Half the size of England, twice the drama, air you can taste.
Tasmania sits 240 kilometres off the mainland and feels further: cooler, greener, quieter, stranger. Nearly half the island is protected wilderness, its produce fills the menus of Australia's best restaurants, and its galleries are unlike anything else in the hemisphere. A week here is the best-value week in Australian travel.
Australia's second-oldest city wears its Georgian sandstone gracefully around a working harbour backed by kunanyi/Mount Wellington. Saturday's Salamanca Market is the country's best; the summit drive (or hike) up the mountain delivers a view over half the island's south.
Then there's MONA — the Museum of Old and New Art — a subterranean provocation carved into a peninsula, reached by camouflage-painted ferry. Part gallery, part funhouse, part dare, it single-handedly rewired Tasmania's identity and remains the best reason to route any Australian trip through Hobart. In June, its Dark Mofo festival fills midwinter with fire, feasting and nude solstice swims.
Cradle Mountain–Lake St Clair National Park is the island's alpine heart. The two-hour Dove Lake circuit under the mountain's jagged quartzite crown suits everyone; the six-day Overland Track (book months ahead for October–May) is Australia's most celebrated multi-day hike. Wombats graze the buttongrass at dusk near Ronny Creek, indifferent to your camera.
On the east coast, Freycinet National Park's Wineglass Bay lookout earns its fame in 45 minutes' walking; continue down to the beach and you'll likely share it with wallabies. Further south, the sea cliffs of the Tasman Peninsula are the tallest in the Southern Hemisphere — see them from the Three Capes Track or a wave-thumping boat cruise.
Tasmania's cool climate produces Australia's best pinot noir and sparkling (Tamar Valley), oysters pulled straight from Bruny Island and Coles Bay waters, cheese, honey, cherries and — the boom story — single-malt whisky: Hobart-area distilleries have taken world titles from the Scots. Bruny Island, a short ferry south of Hobart, packs oysters, cheese, whisky and a famous berry farm into one greedy day trip, with white wallabies as a bonus.
The Tasmanian devil survives here and nowhere else in the wild; see them (and support the disease-recovery insurance population) at Devils @ Cradle after dark feeding tours. Echidnas cross roads with total confidence, and the island's night drives demand slow speeds — wildlife density is unlike the mainland.