Launceston holidays

Tasmania’s second biggest city, Launceston, is known as the ‘garden city’ because of its abundance of well-established beautiful public and private gardens. Surrounded by a wealth of natural wonders and the Tamar Valley, a wine-producing district, the city is the ideal base for exploring Tasmania’s north-east, including the world class Barnbougle Dunes and Lost Farm golf courses. Within walking distance to the centre of the city is Cataract Gorge, a wilderness area with walkways, abundant wildlife and a popular summertime swimming spot.

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Top things to do in Launceston

Campfire dinner & wildlife watching

View a remarkable diversity of landscapes while driving through farmland and passing the foothills of magnificent Ben Lomond National Park, before venturing over Roses Tier. Take a short walk through the Tombstone Creek Forest Reserve's old-growth forest to stand amongst the forest giants, before sitting round a campfire for bush tucker dinner in the heart of the Tyne valley along with a glass of Tasmanian wine. As dusk falls, the surrounding forest comes alive with eastern quolls (small carnivorous marsupials), wombats, platypuses, wallabies, possums and bandicoots.

Cataract Gorge Reserve

Cataract Gorge Reserve is located only a few minutes from the city of Launceston. Picnic with peacocks and wallabies, wander across the footbridge and ride above the river on the longest single chairlift span in the world, travelling 457 metres.

Narawntapu National Park

Often called the ‘Serengeti of Tasmania’, this national park is one of the best places to see wildlife in Tasmania. Get there early and expect long, sweeping Bass Strait beaches all to yourself. As the sun sets in Narawntapu National Park, the park’s animals come out to graze in their myriad abundance: Bennetts wallabies, tall Forester kangaroos, wombats and pademelons. This serene slice of waterfront Tasmania has beaches, dunes, heathland and coastal bush. It is home to an extraordinary variety of bird life, too: raucous black cockatoos, startling green rosellas, dainty honeyeaters, and a variety of water birds in the lagoons and estuaries.

Tamar Valley Wine Route

Over 170km of winding roads make up the Tamar Valley Wine Route. Explore wineries with enviable cool-climate wine territory and cellar doors including world-class Jansz Tasmania – the type of sparkling that has put Pipers River Valley and Tasmania on the map. Take a tour, sit down to a wine tasting or meet the winemakers themselves.