By Andrew Bain
Filling in a few days in Hobart is not a difficult task, with plenty to see and do on the mountain, in the water and across the city, all fuelled by fabulous dining experiences. Here’s a guide to three days in the Apple Isle’s capital.
DAY ONE
MORNING
Start your trip with a visit to the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery.Credit: Tourism Tasmania
Hobart is defined by water and the presence of Kunanyi/Mt Wellington, so get to know both on your first day. Begin with a stroll along the waterfront, filled with yachts and fishing boats (and, in the days after Christmas, the Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race fleet). Duck into the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, aka TMAG, which incorporates Tasmania’s oldest surviving public building (the 1808-10 Commissariat Store). TMAG’s ningina tunapri gallery provides insight into the Tasmanian Aboriginal people and culture, while the thylacine gallery focuses on the plight of the Tasmanian tiger.
From TMAG, stroll past the converted sandstone warehouses (now galleries, bars and restaurants) of Salamanca Place and ascend historic Kelly’s Steps, built by whaler James Kelly in 1840, into the city’s prettiest suburb, Battery Point. Follow the sculpture trail for a peep into local history, or beeline for cute-as-a-button Arthur Circus, which might have been transplanted here from the home counties. Return to the docks for a seafood lunch at Mures or from one of the floating fish punts beside it in Sullivans Cove.
AFTERNOON
Go from sea level to 1271 metres above on Kunanyi/Mt Wellington. If you don’t have wheels, take the Kunanyi/Mt Wellington Explorer Bus, but either way, pause at The Springs, midway up the mountain, to walk the Organ Pipes Track, one of Tasmania’s 60 Great Short Walks and the best look at the ribbed escarpment that dominates Hobart’s view west. Before setting out, get a warming brew at Lost Freight, a shipping-container cafe beside The Springs car park. Continue up to the summit, where a range of lookouts – including an indoor one for the frequent chilly days – offer a view of the city and well beyond.
EVENING
Return to earth in North Hobart (NoHo), which merges almost seamlessly into the CBD, though it has a character all its own – and Hobart’s best clutch of eateries and bars. Start at The Winston, a rollicking good pub with plenty of crafty choices, and perhaps even stay for dinner if burgers and wings (approach the spicy atomic sauce with caution) are your thing. Dining choices in NoHo are plentiful, whether it’s Mexican at Pancho Villa (which has an encyclopaedic tequila menu and Day of the Dead decor); local favourite Cyclo for Vietnamese; or Ogee, a small, chic European-inspired bistro. Craft brewers T-Bone and Shambles both have nearby taprooms to round out a fine first day in Hobart.
DAY TWO
If it’s Saturday, it’s time for the Salamanca Market.Credit: Graham Freeman/Tourism Tasmania
MORNING
If it’s Saturday morning, it’d be wrong not to head to Salamanca Market. Otherwise, get to know the city a little. Among the classically Hobart Georgian architecture, seek out St David’s Cathedral and the Hobart Synagogue with its connections to Ikey Solomon, said to have been the inspiration for the character Fagin in Charles Dickens’ Oliver Twist. Wander down to the Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens – Australia’s second-oldest botanic garden, founded in 1818 – and step into the chill of the Subantarctic Plant House to find rarely seen flora from subantarctic islands. Be sure to take a peek through the gates of the former Beaumaris Zoo as you leave the gardens – the last known Tasmanian tiger was kept here until its death in 1936. While on this side of town, you might want to indulge in a wine tasting at slick Glaetzer-Dixon Family Winemakers (book ahead), a one-time winner of the Jimmy Watson Trophy.
AFTERNOON
Mona is a must.Credit: Peter Mathew
Catch the ferry, drive or hire a bike and pedal the Intercity Cycleway to Mona, Hobart’s celebrated subterranean art gallery. Lunch in style at Faro restaurant, or grab a burger at Dubsy’s on the gallery lawns, then immerse yourself in Mona’s irreverent and eclectic collection – see Sidney Nolan’s Snake, an artwork so large that Mona had to build a room specifically for it, watch Cloaca Professional take its daily dump, and find antiquities such as Egyptian mummies and Roman coins. Plan to spend the whole afternoon here. When you need a break, settle in for an underground cocktail at the Void Bar or, with Mona on the grounds of one of Tasmania’s oldest vineyards (Moorilla Estate), ascend back to ground level for a wine tasting.
EVENING
For dinner, try what is arguably Hobart’s best pizza just a couple of kilometres from Mona at Local Pizza in Berridale, or return to the city and settle in at Peppina, a homely Italian restaurant named after the chef’s nonna. After-dinner cocktails are just a few steps away at Mary Mary, an intimate bar inside the sandstone walls of a 19th-century hospital, or step even further back in time with a nightcap from the 300-plus whiskies on offer at waterfront Evolve Spirits Bar, surrounded by a collection of fossils – including a triceratops horn and a Russian cave-bear skeleton.
DAY THREE
MORNING
Salamanca has traditionally been Hobart’s dining precinct, and its appeal is enduring. Head to the rear of Salamanca Square to find Machine Laundry Cafe, with its long and imaginative breakfast menu, or simply grab and go at Parklane Espresso. Head to Errol Flynn Reserve – the swashbuckling actor was born in Hobart – to take to the water on a Hobart City kayak tour, paddling around the shores of Battery Point (and through the Sydney Hobart Yacht Race finish line) into Sullivans Cove, where you’ll raft up for a floating morning tea of fish and chips with the city and mountain arrayed before you.
AFTERNOON
Skip town for the Coal River Valley, just a 15-minute drive from the city centre, for an afternoon of wine tasting. Start with lunch at Frogmore Creek cellar door, where each dish comes with a recommended wine pairing, then seek out Pooley Wines, set inside an 1830s convict-built mansion and named Australia’s winery of the year in the 2023 Halliday Wine Companion Awards. Other cellar doors worth seeking out include Coal Valley Vineyard and duck-themed Puddleduck. Take a quick stop in Richmond, arguably Tasmania’s prettiest town, to view its convict-built sandstone bridge. Constructed in 1823, it’s the oldest standing stone arch bridge in Australia. As you return towards Hobart, make time for one more tasting, with a stop at Sullivans Cove Distillery in Cambridge. From this unprepossessing shed comes whisky that has been named the best in the world three times in the last decade.
EVENING
Dier Makr.Credit: Dier Makr Photographs
Finish your visit in style at one of Hobart’s holy trinity of restaurants: Dier Makr, Templo and Fico. Each one is small, cosy and intimate, and makes the finest use of Tasmania’s wonderful produce. After dinner, hop into the inevitable queue for ever-popular Sonny, a compact wine bar with cult following (or, if dining at Dier Makr, simply walk the few steps into its sister Lucinda wine bar). Check ahead to see if there’s a performance at the Theatre Royal, Australia’s oldest working theatre, or whether the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra is playing inside the tin can of the waterfront, Federation Concert Hall.
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