By the Sea Port Douglas

Renovated to a four-star standard, the apartments here were built for a stretch of coast where the town and the sand meet at the same address. By The Sea Port Douglas sits on Macrossan Street, a short walk from the Coral Sea and from Port Douglas's restaurants and shops. Rooms come as one, two or three bedrooms, each with a kitchen, air conditioning and a balcony or patio. Some look over Four Mile Beach; others face the garden. Every unit has its own private barbecue, a detail that suits the climate more than any communal terrace would. The pool is heated to a constant 29 degrees, modest in size but well kept, and sits a few metres from the beach itself, which guests tend to treat as the real pool. Bikes, beach chairs, umbrellas and buggies for hauling gear to the sand are free to borrow. There is no lift; the resort runs to three floors, in keeping with a town where no building may stand taller than a palm tree. Staff double as local guides, booking reef and rainforest tours and adjusting them if the tropical weather turns. Check-in is from 1.30pm, though luggage storage and full resort access start much earlier. It is a plain, well-run base for a coast built around a very long beach.