From Hobart Wineglass Bay and Freycinet National Park Tour

Richmond village

The first stop, about 25 minutes from Hobart, is Richmond, the best-preserved Georgian village in Australia and a gentle way to start a long day. Its sandstone bridge, built by convicts between 1823 and 1825, is the oldest still in use in the country, and the main street of cottages, a bakery, galleries and tearooms sits above a bend of the Coal River where ducks gather under the arches. Richmond Gaol, from 1825, is older than Port Arthur, and St John's is the oldest Catholic church in Australia.

We allow around 30 minutes, enough to walk to the bridge, photograph the river and buy a coffee and pastry for the road. A Richmond village tour on its own is a half day; as a short morning stop on the way to the coast it adds a little colonial history to a day that is otherwise about mountains, granite and sea.

The east coast drive to Freycinet

From Richmond the road climbs over the hills to Orford and then follows the coast north for an hour and a half, one of the most beautiful stretches of road in Tasmania. The guide points out Maria Island offshore, the oyster farms of Great Oyster Bay, the long beaches at Swansea and, across the water, the first sight of the Hazards, the pink granite peaks that guard the Freycinet Peninsula. There are short photo stops along the way, and time to buy lunch supplies in Swansea or Coles Bay before the park.

The whole drive from Hobart to Freycinet takes close to three hours each way, which is why most people searching for a Tasmania east coast tour choose a guided day: our driver handles the distance while you watch the coast, and the small group means the vehicle stops where the views are best.

Freycinet National Park and the Wineglass Bay Lookout walk

Freycinet, declared in 1916 together with Mount Field, is Tasmania's oldest national park and covers the granite peninsula between Great Oyster Bay and the Tasman Sea. The walk to the Wineglass Bay Lookout starts from the car park below the Hazards and climbs through dry eucalyptus forest and bare granite on a well-built track with steps for about 1.5 kilometres, gaining around 200 metres. The guide sets a steady pace and allow about an hour and a half return, including time at the top.

The lookout is the reward: the bay curves below in a flawless white arc between the Hazards and Mount Graham, with water that shifts from turquoise to deep blue through the day. The Wineglass Bay Lookout walk is the one hike most visitors to Tasmania want to do, and the parks pass is already included in this tour. Those who are fit and quick sometimes continue down to the beach itself, but the lookout is the planned turning point for the group.

Honeymoon Bay and Coles Bay

After the walk the vehicle drops down to Honeymoon Bay, a pocket-sized cove on the Coles Bay side of the peninsula where pink granite boulders splashed with orange lichen frame a strip of sand and clear, calm water. It is the classic Freycinet postcard after Wineglass Bay, and the easiest place in the park to paddle, sit on the rocks and photograph the Hazards reflected in the water. Allow around 30 minutes.

Coles Bay village, at the park entrance, has a general store, a bakery and cafés for a late lunch or an ice cream before the return. Many travellers ask about Honeymoon Bay in Tasmania as a sunset spot; on this day trip you see it in the afternoon light, which is still the best time for the colour of the granite, before the three-hour drive back to Hobart.

The return to Hobart or the airport

The road back retraces the coast with the late sun on Great Oyster Bay and Maria Island, with a short comfort stop at Orford or Swansea. Most guests doze or edit photos; the guide fills in the stories of the whaling and farming settlements along the way. Arrival in Hobart is around 17:30, with drop-off at your hotel.

Because the tour finishes in the early evening, drop-off at Hobart airport is available on request, which lets you make this Wineglass Bay day trip your last day in Tasmania and catch an evening flight. Tell us when you book, and bring your luggage with you in the morning; it travels safely in the vehicle all day.