In Tasmania’s capital, winter isn't something to be escaped—it's something to be immersed in. When Dark Mofo descends on Hobart each June, it brings with it an otherworldly atmosphere where fire meets frost, and ancient rituals flirt with the avant-garde. But there’s so much more to Hobart than its crimson cross and provocative performances.
Whether you’re flying in for the festival or simply craving a culture-rich escape with a side of decadence, Hobart delivers. And if you do it like this—with two design-forward hotels, immersive storytelling tours, and farm-to-fork feasting—it delivers in style.
Where to stay
Start at The Henry Jones Art Hotel, where Hobart’s industrial past has been masterfully transformed into a refined retreat. Housed in a series of 19th-century warehouses, this waterfront hotel blurs the line between gallery and boutique stay. Inside the Deluxe Spa Harbour View Room, you’ll find raw sandstone walls, exposed timber beams, and a deep Kohler spa bath. It’s a room that invites you to slow down and soak in the harbour views—and perhaps sip a Tasmanian pinot while you’re at it.
© JESSE HUNNIFORDThe hotel boasts over 400 original works of art, and its commitment to creativity is more than aesthetic. Join an Art & History Tour led by the hotel’s in-house curator to learn the story behind the hotel’s transformation from jam factory to cultural icon. You can explore the artist-in-residence program, view the original John Glover pieces up close, and discover how this space became a major patron of the prestigious Glover Prize.
© Darrin JamesJust a short walk across the wharf, your next check-in awaits at MACq 01 Hotel—a sleek, story-driven luxury hotel perched on the water’s edge. Here, the theme is storytelling through space. Each room is inspired by a Tasmanian character—rebel, convict, bushranger, or explorer—and every corner is designed to whisper fragments of Tasmania’s layered past. The Superior Waterfront Room offers a soaking tub, private balcony, and those endless views of the Derwent River that seem to go on forever.
© Darrin JamesWhere to play
The best way to get to know Hobart isn’t through its brochures, but through its storytellers—and there’s none better than those at MACq 01. Their Hidden Hobart: Viewfinder Tour begins at the hotel and winds its way along the waterfront, where participants use vintage-style retro viewfinders to peer through time.
Through these little devices, Hobart’s historic layers are literally superimposed over the modern city—convict wharves, colonial pubs, shipyards, and bustling markets reappear before your eyes. Your guide narrates stories from every corner: smugglers, freed convicts, sea captains and indigenous leaders, bringing the cobbled streets to life in a way few walking tours manage to do. It’s part history lesson, part time travel, and wholly captivating.
But it’s when night falls that Hobart shows its darker edge. During Dark Mofo, MACq 01 offers a special event: Grave Matters – The Dark Mofo Tour. It begins, appropriately, with a cocktail—blood red, of course—at The Story Bar, where you toast to the "damned and disturbed" in true Mofo fashion. From there, a cloaked storyteller leads you through the hotel’s shadowy corridors, unearthing tales of the 114 Tasmanian souls the hotel honours in name and narrative.
The tour spills out into the frigid streets of Hunter Street, where ghost stories linger in the mist, and history clings to the convict-laid cobblestones. You’ll trace the steps of notorious criminals, whispering spirits, and the sometimes violent histories of old Hobart Town. It culminates where it all began—The Henry Jones, once a bustling jam factory now haunted with echoes of its past. It’s eerie, theatrical, and not to be missed.
And just when you think the experience couldn’t get more layered, there’s Bruny Island.
A short trip from Hobart, the Bruny Island Traveller tour with Pennicott Journeys is a full-day deep dive into Tasmania’s wild beauty and artisanal soul. You'll start with a brisk ferry ride and be whisked into a landscape of forested hills and windswept coastlines. Along the way, you'll meet passionate local producers—from the famed Bruny Island Cheese Company, where you’ll sip beer with your curd, to a honey farm where golden, bush-flavoured ice cream is served under the scent of eucalyptus trees.
© Darrin JamesYou’ll pause at The Neck Lookout for one of Tasmania’s most iconic photo ops, walk the ancient Mavista Rainforest, and search for elusive white wallabies on the island’s private reserves. Lunch is taken beachfront, with a view that feels borrowed from a postcard, and includes seafood so fresh it may well have leapt onto the plate.
By day's end, you're full of flavours, stories, and sea air—everything that makes Tasmania unforgettable.
© Justin HydeWhere to eat
No Hobart stay is complete without indulging in the city’s food scene—and it starts, fittingly, with fire.
Landscape Restaurant & Grill, nestled inside the IXL building, is powered by an Asado grill fired with native Tasmanian hardwood and spent bourbon barrels. It delivers a dining experience that’s part primal, part refined. The oysters are salty perfection. The lamb rump is seared and succulent. And the dark-wood interiors, illuminated by glowing John Glover landscapes, make you feel like you're feasting inside a painting.
At Jam Packed Café, start your morning with locally roasted coffee and flaky pastries beneath the heritage beams of The Henry Jones atrium. And don’t underestimate the Story Bar at MACq 01—more than a cocktail bar, it’s a library of Tasmanian spirit. Literally. The Gin Tales experience guides you through five gins inspired by local characters, each paired with stories of the rogue, brave, and visionary souls who shaped Tasmania’s past. Hosted by the hotel’s Master Storyteller, it's a tasting that delivers both insight and excellent botanicals.
For your final night, dine at Old Wharf Restaurant—a stunning space that pays homage to Hobart’s maritime roots. Chef Alvin Sim’s menu is a thoughtful love letter to local produce: scallop pies, smoked eel, and native pepperberry sauces sit comfortably alongside traditional comforts with a twist. It’s high-end dining with deep local roots.
Final thoughts
Hobart may be the gateway to Dark Mofo, but it offers far more than midnight ceremonies and neon-drenched rituals. It’s a city that whispers to those who listen—through its walls, its weather, its storytellers and chefs.
If you go, go wide-eyed and go ready. Stay somewhere with history underfoot and art on the walls. Take the tour, ask the questions, sip the gin, walk the haunted streets. And whether or not you plunge into the Derwent at sunrise (yes, Dark Mofo’s Nude Solstice Swim is a thing), you’ll return home a little changed.
And isn’t that what good travel is all about?
