Best parks and natural spaces in Tasmania

Tasmania's natural assets are extraordinary even by Australian standards — 45 per cent of the island is protected as national park or World Heritage wilderness, creating the greatest concentration of accessible pristine natural environment in the southern hemisphere.

Cradle Mountain-Lake St Clair National Park — the Overland Track (65 kilometres, 5-6 days) is Australia's most iconic multi-day bushwalk, connecting Cradle Mountain in the north to Lake St Clair in the south through alpine moorlands, ancient pencil pine forests, and the dolerite crags that define the Tasmanian highland landscape. Day walks from Dove Lake to Hanson's Peak deliver the Cradle Mountain experience in 3-4 hours.

Freycinet National Park — Wineglass Bay on the Freycinet Peninsula is consistently rated among the world's most beautiful beaches, and the 30-minute walk to the Wineglass Bay lookout is among Australia's most rewarding short walks. The peninsula's pink granite, the clear Tasman Sea water, and the oyster farms in Coles Bay create a complete natural and culinary experience.

Mount Wellington (kunanyi) — the 1,270-metre summit above Hobart is accessible by car and by multiple walking tracks and provides the defining view of southern Tasmania — the Derwent estuary, the city, and the Southern Ocean beyond. Snow on the summit while the city basins in sunshine is a Hobart experience that never loses its novelty.

South West National Park — the most remote and wild area in Australia outside Antarctica, the South West is accessible only by light aircraft or by the challenging South Coast Track. For those who can access it, the landscape of quartzite ridges, button grass plains, and the Southern Ocean coastline is genuinely unlike anywhere else on earth.

This article was compiled by AI from the sources linked above and screened before publishing. See our editorial standards.