What makes Hobart different isn’t just the geography (though that helps). It’s how a city founded as a penal colony in 1804 has grown into something that defies categorisation. Hobart is not driven by a checklist of landmarks. Instead, it reveals itself in the way daily life unfolds alongside bushland, waterways and working docks, until the boundary between city and wilderness begins to blur.
So, this Hobart travel guide is for those who want to properly spend their time in the city, and explore it thoroughly, rather than simply ‘sightsee’ their way through it.
Culture and Museums
Museum of Old and New Art (MONA)
The Museum of Old and New Art is the largest privately funded museum in the Southern Hemisphere, and calling it ‘unconventional’ barely scratches the surface. David Walsh, the museum’s founder, has described it as a “subversive adult Disneyland”, and he wasn’t exaggerating.
Some of the ‘unconventional’ things you might find at MONA include:
- Poop machine
- Wall of vulvas
- Egyptian Mummy
- Copulating skeletons
Pieces are displayed in non-chronological order. The museum is open Thursday to Monday, 10am–5pm, and while Tasmanians enter free, interstate and international visitors need tickets. This museum appears on every Hobart travel itinerary, so make sure not to miss it.
Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery (TMAG)
For a more traditional museum experience, TMAG stands as one of Australia’s oldest museums, established in 1843. The contrast with MONA couldn’t be starker, but that’s exactly what makes Hobart’s cultural scene so rich. It is a “combined museum, art gallery and herbarium”.
TMAG houses almost 800,000 objects as diverse as fossils and fine art, and the collection tells Tasmania’s story from its geological origins through its Aboriginal heritage to contemporary times.
Salamanca Market
Since its inception in 1972, Tasmania’s most famous outdoor market has grown to become the most visited tourist attraction in Tasmania, attracting over one million visitors per year. The market runs every Saturday from 8:30am to 3pm, and boasts over 300 stalls stretched along Salamanca Place. They sell Tasmanian-designed goods, handmade crafts, art, jewellery, timber products, organic skincare and delicious food, among others.
Hobart Cruises
Hobart’s relationship with water runs deep, and seeing the city from the water gives you an entirely different perspective on the place. There are different types of Hobart cruises. There is the MONA ferry that shuttles between Hobart’s waterfront and the museum. But the cruise options extend far beyond museum-going.
From sightseeing tours and island wilderness cruises to lunch and dinner experiences, there is a cruise for everyone. You could choose from Derwent River Cruises, Tasman Island Cruises, Bruny Island cruises, among others.
Tip: Don’t limit yourself to a single cruise. Each route shows a different side of Tasmania. A Derwent River cruise gives you views like the Tasman Bridge and Battery Point, while Tasman Island cruises take you past places such as Port Arthur, Eaglehawk Neck and exposed, rugged coastlines. Doing more than one cruise lets you see how dramatically the scenery changes from waterway to open ocean.
Seasonal Festivals
Dark Mofo
In Hobart, people naturally associate winter with the Dark Mofo festival. Launched in 2013 by MONA owner David Walsh as the winter counterpart of the summer MONA FOMA (now discontinued) festival, Dark Mofo celebrates the winter solstice through art, music, food and ancient rituals. The festival transforms Hobart into a surreal world.
The centerpiece ritual is the clothless solstice swim (the closing event of the festival). Yes, you read that right. Thousands of people strip off at dawn and plunge into the Derwent River. Dark Mofo features large-scale light installations, public art and live music performances. It would be a huge shame to miss this event if you’re planning on visiting Hobart.
Taste of Summer
If Dark Mofo owns winter, Taste of Summer commands the summer season. Running for one week (late Dec to early Jan), the festival includes over 75 stalls featuring local breweries, distilleries, wineries and eateries. Held at Princes Wharf 1 on Hobart’s picturesque waterfront, the festival coincides with the arrival of yachts from the Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race, adding to the celebratory atmosphere.
What makes Taste of Summer special is its focus on Tasmanian produce. Everything here is Tassie: the oysters, the cheese, the gin, the wine and the food. New Year’s Eve at Taste of Summer offers one of Hobart’s best vantage points for fireworks over the harbour. But mate, plan early if that’s your plan.
Parks and Mountains
Mount Wellington & the Wellington Park
Mount Wellington/kunanyi towers over Hobart at 1,271 metres, and is sometimes covered by snow, which gives Hobart its distinctive character — a coastal city with a snow-capped peak looming above. The drive to the summit takes about 30 minutes from the city centre. There’s a sealed narrow road (Pinnacle Road) to the summit, about 21 kilometres from Hobart’s central business district.
As you ascend, you pass through distinct vegetation zones — from temperate rainforests at the base to sub-alpine moorland near the top. The views from the summit are extraordinary. On clear days, you can see across southern Tasmania, out to Bruny Island and down into the Southwest wilderness. If you prefer not to drive, the Explorer Bus runs between the city and the summit.
The mountain sits at the heart of Wellington Park, so for walkers the mountain offers everything from short strolls to serious day hikes. The Organ Pipes track cuts beneath the mountain’s dolerite cliffs from The Springs, offering spectacular views of the rock formations. More ambitious hikers tackle the Zig Zag Track from The Springs to the summit, a challenging but rewarding climb.
Queens Domain
The Queens Domain is an expansive 230-hectare area of bushland, parkland and cultural sites located just north-east of the Hobart City Centre. It’s a perfect example of how Hobart weaves nature into its urban fabric. The things you can see and explore here include:
- Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens: A 200-year-old garden featuring more than 6,000 native and exotic plant species, with a strong focus on cool-climate flora and Tasmania’s only subantarctic plant house inspired by Macquarie Island.
- Hobart Cenotaph and Soldiers Memorial Avenue: The state’s main War Memorial, set above the river, with commemorative plantings that create a quiet, reflective walking route.
- Open parklands and bush areas: Native grasslands and pockets of bushland that support local wildlife, giving parts of the Domain a surprisingly untamed feel.
- Sporting and recreation facilities: Tennis courts, cricket ovals and an aquatic centre woven into the landscape without overwhelming it.
Knocklofty Reserve
The reserve covers more than 155 hectares of mostly native bushland, nestled in the foothills above West Hobart. Knocklofty is renowned for its frog ponds and birds, including many rare species. The walking tracks here are less crowded than those on Mount Wellington, but offer wonderful views.
A network of loop tracks winds around the reserve, including a popular circuit of roughly 4 kms, with vantage points to enjoy the views or pause for a quick picnic. At certain times of day, walkers may encounter local wildlife such as wallabies, possums, pademelons, bandicoots, native birds, reptiles and frogs.
Conclusion
You might come to Hobart for MONA’s controversial art or Dark Mofo’s winter spectacle. Those are fine reasons. But what actually hooks people is something harder to photograph or put into words. Local Tasmanians will tell you straight that Hobart isn’t trying to compete with Melbourne’s laneways or Sydney’s harbour glamour. It’s doing its own thing, at its own pace, and that stubborn independence is precisely what makes it compelling.
Whether you spend 2 days or 2 weeks here, Hobart will probably leave you with more questions than answers. So, if you visit Hobart, leave space for the city to surprise you, because it will. That’s the one guarantee this city offers, and that’s surely enough!
