Hobart to Launceston: Drive time, distance, bus & road trip stops
The drive from Hobart to Launceston in Tasmania is 201km. Travel up National Highway 1 and the Hobart to Launceston road trip should take two hours and 15 minutes.
A Hobart to Launceston road trip connects Tasmania’s two biggest cities, and the two most logical bases for a Tasmanian holiday. Tasmania isn’t a big state, but Hobart and Launceston are more-or-less at opposite ends of Australia’s biggest island.
Hobart is in the south-east of Tasmania, while Launceston is towards the north-east, but fairly central with it.
The distance from Hobart to Launceston is around 201km, with almost all of the Hobart to Launceston drive along National Highway 1. This highway takes on different names at different points – you’ll see it called the Brooker Highway and Midland Highway along the way.
Hobart to Launceston drive time and distance
If traffic is in your favour, the Hobart to Launceston drive should take around two hours and 15 minutes. On the way, you’ll pass through Glenorchy, Claremont and Brighton before getting to the more rural stretch. There aren’t many settlements of note before you reach Launceston, although the drive passes through Bagdad, Kempton, Oatlands, Tunbridge, Campbell Town and Devon Hills.
Tasmania may be an island of beautiful scenery, but the best of it doesn’t surround Highway 1. You’ll be driving through pretty mediocre countryside.
Hobart to Launceston bus services
If you don’t have your own wheels, then there are bus services between Hobart and Tasmania’s second biggest city. However, there are only three intercity buses a day, and they take longer. The Hobart to Launceston bus takes two hours and 45 minutes to reach the Launceston Transit Centre. Stops on the route include Bridgewater, Melton Mowbray, Ross, Epping Forest and Perth. No, not the Perth in Western Australia. That would be silly.
More places to drive to in Tasmania
Cockle Creek at the southern tip of the island.
Home Hill Winery in the Huon Valley.
Cape Hauy in the Tasman National Park.
The Lark Distillery in the Coal River Valley.
Corinna, home of the Pieman River cruises.