Adam Reibel
Winter festivals
in Tasmania
Supplied courtesy of Dark Mofo
In a Tasmanian winter, cooler temperatures mean the wild festivities are hotting up.
It’s a time when culture, dining and the arts come to the fore, and festivals embrace the chance to reveal what’s cool about the cold: fire, feasting and folklore. There are warming moments, such as a sizzling winter feast in Hobart, and there are cooling moments – fancy a nude dawn swim with a couple of thousand close friends?
Whether you’re firing up with art, food, science, song or whisky, winter festivals in Tasmania have you well and truly covered.
Adam Reibel
Bicheno Beams
27 June–25 July
Best known for its surf, sand and seafood, Bicheno truly lights up across four midwinter weeks. Bicheno Beams is a free, family-friendly laser light show that plays in the dark sky each night, accompanied by a soundtrack of music for a multisensory experience.
There are two shows, starting at 6:30 pm, alternating across the nights of the alcohol-free event, so consider staying a couple of days to take in both (plan your accommodation ahead) – there’s plenty around this popular east coast beach town to occupy the days.
Simply turn up at the seafront Bicheno Lions Park each night, where festival volunteers will guide you to a viewing space for the 15min extravaganza of light. Arrive early, dress warm, bring a rug or chairs and fill the thermos. Let there be light.
Alastair Bett
Festival of Voices
3–12 July
Discover the warming power of song at Australia’s top celebration of voice, now in its 21st year.
Running for 10 days, Festival of Voices is a Tasmanian festival held in venues across Hobart and beyond. It’s a time when Tasmania raises its voice – be it choral, cabaret, orchestral, rock, jazz, a cappella, experimental or myriad other vocal expressions.
A distinctive feature of this Tasmania winter festival is its levels of participation and interaction, with a range of choral workshops, led by local, national and international artists, on offer each year. This is the perfect chance to live out that long-held stage dream.
The festival is particularly family friendly, be it the signature Big Sing, which draws thousands of rugged-up voices into one around a roaring bonfire in Salamanca, or the two festival performances of the ever-popular Young Tasmania Sings, which features school and community youth choirs combining into a 250-strong vocal wonder.
Goddess Burlesque performing at Devonport Jazz
Kelly Slater
Devonport Jazz
23–26 July
For 25 years, Devonport Jazz has been heating up the northwest coast with four days of swing, blues and everything in between spilling across more than 20 venues.
Jazz acts from Australia and abroad takeover Devonport’s Town Hall, cafes, pubs and community halls with headline performances, master-led workshops and impromptu sessions. At Jazz MAD, local bands play free drop-in sets.
It's a festival that welcomes jazz purists and curious newcomers alike, with venues close enough to wander between on a winter evening.
Lusy Productions
Tasmanian Whisky Week
1–9 August
Tasmania’s whisky credentials are top shelf, with more than 70 distilleries dotted across the state, producing tipples acknowledged – with the awards to prove it – as among the world’s best. For one week in August, more than 40 of the state’s distillers come together to celebrate their craft at Tasmanian Whisky Week.
Events at this Tasmania winter festival are as varied as the state’s distilleries are numerous. There are tours to individual distilleries, and tours that combine several producers. In the evenings, pubs, bars and the distilleries themselves host special whisky-themed events. It might be a whisky quiz inside a taproom, a whisky cruise, a taste-off between Tasmanian and Scottish whiskies (go Tassie!) or perhaps a drag night with a dram of whisky in hand.
Wrapping things up is the Tasmanian Spirit Showcase, a one-day extended tasting session from all participating distilleries in Hobart’s dockside PW1 hub.
Fred + Hannah and Beaker Street
The TMAG science hub, Beaker Street Festival
Fred + Hannah and Beaker Street
Beaker Street Festival
6–17 August
Who said artists get to have all the festivals and fun?
This science-minded winter fest in Hobart – home to more scientists per capita than any other Australian city – rounds up all things scientific and artistic and mixes them, laboratory style, into an interactive fusion of entertainment and thought-provoking discussions. Now in its 10th year, the festival runs across two weekends in August, spilling across halls, pubs, outdoor spaces and everywhere between. It’s fun for all, regardless of your scientific bent.
Each year’s Beaker Street Festival program, which features some of Australia’s finest and most famous scientists, is new and unique. In 2026 you'll find "nerdy nightclubs", Antarctic talks, secret saunas, workshops on mushrooms, slime and mould, and Dark Sky Dinners featuring stargazing and Aboriginal sky stories while enjoying Tasmania’s celebrated food and drink.
From feel-good festivities to light shows and markets, see the full spread of Tasmanian events and pop your favourites into your winter itinerary with the Trip Planner.
Been and gone
You've missed them for this year, time to get excited for 2027.
- Dark Mofo (June) turns Hobart and beyond into a den of fire, feasting and provocative art, closing with more than 3000 bold souls stripping off to sprint into the River Derwent for the Nude Solstice Swim.
- Bay of Fires Winter Arts Festival (June) brings local and international artists to St Helens with a $20,000 art prize, a chilly sunrise swim and a sand sculpture competition on the program.
- Island Escape Winter Festival (July) takes over Launceston's Inveresk Precinct for three nights of music, food and light, with headline acts alongside quirky winter experiences (silent disco in an igloo, anyone?).
Sizzling winter events
View all events
Where will the Off Season take you?
Fill your nights with wild wonder, expand your creative horizons, hike deep into Tasmania’s wilderness, and taste seasonal feasts and silky libations. Maybe you’ll even shatter the bounds of your comfort zone on a caving or cold-plunging adventure? Awaken your winter self.
Plan your Off Season
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