Best Scenic Drives in Tasmania: Roads Worth Taking Slowly
Tasmania rewards slow travel more than almost anywhere else in Australia. It’s small enough that you can cross the whole state in a day if you rush, but the entire point of driving here is to not rush — to pull over at every third lookout, stop for the roadside honesty-box produce stand, and let a two-hour drive stretch comfortably into five.
I’ve driven most of the island’s major routes at this point, and the roads themselves are half the attraction — narrow, winding, and constantly changing character from rainforest to coastline to alpine plateau within a single afternoon.
Here are the routes worth building an itinerary around, and what makes each one different.
🚗 TL;DR — the quick version
- 🌅 The Great Eastern Drive: Hobart to Bicheno via Freycinet, Tasmania’s most scenic coastal route.
- ⛰️ Lyell Highway (Queenstown to Strahan): A dramatic descent through old mining country into rainforest.
- 🏰 Tasman Peninsula loop: Sea cliffs, blowholes and the Port Arthur historic site south-east of Hobart.
- 🏔️ Lake St Clair to Cradle Mountain: Alpine scenery and Tasmania’s most photographed mountain.
- 🍇 Tamar Valley wine route: Vineyards and river views north of Launceston.
- ⛽ Fill up whenever you can. Fuel stops thin out fast once you’re off the main highways.
- 🦘 Avoid driving at dusk or dawn. Tasmania has a genuinely high rate of wildlife on rural roads at these times.
🌅 The Great Eastern Drive
Running from Orford, about an hour from Hobart, up to Bicheno on the state’s east coast, the Great Eastern Drive is Tasmania’s signature scenic route. It hugs the coastline for much of its length, passing through the small towns of Triabunna and Swansea before reaching Freycinet National Park, home to the Wineglass Bay lookout and some of the pinkest granite peaks in the country.
The full drive can be done in around three hours without stops, but almost nobody does that. Most travellers spread it across a full day or two, with the Wineglass Bay lookout walk alone worth setting aside a couple of hours for.
🛑 Stops worth making along the Great Eastern Drive
- Spiky Bridge, near Swansea. A convict-built stone bridge from the 1840s, unusual for its spiked parapets and easy to miss if you’re not looking for it.
- Wineglass Bay Lookout, Freycinet National Park. A moderately steep 1.5-hour return walk to one of the most photographed beach views in Australia.
- Coles Bay township. The gateway to Freycinet, with good cafes for a lunch stop before or after the walk.
- Bicheno’s Blowhole. A natural rock formation that sends spray several metres into the air on a rough sea day, right at the northern end of the drive.
👉 Book a Freycinet and Wineglass Bay Day Tour on GetYourGuide →
⛰️ Lyell Highway, Queenstown to Strahan
This short but dramatic stretch of road connects the old mining town of Queenstown, its surrounding hills stripped bare by over a century of copper mining, to the rainforest-fringed harbour town of Strahan on the west coast. The contrast is jarring in the best way — you leave behind Queenstown’s eerie, exposed orange hillsides and within half an hour you’re driving through dense, dripping rainforest.
The road itself winds sharply through the Victoria Pass, with lookout points giving views back over Queenstown’s mining scars before the landscape shifts entirely. It’s one of the more physically demanding drives on this list in terms of concentration required, but also one of the most memorable for how quickly the scenery changes character.
🏰 Tasman Peninsula loop
South-east of Hobart, the Tasman Peninsula offers a full day of dramatic coastal scenery combined with one of Australia’s most significant historic sites. The drive out passes through Eaglehawk Neck, a narrow isthmus with striking rock formations known as the Tessellated Pavement, before continuing to sea cliffs, blowholes and the Tasman Arch.
The Port Arthur Historic Site, a former convict settlement and one of Australia’s most visited heritage attractions, sits at the peninsula’s southern end and is worth budgeting at least half a day for on its own. Combined with the coastal stops along the way, this is easily a full-day round trip from Hobart.
👉 Book a Tasman Peninsula and Port Arthur Day Tour on GetYourGuide →
🏔️ Lake St Clair to Cradle Mountain
Connecting two of Tasmania’s most iconic wilderness areas, this route runs through the central highlands, passing button grass plains, alpine lakes and dense forest before arriving at Cradle Mountain, Tasmania’s single most photographed natural landmark, reflected in the still water of Dove Lake on a calm day.
Weather here changes fast, and it’s not unusual to drive through sun, rain and even light snow within the same afternoon, even outside winter. It’s worth allowing extra time for the drive itself as much as the destination, since the highland scenery along the way is a genuine attraction in its own right.
🍇 Tamar Valley wine route
North of Launceston, the Tamar Valley offers a gentler, more relaxed kind of scenic drive, winding along the Tamar River past vineyards, orchards and small riverside towns. It’s Tasmania’s oldest wine region, known particularly for cool-climate pinot noir and sparkling wine, and the drive itself is flat and easy compared to the more demanding mountain routes elsewhere on the island.
It’s an ideal choice for travellers who want scenery without a challenging drive, easily combined with a handful of cellar door stops and a visit to the historic village of Beaconsfield along the way.
💡 Tips for driving in Tasmania
Tasmania’s roads are narrower and windier than mainland Australia’s, and a handful of habits make a real difference to how comfortable the driving feels.
- Avoid dawn and dusk driving on rural roads. Tasmania has one of the highest rates of wildlife vehicle strikes in the country, particularly involving wallabies and possums at these times.
- Fill your tank whenever you pass a servo. Fuel stops thin out considerably once you’re off the Midland Highway or major towns.
- Budget more time than Google Maps suggests. Winding roads and frequent lookout stops mean actual travel time often runs 30–50% longer than the estimate.
- Pack for four seasons in one day. Weather in the highlands and west coast changes fast and unpredictably, regardless of the season.
- Download offline maps before heading to the west coast. Mobile coverage disappears for long stretches around Queenstown and Strahan.
👉 Book a Tamar Valley Wine Tasting Drive on GetYourGuide →
Whichever route you choose, the same rule applies across the island: build in more time than you think you need. Tasmania’s best moments tend to happen at the unplanned stops, not the ones already circled on the map.
🐟 Bruny Island loop
South of Hobart, Bruny Island adds a ferry crossing to the usual scenic drive formula, but it rewards the extra effort. The island is split into two halves connected by a narrow, sandy isthmus called The Neck, with a boardwalk and lookout giving views down both stretches of coastline at once. South Bruny’s coastline is rugged and dramatic, while the island’s food producers — cheese, whisky, oysters and honey among them — make it one of the best food-focused day trips in the state.
A full loop of both halves of the island, including a stop at the Neck lookout and a couple of the food producers, comfortably fills a full day from Hobart, factoring in the short ferry crossing each way.
📸 Getting the best light on a Tasmanian road trip
Tasmania’s weather is famously changeable, which can be frustrating for planning but genuinely useful for photography. Storm light — that brief window when the sun breaks through dark cloud after rain — tends to produce some of the most dramatic coastal shots on the east coast, particularly around Freycinet and the Tasman Peninsula.
On the west coast, the rainforest sections of the Lyell Highway photograph best in overcast, even light rather than harsh sun, since direct sunlight creates heavy contrast between the dense canopy and bright gaps that’s hard for a camera to balance. Early morning is generally the best time to photograph Cradle Mountain reflected in Dove Lake, since wind tends to pick up through the day and ripple the water’s surface, breaking up the reflection that makes the shot so recognisable in the first place.
🗓️ Best time of year for a Tasmanian road trip
Tasmania’s peak season runs from December to March, when long daylight hours and the mildest weather make road trips easiest, though popular spots like Freycinet and Cradle Mountain get noticeably busier. Autumn, from March to May, brings a genuinely spectacular colour change in the state’s introduced deciduous trees, particularly around the historic town of Evandale and the Tamar Valley, alongside cooler, crisper driving conditions. Winter, from June to August, is quietest and often the most dramatic for coastal photography, though snow can close some high-altitude roads near Cradle Mountain and the central highlands, so it’s worth checking road conditions before setting off during this period.
👉 Book a Bruny Island Food and Wildlife Day Tour on GetYourGuide →
🗺️ Building a full road trip itinerary
For travellers with a week or more, these routes link up into a natural loop of the state rather than a series of disconnected day trips. A common pattern starts in Hobart with the Tasman Peninsula as a first day trip, heads up the Great Eastern Drive to Bicheno and Freycinet over the following two days, cuts inland toward Cradle Mountain and the central highlands, drops down the west coast via the Lyell Highway to Strahan and Queenstown, and finishes back through the Tamar Valley into Launceston before flying home.
Done properly, that loop takes a minimum of seven to ten days without feeling rushed, and closer to two weeks if you want real downtime at each stop rather than a constant drive-and-arrive rhythm. Given how small Tasmania looks on a map compared to mainland Australia, first-time visitors are often surprised by just how long it actually takes to cover properly — a reflection of how much time gets swallowed by slow, winding roads and frequent, well-earned stops.
🚙 What kind of car actually suits these roads
Most of the drives on this list are entirely doable in a standard rental car, and a 4WD isn’t necessary unless you’re planning to venture onto some of the more remote unsealed tracks in the south-west wilderness. That said, a car with a bit more ground clearance is genuinely useful on some of the gravel sections around the west coast and parts of the Tasman Peninsula, where sealed roads occasionally give way to well-maintained but bumpy dirt for short stretches.
Manual transmission is still more common in Tasmanian rental fleets than in some other states, so it’s worth specifically requesting an automatic if that’s your preference, particularly given how much low-gear work the state’s steeper mountain passes demand.
Whatever car you end up with, keep the fuel tank topped up more often than habit tells you to, and don’t schedule a tight return flight on the same day as your final drive back into Hobart or Launceston — traffic is never the issue here, but the temptation to make just one more stop always is.
That’s really the whole philosophy behind driving in Tasmania: plan a route, then plan to fall behind schedule almost immediately, because something on the roadside will be worth the delay.
Pack accordingly, keep your camera charged, and let the island set the pace rather than the other way around.
Few places in Australia make it this easy to justify taking the long way round, and almost nobody who’s driven Tasmania properly regrets the extra days it ends up taking.
Print a paper map as a backup for the west coast dead zones, book your ferry crossings ahead if Bruny Island is on the list, and give yourself permission to arrive later than planned. Tasmania rewards exactly that kind of patience.
Safe travels, and happy driving.
See you out there, somewhere on a quiet stretch of coast road with the window down.
