Things to do in Hobart

Salamanca Market

Salamanca Market is the single most-visited attraction in Tasmania, and it earns that status honestly: every Saturday, several hundred stalls fill the length of Salamanca Place's sandstone warehouse strip, selling Tasmanian produce, timber, glasswork, jewellery, art and street food alongside buskers and a genuinely festive atmosphere. It's been running in some form since a trial market in late 1971 led to an official launch in January 1972, and it's grown from a handful of stalls to several hundred without losing the local, makers-market feel that made it popular in the first place.

It's worth timing a Hobart visit to catch it if you can — Saturday morning into the early afternoon is the market's natural window, and it gets busy, so an earlier start makes for easier browsing. On other days, the same warehouses hold cafés, restaurants and galleries, so Salamanca Place is worth a visit regardless of what day you're there.

Worth knowing if you're walking down from Battery Point: Kelly's Steps, a narrow flight of stairs cut into the sandstone cliff in 1839 by early harbourmaster James Kelly, is the original — and still the most atmospheric — way to drop from the hillside straight into the market crowd below, rather than looping around by road. And if your visit happens to fall on a Sunday instead, Farm Gate Market takes over a stretch of Bathurst Street in the city centre with Tasmanian growers and producers selling direct — a genuine farmers' market rather than a tourist-facing crafts fair, and a good complement to Salamanca's Saturday crowd.

The same warehouses house Salamanca Arts Centre year-round, not just on market Saturdays — artist studios, small galleries and a couple of performance venues spread across several of the heritage buildings, with the Long Gallery's rotating exhibitions of Tasmanian and visiting artists worth a look if you're drawn to the market's crafts stalls but want something a step more curated.

MONA

MONA — the Museum of Old and New Art — is Hobart's headline attraction and, for a lot of visitors, the actual reason a Tasmania trip got booked. Built into a sandstone riverbank on the Berriedale peninsula and opened in 2011 by art collector David Walsh, it's the largest privately funded museum in the Southern Hemisphere and has a deliberately unconventional reputation that sets it apart from a standard civic gallery. The MONA ROMA ferry from Brooke Street Pier is the classic way to arrive, and turns the trip itself into part of the day.

Give it real time rather than squeezing it in — between the ferry, the collection and the site itself, most visitors find MONA fills a genuine half-day or more, and it's worth planning the rest of a Hobart day around it rather than the other way around.

One work worth knowing about before you go: MONA was purpose-built with a cavernous space to house Sidney Nolan's Snake, a monumental mural made up of 1,620 individual panels arranged into the shape of a giant serpent, first shown publicly in Australia as part of the museum's opening. It's a genuine centrepiece of the collection and a reasonable orientation point if the museum's underground layout leaves you unsure where to start.

The kunanyi / Mount Wellington summit drive

Pinnacle Road climbs from the city centre to the summit of kunanyi/Mount Wellington — sealed the whole way but narrow and genuinely winding, covering around 22 kilometres in roughly half an hour. The mountain rises 1,271 metres directly behind Hobart and dominates the skyline from almost everywhere in the city, so the drive up is less a detour than a natural extension of a Hobart visit.

At the top, an enclosed lookout (built to withstand the summit's notoriously fast-changing weather) gives views across the city, the Derwent estuary and, on a clear day, out toward the Southwest wilderness on the horizon. Walking tracks fan out from various points along the road for those wanting more than the drive-up-and-look option, and the descent is popular with mountain bikers, who're a common sight on the way down even if you're not one of them. It's worth checking conditions before heading up in any season — the summit can be shrouded in cloud, windy or genuinely cold even when Hobart itself is mild, and Pinnacle Road does occasionally close for snow or ice.

If you'd rather walk than drive, Wellington Park — the reserve covering the whole mountain — holds more than 40 marked tracks, with Fern Tree, on the southern edge of the city, the most popular starting point. The old Pipeline Track, a wide, gently graded path that once carried Hobart's water supply, is an easy, mostly flat option from there; the shorter Fern Glade Circuit loops through moss-draped forest and a small waterfall in under an hour. Neither reaches the summit itself, but both give a genuine sense of the mountain's rainforest slopes without the effort of a full ascent.

Battery Point, on foot

Battery Point, immediately behind Salamanca, rewards simply walking without much of a plan. It's one of the best-preserved pockets of colonial streetscape anywhere in the country — narrow lanes of Georgian and Victorian cottages, most built in the 1840s and 50s for the shipwrights, pilots and merchants who once worked the harbour below. Arthur's Circus, a small circular green ringed by cottages and one of Australia's earliest planned subdivisions, is the most photographed corner; St George's Anglican Church, built in 1838 on the suburb's highest point, and Narryna, a grand Georgian mansion now run as a museum, are both worth a stop if you want more than a wander.

There's no fixed route that does it justice — the appeal is in the accumulation of small streets, sandstone walls and harbour glimpses rather than any single landmark, and it connects easily on foot to both Salamanca and the wider waterfront. Hampden Road is the suburb's main spine and the easiest way to link a few stops together — cafés and small galleries at street level, colonial facades above — while a short detour toward the city centre passes Anglesea Barracks, in continuous use by the Australian Army since 1814 and the oldest military site in the country still occupied by the force that built it.

Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery (TMAG)

TMAG, in the city centre near the waterfront, is Australia's second-oldest museum — its origins trace to the Royal Society of Tasmania, founded in 1843, with the museum itself established a few years later and gradually expanding across the block it now occupies. The precinct includes some genuinely significant early colonial buildings in its own right, among them the Commissariat Store, dated to 1808–10 and understood to be Tasmania's oldest surviving public building.

The collections cover Tasmanian natural history, colonial and convict history, and Aboriginal culture alongside a genuine art gallery — a useful counterweight to MONA's deliberately unconventional approach if you want a more traditional museum experience on the same trip, and a straightforward way to spend a couple of hours in the city centre on a day the weather doesn't cooperate. Tasmanian tiger (thylacine) specimens and material relating to the species' extinction are a recurring drawcard for visitors curious about the animal, alongside colonial-era art and decorative arts collections that trace the island's history well beyond the convict period most visitors already know something about.

Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens

A short walk from the city centre on the Queens Domain, the Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens were established in 1818, making them Australia's second-oldest botanical gardens after Sydney's — originally laid out as the Governor's private garden to supply Government House, rather than a public amenity from the start. The 14-hectare grounds now hold thousands of plant species, including significant nineteenth-century plantings and a strong Tasmanian native collection, and sit on land originally home to the Muwinina people, whose presence around the Derwent estuary is documented by shell middens and stone artefacts going back thousands of years.

It's an easy, unhurried couple of hours — genuinely pleasant rather than a must-do, and a good option if you want a slower morning between busier stops like Salamanca and MONA. A Japanese garden, a subantarctic plant house recreating conditions on Tasmania's remote Macquarie Island, and a heritage-listed convict-built wall used to grow espaliered fruit trees are among the more distinctive corners worth seeking out rather than just following the main paths.

The waterfront and Constitution Dock

Hobart's waterfront still works for a living, which is a genuine part of its character. Victoria Dock holds a working fishing fleet and fish punts selling straight off the boats; Constitution Dock, next door, is where the Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race finishes each year after starting in Sydney Harbour on Boxing Day and covering roughly 630 nautical miles — the docks turn into an impromptu festival as the first boats arrive over the following days.

Less obvious from the water's edge but worth knowing: Hobart is Australia's Antarctic gateway city, with the icebreaker RSV Nuyina home-ported at a dedicated Antarctic terminal on the waterfront and more Antarctic and Southern Ocean scientists based here than anywhere else on Earth. It's not unusual to see a genuinely enormous red research vessel tied up a short walk from the fish punts and restaurants — a reminder of how far south this city actually sits.

The water itself is also worth getting onto rather than just admiring from the dock — harbour cruises run regularly from the waterfront, ranging from short scenic loops of the Derwent to longer trips that take in the river's bridges and the surrounding hills, and kayaking tours give a quieter, self-powered way to see the same working harbour from water level. The Tasman Bridge, spanning the Derwent a short distance from the CBD, carries a heavier piece of the city's modern history than its everyday role as a commuter route suggests — in January 1975, a bulk carrier collided with several of its pylons, collapsing a section of the deck and killing twelve people, both on the ship and in cars that drove off the broken span in the dark. The bridge was rebuilt and reopened a couple of years later, and today carries traffic across the Derwent much as it always did, but it's worth knowing the story behind a bridge that otherwise just looks like part of the view.

Wrest Point

In Sandy Bay, a short drive or bus ride south of the city centre, Wrest Point holds a genuine piece of only-in-Hobart trivia: it was Australia's first legal casino, opening in February 1973 after a statewide referendum approved the licence, and its distinctive tower — designed by prominent Australian architect Sir Roy Grounds and topped with a revolving restaurant — remains one of the more recognisable landmarks on the city's skyline.

It's not a headline attraction for most visitors, but it's worth knowing about as a landmark for orientation if you're staying in Sandy Bay, and the harbour views from its upper floors are genuinely some of the best in the city.

Cascade Brewery

Cascade Brewery, in South Hobart at the foot of kunanyi/Mount Wellington, is Australia's oldest continuously operating brewery — a genuinely rare claim for any business in the country, let alone one still on its original site. The estate began as a sawmilling and malting operation from 1824, with the brewery itself founded beside the Hobart Rivulet in 1832 by Peter Degraves; Cascade Pale Ale, still produced today, is commonly cited as Australia's oldest continuously brewed beer. Cascade is also unusual among Australian breweries for running its own maltings on-site, malting locally grown Tasmanian barley rather than buying it in — a detail worth asking about on a tour if brewing process interests you as much as the history does.

The site's heritage sandstone buildings, set against the mountain backdrop, make it a genuinely striking piece of industrial architecture even before you get to the beer — tours and tastings run on-site, and the surrounding gardens and visitor facilities are worth the short trip from the city centre on their own merits.

A few minutes further into South Hobart sits a much harder piece of the same neighbourhood's history: the Cascades Female Factory, a former convict workhouse for women that operated between 1828 and 1856 and is now, alongside Port Arthur, part of the UNESCO-listed Australian Convict Sites. More than half the female convicts transported to Australia passed through Tasmania, and most of them spent time here — the site's history and interpretation centre tells that story directly, including the overcrowding, poor sanitation and high mortality rate that defined conditions at the time. It's a sobering counterpoint to the brewery tour a short walk away, and worth the stop if convict history is part of what brought you to Tasmania.

The two sites make an unusually direct pairing for a single South Hobart outing — a working brewery still trading on its 1832 origins a few hundred metres from a former women's prison from almost exactly the same era, both still standing, both still telling their own version of the same colonial story. Few places in Australia put that contrast quite so close together, and it's worth walking between them rather than driving if the weather cooperates. A local bus service also connects South Hobart back to the city centre, so it's entirely possible to spend a morning here without a car at all, provided you check the timetable before you set out.

North Hobart's restaurant and cinema strip

North Hobart, a short walk or quick drive up Elizabeth Street from the city centre, is where a lot of locals actually spend their evenings — a genuinely strong strip of restaurants and cafés with a more everyday, less touristed feel than the waterfront. It's a sensible pick for dinner on a night you're not chasing a specific waterfront view.

The strip's anchor is the State Cinema, a purpose-built 1913 picture house that's survived stints as a billiard saloon and boxing venue along the way and is now run as an independent art-house cinema — commonly described as one of the oldest continuously operating cinemas anywhere in the world. Catching a film here, in a genuinely century-old auditorium, is a low-key but memorable way to spend a rainy Hobart evening, and its rooftop and courtyard bar areas are worth a visit even on a night you're not seeing a film.

Day trips from Hobart

Hobart's other job is as a base — its geography makes several genuinely worthwhile day trips realistic without switching accommodation. None of these need more depth here than a pointer, since each has its own fuller treatment elsewhere in this guide, but they're worth building into a Hobart itinerary rather than treating the city as a standalone stop.

• Bruny Island — a short drive to the Kettering ferry, then a roughly 20-minute crossing; oysters, wildlife and a historic lighthouse
• Port Arthur — around 90 minutes southeast on the Tasman Peninsula; Australia's best-preserved convict-era penal settlement
• Richmond — a well-preserved Georgian village en route to Port Arthur, home to the Richmond Bridge, the oldest stone-span bridge still in use in the country
• Mount Field National Park — about an hour northwest; Russell Falls and Tasmania's oldest national park
• Huon Valley & Hastings Caves — around 90 minutes south; orchards, a limestone cave system and a natural thermal pool

Fitting it all in

Two to three days in Hobart itself is realistic for the essentials without rushing: a morning at Salamanca Market (or a wander through Battery Point if your visit doesn't land on a Saturday), a half-day or more at MONA, and the kunanyi/Mount Wellington summit drive as a natural bookend, with TMAG, the Botanical Gardens, Cascade Brewery or the Female Factory filling in around the edges depending on the weather and your own interests. Add at least one more day for a single day trip — Bruny Island, Port Arthur or the Huon Valley are each worth a full day on their own rather than a rushed half-day squeeze.

None of this needs tight scheduling — Hobart is compact enough that plans can shift with the weather (genuinely worth doing, given how fast it changes) without losing much time, and most of what's covered here is walkable or a short drive from the CBD and waterfront. If you're only in the city for a single day, MONA and Salamanca (or Battery Point, if it's not a Saturday) are the two priorities worth protecting; everything else on this page is genuinely worth doing, but realistically becomes a second- or third-day activity for most visitors.