FromDC

I am working on the various parts of our 5 and a half week trip to Australia and New Zealand in October/November in different "chunks". I'd appreciate help with the Tasmania part from all the experts. We'll have 7 nights (could possibly squeeze in one more by eliminating one night from Sydney area). We'll be flying in from Cairns and flying out to Sydney so we can arrive in and leave from either Launceston or Hobart (arriving either mid or late afternoon so we probably want to stay one night wherever we fly into). I'm having trouble figuring out the order in which to visit places without doing too much backtracking or unnecessary driving. Generally we prefer staying in one place at least two nights or longer.
(1) I'd like to include the following places for sure:
Cradle Mountain (2 or 3 nights)
Freycinet Peninsular (area) 2 nights
visit to Huon Valley area
(2)the following places if there is time :
Port Arthur
Tasman Peninsula
(3) Other things equal, I'd prefer to spend time in Hobart instead of Launceston.

Thanks for your help!

cwn

I though about flying into Launceston, but it seemed to be a more a more awkward starting point as far as arranging sites at the time. Having just driven the roads, I would say the same applies in your case. We stayed in Launceston three nights and did day trips. In hind site, I would have skipped Launceston if we had been interested in doing any walking at Cradle Mt.

It is a longest day, but it is ~3 hours from Coles Bay to Launceston (we drove this) and about the same on over to Cradle Mt according to the owner of the B&B in Launceston and according to her another 4+ down to Hobart.

We loved the Hobart area and had 5 nights in the area. I would definitely try to stay at least one night in Port Arthur, there is a lot to see just for a day trip.

longhorn55

Based on your interests, I recommend just skipping Lauceston. (We included it because we were taking the ferry to/from Devonport).

I also agree with Cwn about including an overnight stay at Port Arthur. Port Arthur is a fascinating place and IMHO should not be missed. We did it as a long day trip from Hobart and had to drive back after dark because we stayed for the ghost tour (which was great!). We were living in Australia at the time and were used to driving at night on the left, but I would not recommend this for someone not familiar with driving in Australia (which I assume you are not).

Patty

I would definitely fly into one airport and out of another to prevent backtracking. We flew into Devonport (it's a little closer to Cradle Mountain) but Launceston may have more flight options. I think the order you've listed is fine (or vice versa if the flights work out better the other way). We found Hobart to be a great little city.

cwn

We had originally thought to fly in to Hobart and out of Launceston as that seemed to be the recommendation of most posters. But after I looked at what we originally wanted to see...Hobart area including Port Arthur, the Freycinet Peninsular, Launceston and the Cradle Mt/Lake Claire area, it really made sense to make a loop from Hobart around the island. The only back tracking we did was the 2+hours from St Marys to Launceston times 2 to see the Bay of Fires our second day there. In hind sight, we should have stayed in Coles Bay a couple of days then driven over to Cradle Mt. for a night and back to Hobart.

Launceston was interesting and we enjoyed where we stayed, but the Lake area we drove through down to Hobart, and from what I heard about the Cradle Mt area once we got there, you do not give up too much missing Launceston, unless you like wine tasting and nice little villages with a Victorian flare.

Your timing seems OK...we did 2 nights Port Arthur, 3 Launceston and 3 Hobart. Our flight got in Hobart about 4PM and we had plenty of time to get the car, some take away dinner and food from the grocery and get to Port Arthur...by about 6:30PM, sunset was 7:30ish. Then we stayed the last 3 nights in Hobart and had a 10:00AM flight back to Melbourne. Getting to the airport that morning was easy also.

Your are going to love Tasmania what ever you do.

cazmaz

As a local I would recommend flying in and out of the same airport. There are 3 ways to join the south with the north of the state. So to do a loop will give you the most exposure.

1. The East coast via Tasman hwy offering beautiful white sandy beaches, coastal towns and some amazing walks. Binalong Bay near St. Helens, Wineglass Bay near Coles Bay and Friendly Beaches to name a few.

2. The Midlands Hwy travels through the centre of the state connecting Hobart to Launceston in 2.5hrs. You pass through rural towns with some beautiful history. These towns still service the farming districts but are looking at the tourist market to supplement their incomes. Towns like Ross and Oatlands you need to divert very slightly off the hwy but worth it.

3. The West Coast is very rugged. Think world heritage forests, old mining towns but few and far between. Strahan would be where you would stop for night (or 2 if arriving late) to do a Gorden river cruise and railway trip to experience just how remote the early settlers had to live.

If you were to fly into Hobart I would go directly to Port Arthur about 1hour 15min drive from the airport on a recently upgraded Arthur Hwy. Stop at Sorell for a few supplies on your way. 2 nights there is a must to see the historic site and maybe experience the water via a Tasman Island Cruise (we did it last Easter amazing) ghost tour is also interesting. Then head to Coles Bay (2hrs drive). Across to Cradle Mountain and depending how much time you want in Hobart may not allow time in the remote west. While in Hobart Salamanca /Battery Point is a great central point to base yourself.

So to condense all that down for you. (If you fly into Hobart).
Port Arthur 2 nights
Coles Bay 2 nights
Cradle mountain1 night
Hobart 2 nights
October November is out of school holiday time so keep an eye on accommodation and if you don't prebook you may be able to just move on or stay in any one place as the mood (or weather) takes you.
I would book the first nights though

Sounds like you will have an awesome holiday.
Happy planning

Patty

To do a loop in 7 days is a lot of driving. I think most visitors underestimate the amount of time it takes to get from point A to point B in Tasmania.

FromDC

Comments have been very helpful, getting closer to booking stages now. I'm adding one night to Tasmania, so thinking about cazmaz itin with extra night in Cradle Mtn.

Alternative: 3 nights Hobart (day trip to Huon and Pt Arthur), 2 nights Cradle Mtn, 2 nights Coles Bay/Freycinet area, then drive to airport for early afternoon flight to SYD.

We generally like to stay 3 nights in one place but I don't think that will be feasible with all the different places we want to see and no night driving. But I haven't found any place to stay in Hobart that grabs me so 3 nights might be a bit much there....or are there lovely places outside the city that work well for day trips?

Patty

What exactly are you looking for and what's your price range in Hobart? Here are a couple of places that looked interesting to me but I've not stayed at either.

http://www.thehenryjones.com/

http://www2.somerset.com/en/australi..._the_pier.html

We rented a house in a residential neighborhood about 15 minutes walking distance to the center of town through Stayz that's no longer available but perhaps you could also look there.

We also spent one night at http://www.escapesresorts.com.au/riversdale_home.htm It had lovely vineyard and water views and our cottage had a full kitchen. Your days trips are in different directions so I'm not sure what works better. There are several vineyards surrounding Hobart so perhaps look into those to see which others have accommodations. Here's another one but it's pricey https://www.mona.net.au/mona/accommo...the-pavilions/

dutyfree

Freycinet Park,Hobart,Port Arthur and Cradle Mountain are definitely worth a longer stopover-Launceston didn't do anything for my daughter and I when we were there last year. We did two nights there and wished we had added to another area.

nikidi

Sorry to hijack this thread, but thought this would be a great thread to get some advise on Tasmania.

We are looking at spending 7 nights in late December and exploring the option of hiring a camper van( travelling with 2 kids 6/8 years old) .
Our interests are scenery , some light hiking (mx upto 4-5hrs) and seeing penguins.

Would definitely like to include cradle mountain and lake St Clair and was thinking of Swansea and to fly out of Hobart .( fly in to launceton? )

What's a good tour/split of days and thoughts on using a campervan vs lodging. This will be our first experience in a campervan.

nikidi

Any one???