Best Things to Do in Tasmania, Australia

The Beaconsfield Mine & Heritage Centre preserves and interprets the remarkable history of one of Tasmania's most significant and technically ambitious gold-mining operations, located in the historic Tamar Valley town of Beaconsfield just 45 kilometres north of Launceston. Gold was discovered here in 1877, and the Grubb Shaft mine rapidly developed into one of Australia's richest and most technically complex gold mining operations, producing over one million ounces of gold before its closure in 1914 due to the challenges of increasingly deep excavation. The museum complex is built directly around the original Victorian-era mine buildings, including a superbly preserved steam-driven pumping engine and the iconic Grubb Shaft headframe that still dominates the Beaconsfield townscape as a symbol of the community's industrial heritage. The centre gained genuine global media attention in 2006 when miners Todd Russell and Brant Webb were trapped 925 metres underground for fourteen days following a rockfall that killed a third colleague, and were subsequently rescued alive in a dramatic operation followed by millions worldwide — an event documented in a moving and detailed exhibit within the centre. Interactive displays trace the full arc of Beaconsfield's gold rush story, from the discovery claim to the lives of miners, engineering innovations, and the social fabric of the vibrant mining community. Beaconsfield Mine & Heritage Centre is one of the Tamar Valley's most compelling and complete heritage attractions.

Ben Lomond National Park rises dramatically above Tasmania's northeast interior, offering one of the island state's most rewarding alpine escapes across a landscape shaped by ancient glaciation and exposed dolerite intrusion. Sitting at elevations above 1,500 metres, the park is home to Tasmania's premier downhill ski resort, drawing winter sports enthusiasts from across Australia during the June-to-September snow season. The Central Plateau is laced with dolerite columns and glacially sculpted tarns, creating a lunar-like landscape that astonishes visitors in every season of the year. Summer transforms these same highlands into vibrant wildflower meadows populated with endemic cushion plants, pineapple grass, and the delicate alpine buttercup found nowhere else on Earth. Rock climbers tackle the park's exposed dolerite faces, while bushwalkers follow high-country tracks connecting panoramic lookouts across the Ben Lomond Range toward the Tasman Sea on clear days. Wildlife here includes Bennett's wallabies, common wombats, and the elusive spotted-tail quoll, one of Australia's most endangered and rarely glimpsed carnivorous marsupials. The Jacobs Ladder road — a series of extremely tight and dramatic hairpin bends ascending the rocky escarpment — is itself a memorable experience even without leaving the car, with vertiginous and ever-expanding views unfolding around each successive curve. Accommodation at the ski village allows extended exploration of the plateau in both winter and the warmer months. Ben Lomond National Park is a genuine four-season destination where dramatic Tasmanian wilderness meets accessible adventure for visitors of all ages and ability levels, from experienced alpine walkers to casual day-trippers.

Bonnet Island sits at the entrance to Macquarie Harbour on Tasmania's remote and strikingly beautiful west coast, where the Gordon River meets the wild Southern Ocean swell that rolls unimpeded across thousands of kilometres of open water. This compact island has earned a devoted following among nature lovers for its nightly penguin parade — little penguins waddle ashore at dusk after a full day foraging at sea, undisturbed by tourist infrastructure and refreshingly authentic in their unself-conscious routine. The island is reached by small boat from the historic port town of Strahan, and guided evening tours ensure minimal disturbance to the colony while giving visitors remarkable close-range encounters with Australia's smallest and most endearing penguin species. By day, Bonnet Island rewards attentive birdwatchers with sightings of white-bellied sea eagles, Pacific gulls, and numerous shorebird species patrolling the rocky shoreline in search of tidal-flat prey and washed-up marine invertebrates. The surrounding Macquarie Harbour is one of Australia's largest natural harbours, and its waters carry extraordinary convict history — the notorious Sarah Island penal station, one of the most feared and brutal places of secondary punishment in the entire British Empire, operated in these same waters for decades. The combination of pristine wetland scenery, exceptional and intimate wildlife encounters, and richly layered convict history makes a visit to Bonnet Island an unmissable highlight of any Tasmanian west coast journey. Bring warm layers regardless of season.

Bonorong Wildlife Sanctuary, located just 25 minutes north of Hobart in Brighton, Tasmania, is one of Australia's finest wildlife rescue and rehabilitation centres — a place where injured and orphaned native animals are nursed back to health before being returned to the wild. Unlike conventional zoos, Bonorong operates primarily as a working sanctuary, and the animals in its care include Tasmanian devils, wombats, eastern quolls, pademelons, and the full complement of iconic Australian wildlife.

The sanctuary offers visitors genuinely close encounters with free-roaming kangaroos and wallabies in open paddocks, while guided presentations provide an engaging education on Tasmania's unique wildlife. The Tasmanian devil feeding sessions are particularly popular, offering a rare opportunity to observe these fierce and fascinating marsupials at close range — a chance that is impossible in the wild given their nocturnal habits and declining numbers. Bonorong also runs a 24-hour wildlife rescue hotline for the entire state of Tasmania, making it a vital community resource beyond its tourism function. Night tours are available and offer the best chance of seeing the sanctuary's nocturnal residents in their element. For families travelling with children, Bonorong provides an educational, ethical, and deeply memorable wildlife experience that stands apart from more passive zoo visits.

Brickendon is one of Tasmania's most significant convict-era heritage sites, a working farm and pastoral estate in the Longford district that has remained in the same founding family since free settler William Archer established it in the 1820s — an extraordinary continuity spanning two centuries. A UNESCO World Heritage listing recognises its outstanding universal value as a near-complete example of an early colonial agricultural estate, unusually preserved in its original form and function. The property encompasses the original convict-built farm village with its Georgian workers' cottages, a historic church, a stone granary, farm outbuildings, and a system of productive heritage gardens that continue to grow food much as they did when convict labourers first turned this Tasmanian soil. Self-guided and hosted tours reveal in compelling detail the lives of the assigned convict workers who cleared the land, constructed the buildings, and drove the agricultural prosperity of Tasmania's rich midlands region. The estate's heirloom vegetable and flower gardens are maintained with exceptional horticultural care and burst into vivid colour each spring and summer. Peacocks roam the grounds freely, adding an eccentric colonial charm that visitors consistently mention as a highlight. Heritage accommodation in the estate's original cottages allows guests to sleep within this living piece of documented history. Brickendon is compelling, tangible history that rewards slow and genuinely attentive exploration by those with curiosity about Australia's formative colonial decades.

Bruny Island, lying just off the south-eastern coast of Tasmania separated from the mainland by the narrow D'Entrecasteaux Channel, is one of Australia's most rewarding island escapes — a place of extraordinary wildlife, dramatic coastal scenery, and superb local produce. The island is actually two landmasses connected by a thin sandy isthmus called the Neck, a wildlife hotspot where short-tailed shearwaters and little penguins nest in burrows on the beach.

Visitors come for the full sensory experience: Bruny Island Cheese and the Bruny Island Beer Company represent a thriving artisan food scene, while the island's seafood — particularly its world-class oysters farmed in the cold, clean waters of the channel — is renowned across Australia. The towering dolerite sea cliffs of South Bruny, best seen from a wilderness cruise, rival any coastal scenery on the continent. The remote southern tip of the island, accessible only via unsealed roads and rewarded with lighthouse views, delivers a genuine sense of the end of the earth. Cape Bruny Lighthouse, Australia's second-oldest lighthouse, crowns the southern headland. Birdwatching is exceptional throughout the island, with white-bellied sea eagles, swift parrots, and rare forty-spotted pardalotes among the key species. A day trip from Hobart is feasible, but an overnight stay allows the island's tranquil character to reveal itself fully.

Bruny Island Berry Farm at 69 Lockleys Road, Adventure Bay, is a beloved stop on the South Bruny Island trail that combines Tasmania’s exceptional cool-climate growing conditions with genuine farm hospitality. The farm sits in the sheltered valley behind Adventure Bay — the same bay where Captain James Cook anchored HMS Resolution in 1777 — and produces an impressive range of berries including strawberries, raspberries, boysenberries, and blackcurrants. The berry season runs roughly from November through April, with pick-your-own options available during peak periods that are enormously popular with families and food lovers. The farm shop sells fresh and frozen berries, house-made jams, fruit wines, and berry-based condiments that make excellent gifts and souvenirs. A café serves generous farm breakfasts and lunches, with berry desserts that showcase the produce at its ripest. The setting — surrounded by Bruny’s forests and within earshot of the coast — makes even a simple berry smoothie taste extraordinary. Bruny Island itself is celebrated for its artisan food and drink producers, and the Berry Farm fits naturally into a day of island grazing. The farm’s genuine working-farm atmosphere, with seasonal staff and the honest rhythms of harvest, gives it an authenticity that more commercial operations struggle to match.

Perched on the windswept southern tip of Bruny Island, Cape Bruny Lighthouse is Australia's second-oldest lighthouse, built in 1836 using convict labour from the sandstone quarried nearby. Its construction was a direct response to the treacherous seas that had claimed ships navigating the approaches to the Derwent River and the growing port of Hobart. Standing 16 metres tall on a headland that juts into the Southern Ocean, the lighthouse and its keepers' cottages form a remarkably intact and evocative heritage precinct.

The dramatic setting alone justifies the journey — the headland offers sweeping views over Storm Bay and the open Southern Ocean, and on a blustery day the wind and spray make the isolation of the lighthouse keeper's existence entirely tangible. Guided tours of the lighthouse tower are available and include a climb to the lantern room, where the original Fresnel lens mechanism can be examined up close. Interpretive displays in the keepers' quarters tell the stories of the lighthouse families who lived here in considerable isolation for generations. The road to Cape Bruny is unsealed in its final stretch, adding to the sense of journey and adventure. Wildlife sightings — fur seals on the rocks below, sea eagles overhead, and little penguins after dark — are common throughout the year.

Cascade Brewery, nestled at the foot of kunanyi/Mount Wellington in South Hobart, is Australia's oldest operating brewery, continuously producing beer since 1824 under the shadow of the mountain that provides its pure spring water. The brewery's distinctive Gothic Revival stone building — one of the most photographed industrial buildings in Australia — was constructed in the 1920s and remains an architectural landmark as impressive as the beer is refreshing. Cascade Premium Lager is the brand's most internationally recognised product, though the brewery's range has expanded dramatically in recent years to include craft ales and seasonal specialities.

Guided tours of the historic brewing facilities take visitors through the malting, mashing, and fermentation processes, explaining how the same mountain spring water that refreshed convict-era Hobart now supplies one of Australia's best-loved beers. The tour concludes with a tasting session in the historic building, offering an opportunity to compare the full range of Cascade beers in an atmospheric setting. The surrounding grounds include a heritage garden popular for picnics, and the brewery's tap room and restaurant serve excellent food alongside the full beer range. For visitors interested in colonial heritage, craft brewing, or simply a well-earned cold beer after a hike on Mount Wellington, Cascade Brewery is an essential Hobart experience.

The Cascades Female Factory Historic Site in South Hobart is one of Australia's most significant and sobering convict heritage sites, a place where the brutal realities of the British penal system are confronted without sentimentality. Operating between 1828 and 1856, the Factory was the largest female convict establishment in the Australian colonies, incarcerating thousands of women transported from Britain and Ireland for crimes ranging from petty theft to political dissent. At its peak it held over a thousand women and their children in severely overcrowded conditions.

The site today preserves the original stone buildings and yards where women were set to work picking oakum, weaving, and washing laundry — hard physical labour designed as punishment and moral reformation. Interpretive panels and archaeological remains tell the stories of individual women, restoring humanity and complexity to people long reduced to colonial statistics. Regular theatrical performances and guided tours bring the history vividly to life. The site sits in the shadow of Mount Wellington, and the cold that funnels down from the mountain adds an unintended but powerful physical dimension to understanding the conditions these women endured. The Factory is a UNESCO World Heritage Site as part of the broader Australian Convict Sites listing, and it stands as an important counter-narrative to the male-dominated story of convict Australia.

Just minutes’ walk from the commercial heart of Launceston in northern Tasmania, the Cataract Gorge Reserve delivers a startling and immediate encounter with raw geological wilderness — a dramatic and steep chasm carved over millennia by the South Esk River through vertical columns of ancient dolerite, sitting entirely incongruously close to the city’s established urban centre. The gorge walls plunge steeply to the racing whitewater far below, and a well-maintained cliff-side walking track follows the southern rim from the historic Duck Reach power station ruins to First Basin — a broad, calm swimming pool overlooked by elegant Victorian-era ornamental gardens, a well-used public swimming area, and the longest single-span chairlift in the entire Southern Hemisphere, which provides a genuinely spectacular aerial perspective across the gorge and its dramatic vegetation. The wilder northern rim track rewards those who prefer their nature unmanicured and undeveloped with outstanding gorge views and considerable peaceful solitude despite the proximity of the urban environment all around. Free-ranging peacocks wander through the First Basin gardens with aristocratic indifference, adding an incongruous ornamental note to what is otherwise a genuinely imposing and primordially powerful natural landscape. The gorge is also home to a healthy resident colony of Bennett’s wallabies and provides important habitat for over 70 confirmed bird species. The extraordinary combination of dramatic geology, intact Victorian heritage infrastructure, accessible outdoor swimming, and true urban-to-wilderness immediacy makes Cataract Gorge one of the most unusual and memorable urban natural attractions found anywhere in Australia, and entry to the reserve remains completely free.

Clarendon House stands as one of Australia's finest surviving examples of Georgian colonial architecture, set against the rolling pastoral landscapes of the Nile Valley in northern Tasmania's fertile midlands. Built between 1836 and 1838 for wool magnate James Cox — one of the wealthiest landowners in colonial Van Diemen's Land — the mansion was constructed using convict labour and reflects the extraordinary wealth generated by the early Tasmanian wool industry at its confident peak. The National Trust of Australia now manages the property, preserving its symmetrical sandstone facade, sweeping formal gardens, and largely intact interior rooms furnished with period antiques and colonial-era decorative arts. Visitors can tour the principal rooms, which retain original cedar joinery, marble fireplaces, and early colonial paintings and artworks that paint a vivid picture of 19th-century pastoral social life in the antipodes. The surrounding parklands feature a heritage-listed garden with an avenue of English elms that turns a spectacular copper-gold in autumn, drawing photographers from across Tasmania. Clarendon House is listed on the Australian Heritage Register and forms a central part of the convict heritage trail through Tasmania's historic midlands corridor. It offers a thoughtful and unhurried window into the social stratification and architectural ambition of colonial-era Van Diemen's Land, making it essential viewing for anyone interested in Australian history and the built heritage of the British colonial period.

Constitution Dock is the beating heart of Hobart’s waterfront and one of Tasmania’s most recognisable landmarks. Positioned at 1 Franklin Wharf, this working fishing and recreational harbour has been central to the city’s maritime identity since the early colonial era. Each January it erupts in celebration as the finish line of the Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race, one of the world’s most gruelling offshore sailing events — watching exhausted crews cross the line after battling Bass Strait is an unforgettable experience. Fresh seafood is the dock’s other great drawcard: floating pontoon takeaway outlets serve Tasmanian scallop pies, Atlantic salmon, and freshly shucked oysters that regulars swear are among the best in the country. Historic wooden vessels moored alongside gleaming modern yachts create a photogenic contrast. The dock connects seamlessly to Salamanca Place and the broader waterfront precinct, making it a natural hub for exploring Hobart on foot. Street performers and weekend markets add to the lively atmosphere. Whether you’re nursing a coffee at sunrise watching the fishing boats return or joining the New Year’s Eve crowds, Constitution Dock captures Hobart’s relaxed yet proud maritime soul. Entry is free and the area is accessible year-round.

Tasmania’s Convict Trail links the island’s most significant penal heritage sites across a landscape that was, for tens of thousands of transported men and women, the edge of the known world. The trail spans dozens of locations — from the eerie UNESCO World Heritage ruins of Port Arthur on the Tasman Peninsula to the well-preserved barracks at Richmond and the Female Factory site in South Hobart. Between 1803 and 1853, more than 73,000 convicts were transported to Van Diemen’s Land, shaping the colony’s economy, architecture, and social fabric in ways that remain visible today. Sandstone buildings constructed by convict labour stand as testament to the gruelling conditions and extraordinary craftsmanship of the period. The trail is self-guided and can be explored by car over several days, with interpretive signage at each site providing historical context. Port Arthur alone warrants a full day: its roofless church, model prison, and harbour setting are deeply atmospheric. The Coal Mines Historic Site and Cascades Female Factory are lesser-visited but equally haunting. For travellers interested in colonial history, social justice, and raw natural scenery, the Convict Trail offers one of Australia’s most thought-provoking road journeys.

Rising to 1,545 metres above the Tasmanian Central Plateau, Cradle Mountain is the most recognisable and most celebrated natural landmark in Tasmania — a serrated dolerite massif presiding over a landscape of extraordinary alpine beauty encompassing glacial lakes, ancient pencil pine forests, sweeping button-grass moorland, and the 65-kilometre Overland Track, broadly considered one of Australia’s greatest multi-day wilderness walking experiences. The mountain and its surrounding Cradle Mountain-Lake St Clair National Park form part of the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area, encompassing some of the largest intact temperate wilderness remaining anywhere in the Southern Hemisphere. Day visitors access the mountain via the park’s dedicated shuttle bus system, which runs from the central visitor centre to multiple trailheads including the iconic circuit around Dove Lake — a comfortable two-to-three-hour walk delivering spectacular reflections of Cradle Mountain’s twin peaks in the lake’s glassy surface when morning winds are calm. Wombats graze the open meadows near the historic Waldheim Cabins at dusk with charming indifference to passing visitors, and spotted-tailed quolls have been occasionally observed near the visitor centre precinct after dark. Seasonal snowfall transforms the entire landscape dramatically, while the Tasmanian summer months between November and March bring native wildflower blooms and the longest and most pleasant daylight hours for extended walking. Visitor numbers are actively managed through the shuttle system to protect the fragile subalpine environment, ensuring that even during the peak summer season the wilderness retains its essential integrity and atmosphere.

Design Tasmania in Launceston is Australia's longest-running centre dedicated exclusively to Australian craft and design excellence, housed within a Heritage-listed building at the heart of the city's cultural precinct close to City Park. Founded in the early 1970s, the gallery has championed local artisans, furniture makers, jewellers, ceramicists, and product designers for more than five decades, building a national and international reputation as a trusted arbiter of quality in Australian applied arts. The permanent collection showcases exceptional examples of Tasmanian timber furniture crafted from Huon pine, blackwood, sassafras, and myrtle — timbers with deep ecological and cultural significance handled by skilled local makers with extraordinary technical mastery and aesthetic sensitivity. Rotating temporary exhibitions highlight emerging Tasmanian talent alongside nationally recognised designers working across ceramics, blown glass, contemporary textiles, and refined metalwork. The attached retail shop offers a carefully curated selection of handmade objects available for purchase directly from the makers, making Design Tasmania the ideal destination for finding a genuinely meaningful and locally authenticated souvenir of Tasmania. Entry to the gallery is free of charge, an unusually generous policy reflecting the institution's commitment to broad public engagement with design culture. Whether you are a committed design enthusiast or simply someone who appreciates fine craft, a visit to Design Tasmania deepens understanding of how this island's remarkable landscape and distinct material culture inspire some of Australia's most original and distinctive creative work.

Adjacent to the main Cradle Mountain visitor precinct directly on Cradle Mountain Road, Devils at Cradle Wildlife Park offers the most reliable Tasmanian devil viewing experience in one of the island state’s most visited natural areas — a small, focused facility dedicated almost entirely to the conservation care and interpretive display of Tasmania’s most iconic and globally recognised marsupial carnivore. The Tasmanian devil, extinct on the Australian mainland for approximately 3,000 years, has faced catastrophic population collapse since the late 1990s due to devil facial tumour disease, a contagious transmissible cancer spread through the biting that characterises devil social interactions. This disease has killed an estimated 80 percent or more of the wild population, representing one of the most rapid wildlife declines ever documented in a mammal species. The wildlife park participates directly in the Save the Tasmanian Devil Program, maintaining a carefully managed insurance population of healthy animals protected from disease exposure while actively supporting breeding efforts and critical ongoing research into potential treatments and immunological responses. Daily keeper-led feeding sessions allow visitors to observe characteristic devil feeding behaviour — the bone-crushing jaw power, the extraordinary territorial aggression over food, and the surprisingly fast movement — at close range with detailed expert commentary on conservation status. The resident devils function as ambassador animals for a conservation crisis of genuine global significance, and the park’s dedicated staff communicate the urgency of the situation with evident personal passion and scientific credibility. Additional resident animals include quolls, wombats, and several Tasmanian bird species rounding out a worthwhile visit.

The Don River Railway in the small coastal town of Don near Devonport is one of Tasmania's most beloved and authentically presented living museums of steam and diesel rail heritage. Operated entirely by a team of dedicated and technically skilled volunteers, the railway runs restored vintage locomotives and period rolling stock along a scenic riverside line threading through bushland beside the winding Don River, offering a genuine and deeply nostalgic journey through the region's industrial and social past. The collection spans more than a century of Tasmanian rail history and includes working steam locomotives, vintage diesel engines, beautifully restored heritage passenger carriages, goods wagons, and a remarkable array of maintenance equipment that once kept the island's railway network operational across its challenging terrain. On scheduled running days, passengers board lovingly restored carriages and travel through riverine bushland to the manual turntable, where the steam locomotive is physically turned for the return journey — a theatrical highlight that consistently delights visitors of all ages and railway knowledge levels. The museum sheds contain dozens of additional locomotives and wagons at various stages of restoration, offering real insight into the painstaking and technically demanding work of railway preservation. Don River Railway is particularly popular with families, rail heritage enthusiasts, and anyone interested in the social and industrial history of northern Tasmania. Its location near the Spirit of Tasmania terminal makes it a convenient first or final stop on a Tasmanian road trip.

Evandale is a beautifully preserved Georgian village in Tasmania's northern midlands, consistently described by architectural historians and heritage advocates as one of the finest and most completely intact examples of a 19th-century Australian country town surviving anywhere in the nation. Classified in its entirety by the National Trust of Australia, its harmonious streetscapes of locally quarried golden sandstone buildings, colonial-era stone churches, and Victorian-period commercial shopfronts have changed remarkably little since the prosperous 1860s decade that largely defined the town's current physical character and scale. The popular weekly Sunday market draws both local residents and visiting travellers with fresh regional produce, quality antiques, vintage clothing, and handmade craft goods traded in pleasant, unhurried atmosphere beneath the shade of towering mature elm trees that line the historic main street. Evandale is known internationally as the proud home of the National Penny Farthing Championship, held each February when riders from around Australia and overseas gather to race the distinctive high-wheeled Victorian bicycles through the closed village streets in a colourful festival combining costumed nostalgia with genuine competitive athletic spirit. The nearby Clarendon House pastoral estate adds a compelling Georgian architectural dimension. Surrounding farmland produces premium cool-climate wines, heritage grain varieties, and award-winning artisan cheeses available directly from regional producers. Evandale sits on the heritage trail connecting Launceston southward to the historic midlands towns of Ross, Campbell Town, and Oatlands, making it a natural and deeply rewarding stop on any self-drive Tasmanian journey through the beautiful rural midlands corridor.

Franklin House is an exquisitely restored Georgian mansion on the southern outskirts of Launceston, widely regarded by architectural historians as one of the finest examples of colonial domestic architecture surviving in all of Australia and a building of exceptional cultural significance in the national heritage context. Built in 1838 for brewer Britton Jones and subsequently operated for many years as a private school, the house is now carefully maintained by the National Trust of Australia and opens to the public on a daily basis. The symmetrical two-storey facade of locally quarried freestone is immediately striking in its confident elegance, and the interior rewards close and unhurried attention with its original cedar staircase, Georgian furniture of high quality, silver dining services, fine china, and period textiles meticulously assembled to reflect the prosperous lifestyle of colonial-era Tasmanians at the height of the wool economy. The surrounding gardens have been replanted to approximate their 19th-century character, incorporating heritage rose varieties, formal box hedging, and fruit trees appropriate to the documented period garden design. Guided tours provide rich social and historical context, explaining household management, the roles of assigned convict servants, and daily life for both the owning family and the workers who maintained the property. Franklin House is situated just minutes from central Launceston and pairs naturally with visits to other heritage properties in the scenic Tamar Valley, leaving a lasting impression of colonial-era Tasmania's social complexity and architectural ambition.

On Tasmania’s spectacular east coast, Freycinet National Park protects one of Australia’s most photographed and most deeply loved coastal landscapes — the distinctive pink granite Hazards mountain range, the enclosed aquamarine waters of Wineglass Bay, and a dramatically serrated peninsula of extraordinary geological and ecological beauty jutting into the cold Tasman Sea. The Wineglass Bay Lookout track — a vigorous 45-minute ascent through coastal heath and over a granite saddle — rewards climbers with what is consistently ranked among the ten most beautiful beach views anywhere in the world: a geometrically perfect arc of pale white sand enclosing impossibly blue water, backed by forested slopes and framed by the distinctive blushing granite peaks. For those willing to continue the steep descent to the beach itself, the full round trip takes approximately three hours and delivers a swimming and picnicking experience of rare natural perfection in a sheltered environment. The Freycinet Peninsula Circuit, a four-day multi-day walk, circumnavigates the entire peninsula through environments spanning sheltered coastal heath, open granite headland, and remote southern beaches with wildlife including resident dolphins, fur seals, white-bellied sea eagles, and seasonally migrating whales. The township of Coles Bay at the park entrance has developed an excellent range of quality accommodation and outstanding local seafood restaurants — the local Pacific oysters and southern rock lobster are outstanding when in season — making Freycinet equally rewarding as an ambitious day trip from Hobart or as a relaxed multi-day base for extended exploration of this extraordinary coastline and its pink granite architecture.