If you've never visited Darwin before, you could be in for a surprise – a very enjoyable one. Virtually rebuilt after Cyclone Tracy in 1974, today’s Darwin is young, modern, vibrant and tropical.

The city centre is bordered by the sea on three sides. As you move around the offices, shops, hotels and restaurants of the city, you constantly catch glimpses of Darwin Harbour which, by the way, is twice the size of Sydney Harbour and teeming with fish.

Wide streets, shady parks, a pedestrian mall, a huge range of restaurants, trendy pubs and clubs, the nightlife strip of Mitchell Street, the tourist venues of the Wharf Precinct and the upmarket housing of Cullen Bay, Tipperary Waters and Bayview Haven complete the picture.

The beach-side SkyCity Casino is one of many local venues that host live music and other entertainment. Moving away from central Darwin, the city’s surrounds are equally attractive. The northern suburbs have many cool elevated houses, complete with lush gardens filled with palm trees, frangipani, orchids and other tropical species.

It’s a similar story for Palmerston, the satellite city just 15 minutes away by car to Darwin’s south-east. Palmerston’s new suburbs feature the latest in tropical housing design and facilities.

No matter where you live in the Darwin region, you'll feel close to nature. Suburban backyards are home to a surprising array of wildlife, including green tree frogs (you'll hear their chorus when it rains), rainbow lorikeets and sulphur-crested cockatoos.

Further south and across the harbour residents enjoy the freedom of large blocks of land and the simplicity of a rural lifestyle.

East Point Reserve, just a few minutes’ drive from the city centre, is a favourite spot for sunset picnics and home to a colony of agile wallabies.

Darwin has excellent walking and bicycle paths along the beachfront, through parks and throughout the suburbs.

The city has a great range of restaurants, many of which take advantage of their amazing settings: surrounded by tropical gardens under traditional elevated houses, overlooking the boardwalk and the yachts at Cullen Bay or looking back from East Point over the sea toward the lights of Darwin city.

You can choose from modern Australian, upmarket Chinese, Thai, Japanese, Italian, French, Greek, Vietnamese, Malaysian, Creole, Mexican and Indian cuisine. For a tasty inexpensive meal, head to Stoke’s Hill Wharf or one of the many cafés in the city heart or shopping centres – or Darwin’s markets (Mindil Beach on Thursday nights and Sunday afternoons, during the dry season. Parap, Rapid Creek and Nightcliff at the weekend all year round). The markets are an ideal place to stock up on authentic ingredients for Asian cooking.

Darwin has three multi-cinema complexes. There is also the open air Deckchair Cinema, overlooking Darwin Harbour, where you can enjoy a glass of wine while watching an arthouse flick or a Hollywood classic.