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Allport Library & Museum of Fine Arts
The Allport Library & Museum of Fine Arts is inside the State Library. It has a collection of rare books on Australasia and the Pacific region, as well as colonial paintings, antiques, and a collection of artworks that it displays several times a year.
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Alpenrail
Alpenrail is one of the largest model railway layouts in Australia. Head north to Alpenrail to see its large (200 sq m), remarkably detailed, miniature recreation of the train-littered Swiss Alps.
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Arthur Circus
During colonial times this area was a colourful maritime village, home to master mariners, shipwrights, sailors, fishers, coopers and merchants. The houses reflect the occupants' varying lifestyles, ranging from tiny one- and two-room houses, such as those around Arthur Circus, to mansions. While most houses are still occupied by locals, many are now guesthouses where you can stay and experience the area's unique village atmosphere.
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Battery Point
An empty rum bottle's throw from the once notorious Sullivans Cove waterfront, the old maritime village of Battery Point is a nest of tiny lanes and 19th-century cottages, packed together like shanghaied landlubbers in a ship's belly. Its name derives from the 1818 gun battery that stood on the promontory, protecting Hobart Town from nautical threats both real and imagined.
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Botanical Discovery Centre
The small yet beguiling Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens, located near Tasman Bridge, was established in 1818 and features more than 6000 exotic and native plant species. There's also an outstanding conservatory and the Sub-Antarctic Plant House. After wandering through the 14 hectares of flora, you can explore their world in more detail in the Botanical Discovery Centre, which also houses a gift shop, kiosk and restaurant.
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Cadbury Chocolate Factory
A must-see for sweet-tooths and Willie Wonka wannabes is the Cadbury Chocolate Factory. Tour participants enjoy samples at the start and end of the tour, and can invest in low-priced choc products. Tours are subject to demand; fully enclosed footwear is required and bookings are essential. Some companies offer day trips and river cruises incorporating the Cadbury tour, or book directly with Cadbury and make your own way there.
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Carnegie Gallery
The city-council-run Carnegie Gallery exhibits mainly contemporary Tasmanian art, craft, design and photography. It is located upstairs from the Maritime Museum of Tasmania.
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Cascade Brewery
Around a bend in South Hobart, standing in startling, gothic isolation, is the Cascade Brewery. Australia's oldest brewery, it was established in 1832 next to the clean-running Hobart Rivulet, and is still pumping out superb beer and soft drinks today. Tours involve plenty of stair climbing, with tastings at the end (including Cascade Premium, the global sales smash!).
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Female Factory
Finally being recognised as an important historic site (one in four convicts transported to Van Diemen's Land was a woman!), the Female Factory was where Hobart's female convicts were incarcerated. Tour bookings are essential.
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Franklin Wharf
Hobart's busy waterfront area, centred on Franklin Wharf, is a great place for a stroll. At Constitution Dock are several floating takeaway seafood stalls - it's an obligatory holiday activity to sit in the sun munching fresh fish and chips while watching the busy harbour (the docks also have some fine restaurants if you prefer something more formal).
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Ghost Tours
The court rooms, cells, tunnels and gallows of the Penitentiary Chapel & Criminal Courts can be explored via the excellent National Trust-run tours. One-hour ghost tours are also held here most nights; they're popular, so bookings are essential.
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Government House
Next door to the Botanical gardens is Government House, the residence of the state's governor. Although it is not open to the public and not visible from the road, you can get a good view of the building's turrets and towers from high up on the hill in Queen's Domain.
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Hunter Street
Hunter St has a row of fine Georgian warehouses (including the old IXL jam factory) that have recently been restored and now house the super-swish Henry Jones Art Hotel, Hobart's new hotspot, plus affiliated restaurants and a couple of art galleries. While this development has remained true to the heritage of the area and retains much of its original façade, not all of the hotel's neighbours can make the same claim.
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Island Cycle Tours
Island Cycle Tours, with its office inside the Pickled Frog backpackers, offers a van ride to the summit of Mt Wellington, followed by more than 20km of downhill riding (mostly on sealed roads, but with off-road options) back to sea level. There is also the option of combining a bike descent with kayaking trip - this 'pedal 'n' paddle' outing lasts about five hours and includes a meal.
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Kelly's Steps
To reach Battery Point from Salamanca Pl you can climb up Kelly's Steps, which are wedged between two warehouses about halfway along the main block of buildings.
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Lady Franklin Gallery
The Lady Franklin Gallery, in a colonnaded 1842 sandstone building called Ancanthe (Greek for 'Vale of Flowers'), displays works by Tasmanian artists.
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Lark Distillery
The Lark Distillery, on Davey St, near the visitors centre, produces various fruit liqueurs and a single malt whisky. (Tastings available.) You can also get a bite to eat here. Of an evening, the venue becomes a lounge bar.
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Maritime Museum of Tasmania
Celebrating Hobart's unbreakable bond with the sea, the excellent Maritime Museum of Tasmania has a fascinating, salt-encrusted collection of photos, paintings, models and relics (try to resist ringing the huge brass bell from the Rhexenor ). Upstairs is the Carnegie Gallery, exhibiting contemporary Tasmanian art, craft, design and photography.
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Military Museum of Tasmania
The Anglesea Barracks were built in Battery Point in 1811. Still used by the army, this is the oldest military establishment in Australia. They house the volunteer-staffed Military Museum of Tasmania.
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Moorilla Estate
Moorilla Estate occupies a saucepan-shaped peninsula jutting into the Derwent River. Founded in the 1950s, Moorilla plays a prominent and gregarious role in Hobart society. Stop by for wine and beer tastings ( ooooh, the pinot noir…), have lunch or dinner at the outstanding restaurant The Source, catch a summer concert on the lawns (Grinspoon, Cat Empire, The Pretenders et al) or splash some cash for a night in the über-swish accommodation.
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Mount Wellington
Cloaked in winter snow, Mount Wellington peaks at 1270m (4167ft), towering over Hobart like a benevolent overlord. The citizens find reassurance in its constant, solid presence, while outdoorsy types find the space to hike and bike on its leafy flanks. And the view from the top is unbelievable! Don't be deterred if the sky is overcast - often the peak rises above cloud level and looks out over a magical ocean of rolling white cloud-tops.
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Narryna Heritage Museum
Narryna Heritage Museum (is a stately Georgian sandstone-fronted mansion (pronounced 'Narinna') built in 1836, set in beautiful grounds and containing a treasure-trove of domestic colonial artefacts.
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Old Signal Station
If Mt Wellington is under a cloud, the much lower Old Signal Station on Mt Nelson still provides excellent views. When Port Arthur was operating as a penal site, a series of semaphore stations were positioned on all the high hills and used to transmit messages across the colony. The one on Mt Nelson - first established in 1811, though the current building dates from 1910 - served as the major link between Hobart and the rest of the colony.
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Parliament House
Presiding over an oak-studded park adjacent to Salamanca Place is the low-lying, sandstone Parliament House, completed in 1840 and originally used as a customs house. Tours don't run when parliament is in session.
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Penitentiary Chapel Historic Site
Ruminating over the court rooms, cells and gallows of the Penitentiary Chapel Historic Site writer TG Ford mused: 'As the Devil was going through Hobart Gaol, he saw a solitary cell; and the Devil was pleased for it gave him a hint, for improving the prisons in hell.' Take the excellent National Trust-run tour, or the one-hour Ghost Tour held most nights (bookings essential).
