Indulge in a Tasmanian Winter

Winter is coming. Indulgence is in. Treat yourself with luxurious, intimate stays, share in comfort food, retreat with a glass of red wine and feed your soul. Whatever you do, don’t hold back. Lose yourself and revel in Tassie’s winter.

Retreat to luxury

Courtesy Saffire Freycinet

Saffire Freycinet

On the east coast, Saffire’s exclusive experiences will have you wearing a full-body apiary suit to collect sweet Tasmanian honey straight from the hive. At Avalon Coastal Retreat, light the fire, pour a glass of pinot noir and hunker down with plentiful supplies from a fully stocked gourmet kitchen. Your city escape in Hobart at MACq 01 includes a butler at your beck and call, At Stillwater in Launceston, relax and indulge downstairs at the restaurant and retire only steps away in the Seven’s new luxury suites, just upstairs. At Eagles Nest Retreat you can have a private chef cook your dinner while you watch the sun setting on Mt Roland from your outdoor bath.

Feed your soul

Lisa Kuilenburg

Devils Corner Cellar Door

On an island dotted with passionate food and drink producers, you have to allow time for a tasting or two. Tasmania has plenty of cosy cellar doors to tuck yourself away in. Chat with the winemakers at Moores Hill and share the fireplace with resident wine dog, Otto. Slow down to island time on the east coast at Devils Corner Winery and enjoy vineyard and mountain views with your wine. Hellyers Road Distillery will warm your cockles. It might also be the only place in Australia you can pour, wax and seal your own bottle of whisky. Truffledore host farm-to-table lunches that begin with truffle foraging and end with satisfying truffle-infused dishes and mulled wine.

Soak up island culture

Jesse Hunniford / Mona

Event Horizon - Mona

Lose time in a museum or gallery. Hobart’s Mona is Australia’s largest privately owned museum and houses a collection that will both shock and entertain. From 20 July to 18 August see contemporary Australian landscapes from artists at all stages of their career exhibited as part of the Hadley’s Art Prize at Hadleys Orient Hotel in Hobart. Learn about the lives of Tasmanian Aboriginals in the Furneaux Islands at the Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery I Shed My Skin exhibition in Launceston (9 March - 7 July). Time slows in the north-west as you wander Cradle Mountain’s Wilderness Gallery and watch skilled craftsmen at work at Wilderness Woodworks in Strahan and the Makers’ Workshop in Burnie.

Hunker down

Jarrad Seng

The Retreat, Pumphouse Point

Stay close to the comfort of a crackling fireplace at a coastal cottage or wilderness retreat. Winter hibernation is taken to extremes at The Retreat at Pumphouse Point, nestled lakeside with an outdoor bath and views of snow-dusted eucalypts lining Lake St Clair and wombats carving trails in the snow. At Piermont Retreat stone cottages crouch beachside among the sheoaks – pick one with an open fireplace you can call your own. Satisfy cravings for wholesome comfort food at the Homestead Restaurant where menus are created in line with the seasons.