Hobart
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Hobart, Tasmania’s capital, is a port city built around the River Derwent. Fishing boats and cruise ships moor right by the central business district. The 19th-century convict heritage of Australia’s second-oldest capital city is woven through modern Hobart. Beyond the wonderful sandstone facades of the waterfront are many of Hobart’s grand colonial-era homes, public buildings, workers’ cottages and heritage gardens. Battery Point might be the most faithfully preserved colonial-era suburb in Australia. With a population of about 200,000 people, Hobart is wonderfully uncrowded. The forested Mount Wellington, rising steeply behind Hobart, is a reminder that the state’s vast World Heritage wilderness is just a few hours away.
Hobart Sections - click to expand
Salamanca Place
This is Hobart's favourite hangout. The facades of Georgian sandstone warehouses that once stored grain, wool, whale oil and apples make Salamanca regal. Nowadays, you can wander under heavy stone arches to find jewellers, cafes, restaurants, the Peacock Theatre, subterranean bookshops, fashion boutiques and artists’ galleries. Wafted scents of incense and bratwurst will tell you that the Salamanca Markets are on. Retro fashions, Antarctic images, fruit loaves, organic vegetables, and jewellery by emerging Tassie designers are found right here. If you need a rest, take up a spot in a cafe or bar, or on the extensive lawns under the shade of a boulevard of plane trees. Every Friday night from 5.30 to 7.30pm, a cavernous courtyard rocks to the sounds of Rektango. This is one of Hobart’s funkiest attractions. Bands play gypsy, jazz and swing music.
Island Cycle Tours
Take a thrilling 22-kilometre ride from the 1270-metre peak of Mt Wellington into Hobart. A downhill rush that is every bit as hair raising as a roller coaster. Island Cycle Tours offers a range of tours for adventurers. If your adrenalin is still pumping when you get into Hobart, you can add a two-hour sea kayak around the waterfront with Pedal 'n' Paddle tours.
Visit the Island Cycle Tours Website
Cascade Brewery Tour
At 175 years old, the Cascade Brewery Company claims to be the nation’s oldest manufacturing enterprise. The brewery’s historic facade dates back to the 1820s. On a tour, you can learn a lot about beer here, including the beer lovers’ secret that making good beer is a more complex process than wine making. Wonderfully, beer tasting is part of the tour.
Visit the Cascade Brewery Website
The Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens
The Royal Tasmanian Botanical Garden’s first superintendent, William Davidson, was appointed in 1828. He set about importing plants from England and collecting native species from Mount Wellington. There are stately and significant trees all over the garden. There is a conservatory, the sub-Antarctic house and a carefully tended Japanese Garden – Hobart has a sister-city relationship with Yaizu in Japan. A restaurant is nestled between the trees and flower displays.
Visit the Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens
Cadbury Chocolate Factory
Indulge your chocolate craving and polish up your history at the Cadbury Chocolate Factory, Claremont. A tour includes entry to the Visitor’s Centre where you can try some tasty treats. The Cadbury Chocolate Shop offers exclusive factory discounts on a huge range of products.
Visit the Cadburys Chocolate Factory
Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery
An eclectic and extensive insight into Tasmanian life, the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery has displays of indigenous culture and artefacts from the whaling and convict era, and models of extinct mega fauna and the Tasmanian tiger. Special interest collections – minerals, fossils, exquisite glass and jewellery, and colonial art – also feature. Our most celebrated landscape artists, John Glover, is on show here. Hobart’s role as the base for Australia’s Antarctic activities comes to life at the Antarctic and Southern Ocean displays. See expedition equipment and curios from the great white continent. Special displays and art exhibitions are a regular feature.
Visit the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery Website
Female Factory Historic Site
The Female Factory in South Hobart is a significant historic site that was once the Cascades Female Factory, a euphemistic name for a terribly overcrowded prison for Australian women in the 1820s. It was the setting for Bryce Courtenay’s novel The Potato Factory. You can walk about the site at your leisure or take a guided one-hour tour.
Visit the Female Factory Website
Something Wild
This Wildlife Park nurtures orphaned and injured animals for release back into the wild. The park is by the Tyenna River only 40 minutes from Perth. Spot a platypus from a viewing area is set above the river. Other animals here include Tasmanian devils, golden possums, masked owls, and squirrel gliders.
Central Hobart
Around Salamanca Place, Sullivans Cove and Battery Point you will find cafes, seafood, Thai and Indian restaurants. The Quarry, with its beautiful courtyard hived from rock, has a tapas-style menu. Fish Frenzy on the Elizabeth Street Pier serves fast and fresh fish and chips, and calamari salads. Fashionable T42 is a bar on the same pier. Grape is behind another of Salamanca’s sandstone facades. Some of the pubs including the Shipwrights Arms in Battery Point offer great-value bar meals. Jackman & McRoss is a bakery and cafe in Battery Point. The bakers make everything in- house, from loaves of crispy bread to chocolate croissants and pastries. If you are interested in self-catering there are also a number of specialist delicatessens in Hobart and across Tasmania where you can buy locally made produce. Wursthaus in Salamanca is a provedore offering a selection of gourmet meats, cheeses and other finely crafted foods.
North Hobart
North Hobart is just an $8 cab ride from the CBD. Restaurants and cafes line the roads. From cheap Thai to fine French, this short strip caters to African migrants and long-time locals with a bohemian flavour. Have a drink with the locals at the Republic Bar. Live music seven nights a week makes this a great spot for a night out. Mai Ake Thai’s stylish designs and clean lines are wrapped around the restaurant’s flaming wok kitchen. The red duck curry is a specialty.
Mures Gourmet Products
Mures Fish Centre is a Hobart institution. It’s on the bustling wharf next to the fishing boats. Taste seafood delicacies such as smoked salmon patés, terrines, roulades and a range of classic seafood soups. Try the bistro or pop upstairs for al la carte dining.
Barilla Bay Oysters
Barilla Bay is an oyster farm, restaurant and gourmet food store at Cambridge, a 15-minute drive from central Hobart. Naturally, the restaurant features the famous Barilla Bay oysters.
Coal River Valley
Meet the vintners at boutique vineyards, such as Meadowbank Estate. Also specialising in regional produce, some vineyards have restaurants. The Coal River Valley is just 20 minutes from Hobart. The nearby colonial village of Richmond features a convict-built bridge, the oldest in Australia.
If you are looking for a sports challenge then take up Formula 1 star Mark Webber on the gruelling six day physical and mental adventure challenge he has created to raise money for charity. The Mark Webber Pure Tasmania Challenge race is held amongst Tasmania’s remote and stunning landscapes and is a test of fitness and endurance. Competitors range from elite athletes to corporate teams which choose to compete in one of two categories; Van Diemen Cup - a four person corporate team entry, and the 2theXtreme Cup - a two person elite team entry.
Be a part of the action at the finishing line of the legendary annual Rolex Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race, a gruelling 628 nautical mile event that concludes in Hobart harbour. Join the crowd of thousands to cheer and welcome crews as they arrive and experience the excitement of the electric atmosphere.
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You can easily explore Hobart and beyond on a Metro bus.
Clean, comfortable and efficient taxi services operate in Tasmanian cities and major towns. A one-way fare between Hobart Airport and the city is around $36.
The Airporter Bus meets all commercial airlines landing at Hobart Airport and stops at hotels, motels, B&Bs and hostels in the CBD, Sandy Bay, Battery Point, North Hobart and New Town. The service also returns passengers to the airport. Call 0419 382 240 to make a reservation. The one-way fare is $12 per adult.