2026 Guide to Easy Freedom Camping in Tasmania

Tasmania took my breath away! I was absolutely in love with this region of Australia. From the white sand beaches to the peak of Cradle Mountain, Tassie is an adventure and camping haven.

I spent over 2 weeks freedom camping in Tasmania, and I took notes so that you know what you’re getting yourself into. This is the ultimate guide to easy breezy freedom camping in Tasmania.

This is the guide I wish existed before my own trip to Tassie.

If you’re hoping to roadtrip on a budget and freedom camp your way around Tasmania, I’ve got you covered with everything from the rules to freedom camping in Australia to what vehicle you need (the answer may surprise you) to which campgrounds are the best!

Save this article for your future planning or jump around using the table of contents:

Quick Tips for Freedom Camping in Tasmania

Is Freedom Camping Legal in Tasmania?

Yes – you can freedom camp in Tasmania.

Freedom camping is camping outside a designated campground. Thus, there’s no public bathroom, sink, picnic table ect at the place where you will be sleeping overnight. While other places require you to have a “self contained” vehicle to camp outside a normal campground, Tasmania only asks that you leave no trace after departing.

Okay so what does all that mean?

A self contained vehicle is a vehicle that has it’s own gray and blackwater system. You can wash dishes in a sink and use the bathroom and the water is stored in tanks which are pumped out later. This is great because it allows you to really camp anywhere without leaving any signs you were there after you depart.

But in Tasmania, you do not have to be in a self contained vehicle to freedom camp. This means you can pull up to a designated “no facilities” campground (sometimes they are just gravel parking lots) and sleep in your car if you’d like.

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👉 I booked my rental last minute and paid for it…Snag a deal on a rental car by booking EARLY👈

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You do, however, need to follow leave no trace principals.

Leave no trace is exactly what it sounds like, the area you occupied needs to look as if nobody was there after you leave. This goes beyond just not littering. If you’re going to go to the bathroom, you need to do it far away from people and waterways, dig a hole and pack your trash out. That sort of thing.

While you can technically find your own spot to freedom camp, Tasmania has hundreds of free (no facilities) camping areas. I fully encourage you to take advantage of these spots! I’ll cover some of the best free campgrounds in Tasmania later in the post.

What is the Best Vehicle for Freedom Camping in Tasmania?

Okay so now that we’ve covered the basics of what freedom camping is and we’ve established that it is permitted in Tas, what sort of vehicle do you need in order to freedom camp?

Basically, any sort of vehicle is allowed to freedom camp in Tassie. Which I think is awesome! You don’t have to be fully self contained RV, but you also don’t even have to be a “campervan.” You can stay at the free campgrounds in your car, in a tent, you can come by motorcycle or bicycle or backpack in.

Book your vehicle EARLY – browse options right here:

What Vehicle is Best for You?

I think a lot of people get wrapped up in the aesthetic of “van life.” And the vans are great, but they’re not a “one size fits all” solution to road trips.

A few questions I would ask myself is …

1. What is the purpose of my trip? Are you driving to remote areas and do you need high ground clearance and big tires? Or are you not planning on going off road – would a vehicle with better highway mileage be better for you?
2. Will I feel comfortable camping in a tent, or do I want a full bed?
3. How will I feed myself? If you know you’re not much of a cook, you probably don’t need to rent something with an over the top nice kitchen.
4. Do I need a “living room” type space, or am I okay with just a bed in a van?

With those considerations in mind, here’s 3 road trip vehicles so you can decided what’s best for your trip.

Moterhome Style

This is the classic full length moterhome style vehicle. It is usually at the top end of the price range but comes with amenities like a shower, dinnette, kitchenette and full bed.

While it’s certainly the most comfortable, keep in mind it will also have the worst gas milage!

Campervan Style

Van life! Campervans are great because there’s a wide range of budget options out there. Some styles have raised roofs so you can stand, while others are more cramped.

This will typically come with a bed and minimal storage. Most campervans have a small area to cook that is semi inside / outside

Car Style

This is the best budget friendly option! Not only will the actual price per day for the rental be cheaper, but you’ll also get the best gas milage out of all 3 options.

Renting a car can be great because there’s so many different styles of car out there. You can rent a big SUV and easily sleep inside and still have room for you luggage. Or you can rent a smaller car and pitch a tent next to it every night.

We rented our car through Leisure Rent, which I found on Booking.com. To browse and compare moterhomes, campervans and cars, head over to Leisure Rent directly.

How I Freedom Camped in Tasmania

For my own personal set up, I knew I was going to be doing the trip on a shoestring budget.

My partner and I brought a tent to Tassie and rented a small MG3 car. I believe the rental was around $60 USD per day, and our gas milage was about 25mpg.

This was honestly maybe not the most ideal set up, but it was a ton of fun! We were really cold the first 3 nights, so we decided for the remainder of the trip to squish in the back of the MG3!

For our kitchen we had a makeshift table and camping chairs we would set up, then we would cook on the double burner propane stove we bought off facebook. Our cooking set up was my favorite part! We also utilized public park spaces for a lot of our meals, because they had running water, tables and bathrooms.

For the bathroom and showing, we would go to public parks through the day. We were able to find several $2 coin showers (with hot water!) by searching on google maps. It honeslty worked out just fine for our 2 weeks.

How to Freedom Camp

If you’ve never done a trip like this, it can feel a little intimidating to plan.

Because I couldn’t book the free campsites in advance, I went into the trip with MINIMAL planning. Which stressed me out!

If you’re like me (i.e. you love to plan) here’s what you’re gonna wanna do….

Pick a general route around Tasmania. I obviously recommend the route I took around the central and east coast of Tasmania. This itinerary is a BLAST and you’ll get to see all the highlights of the state.

Ultimate 7-Day East Coast Tasmania Road Trip Itinerary

Find a few campground options in each area. As long as you get there early, you’ll likely get your first choice, but it’s good to have a background. Keep scrolling to see a list of the best free campgrounds in Tasmania!

Be ready to be flexible! We pulled over at Trowunna Wildlife Sanctuary and spent hours looking at tasmanian devils, wombats and kangaroos! But this set us way behind on our driving schedule and we realized we weren’t gonna make it to our intended campground. Thankfully I had saved a backup campground closer by and we stayed there!

Lastly just enjoy Tasmania! Because of the flexibility of freedom camping, there’s no “arrival and departure” times to worry about – you really can be on a schedule that suits you!

Best Free Campgrounds in Tasmania with Map

Last but certainly not least I am here to set you up with the BEST free campgrounds in Tasmania.

First you can (and should) check out this color coded map I made for my own personal 2 week trip. This map has ALL the campgrounds I researched (both free and paid).

Now that you’ve got that handy dandy map as a visual, I’ll be getting into my favorite free campgrounds that are SO GOOD you can’t believe they’re free!

Lake Kara

Lake Kara is a relatively small free campground that has no amenities whatsoever. But it’s quiet, uncrowded, has tree cover and is by a cute little lake – so who’s complaining? The lake personally looked a little scuzzy to me, so I wouldn’t recommend it for swimming. I will say out of the 5 campgrounds on this list, this one ranks last. But the campground is a mere 45 minutes from Cradle Mountain NP – so the location is unbeatable!

Lake Barrington

This is a big, blue and gorgeous lake that rightly gets a ton of visitors. Lake Barrington campground is a short 2 minute walk up the hill from the lake. When we were there in January it was jam packed full of families and solo campers alike.

There’s even a bathroom, trash and covered cooking area! This is truly an amazing campground – I couldn’t believe it was free.

Pro tip – take an evening walk on the road, we saw a ton of pademelons!

Lake Rowallan

I LOVED our Lake Rowallan campground. I was tempted to stay here a week it was so idyllic. Situated in between Cradle Mountain and Walls of Jerusalem National Parks, this is an awesome spot to camp. Despite the beautiful swimmable lake and prime location, there were only 2 other campers when we were there.

We had cotton candy sunsets, crisp swims in the lake and a great time hiking in the Walls of Jerusalem. I can’t recommend this spot enough!

Note that there are ZERO facilities here, but if you drive 5 minutes back down the road (towards civilization) there is a public restroom and uncovered picnic tables.

Swimcart Beach

This is the perfect spot to camp at the Bay of Fires. The campground is situated right by the beach and there’s public restrooms. There were a ton of spots to choose from even later in the afternoon. The beach of course was beautiful but the surf was a bit too rough to swim in.

Since it’s in the Bay of Fires, there’s plenty of red lichen covered rocks to see and photograph! Swimcart beach is also just a short drive away from Binalong beach, by favorite beach in Tassie.

Friendly Beaches

This spot is pure magic! The campground is really just a bunch of pull off spots off the main dirt road that parallels the beach, but it’s an incredible spot. Since it’s in Freycient National Park there is even a camp host. We got a ton of cool, local information from Don the host when we were there.

There are also bathrooms at this campground. Just be sure to arrive before 2pm for the best spot. We arrived later in the day and ended up in a “barely a spot, spot” semi in the ditch. We saw a lot of people arrive at 9pm only to have to turn around and leave because the campground was jam packed.

The place clears out by 10am, so thankfully we picked a new spot in the morning!

This is the prettiest coastline we saw in Tasmania – I can’t recommend it enough!

Tips for Freedom Camping in Tasmania

If you want to maximize your road trip and freedom camping experience in Tassie – here’s a few things I HIGHLY recommend

• Go to the local thrift stores. A $3 purchase may make your whole trip 10x more enjoyable
• Do your laundry at local landro-mats
• Libraries will keep you afloat! Wifi, bathrooms, water re-fills ect!
• Similarly, many towns have local visitor centers with free tea, coffee, wifi and knowledgable employees with great local recs
• Bring rechargeable batteries to recharge electronics at night

Is Tasmania Safe to Camp?

If you’re not from Australia, you may be wondering about bugs, snakes and venomous creepy crawleys when camping.

I know I had second thoughts when pitching my tent in Tasmania! But let me reassure you that camping in Tassie is not as bug filled as you may imagine.

There are only 3 venomous snakes in Tasmania and all 3 are very elusive – i.e. you will not be running into snakes. In terms of spiders I saw practically none in my 2 week tenure in Tas. There were a few large crickets to look at but again, nothing super “creepy crawly.”

There’s also no large megafauna to be worried about (like bears and mountain lions). I would actually say that Tasmania is very safe to camp in regarding dangers from wildlife.

The biggest danger is likely the sun! ☀️

Tasmania is honestly like 1 big playground! I know it can feel intimidating to plan a trip that is based around first come first serve campsites – but trust me – it’s more doable than you may imagine!

So rent your vehicle early, pick a general route and get out there and get exploring!