Tasmania in 4 days
Across the Bass Strait from Melbourne, Tasmania fits the Port Arthur convict site, the underground MONA museum, the orange-lichened granite of the Bay of Fires and Dove Lake below Cradle Mountain onto one island. A fifth of it is World Heritage wilderness, and you can drive for hours without passing a town.
The plan, day by day
Day 1
- Morning
MONAhalf a dayGambler David Walsh's private museum, opened in 2011 and dug into a sandstone cliff on the Derwent, with Wim Delvoye's digestion machine among its exhibits.
- Late afternoon
kunanyi / Mount Wellingtonfree · about 1 h 30The 1,271-metre mountain above Hobart, whose summit road climbs 22 km from the city to a windswept plateau looking over the Derwent and Bruny Island.
Day 2
- Morning
Salamanca Marketfree · 2 to 3 hEvery Saturday since 1972, more than 300 stalls line Salamanca Place below 1830s sandstone warehouses, selling cheese, leatherwood honey, oysters and local whisky.
- Afternoon
Bruny Islandhalf a dayTwo islands joined by a sandy isthmus called The Neck, twenty minutes by ferry from Kettering, where little penguins come ashore at dusk.
Day 3
- All day
Port Arthura full dayA penal settlement from 1830 to 1877 that held over 12,500 convicts, its penitentiary, church and Separate Prison set on lawns by a bay.
Day 4
- Morning
Wineglass Bay2 to 3 hA 1.5 km curve of white sand below the pink granite Hazards in Freycinet National Park, seen from a lookout 1.5 hours' return walk away.
Further afield (over 130 km from the base hotel), best as a separate stop: Bay of Fires, Cradle Mountain.
Where to sleep in Tasmania
- Montacute Boutique Bunkhouse · €38 a night
- Hobart Central YHA · €35 a night
- Ibis Styles Hobart · €95 a night
- Hotel Grand Chancellor Hobart · €120 a night
- Salamanca Wharf Hotel · €150 a night
- Hadley's Orient Hotel · €140 a night
- MACq 01 Hotel · €260 a night
- The Tasman · €300 a night
- Crowne Plaza Hobart · €200 a night
Plan this trip
Hotel prices per room per night, checked when written. Some links are affiliate links: we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you.