Australia · State of Tasmania
Where to Stay in Hobart, State of Tasmania
Cool water moves down the River Derwent through Hobart, the capital of Tasmania, Australia, known for Salamanca Place beneath kunanyi / Mount Wellington.
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Where to stay in Hobart
The right area depends on your trip — here's what each neighbourhood is best for.
Hobart wraps its beds around the harbour and the lower slopes below kunanyi / Mount Wellington, so where you stay turns on how close you want to be to the waterfront of the River Derwent. The historic quarter around Salamanca Place forms the obvious base. Its sandstone warehouses sit steps from the deep natural port, and the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery and the Maritime Museum of Tasmania stand within an easy walk, making the waterfront the natural choice for a first stay in the Tasmanian capital.
Travellers who want a quieter, residential feel look uphill toward South Hobart and North Hobart, where St Francis Xavier's Church of South Hobart and Holy Trinity Church, North Hobart mark the older streets. The mountain looms above. You trade the harbour bustle for calmer lanes and the sports grounds of North Hobart Oval and Queenborough Oval, and the cool maritime air of Tasmania settles over the whole city as the River Derwent draws it out toward the sea.
Hobart rewards guests who base near the water and climb toward the mountain on foot.
About Hobart
What is Hobart known for?
Hobart is the capital of Tasmania and Australia's second oldest city, set along the River Derwent in the island's south-east. Its skyline answers to the mountain. The peak of kunanyi / Mount Wellington rises over the harbour, while the historic sandstone of Salamanca Place lines the waterfront and the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery holds the record of the state, giving Hobart a compact centre shaped by stone, water and the deep natural port below the city.
What are the main landmarks in Hobart?
Hobart sets its landmarks between the harbour and the slopes below kunanyi / Mount Wellington. Salamanca Place lines the waterfront. The Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery and the Maritime Museum of Tasmania stand near the port, the Military Museum of Tasmania and the Allport Library and Museum of Fine Arts hold further collections, and St Mary's Cathedral, the Narryna Heritage Museum and Roxburgh House mark the older streets of the Tasmanian capital along the River Derwent.
What is the history of Hobart?
Hobart was founded in 1803 on the estuary of the River Derwent and began as a penal colony, growing into Australia's second oldest city after Sydney. Its start was hard. The convict settlement of Hobart Town took root on the harbour below kunanyi / Mount Wellington, and the sandstone warehouses that still line Salamanca Place grew from those early decades of trade and confinement in Tasmania.
The port drew whalers and traders through the nineteenth century, and Hobart later became a departure point for expeditions of the heroic age of Antarctic exploration, its deep harbour serving ships bound for the far south. St Mary's Cathedral and the collections now held in the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery mark the civic maturing of the town. The 1803 founding and the mountain above the River Derwent still frame how the city sits between water and slope.
Where is Hobart?
Hobart sits in Tasmania's south-east on the estuary of the River Derwent, where the water opens toward the sea. A mountain frames the west. The peak of kunanyi / Mount Wellington rises steeply behind the city, and the harbour below forms one of the deepest natural ports in the world, with much of the waterfront built on reclaimed land.
This southernmost capital in Australia holds a cool, sheltered position within the temperate Southern Hemisphere.
What is the climate of Hobart?
Hobart has a mild maritime climate, cool and temperate on the estuary of the River Derwent in Tasmania's south-east. The seasons stay moderate. Winters are cool and damp beneath kunanyi / Mount Wellington, whose height can hold snow, while summers stay mild and comparatively dry along the harbour.
The Southern Hemisphere calendar sets the warmest months over the summer, when the water of the River Derwent moderates the air across the city.
How do you get to Hobart?
Hobart lies in Tasmania's south-east on the estuary of the River Derwent, reached by air and by ferry across the water separating the island from mainland Australia. Its deep harbour still takes shipping. Roads run out from the city along the Derwent valley, and once you arrive the waterfront landmarks around Salamanca Place and the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery sit within an easy walk of one another below kunanyi / Mount Wellington.
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Updated July 2026