The Cost of Traveling in Tasmania: 2026 Budget Breakdown

Curious as to what the cost of traveling in Tasmania is in 2026? My goal is to give you an in-depth picture of the total cost of traveling in Tasmania for people on a mid-tier budget. Of course you can always adjust to a tighter budget or add more luxuries where applicable!

I tracked every penny on my 2 week road trip in Tasmania to create this detailed budget breakdown. I am focused on nature and wildlife experiences when I travel, spending money on activities I think will be 100% worth it and skipping out on stuff I’m less hyped about.

This budget breakdown falls more on the backpacker side of things as I did camp for most of the trip, but I’ll also show you what you can expect to pay at hotels along the way!

Everything will be listed in both AUD and USD, with the grand totals at the end in USD! This is a hyper in-depth guide to help you create the most accurate budget possible for your trip to beautiful Tasmania.

Let’s get into it!

What’s Covered in This Guide

This Tasmania budget breakdown covers how much I spent on accommodation (hint – I mostly camped), transportation, food, activities and a miscellaneous category. I did included the cost of getting to and from Tasmania, but did not include my flights in and out of Australia as international flights vary greatly.

I was traveling with my partner, so I’ve listed everything as the total cost and then broken it up into cost per person when applicable. Okay – let’s get into the budget breakdown!

Accommodation

I’m not gonna like, this is where my frugal budget tendencies and adventure spirit took over – we primarily camped FOR FREE during our stay in Tasmania. To learn more about camping for free in Tassie, read my guide to freedom camping.

I honestly can’t recommend camping in Tasmania enough, it was such a fun way to experience the country. If you’re not able to fly into the country with basic camping gear like a tent and a sleeping bag, you can easily acquire all the gear you need at local second hand shops and facebook marketplace.

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Camping was the biggest way I was able to save money when traveling in Tasmania this year.

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If camping isn’t your thing, here’s a bit more about the hotel and hostel we did stay in –

We stayed at the Formby Hotel in Davenport the first night we arrived and had a lovely stay, truly, we were pleasantly surprised!

Our private room was clean and roomy and even had a TV. There was a mini fridge as well as a little coffee station and desk in the room. The Formby is technically a hotel but does have shared dorm style rooms as well, so we thought it was going to feel like a hostel but it did actually feel like a hotel. If I was rating the Formby as a hostel I’d give it a 10/10, and if I was rating it as a hotel I give it a 5/10.

All the advertisements for the Formby make it seem like it’s super close to the ferry, which it is as the crow flies. But to actually get to the Spirit of Tasmania ferry is a 1.5 mile walk, so I’m calling false advertising on that on haha! Other than that it was a great first spot to crash.

Down in Hobart we stayed at the Pickled Frog.…. ahhhh yes the pickeld frog. Unfortunately I found the pickled frog to be a bit too chaotic, dirty and loud for my liking. It’s a true grunge hostel so if you’re down for that communal vibe you may find a good fit here! I will be skipping the pickled frog the next time I visit Hobart.

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Where to stay in Hobart? I wish I would have spent a few extra bucks a night and stayed at the Shipwright Arms Hotel instead! Yeah…. don’t make my mistake, book the Shipwright!

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Here’s how my accommodations broke down during my 2 week stay:

Night 1: Formby Hotel – $75 usd

Nights 2 – 9: Camping – $0 usd

Nights 10 & 12: The Picked Frog – $217 usd

Total for 12 nights: $292 USD spent on accommodation (as 2 people)

Because Nate and I split everything 50/50, this breaks down to just $12 usd per night for me…. thank you free camping!!

If you are a solo traveller and down for dorm rooms, you could be spending even less on accommodation!

If there’s absolutely no way you want to camp in Tasmania, check out hotels across the state down below. Most mid-budget hotels are anywhere from $80-$100 usd per night.

Cost of Transportation in Tasmania

Transportation was our biggest expense during our 2 week stay in Tassie.

But with that being said, the rental car came out to $64 USD per day, which split between 2 people really isn’t the worst.

My biggest piece of advice with the rental car is to book in advance. We booked out rental car 2 months in advance and we could have gotten a way better car for a way better deal had we booked 6 months in advance.

If you take the ferry, you should walk (NOT drive) on the ferry and pick up your rental car in Devonport or Launceston. This will save you a ton of money rather than renting a car on the mainland and driving it onto the ferry.

Speaking of the ferry, book your tickets directly on the Spirit of Tasmania website as far in advance as possible. A single walk on ticket is around $330 AUD or $220 USD with current gas prices. At the time I purchased my ticket it was just $80 USD.

Here’s the total cost of all the transportation we took to and from and in Tasmania

Uber to the Spirit of Tasmania: $8 USD

Spirit of Tasmania walk on ticket: $115 AUD / $80 USD

Car Rental: $1220 AUD / $840 USD total, $420 usd split

Gas: $174 USD / $120 USD total, $60 usd split

Flight Hobart to Sydney: $70 USD

The total cost of transportation in Tasmania came out to $638 USD for 13 days when split between 2 people

This breaks down to $49 USD per day for me

Cost of Food in Tasmania

How much did eating cost us in Tasmania? We cooked most of our own food and spent a lot of our food budget at the grocery store.

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To get a better understanding of our trip, check out my (budget friendly) 7-Day Road Trip Guide

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I found the Aussie grocery stores to be comparable to the USA in terms of price and variety. As for going out to eat, I thought places were a bit more affordable than in the USA.

Here’s what I paid for food while traveling in Tasmania:

Groceries: $179 USD

Cafe in Hobart: $7 USD

Food Trucks: $15 USD

I personally spent a total of $201 USD or $15.5 per day on food while in Tasmania!

Activities

There are so many amazing things to do in Tasmania, and so many of the activities I enjoyed were totally free! I’m talking about hiking in Cradle Mountain National Park (although you do have to pay for parking… hmmmm), enjoying the beaches in the Bay of Fire, taking photos out Tourville Lighthouse, hiking at Shipsterns Bluff and exploring the city of Hobart.

While I did do a ton of free activities, I also couldn’t pass up paying to see the Tasmanian Devils. We spent an absolutely amazing afternoon petting tasmanian devils, seeing the endangered quoll and watching a wombat eat at Trowunna Wildlife Sanctuary.

I cannot recommend seeing the Tasmanian Devils enough – it was the highlight of our 2 weeks in the country!

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Combine a stop at Cradle Mountain with the After Dark Tasmanian Devil Feeding Experience, a 1.5 hour guided tour for under $30. Booking now includes free cancellation if plans change!

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While I kept my budget pretty tight, here are a few other amazing adventure activities that are worth the splurge!

You can experience the stunning Cape Raoul and Port Arthur from the water with this 1.5 hour boat tour that gets your oceanfront views of the dramatic cliffs and caves of the Tasman peninsula. I am always looking for a way to get out on the water and I’m truly bummed I didn’t add this into my itinerary!

Everybody (and I mean everybody) told us to go out to Bruny Island and we didn’t. Do I regret it? Yeah maybe a little… I mean really when’s the next time I’m gong to be down in Tasmania?! So heed the advice I didn’t take and explore Bruny Island. This full day tour includes snacks and a beautiful lunch as well as exclusive lighthouse access. I am seriously making my self jealous just writing about it. Don’t miss out like I did and book this Bruny Island tour in advance!

Here’s what I paid for activities while traveling in Tasmania:

Park Pass: $94 AUD / $65 USD

Hiking Cradle Mountain: FREE

Tasmanian Devil Experience: $35 AUD / $24 USD

Exploring beautiful beaches: FREE

My grand total for activities came to $89 USD

Miscellaneous

Last but not least is the miscellaneous category, which is pretty self explanatory! I feel very strongly that you need to travel with travel insurance (I use SafetyWing) because you never know what can happen! One of my favorite travel bloggers always say’s that if you can’t afford the travel insurance you can’t afford to travel!

Nate and I camped for most of the trip and we had to purchase a few extra items for our car camping experience, so I’ve listed that below as well!

Insurance: $19.5 USD

Camping Gear: $150 USD ($75 USD each)

SIM card: $5 USD

My total miscellaneous expenditures came to $99.5 USD or $7.65 per day, not too shabby!

How Much Does it Cost to Travel in Tasmania?

All in all I found Tasmania to be a very affordable area to travel to!

Transportation was definitely my biggest cost because I rented a car, but the car doubled as our accommodation most nights. Transportation also included the ferry to and the flight out of Tasmania.

Here’s an overview of what I spent in each category

Accommodation: $142 usd

Transportation: $638 usd

Food: $201 usd

Activities: $89 usd

Miscellaneous: $99.5 usd

GRAND TOTAL: $1070.5 usd for 13 days, or $82 usd per day

How to Travel in Tasmania on a Budget

So there you have it, 13 fun and unforgettable days in Tasmania for an average of $82 usd per day.

I’ll go ahead and acknowledge that $82 per day is not a shoestring budget (again, this blog mostly focuses on mid-budget travel). But I do think $82 in a country that can be expensive is a pretty good budget trip.

Here’s my main take aways on how to save money when traveling in Tassie:

• Book your rental car and flights EARLY (in this case more than 6 months in advance)
  • There are limited rental and flight resources in Tasmania, the closer you get to your trip the more these things are going to cost you because the companies know they’re your only options
• The best way to save money on accommodation for me was to camp at the free campgrounds. Another amazing resource to look into (especially if you have flexible travel dates) is Trusted Housesitters. I’ve used Trusted Housesitters for over a year and have pet sat in 3 different countries. I truly loved it and it’s a great way to score free accommodation!
• Grocery stores, grocery stores, grocery stores. Constantly eating out will drain your wallet. Now with that being said, for some people the food and drink experience is what the trip is all about, so if that’s you, then go for it! For me I’d rather save money in the food department and do an extra excursion or activity.

I hope you love Tasmania as much as I did and I hope this detailed budget breakdown was a valuable resource for you! For more articles about planning a trip to Tasmania, check out my other blog posts!