Tasmania is unlike anywhere else in Australia — and honestly, unlike anywhere else in the world. This island state, separated from the mainland by the Bass Strait, has managed to preserve something rare: genuine wilderness. Over 40% of the island is protected national park or World Heritage Area, and you feel that remoteness the moment you step outside the cities. The air is different here. The light is different. The pace is different.
But Tasmania isn’t just a place for hardcore hikers and wildlife photographers. Hobart has become one of Australia’s most exciting food and arts cities, the wine and whisky scenes have exploded in quality over the last decade, and the coastline is dotted with gorgeous beaches that, outside of summer, you’ll often have almost entirely to yourself.
Here’s everything worth knowing before your trip.
📋 TL;DR — the quick version
- ✅ MONA is a must-see: The Museum of Old and New Art in Hobart is one of the most extraordinary cultural institutions in the world.
- 🏔️ Cradle Mountain will stop you in your tracks: Even a short walk here is unforgettable. Extend it to the multi-day Overland Track if you’re fit enough.
- 🦘 Wildlife is everywhere: Wombats, wallabies, pademelons, Tasmanian devils, and platypus are all wild and abundant here.
- 🥃 The food and drink scene is exceptional: Whisky distilleries, cool-climate wines, incredible seafood, and world-class cheese.
- 🌊 Wineglass Bay is as good as it looks: The photos don’t lie — this is one of the most beautiful beaches in Australia.
- 🚗 A car is essential: Public transport outside Hobart is very limited. Hire a car to get the most out of the island.
- ❄️ It’s colder than mainland Australia: Pack layers even in summer — the weather can change fast, especially in the highlands.
🎨 Visit MONA in Hobart
MONA — the Museum of Old and New Art — is the single most talked-about attraction in Tasmania, and rightly so. Billionaire David Walsh built this remarkable institution with his own money, buried it into a sandstone cliff on the Derwent River, and filled it with some of the most challenging, provocative, and extraordinary art you’ll ever encounter in a single building. It opened in 2011 and immediately became one of Australia’s most visited museums, drawing people from across the globe who had no other particular reason to visit Hobart.
The collection includes ancient Egyptian mummies alongside contemporary video installations, a machine that produces faeces (yes, really), a wall covered in 150 plaster casts of female genitalia, and works by artists including Sidney Nolan, Cy Twombly, and Chris Ofili. Walsh’s philosophy is that art should confront and provoke rather than comfort, and MONA absolutely delivers on that promise.
Getting there is part of the experience: the MONA ferry departs from Hobart’s waterfront, cruising up the Derwent River and past a string of historic homes and old industrial sites. Allow at least half a day at the museum itself — it’s larger than it looks and deserves a slow, exploratory approach.
👉 Book MONA Ferry and Entry on GetYourGuide →
🏔️ Explore Cradle Mountain
Cradle Mountain is Tasmania’s most iconic landscape, and the reality lives up to every photograph you’ve ever seen of it. The jagged dolerite peaks reflected in the still waters of Dove Lake is one of the quintessential Australian images, and standing there in person — particularly at dawn or dusk when the light turns everything gold — is a genuinely moving experience.
Even if you’re not a serious hiker, the Dove Lake Circuit is manageable for most people. It’s a 6-kilometre walk around the lake with only gentle elevation changes, taking about two to three hours at a leisurely pace. You’ll pass through ancient pencil pine forests, alongside glacial moraines, and have constant views of the mountain above. Keep your eyes on the ground and the vegetation around the track — wombats are extremely common here, and you’ll almost certainly see at least one.
For experienced hikers, the multi-day Overland Track is one of Australia’s great walks — 65 kilometres through some of the most spectacular alpine wilderness on the continent, taking six to eight days. It requires pre-booking through the Parks Tasmania system and some solid fitness, but it’s an experience that people consistently describe as life-changing.
🌊 See Wineglass Bay at Freycinet
Wineglass Bay, on Tasmania’s east coast, is regularly listed among the most beautiful beaches in the world, and it genuinely earns that status. The bay gets its name from its perfect crescent shape when seen from above — and the lookout viewpoint on the saddle above the beach is where most people get their first look at it, usually met with a collective intake of breath from everyone on the viewing platform at the same time.
The walk to the lookout from the Freycinet National Park visitor centre takes about 30 minutes each way and involves a fairly steep climb, but it’s well within reach of anyone with reasonable fitness. For the full experience, continue down the other side of the saddle to the beach itself — another 20 minutes of descent — and take a swim in the extraordinarily clear water. The sand is white and fine, the water is a deep azure blue, and on a sunny day it looks more like the Caribbean than Tasmania.
Pair this with How Many Days in Tasmania and Best Luxury Lodges Tasmania to round out your trip.
The Freycinet Peninsula has much more to offer beyond Wineglass Bay. Honeymoon Bay, Cape Tourville Lighthouse, and the Hazards Beach circuit are all excellent, and the pink granite peaks of the Hazards mountain range form a dramatic backdrop to everything you do here.
🦅 Sea kayaking around Freycinet
One of the best ways to experience Freycinet is from the water. Guided sea kayaking tours take you along the coastline and into secluded bays that are completely inaccessible on foot, and the perspective from water level — looking up at the pink granite cliffs with the occasional dolphin cutting through the water nearby — is quite different from anything you get on the hiking trails. Half-day and full-day options are available, and no previous kayaking experience is required for the calmer routes.
🐾 Spot Tasmanian devils in the wild
Tasmanian devils are nocturnal, shy, and not easy to spot in the wild — but Tasmania is the only place on earth where you can find them, which makes the effort very much worthwhile. The best chance of seeing them in their natural habitat is on a guided night wildlife tour, where experienced guides know exactly where to look and when to go.
For a guaranteed sighting, the Tasmanian Devil Unzoo at Taranna on the Tasman Peninsula offers daily encounters with devils in spacious, naturalistic enclosures. It’s less wild but much more accessible, and the keepers are genuinely knowledgeable about the animals’ behaviour and the ongoing conservation fight against the facial tumour disease that has devastated devil populations over the past 30 years. Other wildlife you’re likely to encounter in Tasmania include wombats (extremely common around Cradle Mountain, Freycinet, and many campsites), wallabies, pademelons, quolls, platypus, and echidnas.
🥃 Explore Tasmania’s whisky trail
Tasmania has become one of the most respected whisky-producing regions in the world over the past two decades, and the island now has over 50 whisky distilleries — remarkable for a population of just over half a million people. The cold climate, clean water, and excellent local barley create conditions that serious whisky makers find almost impossible to resist, and the results have been extraordinary.
Sullivans Cove, based in Hobart, won the title of World’s Best Single Malt at the World Whiskies Awards back in 2014 and helped put Tasmanian whisky on the international map. Lark Distillery, the oldest of the modern Tasmanian distilleries, offers excellent tours and tastings from its Hobart base. Out in the Huon Valley, Shene Estate combines whisky production with a stunning Georgian heritage property that’s worth visiting even if you’re not a whisky drinker.
If wine is more your thing, the Tamar Valley in the north and the Coal River Valley near Hobart both produce exceptional cool-climate wines — particularly Pinot Noir and Chardonnay — that have earned international reputations far beyond their modest production volumes.
🚢 Take a day trip to Port Arthur
Port Arthur Historic Site, about 100 kilometres southeast of Hobart on the Tasman Peninsula, is one of Australia’s most significant heritage sites and one of the best-preserved convict settlements anywhere in the world. Between 1833 and 1877, over 12,500 male convicts were held here, and the remains of that era — the penitentiary, the church, the Model Prison, the hospital, and dozens of other buildings — are remarkably well preserved and hauntingly atmospheric.
Allow a full day here. The site is large, and there’s a lot to absorb both historically and architecturally. The included harbour cruise takes you past the Isle of the Dead, the convict cemetery on a small island in the middle of the bay. Evening ghost tours run nightly and are excellent — the guides are historians first and entertainers second, and the stories they tell are genuinely chilling rather than just theatrical.
👉 Book a Port Arthur Day Trip on GetYourGuide →
🌿 Walk the Bay of Fires
The Bay of Fires on Tasmania’s northeast coast is one of the most beautiful stretches of coastline in Australia. Named by Captain Tobias Furneaux in 1773 after the fires he saw burning on the shore (the fires of Aboriginal Tasmanians, not the orange-coloured lichen on the rocks that most people now associate with the name), the Bay stretches for around 50 kilometres of pristine beach, lagoons, granite boulders, and coastal heath.
Worth adding to your itinerary: Eco Friendly Lodges Tasmania.
The Bay of Fires Lodge Walk is a guided four-day walk along this coast that is widely considered one of the best luxury walking experiences in Australia. You stay in two remote eco-lodges, and the catering, guiding, and overall experience are all exceptional. It’s not cheap, but for those who can afford it, it combines wilderness immersion with genuine comfort in a way that’s very hard to find.
Independent walkers can also explore much of the Bay of Fires for free, particularly around Binalong Bay and the Swimcart Beach area, which is accessible by car and gives you access to some of the most stunning scenery without the lodge price tag.
🍽️ Eat your way around Hobart’s waterfront
Hobart’s waterfront and Salamanca Place precinct is one of the most enjoyable places to eat in Australia. The Saturday Salamanca Market is unmissable — over 300 stalls selling produce, craft, street food, and everything in between, set against the backdrop of beautifully restored Georgian sandstone warehouses. It runs from 8:30am to 3pm every Saturday and draws a huge crowd of locals and visitors alike.
Beyond the market, the restaurants and cafes around Salamanca Place and the waterfront are consistently excellent. The emphasis is on local produce — the seafood here is some of the freshest you’ll eat anywhere in Australia, and the farm-to-table philosophy that can feel like a marketing line in other cities is genuinely baked into the culture here. Atlantic salmon, abalone, oysters from the east coast, and rock lobster from the island’s waters are all staples of the better restaurants.
💡 Practical tips for visiting Tasmania
Getting to Tasmania requires either flying (Hobart and Launceston both have airports with frequent connections to Sydney, Melbourne, and Brisbane) or taking the Spirit of Tasmania ferry, which sails overnight between Melbourne and Devonport. The ferry is a great option if you want to bring your own car, which is by far the best way to explore the island.
Tasmania’s weather is notoriously unpredictable. Even in summer, you can experience four seasons in a single day, particularly in the highlands and on the west coast. Layering is essential, and waterproof gear is never wasted. The south and west of the island are significantly wetter and wilder than the drier east coast — plan your itinerary accordingly.
The best time to visit depends on what you want to do. Summer (December to February) brings the best weather and the longest days, but also the most visitors and the highest accommodation prices. Autumn (March to May) is increasingly popular for the cool, clear weather and the changing leaf colours in areas like the Huon Valley. Winter brings snow to the highlands, which is magical, and the island is very quiet — many attractions maintain reduced hours, but you’ll have the landscape largely to yourself.
