From Hobart Port Arthur and Tasman Peninsula Tour with Cruise

Eaglehawk Neck and Pirates Bay Lookout

About an hour and a quarter south-east of Hobart the road narrows onto Eaglehawk Neck, a strip of land barely a hundred metres wide that joins the Tasman Peninsula to the rest of Tasmania. Our first stop is Pirates Bay Lookout on the hill above the isthmus, where the view runs along the curve of the beach to the sea cliffs of the peninsula beyond. It is the classic photograph of the region and the best introduction to why the convict authorities chose this place: a prison on a peninsula with a single, guarded way out.

Just below the lookout is the Dog Line, where from 1832 a chain of ferocious dogs was tethered across the neck, with lamps and sentries, to catch escaping convicts. A bronze sculpture and interpretive panels mark the spot today. The stops here take around 30 minutes in total and set up the story that the Port Arthur day trip tells for the rest of the day.

Chocolate maker and the lavender farm

Two short stops break up the drive down the peninsula. The first is a local chocolate maker where small-batch chocolates are hand-finished and sampling is on offer; it is a quick visit of about 15 minutes with time to buy gifts. The second, a few minutes before Port Arthur, is a lavender farm with rows of purple fields in summer, a distillery that extracts the oil, and a café and shop selling lavender ice cream, honey and skincare.

You choose a 30- or 60-minute lavender farm stop on the day, depending on how much time you want at the historic site afterwards. The plants flower from December to February, when the fields are at their most photogenic, but the shop and the café are open all year and the stop is a relaxed pause before the main event of this Tasman Peninsula tour.

Port Arthur Historic Site

Port Arthur was a penal settlement from 1830 to 1877, built to hold repeat offenders transported from Britain, and it grew into a town of more than 30 buildings on a sheltered harbour: the great Penitentiary, the Separate Prison where silence was enforced as punishment, the church, the hospital, the commandant's house and the cottages of the officers. Today it is Tasmania's most visited historic site and part of the UNESCO-listed Australian Convict Sites. Entry is included, and the site is explored on your own with the map, the introductory talk and the museum gallery in the visitor centre.

Many visitors ask how long to spend at Port Arthur; three hours covers the main buildings and the cruise, four hours lets you walk the gardens and the outer ruins without hurrying. Port Arthur tickets from us cover both the site and the harbour cruise, and the café on site sells lunch. Allow time for the Separate Prison and the Penitentiary interiors, the two most powerful stops.

Port Arthur harbour cruise

Included in the day is the short harbour cruise that leaves from the jetty below the Penitentiary. The boat circles Mason Cove and passes two places you cannot otherwise see: the Isle of the Dead, the small island cemetery where more than a thousand convicts, soldiers and settlers were buried, and Point Puer, the site of the first purpose-built boys' prison in the British Empire, where children as young as nine were held and taught a trade.

The cruise lasts about 20 to 25 minutes, with commentary, and gives the view of the settlement from the water that the arriving convicts would have had. It runs several times a day, so you fit it into your three or four hours whenever suits; most people go soon after arriving, then explore the buildings with the layout clear in their mind.

Remarkable Cave

If you pick the three-hour option at Port Arthur, the coach makes the ten-minute drive south to Remarkable Cave, a sea tunnel carved through the cliffs at the end of Maingon Bay. A flight of steps leads down to a viewing platform where you watch the swell surge through the cave towards the beach, and in the right light the far opening is said to take the shape of Tasmania itself. The clifftop also gives views of the Southern Ocean coastline towards Cape Raoul.

A parks fee applies for Remarkable Cave and is paid on the bus on the day if you choose this stop. Allow about 30 minutes including the steps. For travellers who want both convict history and the peninsula's wild coast, this is the stop that makes the shorter Port Arthur visit worthwhile.

Dunalley seafood stop and the return to Hobart

On the way back the coach pauses in Dunalley, a small fishing village on the canal that cuts across the neck of the Forestier Peninsula. Here a local seafood outlet shucks oysters to order, and you can buy fresh oysters or other cold seafood and eat at the picnic tables by the water, or simply stretch your legs for 20 to 30 minutes. Food is not included, so bring a card if you want to try the local catch.

From Dunalley it is about an hour back to Hobart, with drop-off at your pickup point around 17:30. Travellers often ask whether Port Arthur is worth visiting as a day trip; with the lookouts, the cruise, the choice of time on site and the seafood stop built in, this version of the day answers that question with more than the historic site alone.