STAY

Spend at least one night in Sydney to recuperate from the long flight. We recommend the centrally located Park Hyatt, which is a short walk from the city’s best shops and museums and has spectacular views of the iconic Sydney Opera House. Make time to relax at the hotel spa or beside the heated rooftop pool. Alternately, The Langham, Sydney is located just a short walk from the lively Rocks area. The refined rooms feature handcrafted mahogany furniture, original artwork and rich fabrics. The sub-basement-level health club has an indoor heated lap swimming pool with a star-speckled ceiling and a well-equipped fitness center that complements the extensive treatments available at the spa.

DINE

Sydney’s food scene is hip and dynamic. Yellow, a vegan restaurant, highlights local produce in a tasting menu with artistic and creative dishes such as a buckwheat crumpet with daikon and sesame or black barley agnolotti in an onion broth. Cafe Sydney, perched on the top floor of the Customs House overlooking Circular Quay, serves delightful seafood lunches with unobstructed views of Harbour Bridge from the terrace.

EXPLORE

Stretch your legs with a visit to the cutting-edge Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, or have the Travel Office arrange a private cruise in Sydney Harbour or an architectural tour of the Sydney Opera House.

STAY

From Sydney, it’s less than a two-hour flight to reach Launceston, the second-largest town in Tasmania. In a former flour mill on the Tamar River, Launceston’s finest restaurant, Stillwater, anchors Stillwater Seven Rooms. With original wooden beams, midcentury-style furnishings and forest-green baths with open showers, the rooms have a denlike feel, further enhanced by locally crafted armoires that open to reveal exceptional minibars.

DINE

Dinner at Stillwater is half the reason to visit Launceston. Using impeccable Tasmanian ingredients, chef and co-owner Craig Will turns out marvelous plates such as torched kingfish sashimi with verjus ponzu or a caramelly crescent of roasted pumpkin glazed in dark, sweet miso and strewn with furikake.

EXPLORE

Launceston is a compact city, and Stillwater Seven Rooms is conveniently located for both quick strolls downtown and hikes into the wilderness starting right outside its door. The scenic Cataract Gorge is right across the street, with a cable car and trails winding down to a beach on the Tamar River. We recommend spending only one night here, but you can choose to extend your time to visit Cradle Mountain on a day trip. Hike the three-hour trail around Dove Lake or visit Devils at Cradle, a sanctuary for endangered Tasmanian devils and quolls. Additionally, Launceston makes a convenient hub for wine tasting. Two of our favorite Tasmanian wineries, Marion’s Vineyard and Clover Hill, are within a 30-minute drive of Stillwater Seven Rooms.

STAY

After a two-hour drive from Launceston, you’ll reach the Freycinet Peninsula, hanging off Tasmania’s eastern coast and sheltering Coles Bay from the Tasman Sea. Tasmania’s best hotel, Saffire Freycinet, is an all-inclusive property with 20 suites meandering across scrub forest along the beach. The open-plan main building boasts spectacular views, soaring ceilings and comfortable seating for settling in with one of the many Australia-themed books in the lobby. Rooms have floor-to-ceiling windows and small patios facing the pink-hued Hazards mountains across the bay.

DINE

Palate, the terrific on-site restaurant, makes ample use of Tasmanian seafood and artisan meats, as well as produce pulled from the garden beside the dramatic lobby’s entrance. Enjoy dishes like soft-scrambled eggs with spinner crab on toast at breakfast, a Cape Grim steak sandwich and a bracing salad of kohlrabi and pickled walnut at lunch, and smoked fish rillettes with wasabi cream followed by whole roast quail with a savory peach stuffing at dinner — all paired with excellent Tasmanian wines.

EXPLORE

The hotel will arrange a slew of adventures. Guests can spend time with Tasmanian devils in a large forested enclosure on the property or don bee suits for a visit to the apiary. At Freycinet Marine Farm, guides shuck Pacific oysters on a table set in the water.

STAY

End your Tasmanian journey in Hobart, the island’s capital. The Henry Jones Art Hotel occupies the old jam factory of its namesake, a rags-to-riches entrepreneur whose wares so perfumed the city that sailors could smell the town before they docked. The Henry Jones is all about art. More than 400 contemporary artworks line the courtyard, lobby, halls and a gallery space. More galleries, including one packed with ravishing Aboriginal art, are tucked into its storefront.

DINE

There are several great restaurants within walking distance of the hotel. Fico is an ideal place to pair Tasmanian wine and superb Italian cuisine. With expert service and an open kitchen complemented by a glowing, unhurried atmosphere, Fico offers a relaxing prix fixe evening abetted by an award-winning wine list. At Institut Polaire, chefs pay tribute to the island’s proximity to Antarctica. Drinks like a locavore martini made with Süd Polaire Antarctic Dry Gin pair well with seafood dishes, including scallop sashimi with lemon-infused verjuice and seared New Zealand snapper draped in a sauce vierge.

EXPLORE

The Travel Office can arrange an art-focused walking tour of the city, including a visit to Mona, the cheeky and fun Museum of Old and New Art. Hobart is easy to explore, but you’ll want to leave enough time in your schedule for day trips. The Travel Office can arrange various activities for adventure and wildlife lovers, including a trip to Bonorong Wildlife Sanctuary or a guided tour of Inala Nature Reserve, encompassing 1,500 rewilded acres on South Bruny Island and home to at least 95 species of birds, including endangered swift parrots. There are also fantastic wineries just outside the city, including Stefano Lubiana Wines and Pressing Matters.

STAY

From Hobart, head back to the mainland for a couple of nights at The Louise, located an hour from Adelaide’s airport at the northern end of the Barossa Valley. The 15-room hideaway features original artwork by South Australian artists and pretty stone-walled interior courtyards., and it’s an ideal base for winery visits.

DINE

Contour, the property’s restaurant, is an informal dining spot serving regional pub-inspired favorites. Sunrise picnic breakfasts served in a clearing among families of kangaroos in a nearby conservation park are offered October through May.

EXPLORE

Yoga and meditation lessons, wine-tasting sessions, hot air balloon flights and cooking classes can be arranged. Don’t miss the chance to visit nearby wineries. Oenophiles worldwide covet the finest Barossa Valley Shiraz for its robust character.

STAY

Fly from Adelaide to Kangaroo Island. From the airport, it’s an hour’s drive to Southern Ocean Lodge, an eco-friendly clifftop resort surrounded by a national park on the southwest corner of the island. This spectacular hotel, rebuilt after it was completely destroyed by bush fires in 2020, offers all-inclusive luxury amid remote coastal wilderness. For many, this unique property is reason alone to make the trip to Australia. Luxurious suites have stunning views of the Southern Ocean through floor-to-ceiling windows. At the spa, plunge pools and a sauna look out onto the scrub forest.

DINE

In the convivial dining room, guests often invite one another to meals. Chefs spin local seafood and foraged plants into inventive, vegetable-rich dishes such as curried marron (a large, local crayfish) with wakame and ice plant from the beach or gnocchi flavored with saltbush and served with clams and spinachlike warrigal greens. The great room, centered around a freestanding fireplace, features a generous bar where guests can fix their own drinks and choose bottles from the lodge’s extensive South Australian cellar.

EXPLORE

Though the amenities are impressive enough that you may not want to leave the property, the hotel offers memorable excursions, including a guided nighttime walk or a hike along the windswept beach to see anemone-filled tide pools and endangered Australian sea lions.