustation dinners and a la carte plates of citrus-cured reef fish, whole Queensland crayfish dressed in brown butter, and Hervey Bay scallops tossed in XO sauce ever since. The lagoon-side deck is the place to be on a balmy Queensland evening, where your meal’s backdrop will include lush palm fronds and the symphonic sounds of crashing waves from the beach further afield.

    Treehouse Restaurant, Silky Oaks Lodge

    the Treehouse Restaurant, Silky Oaks Lodge, Port Douglas

    The Treehouse Restaurant boasts lush views of the rainforest.

    Cuisine: Modern Australian
    Average price: $$$$
    Atmosphere: Tropical luxury
    Location: 23 Finlayvale Rd, Finlayvale

    Technically in Finlayvale, still in Douglas Shire, this exceptional eatery enjoys stunning views over a private stream of the Mossman River with tables nested within a cavernous open-air dining room serviced by a capable, passionate culinary team. The menu changes regularly but makes a point of featuring local produce artfully presented with flair. Lunch is a set affair, with options for a two- or three-course selection including dishes such as fluffy smoked potato raviolis with pork ragu, kingfish cured in macadamia milk, and slow-cooked lamb shoulder with kunzea and black lemon. Settle in for the afternoon and let the gentle soundtrack of the river guide you between courses.

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