28-Day Tasmania Road Trip: The 4-Week Highlights and Wilderness Circuit
Four weeks is enough time to see the best of Tasmania without rushing every single day. This 28-day Tasmania road trip is purpose-built for travellers on standard annual leave or tight ferry windows: it cuts the long out-and-back detours that eat days without earning them, and replaces them with multi-night base camps at the places that actually matter. West Coast wilderness, alpine lakes, Hobart, the Tasman Peninsula, Freycinet, the Bay of Fires, Ben Lomond. Four weeks. One continuous Tasmania road trip circuit.
The itinerary is split into two parts. Part 1 covers the western half of the circuit from Devonport to Hobart (Days 1 – 14). Part 2 covers the eastern half from Hobart back to Devonport (Days 15 – 28).
If you have six weeks, our 42-day lap of Tasmania covers everything including the Tarkine wilderness and the far south. This itinerary is something different: a tighter, faster-paced Tasmania road trip for people who have done the sums and know exactly what their window looks like.
How to Use This Guide
This is a bird’s-eye planning guide for lapping Tasmania in four weeks. A multi-week circuit across the island has a lot of moving parts, so this page focuses on the big picture: the route logic, how the landscapes shift, seasonal timing, and the overall daily pacing of the trip.
To keep this master plan practical and readable, day-to-day entries highlight the core route flow, milestones, and major stops rather than turn-by-turn navigation or campsite amenities.
Each major leg links directly to a dedicated, detailed itinerary. Those sub-guides cover the ground-level logistics: specific camp locations, dump points, fuel stops, road conditions, and towing notes.
The 4-Week Strategy
Two sections of the full 6-week circuit are left off this itinerary deliberately, and it is worth being upfront about why.
The Tarkine loop is the first cut. Arthur River and Julius River are genuinely worth the detour, but pushing deep into the north-west edge of the state and back adds four days. On a 28-day circuit that needs multi-night base camps at Cradle Mountain, Strahan, Hobart and Freycinet, four days is too much to spend on a single out-and-back. The Tarkine deserves its own dedicated trip, not three days squeezed between the ferry and the Murchison Highway.
The far south and Bruny Island are the second major cut. Cockle Creek, Southport, and the slow roads to South East Cape are some of the most isolated country in Tasmania. They are also a dead end: you drive in, you drive back out, and the turnaround costs two to three days that this itinerary does not have.
Bruny Island gets cut for the same reason. People often try to squeeze it into a single day trip from Hobart, but that means spending most of your day queueing for the Kettering ferry and rushing past the lookouts without time to walk the Cape Bruny track or explore properly. Taking a caravan across adds ferry queueing, vehicle fares, and another two to three days to do it justice. Both the far south and Bruny Island go the same way as the Tarkine: onto a dedicated trip, not a compressed footnote.
What those cuts buy is time. Multi-night stays at Lake Gairdner, Strahan, Mount Field, Hobart, Coles Bay and Binalong Bay. Days where you can actually walk somewhere, do a cruise, explore a town properly and still have enough energy in the evening to enjoy where you are camped.
Seasonality and Route Direction
Peak Season: December to March (Anti-Clockwise)
This itinerary runs anti-clockwise: West Coast and highlands first, East Coast second. In peak summer the western wilderness has its driest, most stable weather window of the year. Arriving at Cradle Mountain and Strahan in December or January catches them at their best, and finishing on the East Coast in February or March times coastal swimming for when the water is warm.
Spring Arrivals: October to November (Clockwise)
Arriving in spring? Reverse the itinerary and travel clockwise: East Coast first, West Coast last. Spring on the West Coast delivers sustained westerly fronts, heavy rainfall and cold snaps that can lock down the highlands for days. Starting on the East Coast keeps you in the drier rain-shadow while the west dries out. By the time you reach Strahan and Queenstown, the weather will have had six to eight more weeks to settle. For more on timing your Spirit of Tasmania crossing, see our Spirit of Tasmania Guide.
28 Day Tasmania Road Trip Map
To help with your planning, we’ve prepared a route map. Later in the article, there is an interactive map for more information (jump to interactive map).
Part 1: The Western Half: Wilderness, Highland Lakes and Hobart (Days 1 – 14)
Straight off the ferry into alpine country, hydro lakes, mining history, swamp gum forests and four nights in Hobart
Most travellers roll off the Spirit of Tasmania with an urge to push somewhere. Resist the highway north and head south instead. Within an hour of leaving Devonport the landscape shifts from coastal flat to forested valley, and by the time you reach Lake Gairdner you are in genuine highland country: cool air, mirror-flat water and the western ridge of Cradle Mountain visible on a clear day from camp. This opening is one of the best on any Tasmania road trip, and it sets the tone for everything that follows.
Rob’s Tip: Since it is prohibited to take vegetables to Tasmania, you will need to stock up after arrival. If you are towing a caravan, parking near the supermarkets in Devonport is a bit tight. You may wish to travel via Sheffield and stock up there. See our Sheffield guide.
The first three nights are at Lake Gairdner. Head south through the Forth Valley and the timber town of Wilmot on Day 1 (or via Sheffield if you need to stock up), and get there early enough to choose your spot. Day 2 is Cradle Mountain: unhitch, drive to the visitor centre, and take the park shuttle to Dove Lake. The Dove Lake Circuit is 6 km of some of the most dramatic alpine walking in the country, with the summit directly above and the lake reflecting the whole scene on calm mornings.
There are a couple of options for day 3. You can either head back to Cradle Mountain to attempt one of the more challenging walks or visit one of the closer waterfalls. The walk to Champagne and Bridle Veil Falls is worth the effort. For a view of Lake Gairdner and the surrounding area, take the short walk up Bell Mount.
Day 4 takes you west on the Murchison Highway to Lake Mackintosh, a hydro storage lake beneath forested ridges that most caravanners drive past without stopping. Worth the overnight. The short transit to Strahan on Day 5 runs via Zeehan. The next two nights are the West Coast proper. The Gordon River cruise on Day 6 is three hours upriver through the Wilderness World Heritage Area: Huon pines, glassy black water and Heritage Landing where a short boardwalk delivers you into a stand of trees old enough to make the whole concept of a long weekend feel slightly absurd. Ocean Beach in the afternoon, waterfront sunset from Strahan. Day 7 is the transit to Queenstown, and the town earns an afternoon: the polychrome hills, the copper-stained streets and the Iron Blow open-cut lookout are unlike anything else on the circuit.
Day 8 is one of the best days on the itinerary. Leaving Queenstown, the winding climb up through the bare hills of the 99 Bends is the warm-up. Nelson Falls makes an easy roadside stop further east, with a flat 20-minute return walk through cold-temperate rainforest. Just after Derwent Bridge, pull in at The Wall in the Wilderness to view Greg Duncan’s hand-carved Huon pine panels depicting the history of the highlands. Allow ninety minutes here, not forty-five. Continue and descend through the Derwent Valley to camp beside Lake Meadowbank at Bethune Park. Stopping here is strategic: it breaks up the haul from the west and sets you up for an early morning arrival at the next camp.
Day 9 is a short morning tow from Bethune Park straight into Mount Field, the oldest national park in Tasmania. Settle into the campground early (as it fills early), then head out to Russell Falls and Horseshoe Falls in the afternoon. The track starts close to the visitor centre, and both earn their reputation. Russell Falls in particular is one of the most photographed waterfalls in the state. We recommend continuing on the track to complete the loop that also visits Lady Barron Falls (Russell, Horseshoe and Lady Barron Falls).
Day 10 stays at Mount Field. Walk the Tall Trees circuit through the giant swamp gums in the morning, then unhitch the vehicle for the drive up the gravel road to alpine Lake Dobson in the afternoon. The road climbs out of the rainforest into pandani groves and high-country moorland that most visitors skip because they assume it demands a dedicated 4WD. It does not. If you are up for a walk, we highly recommend heading up early and doing the Tarn Shelf walk.
Day 11 follows the lower Derwent River into Hobart, bypassing Cockle Creek, the far south, and Bruny Island entirely. On this timeframe, leaving those out is the right move: it gives Hobart four solid nights so you can explore without rushing camp.
Day 12: drive unhitched up kunanyi / Mount Wellington in the morning for views across the Derwent estuary from 1,270 m, followed by a walk around the historic cottages of Battery Point and Salamanca in the afternoon. Day 13 is MONA; give it a relaxed half-day or more. Day 14 gives you a spare day based in Hobart to wander the waterfront docks, visit the botanical gardens, or catch up on maintenance before tracking east toward the Tasman Peninsula.
Part 1: Days at a Glance
- Day 1: Devonport to Lake Gairdner (via Forth Valley and Wilmot)
- Day 2: Base Lake Gairdner (unhitched day trip to Cradle Mountain, Dove Lake circuit)
- Day 3: Base Lake Gairdner (highland lakes, fishing, rest day)
- Day 4: Lake Gairdner to Lake Mackintosh (Murchison Highway)
- Day 5: Lake Mackintosh to Strahan (via Zeehan and Spray Tunnel)
- Day 6: Base Strahan (Gordon River cruise, Ocean Beach)
- Day 7: Strahan to Queenstown (Iron Blow, historic streets)
- Day 8: Queenstown to Bethune Park / Lake Meadowbank (99 Bends, Nelson Falls, The Wall in the Wilderness)
- Day 9: Bethune Park to Mount Field National Park (Russell Falls, Horseshoe Falls)
- Day 10: Base Mount Field (Tall Trees walk, Lake Dobson road)
- Day 11: Mount Field to Hobart (Derwent Valley)
- Day 12: Base Hobart (kunanyi, Battery Point, Salamanca)
- Day 13: Base Hobart (MONA via ferry)
- Day 14: Base Hobart
Part 1 Highlights
- Dove Lake circuit, Cradle Mountain: 6 km of alpine walking with the mountain directly above
- Gordon River cruise: three hours into the World Heritage wilderness from Strahan
- The Wall in the Wilderness, Derwent Bridge: Greg Duncan’s carved timber panels. Allow more time than you think.
- Queenstown’s Iron Blow lookout: the open-cut mine and the polychrome hills around it
- Russell Falls, Mount Field: worth every visitor who goes there
- Lake Dobson road: high alpine moorland accessed via a well-maintained gravel road
- kunanyi/Mount Wellington: sealed to the summit, views that recalibrate your sense of the city below
- MONA: ferry from Brooke Street Pier, book ahead, allow a full day
Part 2: The Eastern Half: Granite Coast and Northern Midlands (Days 15 – 28)
Sea cliffs, convict history, wombats, the turquoise coast and the quiet road home
The East Coast is what most people picture when they plan a Tasmania road trip. Sea cliffs tall enough to make you step back from the edge. A convict site that stops being a tourism product about twenty minutes in and becomes something else entirely. An island with no cars, no campfires and a wombat population that has had enough generations of gentle human contact to be unbothered. Then the granite coast: lichen-orange boulders, white sand, water that looks borrowed from somewhere tropical.
Day 15 heads east to the Tasman Peninsula, with Remarkable Cave and Tasman Arch in the afternoon. Both are close to the carpark, both worth seeing. Day 16 stays on the peninsula: Port Arthur Historic Site. Day 17 returns north to Triabunna. Day 18 is Maria Island: passenger ferry from Triabunna, no vehicles, no campfires, wombats at Darlington who will walk within two metres of you without concern, Painted Cliffs in the afternoon if the tide cooperates. Pack a lunch.
Day 19 picks up the Great Eastern Drive north to Coles Bay. The route through Swansea and past the Freycinet Peninsula is one of the best coastal touring roads in Australia. Pull over when the view is good, because it is good repeatedly. Day 20 is Freycinet: the Wineglass Bay lookout in the morning (90 minutes return, the most recognised view in the state), Cape Tourville lighthouse walk in the afternoon (20 minutes, clifftop views north along the coast). Day 21 continues north through Bicheno and St Helens to Binalong Bay. Two full days at the Bay of Fires on Days 22 and 23. The orange lichen boulders are most concentrated north of the town, away from the main carparks. Walk north along Swimcart Beach on Day 22 and explore the coastal coves on Day 23. The water is at its warmest in February and March.
The final five days are the closing loop through country that most visitors drive straight through on the way to somewhere else. Georgian heritage towns, the sheer escarpment of Ben Lomond, a karst cave system under the hills north of Deloraine and a town covered in outdoor murals that has been quietly building one of the more unusual open-air galleries in the country since 1986. It is a gentle landing after three weeks of wilderness and coastline, and it completes the Tasmania road trip circuit without retracing long sections of road.
Day 24 heads inland from Binalong Bay to Evandale via the Esk Highway. Evandale is one of the best-preserved Georgian towns in Tasmania: the streetscape is intact, the Federal Hotel is a proper pub and the national penny-farthing championship in February turns the main street into something genuinely worth stopping for. Day 25 stays at Evandale for the Ben Lomond day trip. Unhitch, drive east to the national park and tackle Jacob’s Ladder: six tight hairpin switchbacks climbing to the alpine plateau at around 1,500 m. The view over the northern midlands from the top covers more of Tasmania than most people expect. The plateau is moorland in summer and ski country in winter.
A short hop west takes you to Deloraine on Day 26, framed by the Great Western Tiers to the south. The afternoon is Mole Creek: the Marakoopa Cave glowworm tour is the drawcard and bookings are essential in summer. Sheffield is Day 27, where Mount Roland rises directly behind the town and murals cover almost every external wall in the centre. The Sheffield murals started as a revitalisation project and have become something more considered over the decades; allow a couple of hours to walk through them properly. Day 28 is a relaxed day before the short transit to Devonport for the evening Spirit of Tasmania departure.
Part 2: Days at a Glance
- Day 15: Hobart to Nubeena / Tasman Peninsula (Remarkable Cave, Tasman Arch)
- Day 16: Base Tasman Peninsula (Port Arthur, Cape Raoul walk)
- Day 17: Nubeena to Triabunna (coast road north)
- Day 18: Base Triabunna (full day on Maria Island)
- Day 19: Triabunna to Coles Bay (Great Eastern Drive)
- Day 20: Base Coles Bay (Wineglass Bay lookout, Cape Tourville)
- Day 21: Coles Bay to Binalong Bay (via Bicheno and St Helens)
- Days 22 – 23: Base Binalong Bay (Bay of Fires, Swimcart Beach, coastal coves)
- Day 24: Binalong Bay to Evandale (Esk Highway)
- Day 25: Base Evandale (unhitched day trip to Ben Lomond, Jacob’s Ladder)
- Day 26: Evandale to Deloraine (Mole Creek caves afternoon)
- Day 27: Deloraine to Sheffield (murals, Mount Roland)
- Day 28: Sheffield to Devonport (morning in the foothills, evening ferry)
Part 2 Highlights
- Port Arthur Historic Site: allow three to four hours, not two
- Maria Island: pack lunch, check the tide table for Painted Cliffs, expect wombats everywhere
- Wineglass Bay lookout: 90 minutes return from the carpark
- Bay of Fires: walk north from Binalong Bay, away from the carparks
- Jacob’s Ladder, Ben Lomond: six hairpin switchbacks to an alpine plateau most visitors skip
- Evandale: the best-preserved Georgian streetscape in the state, and a proper pub
- Marakoopa Cave, Mole Creek: glowworm tour, book ahead in summer
- Sheffield murals: forty-plus outdoor paintings, two hours to walk through properly
Interactive 28 Day Tasmania Road Trip Map
To help with your planning, we have prepared a route map. The map also shows campground locations, points of interest and starting points for walks. Each leg is on a separate layer.
You can turn the map layers on and off for clarity. Click the icon in the top left to view the layers. You can zoom into areas with a high density of points.
For those who jumped to the interactive map, you may return to the static map: click to return.
Adjusting the Length of Your Trip
Four weeks is a good length for this route, but there is enough flexibility to add a week or drop a couple of days without breaking the flow.
Have More Time?
If you have 6 weeks rather than 4, our 6 Week Tasmania Road Trip is more suited to you.
For those with 5 weeks the obvious addition to this itinerary is to head south from Hobart to visit the far south and Bruny Island on our Southern Tasmania & Bruny Island itinerary.
Have Less Time?
A 21-day Tasmania road trip is workable, but something has to go. The cleanest cut is the Tasman Peninsula and Maria Island loop. Skip Days 15 to 18 and head directly from Hobart up the Great Eastern Drive to Coles Bay, bypassing the Tasman Peninsula and Maria Island. From Binalong Bay, the rest of Part 2 runs exactly as written.
The alternative cut is the northern midlands section of Part 2 (Days 24 – 28). Finish at the Bay of Fires, head directly to Launceston via the Esk Highway and transit to Devonport from there. You lose Ben Lomond, Deloraine and Sheffield, and it is an easier cut to live with than dropping the Tasman Peninsula.
Either way, do not try to compress this 28-day Tasmania road trip into 21 days by rushing every leg. Pick what you are happiest to drop and do the rest properly.
If you only need to cut a couple of days, the obvious pick is to skip Lake Lake Mackintosh and drop a day in Hobart.
