Freycinet National Park is one of the most beautiful places in Tasmania and should definitely be on your bucket list. The park is located on the eastern coast of Tasmania and includes The Hazards granite mountains surrounded by azure bays with white-sand beaches. Its most iconic views are of Wineglass Bay with its stunning curved beach and clear waters that gave rise to its name.
The park was established over a hundred years ago in 1916 and takes up most of the Freycinet Peninsula. The peninsula and park were named after the French explorer Louis de Freycinet, who explored the area in 1800 as part of a voyage to southern and southwestern coastal mainland Australia and Tasmania.
The area is within the territory of the Aboriginal Oyster Bay nation. It's believed 600-700 people lived there as part of this group. Significant Aboriginal sites are located along the coastlines, dunes and estuaries including shell middens, rock quarries, rock shelters, and stone artefacts.
How to get to Freycinet National Park
Freycinet National Park is located about two and a half hours from either Hobart or Launceston by car. Take the Tasman Highway (A3) and then turn onto Coles Bay Road (C302) to reach the Freycinet Peninsula.
Where to stay near Freycinet National Park
Coles Bay is the closest town with just a few accommodation options. There are also very limited camping spots, but getting one is nearly impossible during peak season. You have to apply for a spot many months ahead of time and hope to be drawn in a lottery.
We wanted a little bit more comfort between our camping adventures and hikes, so we stayed at the small coastal town of Swansea about 50 minutes from Freycinet National Park. Not only did this town surprise us with its local history, but it felt really authentic staying there.
We stayed in a 19th century cottage that we rented on Airbnb, which ended up being one of the highlights of our trip to Tasmania. There are a few more things to do in the area too, such as stunning coastal wineries, an interesting town museum, and beautiful nature walks.
If you are going in the opposite direction from Hobart, you may want to stay at Bicheno, which is another coastal town with stunning beaches just a 30-minute drive away from Freycinet National Park.
Both Bicheno and Swansea have EV charging stations as part of the Electric Highway Tasmania initiative. This was very convent for us, as we had taken our Nissan Leaf electric vehicle to Tasmania via ferry.
Hiking at Freycient National Park
There many tracks to choose from depending on your time, the weather, and your fitness. There are short tracks that you can do in 20 minutes, such as Cape Tourville, There are also bigger challenges such as the Freycinet National Circuit, which takes two to three days to complete.
We will share with you the hikes that we did based on our research for the ones with the most spectacular views. We ended up doing all of them in the one day, but you could spread them out over two days to make it easier on yourself.
Wineglass Bay Lookout
This is a short and one of the easiest hikes that still offers some great views of Wineglass Bay. You can finish both Wineglass Bay Lookout and Wineglass Bay Beach together.
The starting point is the same but for Wineglass Bay Lookout you have to keep going left until you reach a platform and there is another platform higher up.
From there, follow the path down until you reach a sign showing you to stairs that go down to Wineglass Bay Beach.
Wineglass Bay Beach
This hike at around two and a half to three and a half hours is more challenging than you may think because of thousands of steps leading to the beach. The hardest part is obviously going back up.
Another hard thing on this hike was staying away from mosquitoes. They were absolutely crazy there! We both had long sleeves and pants with repellent, but the mosquitoes just didn’t care. As soon as we stopped for a second in a shady area, they attacked us with a vengeance.
The beach itself looked outstanding and reminded us of tropical beaches we witnessed on our trips to some of the Pacific islands. But don't let the colours fool you. The water is quite cold even in the middle of summer, so you may want to carry a wetsuit to swim in the ocean there.
Be aware that if you visit there with cloudy weather, your experience will be different. That’s why we highly recommend to stay in the area for a few nights like we did so you have more chances to be here on a sunny day. When we just arrived it was bit cloudy and you can see the difference in the pictures.
Carrying a wet wetsuit back up a thousand odd steps is not our definition of fun, so we just sat on the orange-coloured boulders on the left side of the beach and soaked in the views. It’s the perfect place to have a picnic too, but remember to leave no trace.
Mt Amos Walking Track
This hike takes about three hours up one of the mountains that makes up The Hazards mountain range. It’s best to allow another hour to take pictures and enjoy the view. It’s a relatively short but challenging hike.
Janna really wanted to make it to the peak of Mt Amos during sunrise. There had also been some rain the day before.
Luckily we decided to do some further research first. After reading half a dozen blog articles on how crazy this hike actually is, we ended up deciding that hiking there after a rainy day at sunrise may not be such a good idea.
So, we did it in the afternoon after making sure that the sun was out and the boulders were dry. You do not want to attempt this hike on a wet day or with poor visibility.
Some of the sections of the trail have flat rock which become very slippery when even a little wet. There are also some tricky parts of the track to manoeuvre through and doing this without clear visibility would be dangerous.
We also saw people who had hurt themselves even when the conditions were perfect but they didn’t wear proper shoes. This is one hike which really does require you to have a good sturdy pair of boots.
You will also need lots of water to stay hydrated. In addition to the time the hike takes, it can be physically challenging and you’ll likely exert yourself quite a bit in places.
We also recommend that you don’t wear your favourite hiking pants. You may need to throw out whatever you’re wearing after this hike because you’ll possibly be sliding down rough boulders on your bum a few times!
You reach the start of the Mt Amos trail from the main carpark at Freycinet National Park, in the opposite direction of the Wineglass Bay Lookout and Wineglass Beach tracks. The first section is relatively flat and easy to navigate.
From there the trail becomes a steeper hike up through some bushes until you reach the first section of boulders. To make the experience a lot easier on yourself, look out for yellow triangles painted on or attached to the ground that guide you along the way when you reach these rocky areas.
We witnessed some people who had initially ignored or missed the signs. Once they started to follow them, they realised that it was the correct way to go and definitely regretted not paying more attention to them earlier.
You have to be quite fit to get to the peak of Mount Amos. There will be sections where you will have to scramble up boulders using all four limbs.
These sections come sporadically. Once you pass the first one, the hike gets easier for a little while and you can enjoy the views until you face the next challenge.
With dry weather, the boulders are fairly grippy. Even though it looks scary and you are almost climbing vertically at some sections, it’s definitely doable by employing some sensible caution in how you approach the trail.
Having said that, there is no way you should attempt it if the boulders are even slightly wet. The same applies when you have poor or no grip on your shoes. It’s just not worth the risk. There is no phone reception and it’s long way back down for someone to get help for you.
When you are finally make it to the peak, you will be rewarded with sweeping 360-degree views of Freycient Peninsula including Wineglass Bay and Hazards Beach on the opposite side. It really puts everything into perspective at that height.
It was an incredibly rewarding feeling to be standing at the very top of Mount Amos after the physically challenging scramble up the mountain face. We were so happy that we had been able to finish this hike and think it’s a must-do for everyone visiting the area who is physically able to do it.
Because we did the hike in the late afternoon, most people were going down so we even had the views to ourselves for around half an hour. If you don’t mind carrying some extra weight on your way up, it’s an amazing spot to soak in the experience while enjoying a picnic lunch or evening meal.
Relax at Honeymoon Bay
If you feel like going for a swim without having to hike for hours, Honeymoon Bay is your best choice. We recommend getting there early as the parking spots get full pretty quickly. The beach is really close to the car park which is only a seven-minute minute drive from Coles Bay.
We took some food with us and made a picnic by the beach. The water was really refreshing and crystal clear. The beach is sandy but there are also beautiful rock formations around it. The green-covered mountains in the background made this place look even more surreal.
We brought our Honu stand-up paddle boards with us. They are incredibly light but strong inflatable boards made in Sydney. Honu also has a strong commitment to sustainability. We tend to take them with us everywhere whenever we know we are going to be near the water.
We took our paddle boards along the coast to another smaller beach nearby and saw lots of fish. There was even a giant sting ray that was hiding at the bottom under the sand and surprised us both by suddenly darting away from under our boards.
There was no-one at this beach when we first arrived there, which made the experience really special and memorable. Having a beach all to yourself in the middle of the Australian summer is rare. Spending some time chilling and swimming at this beautiful beach was a great way to end our trip to Freycinet National Park.
Check out Coles Bay
If you don’t have a paddle board with you, you can also go on a kayaking tour that departs from the Coles Bay boat ramp. We personally haven’t tried this experience, but if we didn’t have our boards with us we would have totally gone for it.
We also highly recommend stopping by at Coles Bay for a meal. Geographe has quite simple but tasty pizzas that will fuel you with necessary carbs before or after your hikes.
They have a few veggie options and even vegan cheese, so you don’t have to compromise. They also have a nutritious vegan bowl with grains, roasted pumpkin, pickled veggies and a side of tahini dressing. Besides great service and comforting food, they have the best views looking out over Freycinet National Park.
