Discover the beauty of this thriving foodie city.

Launceston has become a highly appealing destination, with new restaurants and stylish places to stay opening all the time. You may already have the classics on your list, ride the chair lift at Cataract Gorge, dinner at Stillwater, peruse the Queen Victoria Museum, but the city also rewards those who seek out its lesser-known gems.

Launceston easily fills a long weekend or more: mornings admiring marvellous streetscapes and galleries, afternoons tasting cool-climate wines and local produce, and evenings settling into cosy restaurants or cool bars. To help narrow down the options, here are the best things to do in Launceston.

In short

If you only do one thing in Launceston, catch the chairlift across Cataract Gorge and then dive into the basin below.

City Park

The first thing to know about City Park is that it has monkeys. A troop of Japanese macaques, gifted by Launceston’s sister city Ikeda in 1980, lives on their own little “Monkey Island", and watching them groom, squabble and lounge in the sun is reason enough to visit.

After that, the rest of the park slowly reveals itself. Duck into the warm, fern-filled John Hart Conservatory, challenge someone to a game on the giant outdoor chess board or simply stretch out on the wide lawns beneath towering English trees.

Tamar Island Wetlands Centre

Just ten minutes from the city, Tamar Island Wetlands feels a world away. This protected stretch of mudflats, lagoons and reed beds is one of the Tamar Valley’s richest pockets of wildlife, where black swans drift across the water and swamp harriers circle overhead.

The best way in is via the long timber boardwalk, which threads through tall native grasses and out across the wetlands to Tamar Island. Along the way you’ll pass bird hides and viewing platforms perfect for quiet wildlife spotting. Keep an eye out for ducks, wrens, pademelons and, if you’re lucky, a white-bellied sea eagle gliding above the river. If you’re serious about your birds, bring binoculars.

Cataract Gorge

Cataract Gorge sits right on the edge of Launceston’s CBD, a sudden, improbable swathe of bushland where the city simply falls away into cliffs, river and dense greenery.

Walk beneath the towering gum trees that line Cataract Gorge Reserve and follow the track as it dips toward the water. The path winds through thick bush, where lyrebirds scratch through the undergrowth. Before long, the trees part to reveal the broad, jade-green basin that forms the Gorge’s natural swimming area. On warm days locals drift down here with towels slung over their shoulders. For a different vantage point, cross the suspension bridge or glide above the basin on the Gorge Scenic Chairlift, where the river funnels through steep cliffs below.

Harvest Launceston Community Farmers’ Market

The king of Launceston’s food attractions is Harvest Launceston , held every Saturday morning. Stalls brim with flowers, just-picked vegetables, warm pastries, small-batch cheeses and thick slices of sourdough while locals drift between tables clutching coffee and canvas bags.

Come early and treat it like breakfast. Grab something warm to eat and watch the crowd roll through: dreadlocked growers, grey-haired regulars in berets, families with market trolleys slowly filling with ethically raised meat and crusty loaves.

Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery

Launceston’s grandest gallery is the Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery , established in 1891. Spread across two sites, it’s a mix of art gallery, science museum and social history archive, making it an easy place to lose a couple of hours.

The exhibits at the Royal Park branch include Chinese antiquities and a 19th-century temple, while the Inveresk branch sits on the site of former railway workshops and features exhibitions on Tasmania’s natural and social history, including displays about the extinct Tasmanian tiger.

The museum stands on the ancestral lands of the Tyerrenotepanner, Leterremairrener and Panninher peoples. The First Tasmanians: Our Story exhibition offers an introduction to the culture and history of Tasmania’s First Nations communities. Elsewhere, expect everything from colonial artefacts to natural science displays, plus a planetarium where you can lean back in an aircraft-style seat and watch the night sky unfold overhead.

dAda mUse

Founded by Dr Brendan Vote, dAda mUse is home to the largest collection of Salvador Dalí’s works on paper in Australia, an unexpected artistic treasure tucked into central Launceston.

The gallery occupies the beautifully restored 1842 Johnstone and Wilmot building on Cimitiere Street. Inside, Dalí’s surreal prints and etchings sit alongside rotating contemporary exhibitions. Even if surrealism isn’t usually your thing, the building itself is worth seeing. Carefully restored, it retains many of its historic features while housing modern gallery spaces.

Design Tasmania

Launceston is the headquarters of Design Tasmania , and its flagship gallery is a beautiful space on the edge of City Park.

The permanent collection celebrates northern Tasmania’s long tradition of finely crafted timber furniture and objects. The gallery shop, housed in an adjoining former church hall, is filled with covetable items ranging from sculptural lamps to beautifully turned bowls made from local timbers such as huon pine and blackwood.

James Boag Brewery

Beer lovers shouldn’t miss the James Boag Brewery , which has been operating in Launceston since 1881. Guided tours walk visitors through the brewing process before finishing with a tasting of several beers paired with local cheese.

The highlight for many visitors is hearing the story of Wizard Smith, a brewery worker who famously rescued the brewery’s draught horses during the devastating 1929 floods. There’s now a pale ale named in his honour.

Penny Royal World

Penny Royal World sits just outside central Launceston, tucked into a pocket of old quarry cliffs and water channels that once powered the city’s early industry.

Today it’s part historical playground, part adrenaline park. Visitors can climb sheer rock faces, zipline across the basin or tackle the cliff walk that edges along the quarry walls. There’s also a theatrical dark ride that retells Tasmania’s bushranger stories with a bit of drama and smoke. Even if you skip the activities, it’s worth wandering through to see the old waterworks and sandstone cliffs up close.

National Automobile Museum of Tasmania

Muscle cars, Porsches, tiny Fiats, Austins and plenty of motorcycles. If you’re even slightly interested in cars you’ll enjoy the National Automobile Museum of Tasmania .

Located in Invermay opposite Peppers Silos Hotel, the museum displays a rotating collection of vintage and classic vehicles. Exhibits change regularly, so there’s often something new on show.

Launceston Leisure & Aquatic Centre

If you’re travelling with kids, the Leisure and Aquatic Centre is an easy win. The star attraction is the 65-metre outdoor waterslide, which fires riders down a twisting run into the pool below.

Inside there are additional slides and splash areas for younger swimmers, plus a 50-metre competition pool, so families tend to settle in for a few hours while kids loop back for “just one more go".