Tasmania’s best multi-day walks

In Tasmania, the open road is often an open trail through a buttongrass plain or across the slopes of a craggy peak. 

These walking trails are invitations to wander and explore, to leave the world behind for a few days and become immersed in the wilderness.

Whether it be a mountain hike, such as the Overland Track or Walls of Jerusalem, or a coastal ramble along the Three Capes or South Coast tracks, Tasmania has your walking boots all but weather-proofed and ready.

Overland Track

Threading its way past a collection of Tasmania’s highest mountains, the six-day, 65km Overland Track is one of the world’s great alpine wilderness walks. Setting out from Cradle Mountain, the track heads south to Lake St Clair, passing through glacially carved valleys, ancient rainforests and buttongrass moorlands. Optional side trips ascend peaks such as Cradle Mountain, Barn Bluff and Mount Ossa, Tasmania’s highest mountain.

Need to know

Located in Cradle Mountain-Lake St Clair National Park.

Between October and May, bookings are required to walk the Overland Track, and it must be walked north to south.

Guided walks

Walkers on the Cradle Mountain Huts Walk stay in private huts as they traverse the Overland Track. Guided walks, with camping each night, are also run by operators including Tasmanian Hikes, Tasmanian Expeditions and Trek Tasmania.

South Coast Track

Tasmania’s southernmost journey is one on foot, linking a string of Southern Ocean beaches between Cockle Creek and Melaleuca. The 85km walk is a challenging, six- to eight-day adventure along a wild coastline, traversing nine wilderness beaches and crossing the steep and muddy Ironbound Range on one of the most testing walking days along any of the state’s tracks. Camping is the only option along this walk.

Need to know

Located in Southwest National Park. South Coast Track walkers need to be completely self-sufficient. Walkers need to fly to or from Melaleuca at the start or end of the track. Flights, operated by Par Avion, are weather dependent, so most walkers fly to Melaleuca and walk to Cockle Creek.

Guided walks

Trek Tasmania and Tasmanian Expeditions guide trips on the South Coast Track.

Three Capes Track

The clifftop Three Capes Track is a grandstand experience, rising high above the Southern Ocean and Tasman Island as it wraps around the edges of Turrakana / Tasman Peninsula. The walk begins with a boat trip along the coast, and nights are spent in impressively designed huts that feature mattresses and cooking equipment (plus the likes of deck chairs and yoga mats), which allow walkers to lighten the load on their backs. The walk is open and wild around the cliffs, but steps into stunning rainforest around Mount Fortescue, making for a walk of great variety.

Need to know

Located in Tasman National Park. Bookings are essential on the Three Capes Track, with walker numbers capped at 36 a day.

Guided walks

The Three Capes Lodge Walk is a luxury guided walk, staying in private lodges each night on the track.

Frenchmans Cap

This striking white quartzite mountain seems to tower above everything around it, making the 1446-metre peak a long-time favourite with bushwalkers. The 54km return walk, taking three to five days, ascends through buttongrass moorlands and moss-coated rainforests to one of the most prominent peaks in the state. The final climb from Lake Tahune, the site of one of the walk’s two huts, is physically demanding and requires some scrambling.

Need to know

Located in Franklin-Gordon Wild Rivers National Park. Walkers are required to register ahead for this walk.

Guided walks

Operators including Tasmanian Expeditions, Tasmanian Hikes and Trek Tasmania run hiking tours to Frenchmans Cap.

Freycinet Circuit

Wineglass Bay is just the appetiser on this 27km loop (2-3 days) of Freycinet National Park. From the Wineglass Bay car park, set out along the peninsula’s western shores, rounding the Hazards and traversing Hazards Beach to Cooks Beach. The way from here to Wineglass Bay is overland, ascending 579m Mount Graham before following ridge lines down to the famed beach. There are campsites at Hazards Beach, Cooks Beach and Wineglass Bay.

Need to know

Located in Freycinet National Park. Walkers are asked to hike the circuit in an anticlockwise direction to minimise the spread of phytoph​thora​ (root rot).

Guided walks

The Freycinet Experience Walk covers much of the circuit, with additional walks on Schouten Island and the Friendly Beaches.

Walls of Jerusalem

An alpine beauty spot in the heart of the Central Highlands, Walls of Jerusalem National Park is framed around a magnificent ring of dolerite peaks – the Walls – enclosing a magical landscape of lakes, pencil pines and cushion plants. A 23km loop (3-4 days) cuts through the mountains and pencil pine groves, offering spectacular views and detours onto peaks with biblical names such as Solomons Throne, The Temple and Mount Jerusalem. Turn south at Dixons Kingdom Hut to return via Lake Adelaide. There are campsites at Wild Dog Creek, Dixons Kingdom Hut and Lake Adelaide.

Need to know

Located in Walls of Jerusalem National Park. Walkers are required to register ahead for this walk.

Guided walks

Tasmanian Hikes, Tasmanian Expeditions and Trek Tasmania run guided walking trips into the Walls of Jerusalem.

Lake Rhona

Make a challenging crossing of the Gordon River and set off through buttongrass plains to this alpine lake pooled on the slopes of the remote Denison Range. The 28-kilometre return walk (two to three days) in Franklin-Gordon Wild Rivers National Park showcases a tannin-stained lake that has been a long-time favourite with walkers in the know. A quartzite sand beach runs along one edge of the lake, and cliffs tower from its shores, creating a dramatic and spectacular scene. Campsites are dotted through the bush at the lake’s edge.

Need to know

Located in Franklin-Gordon Wild Rivers National Park. Walkers are required to register ahead for this walk.