12 days / 11 nights from £889* per person

Explore the untouched wilderness of Tasmania from the picturesque Freycinet Peninsula to the World Heritage listed site at Cradle Mountain. Enjoy a three night stay in Melbourne prior to arriving in Hobart to soak up the history on Hobart’s riverfront cobblestone streets, before you begin winding your way through Coal Valley’s cool-climate wineries.

Lose your breath at Wineglass Bay and head to the World Heritage-listed wilderness that makes up 20 per cent of the island. As well as rugged and ancient natural beauty, Tasmania has a thriving creative culture, a rich history of convicts, piners, miners and whalers and fabulous food and wine. The best time to visit Tasmania is between October and April, when the weather is at its best.

Day 1 - Melbourne

Melbourne is a maze of hidden laneways, opulent bars, exclusive restaurants and off-the-beaten-track boutiques. Here you can soak up culture, hit the sporting grounds, taste the dynamic food and wine scene, dance ‘til dawn or wander the parks and leafy boulevards.

Located in the heart of Melbourne's CBD, the Pensione Hotel is the perfect base to discover all of Melbourne! Modelled on the grandeur of the original European pensione hotels, the Pensione Melbourne combines original turn of the century building features with modern design and soft tones, creating a warm and inviting atmosphere. Overnight here for three nights.

Day 2 - Melbourne

Free Day to explore Melbourne. You may like to visit Federation Square, the city’s landmark cultural space, and enjoy a sunset beer on the St Kilda promenade. Shop till you drop on funky Brunswick Street or upmarket Chapel Street. Wander Southbank’s cafes, bistros and bars and get a world tour of cuisines in Carlton, Richmond and Fitzroy. Take an Aboriginal Heritage Walk through the Royal Botanic Gardens and cheer with a capacity crowd at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.

Day 3 - Great Ocean Road Day Tour

Explore experience and embrace the magic that is the Great Ocean Road! The incredible Great Ocean Road is one of the world’s most beautiful and naturally maintained secrets! Experience and enjoy the breath-taking coastline. Every twist and turn exposes you to stretches of broad, uninterrupted beaches, dramatic coastlines and the lush rainforests of the Otway Ranges –all of which provides an amazing postcard backdrop for all your memories! This is a day you will always remember!

Highlights include:

• Bell’s Beach One of Australia’s famous surfing beaches.
• Beach Walk Stop and enjoy the stunning ocean views.
• Wildlife and lunch stop (at own expense) A chance to look for koalas in the wild!
• Rainforest Walk Relax and take a deep breath in the luscious green surrounds of the Otway’s rainforest as we see nature at its very best!
• 12 Apostles See the giant and uniquely famous rock stacks right before your very eyes.
• Shipwreck coast See the rugged shipwreck coast of the Loch Ard Gorge Blowhole and on request London Bridge.

Day 4 - Yarra Valley Day Tour / Melbourne to Hobart

Today travel into the Dandenong Ranges, driving through lovely Ferntree Gully. Enjoy free Billy Tea, home-made Lamingtons & Aussie Vegemite amongst crimson rosella birds in the tallest forest. Enjoy a delicious spit roast lunch with wine tasting and tea/coffee at Fergussons Winery before visiting three of Victoria's premier wineries of the Yarra Valley - all with wine tasting included. Enjoy personalised wine tastings, with wine appreciation and a guided tour. There is also the chance to purchase your favourites at all three wineries, and we include tastings and a cheese platter at Domaine Chandon. Return to Melbourne via Yarra Glen and the eastern suburbs of Melbourne.

Arrive back into Melbourne at 5.30pm ready for your onward flight to Hobart (flight not included as this can be booked in conjunction with your international ticket).

Your accommodation for the next three nights is situated in the city of Clarence, on Hobart’s Eastern Shore. The Shoreline overlooks the beautiful Derwent River with the city of Hobart with Mount Wellington in the background. After opening in 1967 and enjoying a reputation as being one of Hobart’s premier entertainment venues of the day, a substantial refurbishment was undertaken in 2001 bringing the hotel back to its former glory but in a modern style.

Day 5 - Hobart

Hobart is an intriguing blend of heritage, lifestyle & scenery. This historic city is Australia’s second oldest & enjoys a cosmopolitan lifestyle with restaurants by the river & picnics by the sea. Explore the cobbled lanes of Salamanca Place, the famous Saturday markets and the antique stores of Battery Point.

Pick-up your rental car at 9am & the remainder of the day is free for you to enjoy the city. You might like to climb craggy Mount Wellington for sweeping views over Hobart and the wide Derwent River, do a ghost tour in Battery Point, walk across Australia’s oldest bridge in Richmond and visit the cute coastal hamlet of Kettering, wind past forest and farmland to the cool-climate wineries of the Coal Valley, or enjoy bright spinnakers on the water and dine on fresh seafood from one of Hobart’s waterside restaurants.

Day 6 - Port Arthur Day Tour

Port Arthur Historic Site is a compelling and dramatic reminder of our convict past and the early settlement of the Colony of Van Dieman's Land, now Tasmania. Interpretive and interactive presentations bring to reality the harrowing life of convicts 200 years ago. This tour offers maximum time at Port Arthur Historic Site.

Highlights include:

• Cross the Tasman Bridge & head out on the Tasman Highway over the Pitwater Causeway onto Forestier Peninsula
• Pristine Pirates Bay & Eaglehawk Neck, skirting Norfolk Bay on the Tasman Peninsula
• Take a guided walking tour of the historic convict site - Port Arthur, with access to over 30 restored buildings and ruins
• See the Penitentiary - a one time granary and flour mill, the separate prison, the Commandant's House, the church and more
• Take a cruise on Carnarvon Bay around the "Isle of the Dead"
• Visit highlights of Tasman National Park & wonder at the spectacle of Tasman Arch
• Superb views of the rugged coastline
• Be amazed at the magnitude of the Devil's Kitchen.

Tour Includes: Guided tour of Port Arthur, harbour cruise and Port Arthur admission.

Day 7 - Hobart to Freycinet National Park

Discover Freycinet National Park, fringed with white beaches & crystal waters, and view some of the most spectacular coastal headlands in Tasmania. Freycinet National Park is a peninsula of pink granite mountains, pure white beaches, coastal dunes and dry eucalypt forests on the Island's east coast.

The park is famous for Wineglass Bay, just one of its white sandy beaches and the pure clear turquoise waters that are perfect for sea kayaking, swimming and scuba diving. The Hazard Range offers climbing, abseiling and mountain walking, and the coastal heathlands have wonderful day walks.

With a spectacular waterfront location at the foot of the Hazards, just inside Freycinet National Park, Freycinet Lodge is a superb base for exploring the Freycinet peninsula for a two night stay. A world of hidden comfort, the lodge is living proof that communing with nature does not have to mean roughing it. It's a place to relax and rejuvenate. To experience nature's wild harmony without sacrificing your creature comforts.

Day 8 - Freycinet National Park

Free day to explore Freycinet National Park at your leisure.

Day 9 - Launceston to Cradle Mountain

Launceston is Tasmania’s second largest city, sitting on the banks of the Tamar River. This is a graceful city adorned by elegant Victorian & Edwardian facades & surrounded by beautiful countryside.

Cradle Mountain Wilderness Village is in a secluded bush setting in Cradle Valley on the edge of the World Heritage listed Cradle Mountain/Lake St Clair National Park. Opened in 2000, the village offers a natural wilderness experience
Without compromising comfort. Private, self-contained cottages have been carefully sited in the natural bushland so you are surrounded by native plants and wildlife. When you walk outside onto your balcony you may well come face to face with a wallaby, wombat, pademelon, possum or currawong - all part of the 'wilderness' experience.

Day 10 - Cradle Mountain to Strahan

This quaint historic West Coast fishing village provides a variety of unique holiday accommodation, including beautifully appointed waterfront cottages and terraces. Strahan Village is the perfect base for exploring Tasmania's wilderness, with Gordon River Cruises and the West Coast Wilderness Railway right at your doorstep.
Strahan Village offers 141 deluxe accommodation style rooms designed to complement the seaside atmosphere, including the luxuriously appointed Waterfront Executive rooms, spacious Harbour View rooms set on the hilltop, Waterfront Cottages and Terraces designed to echo the history of the region, with outlooks over the waterfront or rainforest.

Day 11 - Strahan to Hobart

Tasmania's west coast is still wild and rugged. As you travel along the Lyell Highway through the Franklin-Gordon Wild Rivers National Park, part of the World Heritage Area, you know you are entering an ancient landscape. Dense forests line the highway, dark rivers tumble through steep gorges, deep and wide lakes open up before you.

The pretty drive from Strahan on the west coast will take around four hours. It passes through the Derwent Valley, past farmlands, hop fields, forests and remnants of rainforest. This stretch of highway, linking Hobart with the west coast, has been named the Wild Way.

Tonight you return to the Shoreline Hotel situated in the city of Clarence, on Hobart’s Eastern Shore, overlooking the Derwent River with the city of Hobart with Mount Wellington in the background.

Day 12 - Hobart

Returning your rental car this morning, today is a free day prior to your own onward arrangements.

*Price is guideline only and subject to exchange rate fluctuations. International flights not included and start from approx £680 (including taxes). Please ask one of our consultants for the latest flight deals.

All itineraries can be tailor-made to suit your individual requirements & budget. We have many alternative accommodation options available in each region. Please contact us for more details.