Things to do in Hobart
And where to stay, the best time to visit, what a day costs, and the traps to skip.
Best time to visit Hobart
• a note or something on ✦ an occasion worth the trip
Summer peak, best weather, long evenings and highest prices.
Autumn locals favourite, settled weather, harvest and the value sweet spot.
Winter cold and dark, Dark Mofo in June, cheapest hotels outside festival weeks.
Spring wildflowers and wind, low crowds and prices until late November.
What's on
- Rolex Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race 26 December, finish 27-28 December
Race boats fill Constitution Dock and the waterfront party runs for days.
- Tasmania's Taste of Summer 27 December to 3 January
Waterfront food, wine and music festival overlapping the Sydney to Hobart finish.
- Australian Wooden Boat Festival February, biennial
One of the worlds great wooden boat gatherings, Hobarts docks packed.
- MONA FOMA January
Summer music programming in its current form, check format before planning around it.
- Ten Days on the Island March, biennial
Statewide arts festival in autumn.
- Dark Mofo Usually mid to late June
MONAs midwinter festival of art, music, fire and food, including Winter Feast and Night Mass.
- Festival of Voices July
Choral festival in mid winter.
- Huon Valley Mid-Winter Festival July
Cider, fire and wassail in the Huon Valley orchards.
- Tasmanian Craft Fair November
Australias largest craft fair, held in Deloraine.
Worth the trip for
Best things to do in Hobart
MONA
A provocative private museum carved into a Derwent peninsula, best reached by ferry and argued about over wine.
Salamanca Market
Three hundred plus stalls fill historic Salamanca Place every Saturday with Tasmanian produce, crafts and street food.
Mount Wellington
Hobarts mountain summit gives the best view in southern Tasmania when a clear weather window opens.
Battery Point
Georgian cottages, narrow lanes and Arthur Circus make this the prettiest self guided wander in Hobart.
Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery
Free central museum covering palawa history, the thylacine, Antarctica and Tasmanian art and nature.
Hobart Convict Penitentiary
Chapel built over solitary cells, courtrooms and execution yard seen properly only on the guided tour.
Cascades Female Factory Historic Site
UNESCO listed convict womens workhouse where guided tours make the walls and yards legible.
Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens
Fourteen hectares of cool climate gardens with conifers, a Japanese garden and a subantarctic plant house.
Where to stay in Hobart
Waterfront, Salamanca and Battery Point
first trip, all-round base
Walk to the market, MONA ferry, TMAG and the best restaurants, with Battery Point quiet above the noise.
CBD
value, business-style hotels and transport
A few blocks back from the water, often cheaper for equivalent quality and closest to buses.
North Hobart
food-first, repeat and younger travellers
Elizabeth Street dining, cinema and pubs, livelier at night in a local way and cheaper to eat well.
Sandy Bay
quieter, leafy, car-based stay
Prestigious harbourside suburb south of Battery Point, works with a car but frustrates on foot at night.
Midtown, West Hobart and Glebe
longer stays and apartments
Residential, hilly and pretty with local cafes and serviced apartments where locals live.
Think twice about
- Glenorchy, Moonah and Derwent Park
Car dependent northern suburbs with no walkable dining or waterfront charm. Visit MONA nearby, sleep in Hobart.
- Bellerive, Howrah, Rokeby and Mornington
Safe but across the bridge from every dinner, market and ferry. First timers often regret basing east shore.
- Bridgewater and Gagebrook
Far northern fringe, 25 plus minutes out with nothing a visitor needs. Avoid as a base.
- Airport precinct, Cambridge
Airport hotels strand you 15 km from the city for a flight easily reached from a CBD hotel.
Best restaurants in Hobart
Dier Makr
Intimate degustation built only on organic, wild and foraged Tasmanian produce, Hobarts pinnacle.
Fico
Set menu Italian Tasmanian fine dining with handmade pasta as the recurring standout.
Aloft
Waterfront tasting menu where the harbour view is matched by Pan Asian Tasmanian cooking.
Scholé
Ten seat communal table, Japanese inspired and seafood led, dictated daily by suppliers.
Templo
Beloved twenty seat Italian inspired room locals name for birthdays, shared plates and warmth.
Peppina
Large warm fire led Italian in The Tasman, handmade pasta and generous plates for groups.
Trophy Room
Produce driven sharing menu in North Hobart, with an eight course feed me menu at strong value.
Sonny
Joyful natural wine bar with oysters, toast, pasta and cheese from Tasmanian small producers.
Outdoor things to do in Hobart
Pennicott Wilderness Journeys
High speed eco cruises under sea cliffs past seals, dolphins and seabirds on Bruny or Tasman routes.
Bruny Island
Self drive day of oysters, cheese, The Neck lookout, lighthouse and wallabies at Adventure Bay.
Port Arthur Historic Site
Forty hectares of convict ruins, prisons and harbour cruise needing at least three to four hours.
Organ Pipes Track
The sweet spot kunanyi walk, traversing below dolerite columns with city views throughout.
Three Capes Track
Four day hut to hut walk along 300 metre sea cliffs, capped numbers and booked Parks cabins.
Roaring 40s Kayaking
Sea kayak the waterfront at sunset, including the twilight paddle with fish and chips in the kayak.
Glenorchy Mountain Bike Park
In city singletrack and jump lines fifteen minutes from the CBD, free entry with hire in the city.
Maydena Bike Park
Gravity park in wet eucalypt forest with shuttle uplifted trails riders travel interstate for.
Best hotels in Hobart
MACq 01 Hotel
Hobarts storytelling waterfront hotel, each room themed to a Tasmanian character, with Evolve bar.
The Tasman, a Luxury Collection Hotel
International luxury in heritage sandstone behind Salamanca, with Peppina and Mary Mary in house.
The Henry Jones Art Hotel
Art hotel in 1820s jam factory warehouses on the dock, quieter and full of Tasmanian art.
MONA Pavilions
Private pavilions on the MONA peninsula, a destination stay for one or two nights as the MONA experience.
Islington Hotel
Small Regency house luxury in Glebe with gardens and mountain views, adults focused and calm.
Salamanca Wharf Hotel
Apartment style boutique luxury in the Salamanca warehouse strip, central for market Saturday.
Moss Hotel
Boutique hotel in and above the Salamanca warehouses, you cannot be more central for the market.
Hadley's Orient Hotel
Grand Victorian hotel from 1834 with an opulent atrium, the best value character stay in the centre.
Is Hobart expensive? What a day costs
| Budget | A$110 a person |
|---|---|
| Classic | A$240 a person |
| Splurge | A$550 a person |
A day of food, drink, sights and getting around, before the room
What to book ahead
- MONA: weeks ahead
- Salamanca Market: a few days ahead
- Hobart Convict Penitentiary: weeks ahead
- Cascades Female Factory Historic Site: weeks ahead
- Lark Cellar Door: a few days ahead
- Sullivans Cove Distillery: weeks ahead
- Cascade Brewery: a few days ahead
- Pennicott Wilderness Journeys: weeks ahead
- Dier Makr, Scholé, Fico and Aloft book 2 to 6 weeks ahead for weekends.
- Book MONA ferry and entry for weekends and festivals, Posh Pit sells out first.
- Pennicott, Three Capes, Bonorong night tour and Maydena book days to months ahead in summer.
- Hotels in Dark Mofo, Taste of Summer and Wooden Boat Festival windows book before flights.
- Port Arthur pre book entry and tours in peak season and arrive before mid morning.
Is Hobart safe?
- Emergency number 000, police non emergency 131 444.
- Carry layers, water and a charged phone on summit and bush tracks, hypothermia is a real risk.
- Southern Ocean beaches can have rips and no patrols, swim at patrolled or calm bays.
- Late night drunkenness around Salamanca is the main city awareness issue, use a taxi after midnight.
Hobart travel tips: tourist traps to skip
- The standard non Pennicott harbour cruise is the weakest paid hour in Hobart.
- Wrest Point casino is a fine hotel, not a destination attraction for non gamblers.
- Richmond is lovely for one to two hours plus lunch, thin as a sole day trip.
- Freycinet and Cradle Mountain as Hobart day tours mean long hours in a vehicle, overnight them.
- Salamanca on a non Saturday is not the market, and many kitchens close early in the week.
Getting around Hobart: public transport and more
- Walk the core: CBD, Salamanca, Battery Point and waterfront are a 15 minute walking zone.
- Airport is 17 km away: SkyBus shuttle or taxi and Uber to the CBD, no train or tram.
- Metro buses radiate from the CBD, infrequent on Sundays and after about 8pm.
- MONA is best by ferry, also bus, drive or taxi in about 20 minutes.
- Rent a car only for day trip days, slow down at dusk for wildlife on rural roads.
Who Hobart suits
| Solo travellers | Good |
|---|---|
| Groups of friends | Great |
| Couples | Great |
| Bachelor parties | Good |
| Families | Great |
| Bachelorette parties | Good |
Make Hobart your trip
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