Travel Guide: Hobart, Tasmania
Beautiful Tasmania stole my heart a long time ago and it still belongs there. If you’ve been following along over on Instagram recently, then you’ll know I have just come back from two blissful weeks exploring Tasmania. It was my seventh trip to the Apple Isle and it’s beauty continued to blow me away. There is so much to see and do, that even after this trip, I still felt I had lots more left to explore. I shared a few snippets of our trip over on Instagram and lots of people asking me where we stayed, where we ate and what we did on our trip, so I thought I would write a series of little travel guides for Hobart, East Coast Tasmania and Cradle Mountain detailing all the things above. I hope you enjoy this Hobart Travel Guide!
GETTING THERE
We flew direct from Brisbane to Hobart with Virgin Australia.
GETTING AROUND
A car is essential in Tasmania, even Hobart. Having the freedom to jump in your hire car anytime you like and explore Hobart, drive up to Mount Wellington and explore the surrounding townships outside of Hobart is second to none. I did a lot of research into care hire companies and was very surprised to see how expensive car hire is in Tasmania was - even when I was looking months in advance! But my research paid off and we organised car hire with Alamo. This turned out to be the best decision we made for a few reasons:
When you get off the plane and you’re waiting for your suitcases, the lines at the car hire desks are scary - because everyone hires a car when they visit Tasmania. I felt so relieved that we didn’t have to deal with that. Why? Read the next point.
The reason why our car hire costs were half of everywhere else, is because Alamo is based off site. Meaning they don’t pay heavy taxes and fees to the airport (and pass them onto you). We simply called Alamo as soon as we got our suitcases and a shuttle bus came to pick us up outside the airport about 5 to 10 minutes later. We were driven down the road to the Alamo office to pick up our car. A little trick from me to you - get in the shuttle first and sit up the front, so when you arrive at the office, you can get off first and be first in line to pick up your keys. The driver will pack your suitcases in the shuttle when they pick you up at the airport and take them out when you arrive, so you don’t need to spend time hanging around waiting for that to happen.
Sitting down in the Alamo office and picking up the keys took 5 minutes, it’s so quick! Then off we went!
WHERE TO STAY
We always stay in Hobart city, but this time we opted to stay in an AirBnb south of Hobart at Kingston Beach for a more local experience. It was the best decision we made as it allowed us to live in Hobart like locals, explore Huon Valley easily and experience lots of lovely local restaurants.
WHAT TO SEE & DO
Hobart:
Without a doubt, the first thing we do when we visit Hobart is to drive to the top of Mount Wellington to enjoy the panoramic views over Hobart and beyond. It’s stunning but it can also be extremely windy and cold, so be prepared no matter what time of year it is.
If you haven’t been to MONA, highly recommend it half a day there. We’ve already been, so we didn’t go on this trip. For us, it’s one of those places that we feel like we don’t need to keep going back. You can get to MONA by jumping on their boat from Salamanca in Hobart city, but we’ve always driven over there (we just love the flexibility of hiring a cat on our travels).
A trip to Hobart is not complete without visiting the Salamanca Markets, which are on every Saturday morning in Salamanca. I have to say though, we were a little bit disappointed this time round. There weren’t as many local stall holders as previous years, there was lots of cheap souvenirs, repeat stalls and the food wasn’t as impressive, which was very surprising. We did enjoy a delicious wallaby burrito, roasted chestnuts and crepes though!
I love walking around the harbour in Hobart. There are lots of shops in Salamanca, restaurants on the water and boats to look at. It’s gorgeous on a sunny day! Hobart is one of those towns you can walk around all day and continuously enjoy new things. It’s very pretty and has lots of heritage buildings.
We love Battery Point, it’s old and offers beautiful views of River Derwent. There are lots of antique stores, cafes and restaurants to be found.
We grabbed some bakery goods from Daci & Daci Bakers in town. It has a stunning array of beautiful cakes, slices, croissants, biscuits and coffee. Be warned, it’s expensive!
When we travel we like to get right into local beers and we absolutely loved Hobart Brewing Co pale ale and lager.
We happened to stumble across Salty Dog in Kingston Beach for dinner and enjoyed the best chowder our our lives - seriously!
Jackman & McRoss is a bakery and cafe located in Battery Point. We absolutely loved it here and came back a few times for coffee, bakery goods (their custard donuts will break you ha!) and breakfast. It’s well priced and it’s beautiful inside.
We braved Sonny with two kids right on 4pm when they open and the staff were very welcoming. It’s a tiny wine watering hole serving up some of the best Pet-Nat I’ve ever had. We enjoyed a couple of drinks and some light sharing plates, while we let the kids watch ABC Kids - a big treat but we wanted to relax and enjoy ourselves. You can take kids but it’s better without ha! When we left around an hour later, there was a long line at the door. It’s very popular so make sure you get there at 4pm to avoid waiting.
We also popped into Pigeon Whole Bakers on our way to Freycinet. I am not sure what we were expecting, but we were hoping to have a sit down breakfast before we embarked on the 3 hour drive. Sadly there is no where to sit, it’s simply a grab n go style of bakery. The coffees were excellent but the bagels, not so great. They tasted like they had been baked the day before, which kills me to say but it’s true. I am sure everything also looked unreal, so perhaps we didn’t make the best choice.
NORTH OF HOBART
Richmond, Cambridge, Dunalley & Eaglehawk Neck
You could easily stay and explore Hobart for a few days and head elsewhere in Tasmania, but we’re all about maximising our time when we travel. We love to rest as much as we can, and we love to see and do as much as we can too. I highly recommend adding two days to your trip to explore north and south of Hobart.
Start by driving north and stop into Cambridge and Richmond. Richmond has the oldest bridge in Australia (it will be 200 years old next year) and the town is absolutely stunning; it’s filled with lots of antique stores, homewares shops and quaint cafes. Cambridge is very similar and also just as beautiful.
Pooley Wines is a must! If you only have time to visit one winery, this is the one you want to visit. It’s family owned and operated since the 90s, has a cosy cellar door for wine tastings, a fantastic outdoor area for kids to play with a beautiful view overlooking Richmond, and they serve wood fired pizza and cheese platters too. You could easily come here for lunch and spend the afternoon here.
We had heard so many good things about the Dunalley Fish Shop so we decided to pop into there on our way to Eaglehawk Neck. We were a little surprised when we arrived as was very run down and a bit depressing to be honest; it has “I Know What You Did Last Summer” vibes... But people were walking in and out regularly with their takeaway fish and chips, so we decided to give it a go. Don’t expect much more than classic fish and chips wrapped in newspaper with a very limited selection of drinks. It was nice but not amazing, so I would only recommend a pit stop if you’re starving.
We drove over to Eaglehawk Neck and stopped to explore Doo Town, the Blow Hole and Fossil Bay Lookout. We wanted to see Tasmans Arch, but didn’t realise we had to park our car and walk in. With a two year old in tow, sometimes things like this aren’t possible. But that was ok because there were plenty of beaches, bays and cliffs to explore on our way there and back.
From this area, you can drive south down to Port Arthur and explore all it has to offer. If you do venture down, male sure to pop into the Port Arthur Historic Site, which is a historic convict site. I’ve already been so we didn’t venture down this time. It is beautiful, but it also feels very sad and heavy.
SOUTH OF HOBART
Huon Valley, D’Entrecasteux Channel & Woodbridge
Of all the trips I’ve done to Tasmania, I can’t believe this is the first time I got to explore Huonville and the surrounding townships. A trip to Huon Valley is a must and you have to stop into Willie Smith’s Apple Shed - it’s unreal! Do yourself a favour and order the cider tasting, take a seat in the shed, sit back, relax and enjoy! We happened to be there when there was a market outside and met a lovely local couple who were selling homemade jams, sauces, pickles and lots more. We bought so much!
From here we continued to drive south and do the coastal loop back up around to where we were staying at Kingston Beach. We stopped into Cygnet and Woodridge, picked up coffee and a potato pie from Summer Kitchen Bakery, and enjoyed a cheese platter at Grandvewe. The drive past D’Entrecasteux Channel with views over to Satellite Island were spectacular!
