Where to Stay in Strahan, Tasmania — A Locals Honest Guide.
Strahan (pronounced "Straughn") is a picture-perfect town lost in time on Tasmania's West Coast. After ten years exploring every corner of this island, I still think it's unmatched — for its wild natural beauty, its perfectly preserved heritage, and an otherworldly stillness you can't find anywhere else. If you're after the true Tasmania, it's a must.
I get asked often, usually by the lovely people who found us already booked and want to know where else to lay their head, or by people I care about who need a different fit for their travel group or plans. Strahan is a small, charming and surprisingly varied hamlet, and your choice of stay will shape your whole West Coast adventure — so I take my stay recommendations seriously! There are plenty of places to stay here, but these are the four I've stayed in and loved myself, and the ones I happily send our own guests to, knowing they'll be looked after.
So, where should you stay in Strahan? Here’s a quick summary.
I’m going to dive deep here in this journal post, but I know a lot of you are looking for quick tips to start your trip research to this special place. Here’s the low down based on who you're travelling with - and, the sort of adventure you’d love to have here on the beautiful West Coast of Tasmania.
If you’re travelling alone, or it’s just the two of you and want the water right by your door, it’s Captain’s Rest in Lettes Bay (confirmed by the many 100’s of guests who tell us so!). If it’s a hotel stay with the convenience of a restaurant and bar, Risby Cove is your spot. If you love an old manor house and a proper bed and breakfast, Franklin Manor is my pick. If your travelling as a group or with your family - or you’ve left it late! Strahan Village is a great pick for this and there are always beds available year round. If Captain’s Rest is booked and you’d love a harbour view from top of Strahan, the Wheelhouse Apartments is a great choice.
That’s top notes! Time to dig into my picks a little more.
The view of Macquarie Harbour from Captains Rest. By Bianca Jackson Photography.
Is there waterfront accommodation in Strahan?
Surprisingly less than you’d think for a harbour town. Most of what calls itself waterfront has the Esplanade (the main road) running between you and the water. The natural vegetation harbourside is thick, so you might get small glimpses of the water here and there during your stay, but you’d need to get out physically to explore and admire it.
There are two exceptions — so let’s explore them.
Captain’s Rest — for people like you.
Captain's Rest sits three metres from Macquarie Harbour, measured in my own footsteps. I’m yet to find anywhere in Tasmania that sits closer. The old jetty rambles right out the front door and the resident ducks visit for snacks right on cue each morning and whenever you call them. From every perch at Captain’s Rest, your bed, bath, dining nook and lounge, through the truly huge antique windows you’ll experience 180 degree views of the entire harbour and the vast West Coast Wilderness beyond ever changing throughout the day. We often find guests make plans to experience the town but cancel them quickly once they check in to spend their entire stay tucked up here. There’s a true magic to this little heritage cabin and it’s unique spot.
And, Risby Cove — for those who prefer a hotel stay.
Risby Cove is the town's true waterfront hotel, on the harbour's edge a few minutes' walk from the wharf, with its Cove Pavilions right down at the water. Between these two choices, your options for true waterfront stays are covered, us - best for a couple or solo travellers, and for those who prefer the hotel experience we’re lucky to have Risby Cove on offer.
Between the two of us the waterfront is covered — one for a couple, one when you want a hotel — and everything else on this list is about the view rather than the water itself.
Waking up to waterfront views of Strahan and Macquarie Harbour from bed at Captains Rest. By Bianca Jackson Photography.
Franklin Manor — for people who love a true bed and breakfast in old house complete with it’s history.
Franklin Manor is a grand old house on the Esplanade, a ten-minute walk along the water into the main street. Guests we send here stay here for the house and its history itself — the rooms, the breakfast, the feeling of having stepped back a century. She’s a beauty and the owners and team, who are just lovely, will take incredible care of you. They recently opened Charlotte’s Restaurant, with chef Mathieu in residence bringing french cuisine using incredible local produce to the town. Charlotte’s is open to all visitors, not just those staying at Franklin Manor and we give it the big tick of approval for anyone wanting to dine out!
Waterfront luxury at Captain’s Rest. By Bianca Jackson Photography.
Strahan Village — for larger groups, families and those who have left booking a little late!
In peak season the town fills to capacity, so it’s Strahan Village that is the pick who always has the beds available. It’s owned by a big operator, RACT, and the complex is spread over a few sites in the middle of the small town centre. Rooms views vary, and only some offer harbour views so make sure you ask when booking so you get one that does. Ask for the hilltop harbour-view rooms or the waterfront executive rooms and you’re set. For a family, a carload of friends, or groups travelling together — this is the sensible choice.
The old jetty, resident ducks and still mornings enjoying waterside at Captain’s Rest. Photo by 1924us.
Wheelhouse Apartments — for couples who want a modern stay and a view from up high.
Wheelhouse Apartments sits high up on the hill in the middle of Strahan. Nautically themed to their bones, the views look out over the town and the harbour. The apartments themselves are well appointed and large, so there’s room to spread out. It’s a different kind of luxury for the solo or couple travelers - more of a modern stay if that’s your preference.
Captain’s Rest sits three metres from Macquarie Harbour, measured in my own footsteps. Photo by Ben Sowry.
Before I sign off, and start working on the next travel guide help your holiday be one you can file away in your memory pile for life, here’s some rapid fire quick tips and answers to commonly asked questions we get from excited travellers planning their pilgrimages to this unique and untouched slice of the universe.
How far ahead do you need to book Strahan accommodation?
If you’re here to book Captain’s Rest, further than anyone else listed here or is operating in this small town. We run year round at 100% occupancy, and book 3 times further out than the other options - so in short, if we have the dates you’d like, lock them in as soon as you can. Strahan has very few beds and a long peak season over the Summer Season (December - April), and the good ones go first. To give you a workable guide, if your dates are fixed, book five months ahead — more for December through April, and more again for a weekend slot. If you’re flexible with the dates and you’re happy to book your travels around our openings, it really changes things: we often have a night or two open inside a month, sitting between other people's bookings, and that's true across the town, even in Summer.
How long should you stay in Strahan?
Most people give the West Coast two nights, most wish they’d booked at least three — it’s a vast place and unique in ways that are hard to describe until you’ve been here than all other parts of Tasmania. All our guests say they wish they had spent their entire time in Tasmania tucked up here in the window at Captain’s Rest, it was by far the highlight of their holiday and they spent the rest of their trip lusting to be back.
Most of the big, beautiful adventures travellers take here, which I really can reccomend, even not being a tour girl myself like the Gordon River Cruise and the West Coast Railway will fill an entire day, and you’ll need the rest either side of them. And the list of places to see and be, and explore and absorb is endless in this vast wild paradise. Nothing at all is number 1 activity when I, or any of our friends and family stay. The fire by the window, overlooking the water as the weather goes past, this is what days here demand to be given to - you’ll find it pretty hard to leave.
How do you get to Strahan, and what do you need to know?
Strahan is four and a half hours' drive west of Hobart, around four from Launceston, three from the Spirit of Tasmania at Devonport, and every one of those hours is jaw droppingly beautiful. You need a car; there is no other way in. Telstra is the only mobile coverage that works out here, so print your directions and your check-in details before you leave the last town with reception (I mean it — I have had guests sitting in the dark on the Esplanade trying to load an email). Always check for any alerts for ice, snow or bushfire before you head out to be safe, you can do that at AlertTAS.
And, since nearly all our guests take the drive to Captain’s Rest from Hobart — sleep with the best the night before to make the most of the city. I’ve made a guide to my very favourite Hobart stays that I book myself to take the guess (and, the leg) work out of it for you. I’ve made sure to test sleep every option in every price point in Hobart after all these years; I’m more than happy to take on the role of Tasmania’s personal Cinderella!
What's the difference between Strahan and Lette’s Bay?
Strahan is the small town, almost a hamlet — the wharf, the Esplanade, the cruise terminal, the railway station, the pub, the IGA. Lettes Bay is a heritage shack village a few minutes' drive back around the water from the wharf: twenty-odd little fisherman's shacks, hand-built by the Mount Lyell miners a hundred and something years ago, strung along a quiet bay with the jetties out the front. Captain's Rest is one of them. So, for guests who stay at Captain’s Rest, you are in Strahan technically, but you wake up somewhere so incredibly special it now is protected by Heritage Tasmania.
Where do you buy food in Strahan?
There is one small supermarket in town, Patrick's IGA on Reid Street, and it does great basics — but it is small, it keeps small-town hours, and if there is something you can't do without (the good coffee, the particular wine, anything fussy), bring it with you from Hobart, Launceston or Devonport. That's the west coast rule for everything, really: if you'll want it, carry it in. Captain's Rest has a proper kitchen, and most of my guests cook in so they don’t have to leave. For eating out, Charlotte's at Franklin Manor and the restaurant at Risby Cove are the two I send people to. Check opening hours, things here can be open and shut seasonally and always make a booking in advance, it’s a small place and the businesses here are small to match!
And, if Captain's Rest is booked?
Personally, i’d pin your trip to Tasmania until a time that works for you that we’re not. Everyone listed above is a real reccomendation and we send people to them to stay often, but a trip to Strahan, and a trip to Captain’s Rest are two very different experiences, the latter really is like no other in the world.
Beyond Strahan itself, the hosts I trust most in Tasmania are the ones who came through my school, The Hosting Masterclass — small owners who care about it the way I do — and you'll find them by region globally in the Handbook of Hosts. The West Coast Tasmania accommodation directory shows your options on a map, which is handy to get as close as you can to the magical mirror that is Maquarie Harbour.
I write local guides to the best of Tasmania & updates on my own adventures a few times a year. If you'd like these to land directly in your inbox pop your name on my mailing list—I'd love to stay in touch with you. No schedule, no selling - just when something deserves to be sent.
All recommendations here at Captain’s Rest are genuine, personal, and entirely unpaid. These are the places we stay ourselves, with hosts we know and love, and send our closest friends to without hesitation.
