Cooktown

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Cooktown is one of Queensland’s hidden gems – a beautiful, unspoilt coastal town, and one of Australia’s most historically significant townships. This is where James Cook found safe haven in 1770 to repair his ship, the HM Bark Endeavour, and Australia’s closest town to the Great Barrier Reef.

Easily accessible from Cairns, by road and air, Cooktown is the perfect base to explore the rugged beauty of the Lower Cape, noted for its pristine environment and Aboriginal culture. There’s a wide range of accommodation, and plenty to see and do. You can wander round the world-class James Cook Museum, enjoy the galleries and wealth of information at Nature’s Powerhouse, learn more about the town’s history at the Old Bank. There’s a wide choice of high-quality tours available – historical town tours, trips to the river and reef, tours of the surrounding district and Cape York, and some of the best Aboriginal tours in the country.