Tasman Peninsula: Things to do, walks & Camping Guide

Last updated: September 2026

The Tasman Peninsula is an hour from Hobart, and most people give it a day. We gave it a week, and we still left with a list.

It’s a small place. You can drive from one end to the other in 40 minutes, and somehow, it holds the tallest sea cliffs in the Southern Hemisphere, two of the best day walks in Tasmania, a World Heritage convict site, a rock platform that looks like someone tiled it by hand, and two campgrounds we would happily go back to tomorrow.

Almost everyone comes to Port Arthur, sees it in half a day and drives back to Hobart. In my opinion, that’s the mistake. Port Arthur is worth your time, but it’s just one thing on the Tasman Peninsula, and the two best things here are free.

Here’s everything we’ve learned. How to get there, what to do, which walks are worth the effort, where to camp, what it all costs, and how to fit it into three days.

➤ If you’re heading to Tasmania, start with our complete guide to Camping Tasmania to plan your trip with costs, national parks passes, when to go and the best things to do.

A few of the links on this page are affiliate links. If you book through one, we earn a small commission at no extra cost to you, and it helps keep these guides free.

The Tasman Peninsula: summary

How to get to the Tasman Peninsula

From Hobart, take the Tasman Highway (A3) out through the eastern suburbs, then the Arthur Highway (A9) at Sorell and south from there. About 100 km and 1h15 to Port Arthur, all sealed, all easy. There’s no ferry, no gravel and no reason to come with a 4WD. A great addition for a one-week stay in Tasmania.

The drive to the Tasman Peninsula is part of the journey. Give it a bit more time than the map says. Here’s why:

• Sorell: Your last proper supermarket. There’s a Woolworths and a Coles, both are open late. Shop here if you need to stock up.
• Dunally sits on a canal with a little swing bridge, about 40 minutes in. It’s a good coffee stop, and the Bangor Vineyard Shed is just south of town if you would rather have a wine and a plate of oysters.
• Eaglehawk Neck is where the Tasman Peninsula properly begins, and where we would suggest you stop first rather than drive straight through to Port Arthur.

About Neil the Seal

If you’ve been on Instagram the last couple of years, you’ve probably met Neil, the enormous southern elephant seal who made Dunally famous by stealing traffic cones. People still ask where to find him, so here’s the answer: you cannot plan around him. He’s a wild animal who hauls out wherever he likes. He spent part of 2026 at Seven Mile Beach near Hobart, and appears to have gone back out to sea since.

If you are lucky enough to come across him or any other seal, stay at least 20 metres back, keep dogs on a lead and at least 50 metres away, and never get between a seal and the water. They move much faster than they look. Sightings can be reported on 0427 WHALES (0427 942 537)

Things to do on the Tasman Peninsula

There is more here than a peninsula this size has any right to hold. We’ve put these roughly in the order you would pass them driving south, so you can work down the list as you go rather than doubling back.

1. Eaglehawk Neck and the Dogline

It takes fifteen minutes, and it puts everything you are about to see at Port Arthur into context. Do it first.

Eaglehawk Neck Beach is also a great spot to go surfing on the Tasman Peninsula. You’ll find gentle waves, but also quieter spots if you want to go for a swim during summer. Keep an eye out for whales during migration season, too. You can spot humpback whales from May to July and September to November.

2. The Tessellated Pavement

At the northern end of Eaglehawk Neck beach, there is a flat rock platform that looks exactly like someone laid it by hand. Neat rectangular tiles, straight joints. If you told me it was man-made, I would believe it.

But it’s not. It’s stilstone that cracked along natural fracture lines and then weathered into two patterns – “pans” – where the middle of each tile has worn down into a shallow dish, and “loaves” where the edges have worn instead and each tile sits up like a bread roll.

→ Come at low tide, and if you can, go early or late. At high tide, the pavement is underwater, and there is nothing to see. At low tide, the pans hold shallow pools that mirror the sky. Around sunrise, the entire platform lights up orange. Check the Hobart tide times before you go; it’s the one thing on the Tasman Peninsula that is genuinely ruined by turning up at the wrong hour.

3. Pirates Bay lookout

A two-minute detour off the highway just south of Eaglehawk Neck, and the best view of the Tasman Peninsula you will get without walking for it. The whole sweep of Pirates Bay, the neck itself, and the cliffs running north. There is a coffee van up there most mornings.

4. Tasmans Arch, the Blowhole, and Devils Kitchen

Closed for most of 2026 – Check before you go.

Tasman’s Arch and Devil’s Kitchen on the Tasman Peninsula have been closed since 15 April 2026 while Parks rebuilds the lookouts and walkways. The closure was extended to 29 September 2026. The Waterfall Bay Track is also closed from the Devils Kitchen end, but you can still walk it because the Waterfall Bay Road entrance stays open.

The Blowhole at Doo Town is a separate site and is not affected.

These dates have already moved once, so check the Parks and Wildlife alerts page on the morning you plan to go.

5. Doo Town

A tiny cluster of fishing shacks next to the Blowhole where, in the 1930s, a bloke named his holiday shack “Doo I” and everyone else joined in. There are now dozens of them. Doo Little, Doo Nix, Doo Write, Xanadu, Much a Doo, Just Doo It, Gunnadoo. It is completely daft, and reading the nameplates as you walk through is a fun ten minutes.

The Doo-lishus food van parks at the Blowhole car park and does fish and chips, scallop pies and berry ice creams. It’s not a secret, and there’s often a queue.

6. Explore the Port Arthur Historic Site

You cannot come to Tasmania and the Tasman Peninsula and skip Port Arthur. It’s a UNESCO World Heritage site, it’s the best-preserved convict settlement in the country, and it is far bigger than the photographs suggest. More than thirty buildings, ruins, and restored houses spread across a stretch of parkland that takes real time to walk.

General admission is $55 for an adult, $44 for a concession, and $27.50 for a child. That includes a 20-minute harbour cruise and the free guided talks that run through the day. The site is open from 9 am to 5 pm daily and is closed on Christmas Day. Allow at least half a day, and a full day if you want to actually read things.

We did the ghost tour on a friend’s recommendation. It was fun, interesting, and not super scary. It’s 90 minutes, it runs after dark, and you’re not allowed to take photographs. If I were doing it again, I would go during the day instead. The history here is pretty extraordinary, and the ghost tour skims the surface. It’s a fun addition, but do the day visit and add the ghost tour as a second thing if you have the time, rather than choosing between them.

→ Browse some of the Port Arthur Tours that best fit you.

7. Remarkable Caves

Ten minutes south of Port Arthur, at the end of Safety Cove Road, and worth the detour. A steep flight of steps drop you to a viewing platform looking into a sea tunnel. And the opening, seen from the platform, is very nearly the shape of Tasmania. It’s one of those things you cannot unsee once someone points it out.

Go at low tide and on a day with some swell, when the water comes surging through the tunnel. It’s free, there’s a car park, and it takes 20 minutes unless you decide to keep walking, which you can, because two tracks start here.

8. Coal Mines Historic Site

Up in the north-west corner at Saltwater River, on the road out to Lime Bay. This was Tasmania’s first operating coal mine, worked by the convicts Port Arthur considered its worst, and it is part of the same World Heritage listing as Port Arthur itself.

It’s also completely free, never crowded, and open all the time. There are self-guided walking tracks through the ruins, interpretation boards that do a good job, and the solitary cells underground – which you can go into – are a far more affecting thing than anything at the main site. It gets a fraction of the visitors Port Arthur does and we thought it was the better experience.

If you are camping at Lime Bay, you drive straight past it. Stop and have a look.

9. Take A Coastal Cruise under the sea cliffs

We did not do this, and we still think about it. The Tasman Island Wilderness cruise runs three hours out of Port Arthur and takes you along the base of the highest vertical sea cliffs in the Southern Hemisphere at Cape Pillar. Around 300 metres straight up out of the water. Then past the Totem Pole, through the sea caves and archways, and out to Tasman Island under the lighthouse.

We were short on time, so we walked the capes instead and saw the cliffs from the top. Everyone we have spoken to who did the cruise says seeing them from below is a completely different experience. If your budget allows it, do it. We’ll surely go back and do this one.

10. Tasmanian Devil Unzoo

At Traranna, on the way down. It’s not a zoo in the usual sense. The devils are in large native-garden enclosures, and much of the site is open bush that wild animals wander through on their own. It’s not cheap, but it’s the most reliable place on the Tasman Peninsula to actually see a devil. Wild sightings are rarer every year.

→ Book your Tasmanian Devil experience.

11. The beaches

People do not come to the Tasman Peninsula for beaches and then find that it has a few good ones. Yes, the water is fresh (it’s southern Tasmania), but it’s doable and refreshing on a warm summer day.

12. Eat, drink and the odd distellery

For a peninsula with about 2,000 residents, there is a surprising amount going on:

• Doo-lishus at the Blowhole car park. Fish and chips, scallop pies, berry ice cream.
• Cubed Espresso Bar at Eaglehawk Neck, with a view over Pirates Bay.
• The Tasmanian Chocolate Foundry at Taranna
• McHenry Distillery is on the slopes of Mount Arthur, Australia’s southernmost whisky distillery, and they make gin and vodka too.
• Bangor Vineyard Shed at Dunalley. Oysters, wine and a view over Blackman Bay.
• Port Arthur Lavender: seven hectares of it, with a cafe and distillery. Worth timing for December and January when it’s in flower.
• Murdunna Roadhouse for fuel, groceries and a crayfish pie.

The best walks on the Tasman Peninsula

This is the real reason to spend more than a day on the Tasman Peninsula. Tasman National Park has the best coastal walking in Tasmania, and unlike a lot of the island’s great walks, the two best ones here are comfortably day trips that finish back at your car.

Here’s the full list:

Cape Hauy

This is our favourite walk in Tasmania, and we walked a lot of Tasmania. Four hours return, 9.4 km, and it starts from the Fortescue Bay campground, which means you can roll out of your bed and onto the track.

It does not ease you in. The track, the climbs, drops, climbs again. It’s basically a very long, beautifully built staircase cut into the headland. And then the heath opens out, and you are standing on the edge of a 300-metre dolerite cliff with the Southern Ocean underneath you. The rock formations out here look like something from Iceland, great fluted columns rising straight out of the water.

At the end, from the final lookout, you can see the Totem Pole. A 65-metre sea stack barely four metres wide, standing on its own in the channel. It’s one of the most famous rock climbs in the world, and looking down at it is very impressive. You can’t get closer than the lookout; if you want to see from the sea, you’d better hop on an iconic cruise.

Things to know before you start Cape Hauy

1. The steps are relentless. Something in the order of a thousand of them across the walk in both directions. It’s graded 3; it’s not technical, but it’s long, and you’ll feel it in your calves. Four hours is realistic.
2. There’s no water and almost no shade past the first kilometre. Carry enough water.
3. It’s fully exposed at the end. The last section is an open clifftop with unfenced drops. In a strong wind, it stops being fun. Parks & Wildlife close it in extreme weather.
4. Start early: The car park at Fortescue Bay fills up mid-morning in January and February.

→ Check out the Tasmania National Parks and Wildlife website for more information, park alerts and track conditions.

Cape Raoul

The longer one, and the wilder one. Five hours return and 14 kilometres, starting from the end of Stormlea Road on the western side of the Tasman Peninsula. This is the graded 4 walk of the two, which surprises people because the description makes it sound gentler. It’s longer, rougher underfoot, and the climbs are less evenly built than Cape Hauy’s.

What you get for it is variety. You start in thick wet forest, climb to a lookout barely half an hour in; that is so good that a lot of people stop there, and then the track runs out along an open plateau of low heath to a final headland where a row of dolerite columns drops away beneath you. The panorama from the end takes in Cape Pillar, Cape Hauy and Bruny Island on a clear day.

On the way out, you look down on Shipstern Bluff – also known as “Shippies” – which is one of the heaviest waves in the world. When it’s breaking properly, you may see big-wave surfers being towed in by jet ski. We did not get it on a big day, but even on a flat day it’s an incredible piece of coastline.

We also saw more pademelons on this track than anywhere else in Tasmania, which was a nice bonus on top of th eviews.

→ Find more information about the Cape Raoul track, track conditions and park alerts on the official Tasmania National Parks and Wildlife website.

If you only have time for one cape, walk Cape Hauy. It’s shorter, the track is better built, the views at the end are more dramatic, and it starts at a campground you probably want to stay at anyway. We did both on separate days and would do both again. But if it’s one or the other, it’s Cape Hauy.

Good to know: the two trailheads are on opposite sides of the Tasman Peninsula and about 50 minutes’ drive apart. Don’t plan to do them on the same day.

the Three Capes Track

We haven’t walked the Three Capes ourselves, but what I thought was worth knowing is that the name is slightly misleading: the standard route visits Cape Pillar and Cape Hauy, but not Cape Raoul, which is the day walk as described above. The huts are self-catered, so you carry four days of food. And Parks closes the track for maintenance and fuel-reduction burns each autumn. Check before you book flights around it.

Camping on the Tasman Peninsula

Camping at the Tasman Peninsula is also a must-do while exploring the area. You’ll get the full outdoor experience, sleeping under the stars in the iconic Tasman National Park, surrounded by wildlife. Both of the campgrounds below are ones we stayed at, and they’re both worth staying at.

There are only two public campgrounds on the Tasman Peninsula, and that’s something to understand about camping here:

• Is there free camping on the Tasman Peninsula? Honestly: no. There are no free camping areas on the Tasman Peninsula. Both public campgrounds charge, roadside camping is not permitted, and the Tasman Peninsula has no council-run donation camps of the kind you find on the east coast.
• The good news? Camping is only $13 for two people.

➤ If you’re planning a longer camping trip to Tasmania, start with our Camping Tasmania guide.

Fortescue Bay – Mill Creek and Banksia

In the heart of Tasman National Park, down 12 kilometres of gravel off the Arthur Highway. The road is unsealed but perfectly fine for a 2WD. Take it slowly, not after dark, because the wildlife is everywhere.

What you get at the end of it is a white sand beach, clear green water, towering forest right down the sand, and the Cape Hauy trailhead starting from the campground itself. For a walker, this is perfection.

There are two campgrounds sharing the bay:

1. Mill Creek: this is the drive-in one, with vehicle access to the sites and larger sites overall. We chose it because we were towing a camper trailer, and it puts us near the jetty, where we spent a couple of evenings failing to catch squid. And it’s also closest to the Cape Hauy track.
2. Banksia is a tent-only and walk-in, with parking about 30 metres from the sites. It’s closer to the beach and the lagoon. The hot showers are at Banksia, and you need tokens for them.

Lime Bay Campground

Right up in the north-west corner of the Tasman Peninsula at Saltwater River, a completely different mood to Fortescue Bay. Quieter, flatter, more sheltered and the place we would go to do nothing for a couple of days after walking the capes.

Getting there is 9 km from Nubeena Road along Saltwater River Road, then 6.5 km of unsealed Coal Mines Road at the end. A 2WD is fine.

The campground sits in shady coastal scrub behind a shallow, east facing beach with calm water. From camp, you can walk to lagoon Beach in about 45 minutes each way. There is no road to it, which is why it’s worth the walk. Or put a kayak or SUP in at Lime Bay itself. There’s a resident stingray who has a habit of joining people for a paddle, and he’s entirely harmless and far more interested in you than you comfortable with.

And do stop at the Coal Mines Historic Site on the way in. it’s on the same road, it’s free, and one of the best things to do on the Tasman Peninsula.

➤ Both campsites are listed in our top 10 favourite campsites in Tasmania. If you’re planning a longer trip to Tasmania, it’s worth checking out our other favourite campsites on both the east and west coast of Tassie.

Parks Passes: what you need an what it costs

Both campgrounds are inside reserves, so a parks pass is required in addition to the camping fee, and it’s charged per vehicle rather than per person.

If you are exploring the Tasman Peninsula for more than two days, the two-month holiday pass pays for itself immediately. It’s barely more than two daily passes. If you are doing a longer trip to Tasmania, it’s the obvious choice.

→ You can buy your Parks Pass through the official Tasmanian Parks & Wildlife website.

Caravan parks and other paid options

If the two national park campgrounds are full, or you want power and a hot shower without a token, here are your options:

• NRMA Port Arthur Holiday Park: powered & unpowered sites, cabins, camp kitchen and the only real caravan park convenience on the Tasman Peninsula. Walking distance to the historic site.
• White Beach Tourist Park: located on the western side near Nubeena, right behind the beach.
• Stewarts Bay Lodge: cabins rather than camping.

➤ Check availability and prices.

Where To Stay At The Tasman Peninsula if you’re not camping

There’s a good spread of shacks, cottages and cabins here, and after a few days of tents and cape walks, we were very happy to have one.

➤ Find the accommodation that suits you best.

The Old Jetty Joint

This classic Tasmanian Shack is only 150 m from the beach at Eaglehawk Neck, with a view straight out over the water. We stayed two nights and it was exactly what we needed after a few nights camping and hiking two of the three capes.

The location is the thing. Eaglehawk Neck is the northern end of the Tasman Peninsula, which means you are a couple of minutes from the Tessellated Pavement, the Blowhole, Doo Town and Pirates Bay, and about half an hour from Port Arthur.

The perfect 3-day Tasman Peninsula Itinerary

Three days is the sweet spot. It gives you both day walks, a proper visit to Port Arthur and enough extra time so a bad weather day doesn’t ruin your trip. Here’s how we’d spend our three days:

Day 1: Eaglehawk Neck and the north

• Leave Hobart after breakfast, shop at Sorell on the way through. Coffee at Dunalley.
• Tessellated Pavement at Eaglehawk Neck: check the tides first; you want to go at low tide.
• The Dogline and the officer’s quarters museum. 15 minutes, and it’s a great intro to what you’ll see at Port Arthur.
• Pirates Bay Lookout, then down to Doo Town to read the shack names and eat at Doo-lishus.
• The Blowhole, then Tasmans Arch and Devils Kitchen (once they reopen)
• Late afternoon: walk to Waterfall Bay. About 1.5 hours.
• Spend the night at Fortescue Bay, drive the 12 km of gravel before dark.

Day 2: Cape Hauy and Fortescue Bay

• Walk Cape Hauy, start early morning. It’s a four hour return hike.
• Back at camp, swim at Fortescue Bay and enjoy lunch.
• If you still feel like it, walk to Canoe Bay in the afternoon. Two hours return, easy, and there’s a shipwreck at the end.
• Second night at Fortescue Bay, or move to another accommodation at either Eaglehawk Neck or closer to Port Arthur.

Day 3: Port Arthur and the south

• Port Arthur historic site. Give it 4 to 5 hours, take the included harbour cruise.
• Drive out to Remarkable Cave in the afternoon, or add the Maingon Blowhole walk if you want a longer walk.
• Head north-west to Coal Mines Historic Site
• Stay at Lime Bay for a night

If you have an extra day, add Cape Raoul, or the walk from Lime Bay to Lagoon Beach.

➤ These three days slot straight into our full 7-day Tasmania Itinerary if you are planning a bigger trip around the Tasman Peninsula.

If you only have one day

It happens, and you’ll still have a great time. Here’s how we’d do it:

Tessellated Pavement at low tide → the Dogline → Doo Town and the Blowhole → Port Arthur for the afternoon → Remarkable Cave on the way back to Hobart.

That’s about nine hours door to door from Hobart, and it gives you a great introduction to this region. You’ll only miss out on a walk to one of the capes.

The best time to visit the Tasman Peninsula

February to April is our pick. The water is at its warmest (still fresh, though) in February and March; the weather is more settled than it is in spring, and the school holiday crowds have gone. April is quieter again.

Whales pass twice a year. Humpbacks head north between May and July and come back south between September and November. Pirates Bay and the Cape Lookouts are good places to watch from.

Tasman Peninsula map

Every campground, walk trailhead, beach, lookout is pinned on our free Tasmania Map.

Free Tasmania map — camps, national parks and the stops worth making Send it to me →

Before you go

The Tasman Peninsula is the easiest great trip in Tasmania. It’s an hour from Hobart, the roads are sealed, the walks start from the car parks, and it has so many things to do compared to other places in the country with ten times the size.

Give it three to five days. Walk Cape Hauy, see the Tessellated Pavement at low tide, explore the Historic site at Port Arthur, and camp along the way.

It’s the corner of Tasmania we would go back to first, and we wouldn’t change much about how we did it. Except that next time, we’re booking that cruise.

Happy travels!

Plan your trip to Tasmania

If you’re planning a camping trip to Tasmania, start with our complete guide to Camping Tasmania. For more detailed guides, check out:

• 7-Day Tasmania Itinerary – Island-wide
• Guide to the best camping on the East Coast of Tasmania
• Guide to go camping on the West Coast of Tasmania
• 7-Day West Coast Tasmania Itinerary
• Complete guide to Bruny Island

Tasman Peninsula FAQs

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