The Museum of Old and New Art in Hobart is the most radical and extraordinary private museum in the southern hemisphere, built underground into sandstone cliffs beside the Derwent River by gambling billionaire David Walsh, its deliberately confrontational collection of antiquities and contemporary art including works by Anselm Kiefer, James Turrell, and a piece that makes cheese from human skin bacteria. The museum is accessible by ferry from Hobart's waterfront. Hotels in Hobart provide access to this extraordinary museum and the city's remarkable food and wine culture that makes it one of Australia's most rewarding destinations.
Australia's first dedicated art hotel, the Henry Jones occupies a converted 19th-century jam and pickle factory on the waterfront with original stone walls and industrial ironwork creating the backdrop for a world-class rotating art collection. Every room is unique, the bar serves exceptional Tasmanian whisky, and the waterfront view at sunrise is one of Hobart's great daily pleasures.
Voted one of the world's finest boutique hotels multiple times, Islington occupies a grand Georgian villa with views of kunanyi/Mount Wellington across a garden of Tasmanian wildflowers. The eleven individually curated rooms are filled with antiques and contemporary Tasmanian art, and the champagne breakfast included in every stay is the finest in Hobart.
Right on iconic Salamanca Place, steps from the weekly market and overlooking the waterfront, Salamanca Inn offers apartment-style suites in a heritage sandstone building. The combination of full kitchen facilities, the prime location, and the Victorian-era character makes it outstanding for longer stays and families.
The most complete full-service hotel on the waterfront, the Grand Chancellor offers a pool, spa, multiple restaurants, and harbour-view rooms in a contemporary tower that has become a Hobart skyline fixture. The roof bar at sunset with Mount Wellington glowing behind the Georgian rooftops is a memorable Tasmanian experience.
A storytelling hotel built on the history of Tasmania's explorers and convicts, MACq01 has themed its rooms and public spaces around specific historical figures — navigators, whalers, bushrangers — with handwritten letters and artefacts making each room a narrative experience. The bar serves the full range of Coal River Valley wines and Lark Distillery whisky.
Hobart's newest boutique luxury offering, Moss Hotel brings a refined contemporary design sensibility to the Salamanca district with rooms that reference the Tasmanian landscape — moss, dolerite, sea glass — and a restaurant that celebrates the island's exceptional food provenance with honesty and skill.
