A stunning road trip around Tasmania

Painted Cliffs at Maria Island National Park in Tasmania

Maria Island National Park: you’ll be awed by its landscape

(Image credit: Anna Revoltos Ternes/Alamy Stock Photo)

published 5 June 2023

Tasmania is only about the size of Ireland, but it packs in an awful lot of scenery, said James Stewart in The Daily Telegraph. The east coast is “scalloped by astonishing beaches and lapped by sea the colour of kingfishers”; the west is “like Scotland on steroids”; and the land in between is an “Elysian” wilderness that isn’t much visited by international tourists, but deserves to be.

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To get a sense of it all, you need two weeks, really. Start in the capital Hobart. It is a lovely place for an amble – warehouses built by convicts now house galleries and cafés; and there are some great markets. Once you’ve recovered from your flight, head east to visit the Unesco-listed former convict colony Port Arthur (though be prepared to read some “grim” stories about the people who lived there), and make time for Maria Island National Park, too. It was also once a convict prison, but is now a “Noah’s Ark” of “madly bizarre wildlife”, including Tasmanian devils and Bennett’s wallabies. While you’re on the east coast, be sure to spend a day (or more) beach-hopping. Wineglass Bay has “dazzling” white powder, and Cosy Corner and Sloop Reef are both “magical” coves worthy of the tropics.

The northwest of Tasmania has a “special remoteness” that is really worth seeking out. If you’re there from September to March, you could visit Godfreys Beach to watch fairy penguins waddling ashore. The Tarkine isn’t to be missed either: “a mosaic of ancient forest, wild beaches, heath and untamed rivers”, it’s best appreciated from the 40-mile Tarkine Drive. After all that wilderness, head to Strahan for a “sedate” few days by the river (you can stay by the water at Risby Cove). Then wind your way back to Hobart along the Lyell Highway, making pit stops as you go. Whatever you do, you’ll leave Tassie awed by its landscape and aware “that you’ve barely scratched the surface”.