Our Little Tasmania Road Trip
- IDreamofMangoes
- May 3
- 9 min read
Tasmania is just one of those places that is made for road tripping.
Australia's little island state is well-connected, and every bend in the road reveals beautiful nature, delicious local produce, and exceptional cool-climate wines! In this blog post for a little Tasmania road trip, I will go over everything we did on our short break to Tasmania, including tips for renting a car in Tasmania, when to go to Tasmania, and the best things to do while you're there.
CONTENTS
About Tasmania
Tasmania, or 'Tassie', is the smallest of the six Australian states, and it is an island that sits around 250km off the southern coast, often described as "Australia and New Zealand's love child". Tasmania can easily be reached by ferry from Melbourne, or by flight from most Australian cities and New Zealand.
You’ve probably heard of Tasmania because of the Tasmanian Devil - an endangered marsupial with a big bite and a bad rap, but this weird and wonderful island has lots of other quirks as well…
Did you know Tasmania has the cleanest air in the world? North-west Tasmania, particularly Cape Grim, has the world's cleanest air because it receives, uninterrupted, the Roaring Forties winds that have travelled across the Southern Ocean, untouched by any city pollution or industrial dust. This 'Virgin air' tops all the charts of atmospheric purity. Go Tassie!
On a more sombre note, Tasmania is also arguably the roadkill capital of the world as well. We counted 134 dead animals on the roadside on our 2-hour drive from Hobart to Bicheno alone. A depressing car game that was impossible to stop playing.
Tasmania is unsurprisingly the coldest state in Australia, but what did shock me is that it is also the poorest. According to many mainlanders, Tasmania is full of inbreds, too (unconfirmed).
So I hear you thinking, "Unless I am asthmatic, why go to Tasmania? It’s freezing cold, there are piles of dead animals and window-licking locals?"...
Well, my friends, overall, about 40% of Tasmania is protected as national parks, reserves and UNESCO World Heritage areas - which means you can expect beautiful vistas, stunning coastlines, and heaps of wildlife. It also has ah-may-zing wine, and incredible food - especially cheese!
So if you, like me, are the type of person who likes to finish a day of adventuring in the outdoors with a bottle of yummy Tassie Pinot and a side of delicious creamy Bruny Island Brie, there are lots of good reasons to go to Tasmania.
Getting to Tasmania
There are three main ports of entry to Tasmania, the first being Devonport in the far north, which is where the ferry lands from Melbourne.
The other two are Launceston (north-east) and Hobart (south-east), which can both be accessed by flight.
We flew in from Sydney to Hobart, which took a fairly painless 2 hours, the flight costing around $300 AUD return with Jetstar. *Hot Tip: Jetstar weighed our luggage at the gate, and as hand-luggage-only passengers who had gone over by a couple of kilos, we were not given the option to pay for the extra weight, but rather pay for checking the whole bag, which was super expensive. Some airlines are not so nitpicky, but Jetstar really are, so be aware.
Once on the ground, the best way to see Tasmania is undoubtedly to rent a car, as public transport is minimal and taxis are expensive. We rented ours from YesDrive, who were brilliant; they picked us up from the airport and took us to the car rental around 10 minutes away.
We paid $460 AUD for 4 nights/5days, which included airport transfers and fully comp bumper-to-bumper insurance with no excess.
For travel insurance, I have put my trust in Safety Wing, and I use their 4-week rolling policy as it is affordable and covers almost every country. They have been great so far!
When to Visit Tasmania
There are two peak seasons for travel to Tasmania:
Summer
Tasmania’s peak travel times are December and January, as those are the warmest months of the year. The peak of the peak is during 'The Taste of Summer', a week-long food and drink festival held annually on Hobart’s waterfront from late December to early January. It is a celebration of local produce, with 100,000 visitors indulging in gourmet seafood, Tassie wines, live music, and entertainment. We visited Tasmania in February and were told the tourist numbers had just dropped (perfect) - luckily for us, it was still warm.
The other peak season is June, specifically in Hobart for the ‘Dark Mofo’ festival. Dark Mofo is an annual, provocative winter festival celebrating the winter solstice, with themes of death, mythology, and darkness. It features experimental music, large-scale art installations, the Winter Feast, and pagan rituals like the nude solstice swim and the burning of Ogoh-Ogoh puppets.
I don't know about you, but both The Taste of Summer and Dark Mofo sound awesome, and they must be popular for a reason. If you plan to do your Tasmania road trip during these times, you’ll likely need to arrange accommodation much further in advance.
Our Tasmania Road Trip Itinerary
Hobart - 1 Night
Bicheno - 2 Nights
Hobart - 1 Night
Due to time constraints, we only managed a little 5 day/4 night Tasmania road trip, but if you have more time, Tasmania has a lot more to offer, including Bruny Island, Cradle Mountain, the Bay of Fires, and Launceston. 5 days is good enough for a little Tasmania road trip, but if you want the ultimate Tasmania Road Trip, I would recommend 10 days.
Day 1 - Hobart
We started our Tasmania road trip on a high, as cute and quirky Hobart impressed us from the beginning. After checking into the wonderful Motel Mayfair on Cavill, we took a stroll along the Hobart Rivulet Walk, a 2 km-long riverside trail that ended at the Cascade Brewery Bar, the perfect spot for beers in the afternoon sunshine. The cherry on top of our first day in Hobart was dining at Institut Polaire, a 'cold-hearted' winery and brasserie using local produce and giving a little nod to Tasmania being the gateway to the Antarctic. It's owned by Nav and Lou Singh, who also own Domaine Simha vineyard and winery (they make excellent wines). The tasting menu slapped hard, and Nav was an amazing host. A very, very memorable meal!
Day 2 - Hobart to Bicheno
We started our second day on our little Tasmania road trip at the Salamanca Saturday Markets in Hobart, which were fab! The food offering was quite frankly overwhelmingly good; we were beginning to understand why foodies love Tasmania so much.
1-2 hours is enough time to spend at the Salamanca Markets before hitting the road. There are soooo many wonderful wineries to choose from on this route from Hobart to Bicheno in eastern Tasmania, but being a designated driver, I would have found winery hopping a bit dull if im being honest.
Instead, we picked one fabulous cellar door in Coal River Valley, Stargazer, for our tasting (you must pre-book), as we know their wines are outstanding, and we brought some bottles to take to our Airbnb in Bicheno for later that night.
We also stopped at a local fruit farm to buy a bag of juicy in-season plums, and stopped for coffee at Devil's Corner (crappy wine, but amazing views).
After reaching Bicheno and checking in to Winstons Beach House, which was gorgeous, we strolled along the coast to the Lobster Shack for amazing lobster rolls and views for days.
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Day 3 - Bicheno
Day 3 on our Tasmania road trip saw us waking up early in beautiful Bicheno, and heading to Freycinet National Park to do the Wine Glass Bay Lookout Hike, with perhaps the most iconic view in all of Tassie. The visitors' centre opens at 9am and not a minute before, so if you don't manage to get your Parks Pass online, you will need to arrive at 9am or later (I suggest the earlier the better to avoid the crowds) to buy it in person (it is fairly steep at $45 per car).
There are lots of different trail options, but as my travel companion was not a hiker, we opted for the shortest, which was the Wine Glass Bay Lookout Trail. It took us around an hour all in to hike there, take some photos, and walk back.
Afterwards, we, as most people do, drove down to Freycinet Marine Farm for freshly shucked oysters for lunch. I've got to say, this was quite underhwhelming. The seafood wasn't that fresh or flavourful; the whole thing was just a bit of a flop.
After driving back to Bicheno, we strolled down to Le Gulch, a cute little wine bar with a Sunday afternoon DJ (DJ Wombat) for sundowners. It was cute, but again, not all that. I was starting to think that these places in Tasmania are really charming and quirky for mainland Australians because they have a bit of a European vibe, but for a European, they don't hold a candle to what we can experience in France, Spain and Italy. This probably comes across as a bit harsh, but I am here to be honest, after all.
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Day 4 - Hobart
The drive back to Hobart was yet again filled with hundreds of dead animals. We stopped at Kate's Berry Farm for scones and tea for breakfast; her homemade mingled-berry jam was delicious, and the view was pretty.
We made another stop at Bonorong Wildlife Centre, but as most Tasmanian wildlife is nocturnal, we didn't see much. We did see a sweet little Echidna waddling around, and feeding the kangaroos was fun, although with no direction or guidance, we just kept feeding the same kangaroo (because he asked for it), and then when he vomited, we left. We also went to MONA, the Museum of Old and New Art, as soon as we got back to Hobart, as we had heard it was not to be missed. MONA (along with Institut Polaire) was the highlight of our trip. It is a seriously weird place in the best way. (I think if you were a bit stoned, it would be even better.) *Hot tip: If you want to go to MONA, don't drive, take the ferry. You'll need a few beers to get through how whacky this place is, trust me. After a wild experience at MONA, we checked into the Edinburgh Gallery B and B, and googled the best wine bar in Hobart to have a few more delicious Tassie wines on the last night of our Tasmania road trip. Sonny came highly recommended, and when we arrived, there was a queue out the door, which seemed promising, and so we waited. My first impression was that it was a really groovy little hole-in-the-wall with a great atmosphere and music, but the service was so frosty that it made us feel really uncomfortable. After reading more reviews, we realised this was common. We now call it the scary wine bar, and I really don't recommend going. I don't want to support the business of someone who is such a bleep.
The Best Things to See & Do in Tasmania
So, based on what we enjoyed doing, and friends' testimonies who have travelled Tasmania more extensively than I, this is a list of the best things to see and do in Tasmania for your road trip!
MONA
Wineglass Bay
Bruny Island (The best Brie I have ever had, sorry France!)
Coal River Wineries
The 6-Day Tasmania Overland Track (If I ever come back to Tasmania, it would be to do this hike)
Salamanca Markets
Bay of Fires
Cradle Mountain
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Happy Travels
xx
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