Pristine beaches, soaring sea cliffs, unique rock formations and lush green forests, plus a historic world heritage listed prison site – that is Tasman Peninsula.

Located at the south eastern end of Tasmania, Tasman Peninsula is just a 90-minute drive from Hobart.

This picturesque route alternates between land and water, via bridges, of course. First comes the Tasman bridge – to reach Rosny Park and Rosny hill lookout. This is worth a short stop to get views over the bay.

Further onwards, the A3 (Tasman Highway) crosses another bay to reach the Midway point and Sorrell. From there, the northern most tip of Tasman Peninsula is just a short drive away.

Tip: If you plan to stay for 4-5 days in the peninsula, we suggest that you stock up some groceries and fill gas at Sorrell, where you will find the big Woolworth’s supermarket chain and large gas stations. After this point, there are only a few small groceries and gas stations in the peninsula.

A stay of 4 days would be ideal to cover most of the places. However, if you are planning to do really long hikes, do set aside a week to allow for the bad weather issues here – many rainy and windy days!

Here are two maps showing the best places worth visiting in the Tasman Peninsula and the drive from Hobart as well.

Hobart to Tasman Peninsula drive
Tasman Peninsula points of interest

PORT ARTHUR HISTORIC SITE

Port Arthur is a World Heritage listed prison site in Tasmania. It is a national award-winning popular tourist attraction.

What made this an ideal prison is its isolation from the rest of Tasmania, only accessible across a very narrow neck of land which was easy to guard.

The property spans over 40 hectares and has about 30 historic buildings. Port Arthur showcases Tasmania’s early convict history with cruises, guided tours and interactive experiences.

Port Arthur main building
Boat cruise jetty at Port Arthur
Sructures in ruins
Architecture inside Port Arthur
Church at Port Arthur
Beautiful landing paths

It is worth a full day trip with a lot to see:

  • A guided cruise that takes you to the small islands in the bay, each having its unique convict history.
  • Several walking tours through beautiful gardens and restored buildings.
  • An 1830 Restaurant and bar for some great food and drinks.
  • The Port Arthur Gallery, with displays and interactive exhibitions explaining both the history and importance of this site.
  • The Ghost Tour, which will take you by lantern light around one of the most haunted locations in Australia, over the course of 1.5 hours

The atmosphere, beautiful settings and stories are fascinating.

The introductory tour in the main entrance, followed by the boat cruise tour, were well worth the time. The boat stops at several places, and the guide points out notable spots on islands and provides brief backgrounds of the places.

A lot of walking is involved as the property is huge and there are slopes and steps too. The gardens are very beautiful with orange and yellow colour oak trees.

Another way to get the best views of the sea cliffs is to jump onboard a ‘Wilderness cruise’ – booking at Port Arthur. Be prepared to get fully drenched if the weather turns nasty!

EAGLEHAWK NECK

Eaglehawk Neck is truly the scenic gateway to the Tasman Peninsula. It is a narrow isthmus of land near some of the most dramatic coastlines.

Here you will see rugged coastlines, huge sea cliffs, turquoise waters and clean beaches.

A perfect place for nature lovers and photographers.

TASMAN ARCH

We were totally blown away by this giant rocky archway created by erosion of wind and waves.

Just a short walk from the parking lot will take you to the Tasman arch –  an awesome natural arch, with trees and vegetation on the top, and turquoise waters below.

Tasman Arch, Tasman Peninsula
Devil's Kitchen
Devil's Kitchen another view
Mystery tree branch with wrinkles

We found a kind of mystery tree with wrinkles on its branches! (image above)

DEVIL’S KITCHEN

About a half hour walk from the Tasman Arch, is the Devil’s Kitchen lookout.

This 60 metres deep Devil’s Kitchen was also formed by erosion of wind and waves.

When you gaze down the giant sea cliffs at the foams and bubbles of the waters below, you can truly see the fury of the great southern ocean as  huge swells crash into the base of tall cliffs. It’s a spectacular sight!

Photography is not easy here as we had to stoop down quite a bit to get the views due to wild plants and vegetation.

THE BLOWHOLE

Another natural wonder caused by erosion over many years.

There is the viewpoint from the walking track to see this awesome sight of water forcibly pushing through a crack to form the blowhole and crashing into the huge boulders.

TESSELLATED PAVEMENT

Here is a totally rare geological formation!

Located at a short walk from the car park opposite the Lufra Hotel is this pavement formed by unique geological formations.

The patterns on the rock are interesting – caused by cracking due to movements in Earth’s crust. There are different patterns on the pavement rock near the edge of the water and a bit further from the water. Many years of erosion has carved loaf-like formations near the edge of water and concave pan-like tiles further.

Tessellated Pavement unique patterns
Cubed espresso bar at tasman peninsula
Different patterns closer to water's edge

There are signposts explaining its geological significance, but you can just wander around the rocks to get the best experience.

Sunset and sunrise bring out the natural colours of this pavement.

This place is a hit with visitors and we saw that many groups had come with blankets and mats to just sit and enjoy the sunset. There is a popular mobile van café called Cubed Espresso bar with coffee, tea and cakes with outdoor seating.

REMARKABLE CAVE

Another impressive natural phenomenon!

Situated south of the peninsula, it is a short walk from the car park along a metal boardwalk to the Remarkable cave. There are about 115 steps – well maintained and easy to do.

The waves break just below the viewing point.

Remarkable cave
View from Remarkable cave viewing platform
Stairs to Remarkable cave

It is truly a spectacular location, and even if you do not want to go down to the cave, there is another viewing platform offering great views of the rough waves on steep cliffs. It gets very windy here, and often rainy as well, which can get a bit uncomfortable.

The best time to go is at low tide so that the cave and views below can be explored comfortably.

Walks and Hikes

The peninsula in general has great walking and hiking opportunities including bushwalks. Lime Bay, Lagoon bay, Fortescue bay are popular with visitors.

Apart from these, there are challenging hikes on Cape Raoul and others like ‘three capes track’ that are 3-day long hikes. This would be a perfect place for adventurous hikers.

White Beach

This is a great choice for a base in Tasman Peninsula. We based ourselves in a nice Airbnb accommodation here and the views of the sea were outstanding! The beaches are totally clean and pristine.

There is an Tasman Ex-Service club here that serves great food and take outs too. Their menu includes popular Australian delicacies including chicken parmigiana, Tasmanian fresh grilled salmon, steak and lot of salads.

Nubeena is another popular place with accommodation options.

Driving northwest of the Peninsula

Though this is not a popular destination for visitors, we drove up to explore what was there.

We found picturesque points mainly at Parsons Bay, Norfolk Bay, Premaydena, also known as Impression bay, and Saltwater River.

We had a lovely long drive with stops in interesting places for photo-ops.

Picture postcard - Saltwater River
Gorgeous Norfolk Bay
The wild waves
Flocks of birds adding to the beauty
Colors of sky and sea
Color contrasts in Saltwater River

These are totally remote areas but the main roads are quite good. We wanted to check out the Lime Bay nature reserve and Slope Point, but it had unsealed muddy roads as with many remote areas in Tasmania. We had to turn back as we did not have a 4WD and there were hardly any people to help if we had any car trouble!

Our stay in this beautiful part of Tasmania ended too soon. We drove back towards Hobart at the end of our 5 days here and further south towards the ‘Southern Edge’ region of Tasmania for more adventures!

Tasman Peninsula pin
Images from Tasman Peninsula

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Tasman Peninsula points of interest
Port Arthur main building
Boat cruise jetty at Port Arthur
Sructures in ruins
Architecture inside Port Arthur
Church at Port Arthur
Beautiful landing paths
Tasman Arch, Tasman Peninsula
Devil's Kitchen
Devil's Kitchen another view
Mystery tree branch with wrinkles
Tessellated Pavement unique patterns
Cubed espresso bar at tasman peninsula
Different patterns closer to water's edge
Remarkable cave
View from Remarkable cave viewing platform
Stairs to Remarkable cave
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Color contrasts in Saltwater River
Tasman Peninsula pin
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