TLDR: Choose the Food, Sightseeing and Lighthouse tour ($280) if you want tastings and the lighthouse, the Cruises Full Day Tour ($275) if the sea cliffs and caves are your priority, and the Day Tour from Hobart ($180) if you'd rather walk and keep the price down. Lunch and tastings are extra on the cheaper tour. All three full-day tours handle the ferry and the driving.
Bruny Island is one of the best day trips from Hobart, but the tours aren't interchangeable. One is built around food and a lighthouse, one around a three-hour wilderness cruise, and one around walking and wildlife. Here's how the four options we offer compare, so you can pick the one that suits your trip before you book.
Prices are the ones listed on our tour pages at the time of writing, in Australian dollars.
The four Bruny Island tours at a glance
| Tour | Price | Length | How you start the day | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Food, Sightseeing and Lighthouse Day Tour | $280 | Full day | Hotel pickup and drop-off | Tastings, lunch and the lighthouse tour |
| Bruny Island Cruises Full Day Tour | $275 | Full day (check-in 7:30am, back around 5:30pm) | Meet at Franklin Wharf, hotel drop-off | The wilderness cruise, with morning tea and lunch included |
| Bruny Island Day Tour from Hobart | $180 | 10 hours (7:30am to 5:30pm) | Hotel pickup and drop-off from selected Hobart locations | Walks, beaches and wildlife on a lower budget |
| Bruny Island Cruise | $180 | 3 hours | Departs from Adventure Bay on the island | The cruise only, if you're already driving yourself |
Food, Sightseeing and Lighthouse Day Tour ($280)
This is the all-inclusive option. You start with a picnic-style morning tea on a quiet beach, with fresh Bruny Island oysters, local cheeses, bread and tea or coffee. Through the day you taste fudge and chocolate at Bruny Island Chocolate Co. and honey at the Bruny Island Honey shop, then climb to Truganini Lookout at The Neck for 360-degree views.
The centrepiece is an exclusive guided tour of the Cape Bruny Lighthouse in South Bruny National Park, followed by a one-course lunch at Hotel Bruny with views over the D'Entrecasteaux Channel. The tour also stops at Two Tree Point and Resolution Creek, and your guide watches for the island's white wallabies (a sighting isn't guaranteed).
What's included: morning tea, the tastings, lunch, the lighthouse tour, return ferry fares, hotel pickup and drop-off, and National Park entry. Groups are limited to 20 people per bus.
Worth knowing: children under 5 can't join the lighthouse tour, though they can walk around inside at the base with an adult. The tour isn't recommended for children under 1, so contact us before booking for infants.
Choose it if you want food, history and scenery in one day and prefer to pay once rather than for lunch and tastings as you go.
Bruny Island Cruises Full Day Tour ($275)
This tour is built around the water. You check in at the Pennicott Wilderness Journeys Booking Centre on Hobart's Franklin Wharf, next to the Constitution Dock lifting bridge, then head to Bruny Island by road and the SeaLink ferry. After a muffin and a drink at Adventure Bay, you board a custom-built eco-cruise vessel for a three-hour wilderness cruise past towering sea cliffs and through sea caves, looking out for seals, dolphins, seabirds and migrating whales.
Lunch is at the Bruny Island Cruises restaurant: fish and chips, pumpkin soup or a ham salad roll, with vegetarian and gluten-free options. In the afternoon the bus does some sightseeing before the return crossing, arriving back in Hobart around 5:30pm with hotel drop-off.
What's included: the three-hour cruise, morning tea, lunch, the ferry and the transport.
Worth knowing: dress warmly for the cruise, as warm jackets, scarves, beanies and gloves are recommended. Because the cruise takes most of the middle of the day, this tour covers fewer land stops than the other full-day options.
Choose it if the coastline is the reason you're going and you want it with transport and meals taken care of.
Bruny Island Day Tour from Hobart ($180)
This is the most active and the most affordable. The 10-hour day (7:30am to 5:30pm) starts with an easy-to-moderate morning: walks through temperate rainforest, a search for the island's albino wallabies, lookouts including the Neck and Cape Bruny Lighthouse, secret waterholes and lagoons, and beaches where you can swim if the weather allows. Lunch is at the historic Bruny Hotel, and in the afternoon you visit local producers for honey, fudge, drinks and oysters, time permitting.
What's included: hotel pickup and drop-off from selected Hobart locations, National Park entry and a local guide.
Worth knowing: lunch and tastings are at your own cost, and the itinerary changes with the weather and the group, so not every stop is visited each day. Bring walking shoes, layers, a rain jacket, and swimwear if you want a dip.
Choose it if you like walking and wildlife, and want a lower ticket price and the freedom to decide how much to spend on food.
Bruny Island Cruise ($180, 3 hours)
This is the cruise on its own, run by Robert Pennicott's team on a custom-built yellow boat. It goes along some of Australia's highest sea cliffs and into deep sea caves, with seals, dolphins, migrating whales and seabirds on the lookout list.
It departs from the visitor centre at 1005 Adventure Bay Road, so you need to get yourself to Bruny Island first. The operator's guide is to catch the 7:10, 7:30 or 7:50 ferry for the 10am cruise, the 8:30, 8:50 or 9:10 ferry for the 11am cruise, or the 11:30 ferry (or earlier) for the 1:30pm cruise, and to check in 30 minutes before the cruise starts. Nothing is served on the boat, but you can buy meals at the beachfront restaurant on the day.
Choose it if you're already driving to the island and want a short boat trip as part of your own itinerary. If you'd rather not organise the driving and ferry, the Cruises Full Day Tour above includes the same style of cruise with transport.
