Tasmania is an island state of 68,402 km² (26,410 square miles) off the south-east corner of Australia, and it is the best motorcycling in the country by a wide margin — short distances, constant corners, and about 42 per cent of the land area protected in reserves. A loop of the island is built around two highways: the Tasman Highway, 410 km (255 miles) of A3 from Hobart to Launceston by way of the east coast, and the Lyell Highway, 248 km (154 miles) of A10 west from Hobart to Queenstown. This guide covers the circuit, the ferry, the weather and the wildlife (verified August 2026).
Why the island rewards a lap rather than a route
Mainland Australia asks you to cover distance before anything happens. Tasmania does not. The whole state is smaller than Ireland, the highest point is Mount Ossa at 1,617 m (5,305 ft), and the road network wraps around mountains rather than through empty plain, so the density of corners per hundred kilometres is unlike anywhere else in the country. You can be on the east coast in the morning and in temperate rainforest on the west coast the same afternoon, and the weather will be entirely different in each.
That is also the catch. Riders who plan Tasmania by distance underestimate it badly. A 250 km day here contains more actual riding than a 600 km day on the mainland, and the roads that look like shortcuts on a map are often the slowest ones. Give the lap a week if you can. Five days works. Three days means choosing two coasts and skipping one.
Route at a glance
| Island area | 68,402 km² (26,410 sq miles); about 42% in reserves, 21% national park or World Heritage |
| Tasman Highway | 410 km (255 miles), signed A3, Hobart to Launceston via the east and north-east coasts |
| Lyell Highway | 248 km (154 miles), signed A10, Hobart to Queenstown, then B24 to Strahan |
| Highest point | Mount Ossa, 1,617 m (5,305 ft) |
| Getting there | Spirit of Tasmania, Geelong to Devonport, 242 nautical miles (448 km), 9 to 11 hours, usually overnight |
| Winter hazard | Black ice through the Central Highlands; snow at Derwent Bridge most winters, closing the road for days at a time |
| Best window | December to March, southern-hemisphere summer (as of August 2026) |
| Sensible pace | Five to seven days for a full lap |
Open the Tasmania loop in Google Maps — Devonport, Launceston, St Helens, Hobart, Queenstown, Cradle Mountain, which you can send to your navigation before you board the ferry.
The east coast, on the Tasman Highway
The A3 is the classic. From Hobart it crosses the Derwent and heads out through Sorell, then runs up the east coast through Orford and Bicheno to St Helens, with the sea on your right most of the way and a surface that is generally in good order. Until 1990 there was no coastal route between St Marys and the coast at all — you had to climb in and out on steep grades — and the bypass that fixed that opened on 2 December 1991. Elephant Pass, the old climb, is still there and still worth riding as a detour.
North of St Helens the Bay of Fires is the reason a lot of people come to this coast: white sand and granite boulders covered in orange lichen, and quiet enough outside January that you can have a beach to yourself. The highway then turns inland through Weldborough and Pyengana, past St Columba Falls and the Blue Tier, on a genuinely excellent stretch of forest road, before crossing the Sideling on the way into Scottsdale and Launceston. The Sideling has a lookout worth stopping at.
The west, on the Lyell Highway
The A10 out of Hobart is a completely different island. It follows the Derwent through New Norfolk and Hamilton, climbs into the Central Highlands past Ouse and Tarraleah, and reaches Derwent Bridge, which sits between Lake St Clair and the high plateau. West of there it runs through the Franklin-Gordon Wild Rivers National Park and the West Coast Range, and the country turns to buttongrass, rainforest and river gorge.
The descent into Queenstown is the set piece. The hills around the town have unusual pink and grey hues that come from the conglomerate rock of Mount Lyell and Mount Owen, and a century of copper smelting stripped the vegetation off them, leaving a landscape that reads more like a mine site than a mountain range. The road down into the town is a dense sequence of tight bends, and there is no comfortable way to hurry it. From Queenstown the B24 continues to Strahan on Macquarie Harbour.
North of that, Cradle Mountain and the Central Highlands are worth the detour from any lap, and the road in from the north coast is one of the better rides on the island.
Season, ice, wildlife and the practical details
Season. Tasmania sits far enough south that summer is the only comfortable riding season, and summer here is December to March. Even then the island produces four seasons in a day, and a warm morning in Launceston means nothing about the west coast in the afternoon.
Ice, not snow, is the winter problem. The whole Central Highlands section of the Lyell Highway is susceptible to black ice in wintry conditions, and it can be exceptionally bad in the heavily forested stretch west of Ouse, though it can be encountered all the way to the west coast. Snow is usually encountered around Derwent Bridge during most winters and can close the road for several days, and the plateau between Derwent Bridge and Mount King William closes fairly regularly to ice and snow. Rockfalls affect the same section. None of this makes winter impossible, but it makes it a poor plan on two wheels.
Wildlife is worse here than the mainland, not better. Kangaroos are the animal most commonly struck by vehicles in Australia and dusk and dawn are the peak risk hours, and Tasmania adds wallabies, wombats, pademelons and Tasmanian devils in high density on quiet roads with forest right up to the verge. The recommended response to a large animal is to slow in lane rather than swerve suddenly. On this island the sensible discipline is to finish riding well before sunset and start after full light, and to accept that this shortens your riding day in a way mainland routes do not.
Fuel and parks. Distances between towns are short by Australian standards, but west-coast towns are small and pumps keep local hours. Fill in Queenstown or Strahan rather than assuming. A parks pass is required for vehicles entering Tasmania's national parks; rates and pass types are set by the Parks and Wildlife Service and change, so check the official fees and passes page before you go.
Gear notes for an island with weather in every direction
Coverage on the west coast and in the Central Highlands is patchy at best, and the ferry crossing means you arrive with whatever you loaded before boarding. Downloading the whole lap before you leave the mainland, and running it on a display that works without a live connection, avoids the classic Tasmania problem of losing the map at a forestry junction in the rain — our guide to choosing a motorcycle GPS setup explains what offline really covers, and a JADO S6 riding system keeps route and cameras on one screen so a wet phone never comes out of your jacket.
Temperature is the other thing this island does to a bike. A sunny east-coast morning and a cold, wet afternoon on the plateau can be twenty degrees apart, and falling air temperature drops tire pressure just as the road gets slick and technical — why tire pressure falls in cold weather covers the mechanism, and a TPMS sensor gives you a live reading where the nearest gauge is an hour away. Since so much of the good riding here happens at either end of the day when the light is soft and the animals are moving, low-light visibility for riders is worth reading before you go.
FAQ
How many days do you need to ride around Tasmania?
Five to seven for a lap that includes both coasts, Cradle Mountain and time off the bike. Three days is enough to ride the east coast and the Lyell Highway but forces you to skip one side of the island. Do not judge it by kilometres; the roads are slower and better than the distances suggest.
How do you get a motorcycle to Tasmania?
The Spirit of Tasmania runs roll-on roll-off vehicle ferries between Geelong in Victoria and Devonport, a crossing of 242 nautical miles (448 km) that takes about nine to eleven hours and is normally done overnight. Bikes are carried and strapped down on the vehicle deck. Book well ahead for summer.
What is the single best road in Tasmania?
Riders argue about this, but the two most commonly named are the Tasman Highway through the north-east forests between St Helens and Scottsdale, and the Lyell Highway descent into Queenstown. They are very different rides and both are on the standard lap.
Can you ride Tasmania in winter?
You can, but it is not the version of the island worth travelling for. The Central Highlands get black ice, Derwent Bridge gets snow most winters and can close for days, and the days are short. December to March is the season.
Is wildlife really that much of a problem?
Yes, and more so than on the mainland. Forest comes right to the road edge on many routes, the animal density is high, and traffic is light enough that animals do not stay clear of the tarmac. Riding in daylight only is the single most effective thing you can do about it.
