9 of Tasmania’s most beautiful places to visit

Cradle Mountain

Image: Luke Tscharke

Drive just over four hours north-west of Hobart and you’ll find Cradle Mountain-Lake St Clair National Park. A part of the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area, this pocket of Tasmania is an enduring favourite with bushwalkers thanks to the many tracks that snake through the park’s alpine terrain. People visit all year round to hike, birdwatch, swim, abseil and spot native marsupials, but it’s during the cooler months that Cradle Mountain transforms into an enchanting, natural winter wonderland. Seeing the peaks of Cradle Mountain covered in a layer of snow is truly breathtaking. If you’re visiting Tasmania during winter, be sure to make the drive up north to see it for yourself (there’s plenty of beauty to behold on the road trip there too).

Maria Island National Park 

Image: Flow Mountain Bike

Sometimes referred to as ‘Tasmania’s Noah’s Ark’, you’ll find this slice of paradise just off the east coast of Tassie. With no permanent human population, Maria Island is a blissful, car-free environment where native animals thrive. While you’re walking or cycling around the island, expect to see an abundance of wildlife like wombats, wallabies, pademelons, and even the odd Tasmanian devil, if you’re lucky. Birdlife also flourishes here, as do snakes, so watch where you tread.

Wineglass Bay

Image: Jason Charles Hill

Want to blow your friends away with a blockbuster landscape shot from your trip? The Freycinet Peninsula’s Wineglass Bay meets the brief. Drive north from Hobart and in 2.5 hours you’ll reach this highly photogenic part of Tasmania where looming granite peaks hug the azure-hued bay below. Allow yourself an hour-or-so to get to the lookout and back. If you’ve got more time, head down the granite slopes to go for a wander on the postcard-worthy beach below. Fancy experiencing the bay from another angle? Book a spot on an eco-cruise – you might just see some dolphins, seals or whales too.

Huon Valley

Image: Jess Bonde

Just a 40-minute drive from Hobart, the Huon Valley is one of those cosy destinations that will make you contemplate a move down south. Home to boutique cheesemakers, micro-distilleries, craft cideries and even a small batch picklery, this pretty part of Tasmania is perfect for a daytrip or weekend haunt – especially in winter when the pub fireplaces start crackling. Feeling like taking it slow? Grab a coffee from Franklin’s Blue River Café, then go for a slow ramble along the Huon River. Want to take it up a gear? Lace up your hiking boots for a bushwalk through the rugged beauty of Hartz Mountains National Park at the southern end of the valley. From green paddocks to spectacular mountain ranges and an idyllic river, Huon Valley has natural beauty in spades.

Walls of Jerusalem

Image: Luke Tscharke

This remote, rugged area neighbouring Cradle Mountain-Lake St Clair National Park is only accessible by foot, so you’ll need to be a fit, experienced, self-sufficient hiker and camper to get a glimpse of the famous Walls of Jerusalem. It’s not an easy adventure to undertake, but you’ll be fairly rewarded for toughing it out in this harsh, alpine landscape known for its unpredictable weather patterns. Here, you’ll get to gaze in awe at the soaring Jurassic dolerite peaks, see picture-perfect highland lakes, and find inner peace by bubbling streams. Quite simply, this place is heaven on earth for nature lovers.

Bay of Fires

Image: Lisa Kuilenburg

Tasmania’s north-east coast is where you’ll find a place Lonely Planet once dubbed the “world’s hottest travel destination”. A highly unique landscape featuring white-sand beaches fringed by aquamarine water, dotted with granite rocks painted by nature with orange lichen, the Bay of Fires/larapuna just begs to be enjoyed. Whether you choose to explore on foot, kayak, boat or mountain bike, you’ll never get tired of looking at these vistas.

Bruny Island

Image: Tourism Tasmania/Andrew Wilson

Beloved by everyone from birdwatchers to gourmands, this gorgeously idyllic island (divided into north and south halves by the narrow land bridge of The Neck), really has it all. Love a leisurely walk on soft sand? Step out on the Adventure Bay beach walk to take in incredible views of the coastline. Fancy the whimsical sight of a lighthouse standing proud on a windswept headland? Be sure to visit Cape Bruny Lighthouse. Want to sit under a gum tree while tasting locally made cheese and beer? The Bruny Island Cheese Company has you covered. If you’re keen to avoid the crowds, visit during winter when tourist numbers drop off a bit in comparison to the summer rush.

Tasman National Park

Image: Jason Charles Hill

From stretching your legs on the Three Capes Track to enjoying a half-day sightseeing cruise, there are plenty of reasons to visit this wild and wondrous corner of Tasmania. While there’s beautiful beaches and bays aplenty here, the otherworldly rock formations really do steal the show. There’s Tasmans Arch (a natural sea bridge that photographers love), the trippy geometric patterned Tessellated Pavement, the gravity defying sea stacks known as the Candlestick and Totem Pole, and the 300-metre-high dolerite cliffs of Cape Hauy – the tallest sea cliffs in Australia. You don’t need to be a geologist to get a kick out of seeing these remarkable rock formations.  

Tarkine Rainforest

Image: Jess Bonde

Feel like spending some time communing with nature in an area far away from the city? Tucked away in the far north-west of the state, the Tarkine (or Takayna) is a cool-temperate rainforest home to more than 60 species of rare and threatened flora and fauna, including the critically endangered orange-bellied parrot. Providing habitat to a diverse range of native animals and plants means this area is fiercely protected by conservationists who are keen to preserve this irreplaceable natural wonder, including an ancient stand of 2000-year-old Huon Pine trees considered to be Australia’s longest living trees. Whether you walk, drive, kayak, or cruise through this special place, you’ll leave with a newfound appreciation of nature – there’s nowhere else quite like it. 

Words: Jo Stewart


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