Explore Hobart and South Tasmania Australia

Hobart and the South is the most visited region of Tasmania, a compact corner of the island where a harbour capital, convict history, farm country and true wilderness lie within a couple of hours of each other. It is a 75-minute flight from Melbourne and under two hours from Sydney, and it rewards slow travel, with a new landscape around almost every bend.

Known For

• Hobart, its waterfront, markets, museums and mountain
• Convict heritage, from Port Arthur to the Georgian villages
• Bruny Island, the Huon Valley and the south-west wilderness

The region takes in the city of Hobart and the country that fans out from it: the eastern shore and its beaches, the Channel and Bruny Island, the Huon Valley and the Far South, the Tasman Peninsula, the Derwent Valley and the highlands beyond, and the old coaching towns of the southern Midlands. Much of the south-west is World Heritage wilderness, reached only on foot, by boat or by light aircraft.

This guide introduces the region area by area, with links to our guides for each town, suburb and island.

Hobart and the Mountain

Hobart, the second oldest capital city in Australia, sits on the Derwent estuary beneath kunanyi/Mount Wellington. Its heart is the waterfront of Salamanca and Sullivans Cove, where Georgian sandstone warehouses face a working harbour and a famous market fills the street every Saturday. The cottages of Battery Point climb the hill behind.

The Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery tells the story of the island on the waterfront, while MONA, the Museum of Old and New Art at Berriedale, is reached by a ferry ride up the river and has changed the way the world sees Tasmania. Above it all, the road to the summit of Mount Wellington climbs 1,271 metres for a view over the whole of the south.

Eastern Shore, Beaches and the Coal River Valley

Across the Tasman Bridge, the eastern shore looks back at the city and the mountain. Bellerive has the state’s main cricket ground, a beach and a ferry to the Hobart waterfront. Further out are the surf at Clifton Beach, the shacks and quiet sands of the South Arm peninsula, and the long, sheltered curve of Seven Mile Beach beside the airport.

Inland, the vineyards of the Coal River Valley begin at Cambridge and lead to Richmond, a Georgian village with the oldest bridge in Australia, a convict gaol and streets of sandstone buildings, 25 minutes from the city.

Kingborough, the Channel and Bruny Island

South of Hobart, the road follows the river past the Shot Tower at Taroona to the beaches of Kingston Beach and Blackmans Bay, then on along the D’Entrecasteaux Channel, a sheltered waterway of orchards, small towns and boat harbours.

From Kettering a vehicle ferry crosses to Bruny Island, in effect two islands joined by a narrow sandy neck. North Bruny is open farmland, known for oysters and cheese. South Bruny is wilder, with a national park, a historic lighthouse and, at Adventure Bay, cliff-top walks, wildlife cruises and rare white wallabies.

Huon Valley and the Far South

The Huon Valley is apple and cider country, a green landscape of orchards, forests and a wide, dark river. Huonville is the main town, Franklin keeps the craft of wooden boat building alive, Cygnet is a village of artists and musicians, and Geeveston is the gateway to the tall forests and the Hartz Mountains.

Beyond Dover the road runs on to the caves and thermal pool at Hastings and finally to Cockle Creek, the most southerly point in Australia that can be reached by car. From there a day walk leads to South Cape Bay, where the next land to the south is Antarctica.

Tasman Peninsula and the South-East

East of Hobart, beyond Sorell and the beach towns around Dodges Ferry, the Tasman Peninsula hangs from the mainland by a thread of land at Eaglehawk Neck. Its coast has some of the highest sea cliffs in the southern hemisphere, with blowholes, arches and the great dolerite capes of Tasman National Park.

The Port Arthur Historic Site is the best-preserved convict settlement in Australia and part of a World Heritage listing, and it deserves a full day. Around it are quieter convict sites, family beaches at Nubeena and White Beach, and Fortescue Bay, the start of the walk to Cape Hauy and the finish of the Three Capes Track.

Derwent Valley, the South-West and the Highlands

North-west of the city, the Derwent Valley is a landscape of hop fields, poplars and oast houses around New Norfolk, one of the oldest towns in the state. Mount Field National Park, entered at the village of National Park, has Russell Falls, giant trees and alpine lakes.

From Maydena, now known for its mountain bike park, a single road runs deep into the south-west wilderness to Strathgordon and Lake Pedder and the towering Gordon Dam. The highway north-west climbs instead through the lake country of the Central Highlands to Lake St Clair, the deepest lake in Australia and the southern end of the Overland Track.

Southern Midlands

The old road between Hobart and Launceston was built by convicts in the 1820s and 1830s, and the towns along it grew as coaching stops and garrison posts. Many have changed little. Oatlands has the largest collection of Georgian sandstone buildings in a village setting in Australia, with a working windmill, and Kempton and Pontville are fine smaller examples.

Bothwell, on the edge of the highlands, is the home of the oldest golf course in the southern hemisphere and a centre of Tasmanian whisky, and Bonorong Wildlife Sanctuary at Brighton is the place to meet Tasmanian devils, wombats and quolls.

Where to Stay

Accommodation in Hobart and the South ranges from waterfront hotels to bush cabins. Most visitors spend a few nights in Hobart, where the Henry Jones Art Hotel, MACq 01 and The Tasman lead a strong field around the docks, the Salamanca Wharf Hotel puts guests in the middle of the market district, and hostels such as The Pickled Frog look after budget travellers.

Beyond the city, it is worth staying at least one night in each area you explore. Bruny Island has cottages, eco retreats and beachside cabins; the Huon Valley has farm stays, riverside guesthouses and the cabins of Huon Bush Retreats; the Tasman Peninsula has lodges and holiday houses near Port Arthur; and the Derwent Valley and highlands have historic hotels, fishing lodges and wilderness accommodation. National park camp grounds are found at Fortescue Bay, Mount Field, Cockle Creek and on Bruny Island.

Summer, Easter and the weeks around the Dark Mofo festival in June are the busiest times, and accommodation outside Hobart is limited, so book ahead.

Getting Around

A hire car is the best way to see the region. Distances are short, but roads are winding, and travel takes longer than the map suggests. From Hobart it is about 25 minutes to Richmond, 35 to Huonville, 40 to the Bruny Island ferry at Kettering, 90 to Port Arthur and two and a half hours to Lake St Clair or Strathgordon.

Hobart itself is easily walked, with buses to the suburbs and a ferry across the river. Buses also run to the Huon Valley, the Channel, New Norfolk and the Tasman Peninsula, though services are infrequent, and day tours from the city cover Bruny Island, Port Arthur, Mount Field and the mountain.

Those with more time can continue north through the Midlands to Launceston, or up the East Coast to Freycinet National Park and Wineglass Bay, about two and a half hours from Hobart.