A first-time guide to Launceston and the Tamar Valley, Australia

07.08.2024 - 19:40 / lonelyplanet.com

Aug 7, 2024 • 8 min read

Launceston might be Tasmania’s second-largest city, but it’s a place where nature and nurture continue to play leading roles. 

With a deep and dramatic gorge reaching almost into the city center, Launceston is surrounded by the wine-producing slopes of the Tamar Valley where lush red volcanic soils nourish some of Australia’s finest produce.

It’s this combination of fine food and premium wine, along with the wealth of island seafood, that fuels a dining scene that saw this city of just 90,000 people anointed as a UNESCO City of Gastronomy in 2021 – one of only 57 such cities in the world, and just the second in Australia.

When you’re done wining and dining, Launceston is also a prime base for explorations into Tasmania’s celebrated outdoors: it's closer than the capital, Hobart, to the state’s star natural feature of Cradle Mountain and only a 2hr drive to Wineglass Bay in Freycinet National Park. 

Launceston shines brightest in the southern summer (December to February), when maximum temperatures average around 23°C and its festival calendar is at its most active. It’s the season of food-focused Festivale in City Park, the New Year’s Eve Launceston BeerFest, and the big-wheel-turning National Penny Farthing Championships in outlying Evandale. 

If you’re contemplating day trips, the lavender rows at photogenic Bridestowe Lavender Estate, the largest lavender farm in the Southern Hemisphere, are at their flowering finest.

Autumn (March to May) brings the year’s most stable weather conditions, with lingering warmth and a thinning of summer crowds. It’s also the time of harvest around the Tamar Valley vineyards.

How deep is your thirst? Time in Launceston might be dictated by cellar doors, with wineries spilling along both banks, and the backing slopes, of the Tamar Valley. The city itself can be covered in a couple of days. If the sun is shining, you might want to add a day to follow the locals to the beach at nearby favourite Bridport, around an hour’s drive northeast of the city. All considered, a week should provide ample time to get to know Launceston and explore its surrounds. And you’ll need all of those evenings to tick your way through Launceston’s best restaurants.

Launceston has quick links to the mainland with Launceston Airport just 15km to the city’s south. Vehicle ferries sail from Geelong (Victoria) to Devonport, 100km to Launceston’s west. Buses operated by Kinetic run between Launceston and Hobart, taking around three hours, and continue on to Devonport and Burnie.

Launceston’s city center is compact and walkable, with even Cataract Gorge at strolling distance – it’s a 15-minute walk from the mall on Brisbane St to the mouth of the gorge. A number of companies provide