A Tasmanian National Parks Pass is essential to exploring Tasmania’s world-class national parks.
Tasmania is known throughout the world for its outstanding natural beauty and wild landscapes.
Visitors from around the world flock to places like Cradle Mountain National Park to explore the stunning mountainous alpine scenery or soak up the sunshine on one of Freycinet National Parks picturesque beaches.
Boasting a staggering 19 national parks which encompass a whopping 42% of this Australian state, avoiding Tasmania’s national parks means you’ll be missing out on some of the best Tasmania has to offer.
Visiting a national park in Tasmania does requires a valid Tasmanian National Parks Pass, and our definitive guide is here to help you decide which pass you need, how much it costs, plus a few extra tips and tricks.
Pass Types
Tasmanian National Parks Passes are available for a single park, useful for repeated visits to your nominated national park or all parks, useful for visiting any national park in Tasmania.
Park passes come in a range of durations including the 24-hour daily pass, the 8-week holiday pass and one or two year passes.
The 24-hour daily pass and 8-week holiday pass can be purchased on a per vehicle basis, which allows up to 8 people.
Cradle Mountain has different prices for daily passes and all passes include the use of the shuttle bus service.
Concession prices are available on one and two year passes for people who carry a current Australian seniors, pensioner concession or health care card.
A discounted renewal price is available on one year passes. Passes must be renewed within 6 months of expiry.
Pass Prices
Pricing varies depending on pass duration, pass types and concessions. Below is a list of Tasmanian National Parks Pass prices.
Daily Passes
- Person: 20 AUD (Under 5 years free)
- Vehicle: 40 AUD
Daily Passes (Cradle Mountain)
- Child: 10 AUD (5-17 years. Under 5 years free)
- Adult: 25 AUD
- Family: 60 AUD (2 Adults, 3 Children)
Holiday Passes
- Person: 40 AUD (Under 5 years free)
- Vehicle: 80 AUD
One Year Passes
- One Park: 46 AUD (Renewal: 36 AUD)
- All Parks: 90 AUD (Renewal: 70 AUD)
Two Year Passes
- All Parks: 115 AUD
Concession Passes
- One Year, One Park: 36.80 AUD (Renewal: 28.80 AUD)
- One Year, All Parks: 72 AUD (Renewal: 56 AUD)
- Two Year, All Parks: 92 AUD
Seniors Passes
- One Year, All Parks: 36 AUD
- Two Year, All Parks: 46 AUD
Check the official website for up to date information.
Which Pass Is Right For You?
The 24-hour daily pass is a great option when you have a set itinerary with only one national park to visit. Such as visiting Cradle Mountain for the day.
The 8-week holiday passes are the most useful for visitors to Tasmania. They’re perfect for visiting multiple national parks.
One or two-year passes are most useful for residents of Tasmania. Although they can be a great money-saving option for people who plan to visit Tasmanian multiple times a year.
Where To Purchase A Parks Pass?
Passes can be purchased from the following locations:
- Service Tasmania Shops
- Tourism Hub on the Spirit of Tasmania (Ferry from mainland Australia)
- Travel Info Centres
- Online Parks Pass Portal
- National Park Visitors Centres
Parks Pass Portal Information
The Online Parks Pass Portal is a fantastic way to order your Tasmanian National Parks Pass before arriving in Tasmania.
The process is relatively simple and requires some personal information such as your full name, address, contact number and email address.
Once you’ve supplied your personal information, you can choose concession if required, and pick the pass duration and pass type you require.
A start date will need to be supplied for when you want the pass to become becomes valid. The start date can be set to a maximum of 3 months in advance.
The last step before purchasing your pass is to supply vehicle registration information. For a personal car, this is your registration number. For rental cars, you can select the hire option, which doesn’t require a registration number.
Ensure you purchase the pass well in advance though as they do take time to be processed and posted. Our pass took around 3 weeks to arrive via mail.
Online Parks Pass Portal Account
If you do purchase park passes via the online portal, the first question asked is whether you’d like to create an online parks pass account.
Creating an account requires supplying some basic personal info, an email address and creating a secure password.
Online accounts are only beneficial for renewing one or two-year passes or changing personal or vehicle registration information.
Most people won’t require an account and this step can be skipped.
Pass information can be changed at parks pass purchasing points if required.
Benefits Of A Parks Pass
Purchasing a Tasmanian National Parks Pass gives you some financial and redundancy benefits.
The biggest savings are made using the longer duration passes on a per-vehicle basis. Which mostly benefits residents of Tasmania.
But visitors using a holiday pass can still save money. An example of this is the 41.25 AUD for a family daily pass to Cradle Mountain, whereas an 8-week vehicle holiday pass is only 60 AUD.
Basically for an extra 18.75 AUD, you can visit an unlimited number of national parks in Tasmania with a vehicle of 8 people for an 8 week period.
The more people and national parks visited, the greater the savings.
Another benefit is the redundancy given by a parks pass. The ability to revisit a national park can be hugely beneficial in a place like Tasmania.
Tasmanian weather can fluctuate dramatically. Being rained out or even snowed out halfway through a walking trail and having to retreat back to your accommodation can and does happen.
Having a holiday or one or two-year pass allows unlimited national park visits. No need to explore in horrible weather. Just re-explore the national park a few days later once the weather has improved, without having to purchase another daily pass.
We’ve found it especially useful for those unpredictable child moments, such as mid-hike meltdown or afternoon nap times.
It also allows you to revisit a national park if it’s overcrowded or you discover another national park you’d like to visit.