The Lap of Tasmania is a 10-day, 1,300 km loop from Hobart by campervan. Any 2WD campervan is fine - it's rated moderate. Best in Summer (Dec-Feb) or Autumn (Mar-May). Budget from about A$1,500 per person, plus roughly A$312 in fuel.
Few places reward a campervan quite like Tasmania. The island is small enough to circle in a fortnight, yet it packs in more contrast than states ten times its size - you can stand on a squeaking white beach in the morning and be threading through glacial mountain wilderness by afternoon, a Huon pine rainforest the day after that. A lap of the Apple Isle is Australia’s most concentrated road trip, and doing it in a van means you wake up inside the scenery rather than driving out to find it.
Ten days is enough to breathe. From Hobart the classic circuit runs east to the granite coves of Freycinet and the flaming boulders of the Bay of Fires, north to Launceston, then west into the World Heritage heart at Cradle Mountain before dropping to the raw west coast at Strahan and looping home through the highlands. Every kilometre is sealed; the only real demand is patience on the winding bits.
Squeaking white sand at Wineglass Bay in the morning, a Tasmanian devil’s screech at dusk near Cradle, a tannin-dark river cruise into ancient rainforest by day three. That’s not a highlights reel - it’s one week on this route.
Why drive a lap of Tasmania?
Because nothing else in the country concentrates so much into so little driving. A third of the island is national park or World Heritage wilderness, the towns in between are stacked with some of Australia’s best food and coldest-climate wine, and the distances are short enough that no day feels like a transit leg.
The loop also keeps the logistics painless: one pickup and one drop-off in Hobart, no one-way relocation fees, and a route that never doubles back on itself. You simply follow the coast, cross the wild interior, and come out the other side - free to linger wherever the island decides to stop you.
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From A$1,500 per person for 10 days. Compare the main operators:
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Day by day
1,300 km total · about 17.5 hours behind the wheel across 10 days.
- 1
Hobart to Port Arthur
95 km · 1.5hRoll out of Hobart and drop onto the wild Tasman Peninsula, where the Southern Ocean has carved the coast into blowholes and cliffs. Watch the sea funnel through the Tasman Arch and Devil's Kitchen, then walk the strange tiled slabs of the Tessellated Pavement. The afternoon belongs to the Port Arthur Historic Site - convict ruins hushed under old English oaks, best felt as the light goes long and gold.
Highlights Tasman Arch · Tessellated Pavement · Port Arthur Historic Site
Stay NRMA Port Arthur Holiday Park · from A$45/nightcheck availability
- 2
Port Arthur to Freycinet
200 km · 2.5hToday you follow the Great Eastern Drive, one of the country's finest coast roads, past the sleepy seaside stops of Orford and Swansea with the Hazards rising blue across the bay. By afternoon you're inside Freycinet National Park, climbing the granite saddle to the lookout over Wineglass Bay - a perfect arc of white sand and turquoise that earns every one of the steps it takes to reach it.
Highlights Great Eastern Drive · Swansea · Wineglass Bay Lookout
Stay Freycinet National Park Campground · from A$16/nightcheck availability
- 3
Freycinet to the Bay of Fires
120 km · 1.5hEase into the morning with a swim at sheltered Honeymoon Bay, then walk out to Cape Tourville Lighthouse for a horizon-wide view of the whole peninsula. Drive north in the afternoon to the Bay of Fires (larapuna), where orange lichen sets the granite boulders alight above sand so white it hurts to look at. Camp behind the dunes and fall asleep to surf.
Highlights Honeymoon Bay · Cape Tourville Lighthouse · Bay of Fires
Stay Swimcart Beach
- 4
Bay of Fires to Launceston
175 km · 2.5hTurn your back on the coast and climb inland to Launceston, Tasmania's handsome second city of Victorian terraces and leafy squares. Its wild heart is Cataract Gorge, minutes from the centre - ride the world's longest single-span chairlift over the water or cross the swaying suspension bridge. Save the evening for a cellar door in the nearby Tamar Valley.
Highlights Cataract Gorge · Tamar Valley wine region
Stay Discovery Parks - Launceston · from A$40/nightcheck availability
- 5
Launceston to Cradle Mountain
140 km · 2hDrive up into the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area, where the serrated crown of Cradle Mountain rears over glacial country. Leave the van at the visitor centre and take the shuttle to Dove Lake, then walk its circuit - a gentle two to three hours with the peak mirrored in still black water. If your legs are willing, the haul up to Marion's Lookout pays out an even bigger view.
Highlights Dove Lake Circuit · Marion's Lookout
Stay Discovery Parks - Cradle Mountain · from A$50/nightcheck availability
- 6
Exploring Cradle Mountain
0 kmA whole day to let the wilderness sink in. Wander the Enchanted Walk beside a burbling creek through moss-hung myrtle forest, then hang about the buttongrass plains in the late afternoon when wombats trundle out to graze. Meet the neighbours you won't hear at night at Devils @ Cradle, a sanctuary where you can watch Tasmanian devils and quolls up close.
Highlights Enchanted Walk · Devils @ Cradle
Stay Discovery Parks - Cradle Mountain · from A$50/nightcheck availability
- 7
Cradle Mountain to Strahan
140 km · 2hDescend to the raw, rain-scoured west coast and the old port town of Strahan on the shore of Macquarie Harbour. This is the gateway to the Franklin-Gordon Wild Rivers - cruise up the tannin-dark Gordon River into ancient Huon pine rainforest, or ride the West Coast Wilderness Railway, a restored steam train that grinds through dense green gullies on a century-old line.
Highlights Gordon River cruise · West Coast Wilderness Railway
Stay Strahan Beach Tourist Park · from A$40/nightcheck availability
- 8
Strahan to Lake St Clair
130 km · 2hCut back across the highlands to Lake St Clair, the deepest freshwater lake in Australia and the southern end of the famous Overland Track. Stroll the quiet lakeshore, or catch the ferry to the far shore and walk a rainforest section of the track before the return sailing. The visitor centre unpacks the deep Aboriginal and glacial history of this valley.
Highlights Lake St Clair · Overland Track · Franklin-Gordon Wild Rivers
Stay Lake St Clair Tourist Park · from A$45/nightcheck availability
- 9
Lake St Clair to Mount Field
130 km · 2hWind down to Mount Field, one of Tasmania's oldest national parks and a study in contrasts. From the car park a short, easy path leads to Russell Falls, tumbling in tiers through a fern-choked gully beneath some of the tallest flowering trees on earth. Drive up to the alpine tops for pandani, glacial tarns and a completely different world in the space of a few kilometres.
Highlights Russell Falls · Tall trees · Alpine tarns
Stay Mount Field National Park Campground · from A$16/nightcheck availability
- 10
Mount Field to Hobart
80 km · 1.5hA short, easy run brings you back to Hobart to close the loop. Spend the afternoon soaking up the capital: catch the ferry up the Derwent to the subterranean galleries of MONA, or wander the sandstone warehouses and Saturday buzz of Salamanca Place with a last Tasmanian pinot in hand.
Highlights MONA · Salamanca Place