Tasmania’s best guided day walks

We leave early from Hobart and head west to Mt Field National Park. An easy introductory walk through a forest of towering tree ferns, moss and lichens leads us to the beautiful Russell Falls – one of the prettiest in Tasmania. We will then continue on this easy circuit back to the visitor’s centre.

After a bite of lunch, we will choose our second walk for the day. We have quite a few options depending on the weather conditions and your guides will pick the best one. Most options are quite easy, so don’t worry, we won’t wear you out too much!

After all our first day explorings, we’ll settle in for the next two nights at Giants Table Cottages in Maydena. Take a stroll down to the platypus ponds to see if you are lucky to spot one of these special creatures.

Meals: L, D

Today its back to Mt Field to do the park’s flagship walk. A steep drive up to Lake Dobson brings us to the start from where we will get up to and along the Tarn Shelf. A bit of a climb gets us up to the small mountain lakes, or tarns, of the Rodway Range, with magnificent views over the glacier-formed landscape.

You will think you are in the Lord of the Rings as we pass through this amazing country. Lunch will be in one of the high country huts, before we enter a more wooded part of the trail and back to the Lake Dobson. Todays walk is a challenging and quite long, but well worth the views and scenery of this absolutely stunning area. 

We’ll head back to our accommodation at the Giants Table Cottages in Maydena for a second night.

Meals: B,L,D

It’s a couple of hours drive to Lake St Clair where we’ll take a nice walk on the iconic Overland Track.  We will take the ferry to Echo Point and walk back to the main settlement alongside the picturesque lake.  We walk through an enchanting temperate rainforest. Sassafras, myrtle, celery-top pine and leatherwood provide a thick canopy for the moses, lichens and fungi below.

Our accommodation for the next two nights is in the very nice cabins at Lake St Clair and we’ll eat together at the Lake St Clair Lodge.

Meals: B,L,D

A challenging but amazing day walking the Mt Rufus circuit awaits us! This 18.5km walk takes us through a wide variety of vegetation and landscapes as we make our way up to the summit of Mt Rufus. From the summit the views over the surrounding mountain ranges are sensational.

There is an option for those who want a shorter day to do the Shadow Lake Circuit. This reduces the walk by about 2 hours and cuts out most of the vertical ascent.

At the end of the day we can walk straight into our Lake St Clair cabins and enjoy a rejuvenating shower.

Meals: B,L,D

Today is a mainly driving day, good for recovering after yesterday’s strenuous walk and before tomorrow’s walk around Cradle Mountain.

First stop is The Wall – a work in progress by sculptor Greg Duncan, depicting the history of Tasmania’s central highlands in a series of carved wood panels. It’s an amazing feat of creativity and work that needs to be seen.

We’ll stretch our legs with a walk to Donaghys Lookout before heading to Queenstown for lunch and then on to Cradle Mountain for the evening. The views of the passing landscape are absolutely incredible as we drive.

Accommodation: Cradle Mountain Discovery Holiday Park

Meals: B,L,D

Depending on the weather and the energy levels of the group, there are a number of options for today’s walk. We’ll enjoy imposing mountain vistas, pristine glacial lakes, vast buttongrass plains, freezing cascades and an all round fantastic day of walking. This is a fairly busy park – and we’ll see why!  This is the start point of the world renown Overland track.

It’s a short drive out of the park to our 2nd night at the Cradle Mountain Discovery Holiday Park.

Meals: B,L,D

Today we say goodbye to the wild mountain country and hello to the beautiful east coast of Tasmania.

We’ll stop in at some lovely small towns along the way where you might pick up a souvenir or two, or enjoy the local coffee shops and bakeries. Some of Tasmania’s best wineries can be found near the east coast and, time permitting, we’ll drop into one or two and you can choose to sample a drop.

Our accommodation for the next two nights is at the lovely seaside town of Swansea at the Swansea Motor Inn.

Meals: B,L,D

The view over Coles Bay toward the Hazard Range Freycinet Peninsular draws us in to this iconic national park.

Enjoy a gorgeous 11.5km circuit walk which takes in the white sand beach of Wineglass Bay and the equally beautiful Hazards Beach on the other side of the Cape Freycinet isthmus.

After our walk, and perhaps an icy but refreshing swim, we head back to Swansea, our home for the evening again.

Meals: B,L,D

A quick ferry ride and we are at the beautiful Maria Island Tasmania.  There are are few options today but the most scenic is a challenging but rewarding climb up Mt Bishop and Clerk. The walk is steep but the views from the dolerite columns at the summit of the mountain are sensational. The forested section of path offers delightful walking, with glimpses of ocean beyond the sheer cliffs.

For those wanting an easy day, there’s plenty to explore including the Painted Cliffs, the Fossil Cliffs and the old Darlington settlement, which has seen many transformations over the years.

After our ferry trip back to the mainland we’ll head south to the historic town of Port Arthur for our final night together.

Meals: B,L,D

Our last walk, on the Tasman Peninsular, is nothing short of spectacular.  Part of the Three Capes Track, as we’ve come to expect from Tasmania, there are up’s and there are downs and there are absolutely incredible views to marvel at.

As we walk along Cape Huay the promontory narrows and the views get better and better. Massive dolerite cliffs descend vertically into the ocean on either side, making this an exciting walk to finish on.

After lunch we’ll head back into Hobart, arriving late afternoon.

Meals: B,L