Make it quick..
We undoubtedly had the ultimate 10-day road trip, doing a lap of Tasmania! Tassie may be the smallest state in Australia but there are so many things to do in Tasmania! Definitely a fantastic state, full of so much natural beauty.
We always thought we’d like Tasmania but admittedly, it took us by surprise and we ended up loving it SO much! Mark our words, Tasmania is worth visiting! In fact, 10 days there makes the perfect getaway. Therefore, after our 10 days there, we’re sharing our itinerary to let you know all the best things to do during a Tasmania road trip.
We have no doubts that you will enjoy it just as much we did!
We have lots to cover in this Tasmania travel guide so if you're short on time...
Here is a quick list of the main attractions to visit in Tasmania from Devonport
Day 1 - Arrive in Devonport. Head to Launceston via Sheffield & Railton
Day 2 - Launceston
Day 3 - Lilydale Waterfalls, Bridstowe Lavender Fields, Bay of Fires & Binalong Bay
Day 4 - Denison Beach, Bicheno & Freycinet National Park
Day 5 - Eaglecreek Neck & Port Arthur
Day 6 - Hobart & Bruny Island
Day 7 - Bruny Island, 99 Bends & Lake St Claire
Day 8 - Montezuma Falls & Cradle Mountain
Day 9 - Penguin & Tamar Valley
Where to stay: Domescapes (Treat yourself to a splurge!)
Day 10 - Back to Devonport via Cape Grim
Before you do your lap of Tasmania, you’ll need to get there first! The following are your travel options to begin your adventure before you delve into our ultimate Tasmania road trip travel guide!
This is the ferry option and the one that we took. As a result, we were able to take our car over from the mainland and use it to get around Tasmania. In this instance, the ferry can be boarded from a port in Melbourne.
So you don’t end up with any problems before you can jump into all the things to do in Tasmania, it should be noted that fresh foods such as fruit and vegetables can’t be taken on board. As well as Jerry cans filled with petrol. However, butane gas is ok as long as you let security know about it before you board.
Alongside this, we would also suggest travel sickness pills, as the Bass Strait can get quite rough. In addition, a Tasmania road trip also involves a fair few twists and turns! With this in mind, we think the overnight ferry is best, as you can sleep through the rocking! Although, the day pass usually comes at a cheaper rate!
The other option to get to Tasmania is to fly. However, if you really want to see the best of the state, you will need a car to do a lap of Tasmania. Therefore, you’ll have to factor in a rental too. The main locations to fly into are the capital Hobart and the second-largest city, Launceston.
As we travelled by ferry, our Tasmania road trip guide will start in Devonport. However, we did a lap of Tasmania, so if you plan to start elsewhere, just follow on from that point instead.
Be sure to have purchased your national parks pass before you arrive in Tasmania. There are a lot of things to do in Tasmania, with their national parks definitely being a highlight of a Tasmania road trip! In addition, the pass also allows you to camp in the national parks! This will be so handy if you want to rest up immersed in nature during your lap of Tasmania.
There are daily passes you can get. One that is solely for Cradle Mountain ($25 aud per person) and one that excludes it ($40 aud per vehicle). Personally, we wouldn’t skip either Cradle Mountain or Freycinet National Park so it’s worth just getting the holiday pass, which lasts up to 2 months. The holiday pass includes everything and costs $80 per vehicle.
(via Sheffield & Railton)
Sheffield
The first destination for your lap of Tasmania! Sheffield is also known as the town of murals. Interestingly, this town once had a huge boom of construction. However, once the construction finished, many of the builders moved on and left Sheffield in economic turmoil. In response to this, a plan was made to make Sheffield a tourist destination and boost the economy again. This plan was to cover the town in murals... and it worked!
Cool works of art can be found on almost every building on the main road through Sheffield! This unique town should not be missed on any Tasmania road trip!
Railton
It’s as if Railton couldn’t stand all the attention Sheffield was getting for its murals and decided to come up with a unique focal point too. Consequently, Railton is known for its hedges! Darted all around the town are hedges trimmed into various shapes, such as wombats, giraffes and lizards! With this in mind, Railton makes for a fun drive through to see how many shapes you can spot!
Launceston is the second-largest city in Tasmania and has a fab variety of things to do! We didn’t expect the cities in Tassie to be such highlights on our lap of
Tasmania but both Launceston and Hobart are brilliant in their own right. Therefore, give them some time on your Tasmania road trip! Here is a summary of our favourite finds in "Launy", as the locals like to call it!
Suggested free camp: Lilydale Camp
City Park is also a great spot for free parking in Launceston.
Our favourite part is the worlds longest single span cable car! Take a ride for only $13 one way/$16 return and you’ll get to sore right over the gorge. As you can imagine, the views are incredible! Without a doubt, cataract gorge is a must-see during your lap of Tasmania!
Suggested free camp: Lilydale Camp
Suggested Free Camp: Lagoon Campsite
Lilydale Waterfalls
If you choose to stay in the Lilydale camp for the first stop of your lap of Tasmania, you’ll be treated to a couple of easily accessible waterfalls to take a look at in the morning. Even if this isn’t where you’ll stay, we would still suggest making a quick stop here. Both of these lovely waterfalls make a great addition to a Tasmania road trip.
Bridstowe Lavender Fields
During December and January, one of the most popular things to do in Tassie is the Bridstowe Lavender Fields. In fact, this happens to be the largest privately-owned Lavender farm in the world!
Without a doubt, you’ll find plenty of people capturing their perfect Instagram shots here! Aside from the fields creating a beautiful backdrop, a guided tour is also included in the entry price.
One of the best parts of Bridstowe Lavender Fields is the cafe! Due to an array of delicious Lavender flavoured items on offer! For instance, you can get a scoop of purple Lavender ice cream and Lavender scones or even Lavender lemonade and chai!
In addition, you can also find a gift shop. As you can imagine, it’s full of Lavender products to remind you of this Tasmania road trip stop!
Something to note: we had read that the entry price was $10. However, when we arrived, we were told that the price was now $20 due to Covid. We just happened to mention that we thought it was a different price and were charged $10 instead!
Bay of Fires
The Bay of Fires is what can be found along a vast part of Tasmania’s East Coast and no Tasmania travel guide would be complete without it. Alongside the pristine white beaches, bright orange rocks can be found jutting out from the sands. These bright orange rocks are what is known as the Bay of Fires. Undoubtedly, the contrast of the orange against the bright white sand and turquoise waters makes for a very stunning sight.
We noticed the orange rocks along many parts of the East Coast. However, none of these spots seemed to compare to one that we just happened to stumble upon during our lap of Tasmania. We headed towards Eddystone Point, close to Eddystone Lighthouse, which is situated in the Mount Wellington National park.
Not long before the lighthouse, we noticed a small wooden sign pointing into a narrow path which read ‘Bay of Fires, 15 minutes’. We curiously decided to check it out and were pleasantly surprised by what emerged on the other side. Firstly, 15 minutes was actually only 5-10 minutes. Secondly, we ended up with the most beautiful beach all to ourselves! No exaggeration. Not a single other person was on this huge stretch of beach. Furthermore, there were so many of the orange rocks to gaze at!
We would definitely recommend heading here for a more unique experience of this popular tourist site! In fact, we’d deem it a must for this Tasmania road trip!
Binalong Bay
Binalong Bay is a lovely beachside town, which has a fab white sand beach to catch the sunset from. You’ll most likely find a few people who have pulled over to watch it from their cars!
Suggested Free Camp: Dunalley Hotel
The East Coast is full of amazing sunsets and sunrises to gaze at. In addition to the most gorgeous beaches, you’ll find during the lap of Tasmania. With this in mind, if indulging in some early beauty is a thing you’d like to do in Tasmania, we’d suggest checking out the sunrise at Denison Beach. In fact, you might even get lucky like us and end up with the beach and the views all to yourself!
Bicheno is a gateway town to the Tassie hotspot, Freycinet National Park. However, it has a few highlights of its own and definitely worth stopping at during a Tasmania road trip. With this in mind, we have highlighted a few of our favourites for this Tasmania travel guide.
For very good reason, Freycinet National Park is at the top of most peoples’ lists of things to do in Tasmania. Here you will find an array of absolutely gorgeous beaches, views and wildlife. With this in mind, there are a few places to visit within, with a selection of different walks/hikes to do.
Here is a summary of the Freycinet National Park walks you can add to your Tasmania road trip:
If this really is the case or if you just have more time, it’s definitely worth it. With this, you’ll get to see a lot more of the park, including the gorgeous Hazards Beach.
Additional Sites to See
We noticed that the roads towards Port Arthur not far from here has loads of warning signs for Tasmanian Devil’s. With this in mind, it might be worth checking it out at night to see if you can spot one!
Head here to check out the tessellated pavement and get a great view over Pirates Bay while you’re at it.
The tessellated pavement is a unique thing to do in Tasmania. Due to it being a rare natural phenomenon that creates a tiled-like appearance on the rocks by the sea. The tiled rocks formed around 300 million years ago! The way the rocks have formed isn’t incredibly uncommon. However, the presence of salt crystals and erosion has deepened the pattern, giving it a more dramatic appearance.
It’s really cool to see and is a photographer’s dream! Definitely, something to do a bit off the beaten path for your Tasmania road trip.
We almost didn’t go to Port Arthur Historic Site but we’re so glad we did! There is a lot of interesting history in this part of Tasmania that is definitely worth delving into. For example, this town is where the worst mass murder event in post-colonial Australian history took place! Port Arthur is home to a prison that held many of the convicts sent over from Britain, along with a village that homed the prison staff, amongst others.
The prisoners endured extreme cases of torture, some as young as 10. The entry price includes a guided tour of the grounds, which goes into further detail about some of the shocking prison tales. Alongside this, a commentated boat tour is also included. This is most definitely one of the most impressive historical sites we’ve seen in the whole of Australia! 100% worth stopping at during your lap of Tasmania!
So glad we fit this into our Tasmania Road Trip, it is so worth adding to your Itinerary!
The prisoners endured extreme cases of torture, some as young as 10. The entry price includes a guided tour of the grounds, which goes into further detail about some of the shocking prison tales. Alongside this, a commentated boat tour is also included. This is most definitely one of the most impressive historical sites we’ve seen in the whole of Australia! 100% worth stopping at during your lap of Tasmania!
So glad we fit this into our Tasmania Road Trip, it is so worth adding to your Itinerary!
Time to explore the capital! For being a relatively small city, Hobart definitely packs a punch. In fact, this city provides some of the best things to do in Tasmania! Iconic sites can be found here, along with funky eateries and bars. Here are our favourite things to do in Hobart:
You can drive to MONA but many people enjoy catching the ferry from Brooke Street Pier.
If like us, you enjoy a good cider, we have a great addition to add to your lap of Tasmania. On your way to the Bruny Island ferry terminal, take a small road trip detour to enjoy three great Tasmanian cider distilleries! We thoroughly enjoyed all three for different reasons and each stop got a little bit better for us!
The ferry to Bruny Island departs regularly so it’s pretty to easy to organise your timings, check the ferry times here. It should be noted that Pagan Cider is a 30-minute drive from the ferry terminal.
There are a few islands off the mainland worth branching off the lap of Tasmania for. Unfortunately, we didn’t have time to head to them all during our Tasmania road trip so we had to decide which one to go for.
The choice for us was between Maria Island and Bruny Island. Amongst other things, Maria Island is known for having A LOT of wombats. However, we saw a wombat at Cradle Mountain. Albeit, just one... but we saw one! On the other hand, Bruny Island has white wallabies! These can only be found on this island too so we went for Bruny!
Firstly, the ferry over to Bruny Island (which you can take your car on) only takes around 15-20 minutes and costs $38 per vehicle. Additionally, there is only one free camp on the island but it’s a small island so should work out fine.
Now for the fun part and there is more than just the chance to see white wallabies! To help make the most of your adventure to Bruny Island...
Other searches reckon around the caravan park and down the road beside it is best but personally, we didn’t see any there. We saw a few up close by the seafood restaurant and LOADS by the resort. Additionally, we hear the entrance of the national park is good. So worth going to the island for, as they truly are so unique!
Top tip: if you can, head over to Bruny Island in the evening and stay the night. The wildlife is more active at dusk so you’ll have more chance of catching the white wallabies in action!
Now to continue your Tasmania road trip on the mainland! Head back to Hobart to finish up on anything you missed out on. Go on, head up Mount Wellington one more time!
Suggested Free Camp: Lake Rosebery Foreshore Camp - a basic camp but the sunset over the lake makes it worth the stop. Honestly, one of the best we’ve ever seen! This is also the closest free camp to Cradle Mountain where you'll be heading to next.
This route makes your lap of Tasmania slightly longer but it is so, so worth it. The views during the whole Tasmania road trip are incredible so we thought they couldn’t get any better. We were so wrong! The views along 99 Bends are out of this world and will definitely be a part of the lap of Tasmania that you will not forget!
There are a few lakes along the way, if you fancy stopping and taking in the nature for a moment. In addition, there are also a few wineries you can pop into.
We passed an honesty box style raspberry stand and if you see it, please get some. Easily the best raspberries we’ve ever had!
99 Bends is on the Lyell Highway out of Queenstown (A10).
Of all the lakes you’ll pass during your Tasmania road trip, Lake St Claire is the most popular. There are a variety of walks available to do, ranging from 45 minutes long to ones spanning over multiple days!
Be sure to check out Pumphouse Point. The lavish hotel situated right at the end of a pier, above the lake!
To help break up the drive on this Tasmania road trip, there is the opportunity to go check out one of Tasmania’s highest waterfalls. The waterfall is pretty impressive but the walk is also quite long, taking a total of 3 hours return. We wouldn’t say it one of the must things to do in Tasmania but it’s definitely something nice to see if you fancy stretching your legs.
There’s usually a suspension bridge to see along this route too but it was unfortunately closed when we visited. However, if you’re planning to see more of Victoria when you’re back on the mainland, definitely check out Corrigan Suspension Bridge.
Another one of the most popular sites in Tasmania! We would definitely agree that Cradle Mountain is a must on a Tasmania road trip. The views are beautiful, with many different walks allowing you to enjoy it how you’d like most.
Dove Lake is the top spot, which has the opportunity for short walks or a walk around the entire edge. We didn’t have much time so we just did two of the short walks. One was to see glacier rock that has formed by the lake and the other took us to a boathouse, with views of the mountain. Both walks only took around 20 minutes return but the whole lake walk takes around 2-3 hours.
Additionally, there is the option to hike to the top of Cradle Mountain! Admittedly, we weren’t quite up for that task. However, we had a lovely time on the Enchanted Walk, which gifted us with a wombat at the end!
If you fancy some food or drinks around Cradle Mountain, Peppers is a hotspot, set in a ski lodge type building. It should be noted that it is quite pricey though, so it would be a treat!
The name of this town alone was enough to entice us in. How can a place named Penguin not have a spot in our lap of Tasmania?! Turns out Penguin is actually a cool place to visit! Really embracing the name, penguins can be found all over this town in various forms! Expect penguin bollards, bins, playground equipment and cookies from the bakery! In addition, there’s also a sign that tells you how far other towns are, that are also named after birds!
And yes, you can see real penguins here too!
For the wine lovers, Tamar Valley is a must on a Tasmania road trip. The area is full of vineyards and delicious wines to try!
However, even if you’re not too fussed about the wine, there’s another reason you should definitely visit Tamar Valley! In fact, we purposely saved it for the end so that we could round up our trip to Tasmania perfectly.
This is, without a doubt, our top ‘worth splurging on’ experience in Tasmania. Domescapes is a glamping experience, set amongst the vines of a working winery. The dome tents have been set up perfectly for the feeling of ‘glam’. This includes one clear side of the dome so that you have views right across the vineyard from your bed. As well as an outdoor bath to enjoy next to the fire!
Alongside Domescapes, is the winery Swinging Gate. Upon arrival, you’ll receive a bottle of one of their fabulous wines with your stay. Additionally, you can head up to the main building for a wine tasting or for one of their foodie evenings.
The wines at Swinging Gate are all fab! We loved the Pat Nat range and the abstract wines, which you’ll learn lots about! Additionally, the ‘cyders’ are great too! It should be noted that the stay also includes a voucher for a nearby cafe ‘The Cabin’, which we also loved!
We couldn’t recommend a stay here enough. It truly did soften the blow that the end of our time in Tasmania was upon us!
There we have it, a lap of Tasmania complete! Unfortunately, it is time for the ferry back to Melbourne. We hope that Tasmania will touch your heart in the same way it did for us. Do keep in mind that heading back doesn’t have to be all bad! There’s plenty to discover in this full guide to Melbourne too!
If you can make the time for it, it’s worth noting that Cape Grim in Tasmania is home to the cleanest air in the world! In fact, you can even buy bottles of it online! However, in comparison to the rest of the main sites on the lap of Tassie, it’s a bit out of the way.
If you do fancy taking a breath of the freshest air, it is possible to head to Cape Grim from Devonport before returning towards Launceston and continuing on from there.
This is, in fact, what we did. Marlie is a sucker for record-breaking attractions, so there was no way we were missing out on this during our Tasmania road trip! We went to Cape Grim, via Penguin. Following this, we actually stopped at Cradle Mountain before continuing onto Sheffield, Railton and Launceston.
Tour or Risk It?
It should be noted that when we were around 5 minutes from Cape Grim, we were hit with a private property sign. Although we saw nothing about this online, it seems you’re only supposed to be able to visit with a tour guide. However, we luckily ended up meeting the owner of the land, who told us to go ahead on our own! We’ll let you do what you wish with that information...
If you’d like to make more use of your time over on this side of Tasmania, you can also visit Edge of the World. Additionally, Glamp Sandridge is a really fab accommodation option if you want to add something special to your Tasmania road trip.
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Fab itinerary! Thanks
So glad you enjoyed your time in Tassie! Thanks for reaching out :) Sarah & Marlie