The Museum of Old and New Art (MONA) houses a collection that ranges from ancient Egyptian mummies to some of the world’s most infamous and thought-provoking contemporary art.  It is the largest privately owned museum in Australia and houses antiquities, modern and contemporary art from the collection of the owner, David Walsh. Walsh has described the museum as a “subversive adult Disneyland.”

Only 15 minutes’ drive north of Hobart, catch the MONA fast catamaran from the Hobart waterfront or the MONA ROMA mini bus.Open 6 days a week, 10am-6pm. Closed Tuesdays
For more information on the museum itself and transport options please click here

Rising 1270 metres (around 4,000 feet) above Hobart’s harbour, Mt Wellington provides a wilderness experience within 20 minutes’ drive of the city and is much loved by locals, for bushwalking, for the stunning views and for a play in the snow in winter!
Click here to check out by webcam what’s on Mt Wellington right now!!

Hobart looks sensational from the water so get out on the River Derwent for a difference perspective on our capital city – by luxury ocean racer, Lady Nelson (a full size replica of the original Deptford built Brig), and ferries departing Brooke St Pier daily.

Experience Hobart from the sky. Step straight off the Hobart waterfront on a seaplane, taking off and landing on the River Derwent.

For more information visit the Tasmanian Air Adventure website

Salamanca Market is on every Saturday 8.30am-3.00pm at Salamanca Place on Hobart’s waterfront. Visit Salamanca Market website

Take a guided or self-guided walking tour around historic Sullivan’s Cove and Battery Point, then add to your list the Theatre Royal, Maritime Museum, Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery just to get you started!

Fresh fruit and veggies at the local Farmer’s Markets, cool climate wine, boutique beers, whisky to rival Scotland’s, coffee (see our favourite coffee stops below).

A great overview can be gained by joining a Gourmania Food Tour. Visit their website here

The Tasmanian whisky trail is also worth a look. Click here for more information.

Kayaking on the River Derwent, abseiling from Mt Wellington’s Organ Pipes, descending Mt Wellington by bicycle, from guided city walking tours to self-guided wilderness walking tracks on the side of Mt Wellington – there lots to get your blood pumping without having to leave the city!

Tasmania is know for it’s food and wine but what about the coffee? There are hundreds of cafes in and around the waterfront. Our favourite cafes are:

Jackman and McRoss 57-59 Hampden Rd, Battery Point
Timeless Ways 33 Hunter St, Hobart
Daci and Daci Bakery 11 Murray St Hobart
Tricycle Cafe & Bar 77 Salamanca Pl, Hobart
Yellow Bernard 109 Collins St, Hobart
Atlas 18 Elizabeth St, Hobart

Travel a bit further afield by joining award winning Maria Island Walks’ for a 4 day experience, departing from Hobart and heading for the beautiful East Coast.

For more information visit Maria Island Walks’ website

Luxury Lodge Suite, Bed & Breakfast

Previously a Hydro village, Tarraleah’s original 1930′s residences and public buildings have been lovingly converted into charming guest accommodation in a range of styles. For more information visit www.tarraleah.com.au

ARTBIKES is a bike borrowing service that enables art lovers to easily access either Hobart’s arts precincts and galleries.
Spend the day immersing yourself in Tasmania’s arts and culture with a state-of-the-art, Dutch designed Vanmoof bike.
Simple, light and strong, ARTBIKES are available in male and unisex models.
They’ll provide the helmet, lock and a cultural map – all you need is to do is provide the pedal power!

For more information visit: http://arts.tas.gov.au/artsatwork/artbikes

A sustainable farm-based cooking school situated in a 19th century schoolhouse.

The Agrarian Kitchen is a working farm that grows and uses heirloom varieties of fruit, vegetables and rare breed animals in its cooking classes and also sources ingredients from local farmers, fishermen, gardeners and artisanal producers.

For more information please click here – www.theagrariankitchen.com

If you want to get up close and personal with wildlife, Bonorong Wildlife Sanctuary is a must do! See active Tasmanian devils, hand feed our mob of free ranging kangaroos, join a tour and meet orphan wombats and koalas.

For more information please click here – www.bonorong.com.au

A hidden treasure. Discover and piece of Tasmania’s heritage. Just 45 minutes from Hobart at the historic town of Pontville.
For More information visit http://shene.com.au/

The decayed penal facility at Port Arthur lives through the stories of convict hardship told by the guides who escort reverential groups through the ruins and across the extensive lawns. It is a shrine of remembrance for Australians – right up there with Gallipoli, and closer to home. The Great Shame of our ancestors having been transported by the motherland has been replaced by national pride that we have survived, and survived well – well enough to thrash them at cricket, and just about anything else you might care to mention.

Visit the Port Arthur Historic Site website

The two-hour amble around Dove Lake will be sufficient, for the passer-by, to appreciate the rugged beauty of Cradle Mountain and the National Park. Venture a little further afield and you will experience what, apart from earliest European settlement history, makes Tasmania so unique and appealing. Yes, there are little-walked beaches on the east coast and rivers tumbling down to the west coast, but in its heart Tasmania has a wilderness, barely touched, soothing to the soul, and designated as a World Heritage Area. There is no higher accolade. And the iconic peaks of Cradle Mountain are the diadem in this crown.
Visit the Cradle Mountain pages on the Parks and Wildlife Service Tasmania website

The Freycinet Peninsula is a hook of land, ridged by granite mountains, about midway up the east coast of Tasmania. It makes a sheltered playground for swimming and kayaking in the bay on the landward side, while on the exposed seaward side is the much-photographed crescent of Wineglass Bay, best viewed after a short sharp climb to the lookout. It’s a prime summer-holiday destination for the natives, and attracts many out-of-state visitors too, so expect to share the walks and beaches with others.

The weather patterns that affect Tasmania are generated in open ocean way to the west of the island. Clouds rush onto the mountains of the west coast and are pushed upwards to discharge their load on that side of the central highland ridge. Rainfall here is measured in metres rather than inches per annum. Much is collected in lakes and dams and a goodly quantity snakes its way down the course of the Gordon River to find outlet in the vast natural haven of Macquarie Harbour. Take a cruise from Strahan and marvel at the overgrowth of temperate rainforest mirrored in the gentle river flow.

Forestry Tasmania has critics but this state-government department has done much to improve its public image by building the nearly 600metre-long walkway through the treetops at Tahune, on the edge of the South West Wilderness. The climax of the walk is a cantilever, 48 metres above the ground, with a dramatic view of forested mountains beyond the confluence of the Huon and Picton Rivers. Half of Tasmania is locked-up with forests of eucalypts and hardwood trees, perhaps the most endearing quality of the island experience, and the opportunity to explore not only the floor but the canopy is best undertaken at the Tahune Forest Airwalk.
Visit the Tahune Air Walk website

Saffire Freycinet is a luxury coastal sanctuary on Tasmania’s East Coast delivering sophisticated and intimate style.
Discreetly positioned overlooking the Hazards Mountains, Freycinet Peninsula and the waters of Great Oyster Bay, Saffire blends mankind and nature with breathtaking beauty. With only 20 luxurious suites, exclusive day spa, restaurant, guest lounge and bar, this experience is a celebration of the art of service, wellbeing, local culinary delights, ancient landscapes and abundant wildlife.

You would want to reach Cataract Gorge Reserve by walking from the city centre of Launceston, firstly because it is an easy, level twenty-minute stroll and, more importantly, because it cements in your mind how attached this natural stealaway is to the urban sprawl. Follow the Tamar River bank to Kings Bridge, where the South Esk River meets, and wander along the well-trodden pathway under the cliffs to First Basin, the ferntree glades and gardens, the picnic areas and swimming pool, the cafe and an overhead chairlift ride. There is also wildlife in abundance.
Visit the Cataract Gorge website

The Tamar Valley Wine Route is in the heart of northern Tasmania – home to some of the finest wines in the world. The unique cool climate location produces elegant wines of exceptional quality and you can visit over 32 wineries within driving distance of each other. Cellar door tastings are a specialty of the Tamar Valley featuring standout wine styles of sparkling wine, Chardonnay, Riesling, Cabernet Sauvignon and Pinot Noir.
For more information please click here – www.tamarvalleywineroute.com.au

The Southwest National Park is not accessible by road. It is the largest protected reserve in Tasmania, covering 20 percent of the island, and it has been designated a World Heritage Area. Take a charter flight from Hobart Airport, round the wave-lashed cliffs of South Cape and land at Melaleuca. You get sweeping views of Bathurst Harbour and Port Davey before bouncing to a halt on a dirt runway. Believe it or not there are a couple of people living in tin shacks and ekeing out an existence at Melaleuca. They have for company the Orange Bellied Parrots and the hardy through-walkers hiking this remote wilderness. The weather is as bleak as the surroundings but, whatever they are escaping, and there is plenty in the world to wish behind you, they surely find satisfaction in the silence, the water, the button-grass plains and the jagged mountains. And you will too, even if for but a few hours.