The The Great Eastern Drive is a 7-day, 600 km loop from Hobart by campervan. Any 2WD campervan is fine - it's rated easy. Best in Summer (Dec-Feb) or Autumn (Mar-May). Budget from about A$1,200 per person, plus roughly A$144 in fuel.
There are coastlines you glance at from a car window, and coastlines you pull over for again and again until the week is gone. Tasmania’s East Coast is firmly the second kind. In a single unhurried loop out of Hobart you’ll stand above the perfect blue crescent of Wineglass Bay, wait in the dusk for little penguins to come ashore at Bicheno, and walk barefoot along the Bay of Fires, where granite boulders glow orange against water clear enough to read a map through. It is one of Australia’s great drives - and one of the gentlest to do in a campervan.
Seven days is the sweet spot. The towns sit close together, every kilometre is sealed, and the caravan parks are relaxed, well-run and rarely more than an hour apart. There is no transit-day slog here; even the run home through the Fingal Valley delivers the convict-built bridge at Richmond as a parting gift.
Sunrise over Wineglass Bay, oysters straight off the farm at lunch, and penguins waddling ashore at dusk - all in a single day on Tasmania’s East Coast.
Why drive Tasmania’s East Coast?
This is one of the most forgiving campervan trips in the country, which makes it a superb first big drive - yet the scenery never feels beginner. The variety is what does it. You can hike to a granite lookout in Freycinet before lunch and be shucking oysters at a marine farm by early afternoon, the Hazards glowing pink across the bay.
Because it’s a loop, the logistics stay simple: one pickup and one drop-off in Hobart, no one-way relocation fees, and a return leg through the green farmland of the Fingal Valley that feels like a different island entirely. Free beach camps at the Bay of Fires sit a short drive from full-service parks, so you can dial the trip up or down to suit your budget.
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From A$1,200 per person for 7 days. Compare the main operators:
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Day by day
600 km total · about 10 hours behind the wheel across 7 days.
- 1
Hobart to Port Arthur
95 km · 1.5hLeave Hobart and swing east onto the Tasman Peninsula, where the road threads between paddocks and glimpses of some of the highest sea cliffs in the Southern Hemisphere. The afternoon belongs to the Port Arthur Historic Site - a World Heritage convict settlement of roofless sandstone ruins and manicured gardens that is both beautiful and quietly sobering. Stay for the lantern-lit ghost tour after dark.
Highlights Tasman Peninsula · Port Arthur Historic Site
Stay NRMA Port Arthur Holiday Park · from A$45/nightcheck availability
- 2
Port Arthur to Freycinet
200 km · 2.5hTrace your way back north and join the Great Eastern Drive, a ribbon of coast road that slips through sleepy seaside towns and past beaches the colour of bleached bone. By afternoon the pink-granite peaks of the Hazards rise ahead as you roll into Coles Bay - gateway to Freycinet National Park and its famous curl of sand, Wineglass Bay.
Highlights Great Eastern Drive · Freycinet National Park · Wineglass Bay
Stay BIG4 Iluka on Freycinet · from A$45/nightcheck availability
- 3
Exploring Freycinet
Give Freycinet a full, unhurried day. The steep climb to the Wineglass Bay lookout rewards you with the postcard view - a perfect blue crescent framed by granite - and the fittest push on down to walk the beach itself. Trade your boots for a paddle on a guided sea-kayak tour, then finish with just-shucked oysters and mussels at the Freycinet Marine Farm.
Highlights Wineglass Bay lookout · Freycinet Marine Farm · Sea kayaking
Stay BIG4 Iluka on Freycinet · from A$45/nightcheck availability
- 4
Freycinet to Bicheno
40 km · 0.5hA short hop up the coast lands you in the working fishing town of Bicheno, where the day is easy and the seafood is fresh off the boats. Watch the ocean fire through the Bicheno Blowhole, then wait out the dusk for the town's real headline act - a colony of little penguins waddling ashore to their burrows under torchlight.
Highlights Bicheno Blowhole · Little penguin tour
Stay Bicheno East Coast Holiday Park · from A$40/nightcheck availability
- 5
Bicheno to the Bay of Fires
110 km · 1.5hPush north to the Bay of Fires, one of the most photographed coastlines in the country - arcs of squeaky white sand, water the colour of a swimming pool, and granite boulders splashed with vivid orange lichen. Start at Binalong Bay, then follow the road up to The Gardens for the wildest, most spectacular stretch. Tonight you sleep on the dunes at a free beach camp.
Highlights Bay of Fires · Binalong Bay · The Gardens
Stay Swimcart Beach
- 6
Bay of Fires to St Helens
20 km · 0.5hLinger over one last barefoot morning on the Bay of Fires before the short drive to St Helens, the biggest town on the coast and a mecca for mountain bikers, with a world-class network of trails dropping out of the hills. Not a rider? Wander the waterfront, browse the shops, and pull up a chair for the local scallops and crayfish.
Highlights St Helens · Blue Derby-style MTB trails · Fresh seafood
Stay BIG4 St Helens Holiday Park · from A$45/nightcheck availability
- 7
St Helens back to Hobart
250 km · 3.5hThe return leg turns inland, winding through the rolling green farmland and old coal towns of the Fingal Valley. Break the drive in the heritage village of Richmond, where a convict-built sandstone bridge - the oldest still in use in Australia - arches over the river beside the historic gaol. From there it's a gentle run back into Hobart, the loop complete.
Highlights Fingal Valley · Richmond · Richmond Bridge