12 Best Places To Retire In Tasmania
1807. The British shut down the Norfolk Island penal colony and relocate roughly 500 islanders, soldiers, and convicts to the banks of the River Derwent in southern Van Diemen's Land. The settlers name their new town New Norfolk. It becomes Tasmania's third European settlement after Hobart and Launceston, and today ranks as the twelfth-oldest town in Australia. Twelve Tasmanian places below offer a different range of reasons to retire on the island, including waterfront suburbs across the Derwent, valley settlements with apple orchards, and coastal villages where penguins still come ashore at dusk.
Devonport
Devonport sits at the mouth of the Mersey River on Tasmania's north coast and was voted the state's top tourism council in both 2023 and 2024. The Spirit of Tasmania ferries from Geelong dock here, which is one reason Devonport is the first stop for many mainlanders arriving with their cars. For retirees the appeal is different: a regional hub of about 25,000 people, quiet without being remote, with most essentials inside a 10-minute drive.
The Bass Strait Maritime Centre on Gloucester Avenue holds working displays on the ferries, the historic Mersey port, and the early coastal trade. Mersey Bluff Lighthouse, on the cliff just north of the town centre, opened in 1889 and is still operational. Each October the town hosts Seniors Week, a program of social and wellness events organised through the Devonport City Council. Coles Beach and the Don River Railway, which runs heritage trains a few kilometres south, fill out the weekend options. The median home price sits around AUD $480,000.
Burnie
Burnie is Tasmania's fourth-largest city, on the northwest coast, with about 19,000 residents and a working port that ships paper, mineral concentrates, and dairy products through Bass Strait. The town's reinvention from a heavy industrial centre into a cultural and coastal lifestyle destination has been ongoing for two decades. The result is a small city with both a deepwater port and an arts gallery a few blocks from the water.
Locals walk West Beach and the Burnie Waterfront Foreshore in the mornings; the Penguin Observation Centre at the eastern end of West Beach lets visitors watch little penguins return to their burrows at dusk between October and March, free of charge. The Burnie Regional Art Gallery on Wilmot Street holds an impressive collection of Tasmanian and Australian artists, with rotating exhibitions through the year. The North West Regional Hospital sits inside the town for senior healthcare needs. The median home price sits around AUD $565,000, which is well below the Hobart metropolitan average.
Margate
Margate is a small bayside town on the Channel Highway about 25 minutes south of Hobart, sitting on the western shore of North West Bay. The population is under 5,000 and the town functions partly as a quiet retirement settlement and partly as a stopover on the way to Bruny Island or the Huon Valley. Antique browsers and rail enthusiasts come for the Margate Train, a permanently parked vintage red rattler that now houses a pancake restaurant, a bookshop, and several small businesses inside the original carriages.
The Channel Museum, two minutes from the town centre, holds photographs, documents, and small artefacts from the Channel region's early settler days. Dru Point Bicentennial Park on the bay shore offers easy walking paths and birdwatching across the tidal flats. For day-to-day medical care, the Margate Health Centre handles most needs, with larger facilities a short drive north in Kingston or Hobart. The median home price runs around AUD $780,000, reflecting Margate's commuter-belt position close to the capital.
Bellerive
Bellerive is a waterfront suburb on the eastern shore of the Derwent River, directly across from Hobart, Tasmania's capital. The view west across the river takes in the city centre and the looming silhouette of kunanyi/Mount Wellington behind it. Bellerive functions as a Hobart commuter suburb with its own identity: a small village centre on Cambridge Road, a working ferry across the river, and a cricket and football stadium right on the waterfront.
Bellerive Beach Park is the local strolling spot, with a paved foreshore path that runs the length of the suburb. The Kangaroo Bluff Historic Site preserves a coastal artillery battery from the 1880s on a small headland with views back across the Derwent. Cricket and AFL matches at Ninja Stadium (formerly Blundstone Arena, host to international cricket and Hobart Hurricanes Big Bash matches) sit a few minutes' walk from the village centre. The Bellerive Health Hub on Cambridge Road covers most senior healthcare needs. Reliable bus service connects to Hobart, and the Bellerive Ferry crosses the river to Brooke Street Pier in about 12 minutes. The median home price runs around AUD $830,000.
New Norfolk
New Norfolk sits on the River Derwent 35 minutes northwest of Hobart in the Derwent Valley, surrounded by rolling hop fields and orchards. Established in 1807 by relocated Norfolk Islanders, it is Tasmania's third European settlement and one of the most historically dense towns in the country. St Matthew's Anglican Church, built in 1823, is the oldest Anglican church in Australia. The Bush Inn nearby has held a continuous liquor licence since 1825, making it among the oldest continuously operating hotels in the country.
Willow Court, a former mental hospital complex that operated from the 1820s until 2000, now houses antique shops, a restaurant, and a small Sunday market. The history is genuinely difficult (Willow Court was one of the largest asylums in the Southern Hemisphere), and the redevelopment has been done with attention to that past. Pulpit Rock Lookout offers a clean view over the town and a wide bend in the Derwent. Corumbene Care provides senior residential and community support. The median home price sits around AUD $465,000, which is among the most affordable on this list.
Kingston
Kingston is a southern Hobart suburb on a sheltered bay 15 minutes from the city centre, and one of the most popular settling spots for retirees and young families alike. The Kingston Heritage Trail is a self-guided walk of about two hours that takes in the Kingston National Trust Museum, the original 1840s schoolhouse, and a row of original waterfront cottages. Kingston Beach itself is the regional swimming spot for the southern suburbs; the water is cold but the sand is fine and the bay sheltered.
The Kingborough Sports Centre runs an indoor pool, a gym, and senior-friendly fitness programs. The Kingston Community Health Centre handles most medical needs locally, with the larger Royal Hobart Hospital 20 minutes north. Kingston also serves as the administrative centre for the Antarctic Division of the Australian government. Researchers and support staff for Australia's Antarctic stations are based here, which gives the suburb an unusually international feel for a small Tasmanian town. The median home price runs around AUD $740,000.
Huonville
Huonville sits on the Huon River 40 minutes south of Hobart, surrounded by apple orchards and the gateway to the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area. The Huon Valley grows about half of Tasmania's apples and a substantial portion of the country's cherry crop. The Huonville Farmers Market runs on Saturdays from October through April with regional produce, ciders, and small-batch food. Local apple cider has become a real export industry. Willie Smith's Apple Shed, eight kilometres south at Grove, is the most visited producer.
The Huon Jet runs jet-boat tours up the river to Huonville Pier and back, popular with grandkids visiting from the mainland. The Huonville Community Health Centre handles routine medical care, with the Royal Hobart Hospital an hour north. Compared with the more touristy Bruny Island or Hobart, Huonville offers a calmer, more agricultural retirement setting. The median home price runs around AUD $595,000.
Sandy Bay
Sandy Bay is an inner-southern suburb of Hobart, 10 minutes from the city centre, and the home of the University of Tasmania's main campus. The suburb runs along the Derwent River foreshore with two main beaches: Long Beach and Nutgrove Beach. The Sandy Bay foreshore walkway connects them and continues toward the city, offering one of the most-walked promenades in southern Tasmania.
The Twilight Market at Long Beach runs from 4:30 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. on the first two Fridays of each month from November through March, with local food trucks, craft stalls, and live music. The Sandy Bay Senior Citizens Club offers regular social and recreational programs for older residents. The Royal Hobart Hospital, 15 minutes north, handles complex medical care; Calvary Lenah Valley is a private alternative slightly closer. With proximity to the university, harbour, and Hobart's restaurant scene, Sandy Bay carries the highest median home price on this list, around AUD $1.285 million.
Sorell
Sorell was first settled in 1808 and officially gazetted as a town in 1821, making it one of Tasmania's oldest. It sits 25 kilometres east of Hobart at the junction of the Tasman and Arthur Highways, the gateway town on the road to Port Arthur and the Tasman Peninsula. Sorell School, founded in 1821, is the oldest continuously operating public school in Australia and still teaches kindergarten through Year 12 on the original ground.
The 1827 Sorell Barracks, three National Estate-listed colonial churches, and the Sorell Heritage Walk make the town centre worth more than a quick stop. The Waterway Trail near Pioneer Park offers easy bushland walking. Sorell Fruit Farm, just south of the town, lets visitors pick seasonal cherries, berries, apples, and stone fruit through summer and autumn. It is a low-impact outing that grandparents and grandkids both enjoy. The Sorell Country Fresh Market runs Saturday mornings on Cole Street. The Sorell Medical Centre covers routine healthcare. The median home price runs around AUD $650,000.
Bicheno
Bicheno is a small fishing town of about 1,000 residents on Tasmania's east coast, immediately north of the Freycinet Peninsula and the Wineglass Bay national park. The town was originally a whaling station in the 1820s; the harbour is still active with abalone and crayfish boats. Retirees drawn to coastal living find Bicheno's combination of working harbour, granite headlands, and small permanent population unusually appealing.
Waubs Bay Beach and the Whalers Way walking track are the standard daily exercise spots. The Bicheno Blowhole, a granite formation about 50 metres south of the foreshore, sprays seawater through a natural fissure when the swell is right and is one of the larger blowholes on the east coast. Bicheno Penguin Tours runs evening tours to a fairy penguin colony on the headland, returning at dusk between September and April. East Coast Natureworld, three kilometres north, runs a 150-acre native-wildlife park with Tasmanian devils, quolls, and reptiles. The Bicheno General Practice handles routine medical needs, with larger facilities at Swansea, 50 minutes south. The median home price runs around AUD $742,500.
Deloraine
Deloraine sits on the Meander River 50 kilometres west of Launceston, in a green agricultural valley framed by the Great Western Tiers escarpment to the south. The town's heritage Main Street holds galleries, antique shops, and the kind of small bookshops that survive on local trade. The Tasmanian Craft Fair, held over four days in early November, is one of Australia's largest annual craft fairs and draws roughly 30,000 visitors to a town of 2,800. For one weekend the population multiplies by ten.
The Deloraine and Districts Folk Museum on Emu Bay Road holds local colonial history including the original Yarns Artwork in Silk, a 23-metre embroidered narrative of the region produced by local artisans over five years. The Great Western Tiers Visitor Centre runs walking guides into the surrounding peaks, including Quamby Bluff and the 1,233-metre Mother Cummings Peak. The Deloraine District Hospital covers most healthcare needs, with Launceston General Hospital under an hour away. The median home price runs around AUD $545,000.
St. Helens
St Helens, on the northeast coast and the largest town in that part of the island, is best known as the gateway to the Bay of Fires, the 50-kilometre stretch of white-sand beaches and orange lichen-covered granite that has appeared on almost every "world's best beaches" list of the past decade. The town itself sits on Georges Bay, a sheltered tidal estuary that has supported a working fishing fleet since the 1830s.
St Helens Point Conservation Area runs easy walking tracks to coastal lookouts. The Bay of Fires Walk, a four-day guided trek north along the beaches, leaves from town for those whose hiking days are still ahead of them. The Bay of Fires Winter Arts Festival each July brings musicians and visual artists to town for a long weekend. St Helens District Hospital handles emergency and routine care 24 hours a day, which is unusual for a town this size and one of the reasons retirees end up here. The median home price runs around AUD $560,000.
Twelve Different Retirements
Twelve places to settle, twelve different ways to do it. Devonport and Burnie run as working coastal cities with affordable housing and easy access to the Mersey and Bass Strait. Bellerive, Sandy Bay, and Kingston put you inside greater Hobart but each has its own personality. New Norfolk and Sorell are the deep-history options, the towns Tasmania built first. Margate, Huonville, Bicheno, Deloraine, and St Helens each offer a different combination of water, valley, or coast at a calmer pace than the Hobart suburbs. Pick the one that matches what you want your week to look like.
