Best Hobart CBD hotels: be in the thick of the action

Forget Melbourne and Sydney, make Hobart your next destination. With its eclectic personality and affordable hotels, you can mix city and nature in style.

Combining heritage charm with a contemporary lifestyle, Hobart punches well above its weight, taking on Melbourne’s restaurants and rivalling Sydney’s famed waterside. And its hotels in the Central Business District (CBD) keep you right next to the city’s heartbeat.

With a hotel in the CBD, you won’t even need a taxi. In our pick of some of the best hotels, choose from Victorian-era buildings reminiscent of colonial days or sleek, boutique hotels reflecting the city’s creative and eclectic personality.

With unforgettable amenities such as rooftop lap pools, hot saunas and cosy fireside sofas, Hobart’s hotels are reasonably affordable, while being decked out with must-experience luxuries.

A Hobart CBD hotel with magnificent harbourside views

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Some of the city’s best waterfront vistas, from the harbour to the Derwent River, can be seen from all of the 244 warmly decorated rooms at the Hotel Grand Chancellor. Rise early to watch fishing boats return with their daily catches, or let gleaming luxury yachts at the marina inspire dreams of champagne-fuelled sea adventures before you sit down in front of your flat-screen TV with a freshly-brewed coffee in hand.

Head up to the 10th floor to take in Mount Wellington’s majesty through the cathedral-style glass ceiling, then unwind with a skyline swim. Aiming to build up an appetite before breakfast? This hotel’s gym is one of the largest in the city, with free weights, cable machines, treadmills and stretching mats. If you’re more into updating your look than your fitness regime, you’ll find Zenica Hairdressing in the hotel lobby.

Seafood lovers can smack their lips on local oysters, sea scallops and Tassal salmon at the on-site Restaurant Tasman. Finish with a deluxe cheeseboard featuring Coal River triple brie and cave-aged cheddar, or give in to a sweet tooth at the Atrium Bar’s daily high tea with house-made cakes, finger sandwiches and warm scones. Bring a glass of island sparkling wine outside on your afternoon to watch seagulls dip and dive over Constitution Dock.

Should you tear yourself away from the hotel, popular attractions like Salamanca Place and Battery Point are a 10-minute walk away. Once popular with sailors, whalers and workmen, Salamanca Place has been transformed into a vibrant cultural scene, with warehouse art galleries and fashion boutiques.

Hotel Grand Chancellor Hobart

Top rated
Hobart
9.4 Excellent (2434 reviews)

A Hobart CBD hotel with a playful and creative design

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Just 10 minutes by foot from Salamanca Place, Ibis Styles Hobart is Tasmania’s largest hotel. Opened in 2017, the hotel channels the city’s artistic vibes with bright colours and intriguing design elements for a fresh, fun experience. The façade mixes sandstone, brick and terracotta, while wall murals and neon chairs mark playfully decorated rooms. Each floor is painted a different colour to represent the fruits of the Tasmanian summer, from raspberry red to gooseberry green.

The hotel restaurant, Mr. Good Guy, celebrates South East Asian hawker-style street food with dishes like lamb ribs with tamarind, salt-and-pepper tofu and pork-belly bao buns. Grab a table under bright paper parasols or perch on a bar stool to sip on a tom yum-inspired cocktail before getting stuck into authentic Asian flavours.

For the relaxation-driven, a rooftop lap pool offers panoramic views of the city, and blissfully hot saunas help melt away tensions. Once you’re refreshed and toxin-free, you’ll be ready to head down to the harbour. Make sure to cut through the lush St David’s Park and admire the sandstone grandeur of Parliament House along the way.

Ibis Styles Hobart

Top rated
Hobart
8.7 Excellent (2032 reviews)

A historic Hobart CBD hotel jam-packed with prized pieces

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Australia’s first dedicated ‘art hotel’, The Henry Jones Art Hotel, displays more than 500 contemporary Tasmanian works, from prints to sculptures to photo media to design. Lose track of time wandering through communal spaces and restaurants that once housed Sir Henry Jones’ iconic IXL jam company. Tours with the hotel’s Art and History Liaisons reveal fascinating stories about the origins of Hobart’s oldest waterfront warehouses and their transformation into the chic hotel we see today.

A trip into Landscape Restaurant & Grill lets you admire the works of colonial-era painter John Glover while you order dinner. Others might save the artsy stuff for their food choices by pairing an artisan brew with wallaby or pasture-fed lamb at Peacock and Jones, set in the jam factory’s sandstone warehouse. Party favourite is the famed Asado grill, which is fired with sherry, bourbon or port cask timbers to add unique flavours to your chosen cut of steak. The creativity continues at IXL Long Bar, where you can find such inventions as Poltergeist Gin cocktails and black truffle martinis.

Whether your night ends at nine in the evening or early the next morning, views of the city will welcome you back to your uniquely designed room. Japanese-inspired Oriental Suites are decked out in pine shutters, a whirlpool bath and luxurious linens. Closet entrepreneurs will feel at home in the H. Jones Suite, the once stately boardroom of Henry Jones, complete with wood panelling and its own grand staircase.

The Henry Jones Art

Top rated
Hobart
9.6 Excellent (1816 reviews)

A Hobart CBD Hotel with vintage charm from another era

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The Atrium at Hadley’s Orient Hotel conjures the glitz and glamour of The Great Gatsby, what with painted cane chairs, palm trees, checkered tile floors and soaring ceilings. This hotel was recently restored by design and heritage experts to provide a truly authentic step-back-in-time experience. A National Trust-listed venue, the hotel’s Victorian suites and spaces transport guests to a grander era: think heavy draped curtains, studded leather sofas, chandeliers and antique clocks.

Built by convict labour in 1834, Hadley’s Orient Hotel has since become a monument to Hobart’s past. Once the playground of visiting theatre royalty, travelling politicians and sportsmen, the hotel has had its fair share of notoriety, including the mysterious death of celebrated British actor Sir William Donback in 1862. If only the walls could talk!

Those seeking relaxation instead of mystery can find it in cosy fireside sofas in the Orient Bar and Dining Room. Live piano music offers the ideal soundtrack to working your way through a flight of whisky or gin. Team your drink with a Tasmanian Tasting Plate that showcases local produce gems like Bruny Island oysters, wallaby sliders and salmon. One of Hobart’s signature experiences finds its home in the hotel, too: the Hadley’s traditional Afternoon Tea, where you can nibble on delicate cucumber and salmon sandwiches, macaroons and other favourites like scones and tarts.

Hadley's Orient Hotel

Top rated
Hobart
9.4 Excellent (2090 reviews)

A Hobart CBD hotel that’s a gleaming modern tower

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Just two streets back from the CBD and 300 metres from Salamanca Place, Mantra Collins is a great launching pad for seeing the city. The sleek, modern hotel tower rises from the original 1950s building’s brick façade, meaning you get to wake up in the morning to views over the waterfront or Mount Wellington. If you don’t want to simply be a spectator, Mount Wellington is open every day, free of charge, where you will be able to walk along historic tracks through lush forest, hop on a horse or cycle around on a mountain bike.

Hit the gourmet farmer’s market at Salamanca Place to load up on fresh produce, then bring your spoils back ‘home’ and plate up the ultimate deli board in your personal kitchenette. If you forget to buy wine, don’t worry – you can order a Coal River Riesling or Tamar Valley Pinot Noir right to your door.

At on-site Restaurant Collins, your day should begin with a sumptuous breakfast of eggs with smashed avocado and crumbled feta or smoked salmon fritters. Chat to the friendly staff for sightseeing recommendations, or take a short stroll down to Brooke Street Pier and jump on a River Derwent ferry to the MONA – Museum of Old and New Art. After wandering through the extensive – and sometimes bizarre – collections, stick around for lunch at Source where you can share plates and sample fine craft beers brewed onsite while overlooking the museum grounds.

Tuckered out explorers can fall back into soft leather sofas at the end of the day and gaze out of floor-to-ceiling windows at the city below. When it’s time to rest, sleep soundly knowing these rooms have double glazed windows.

Mantra Collins

Top rated
Hobart
8.8 Excellent (2131 reviews)

Old world ambience at a Hobart CBD hotel

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Macquarie Manor‘s Edwardian architecture, period furnishings and high ceilings whisper of the late 1800s. Not to be stuck in the past, however, stately public areas have been thoughtfully updated with a modern grey colour palette and geometric flooring. Take in the sophisticated drawing room while curled up on a studded leather couch with a good book and a crackling fire.

Rooms are spacious and feature mahogany furniture. Plush velvet armchairs and sofas are plump with comfort and charm. Highly-rated among reviewers are the hotel’s comfortable beds, including the impressive four-poster in the Macquarie Suite. Even better, the rooms are soundproofed against the calls of the city below, for when you feel it’s time to unwind.

Early risers can head to the dining room for a daily Continental breakfast of fresh fruit, yoghurt pots, cereals and pastries. A mid-morning wander up Hampden Road into Battery Point will bring you along historic single-frontage seafarer cottages from Old Hobart Town’s earliest days. Loop back through the narrow Kelly Steps and you’ll find yourself back in bustling Salamanca Place and just a 10 minutes’ walk to the hotel.

Macquarie Manor

Top rated
Hobart
9.0 Excellent (2064 reviews)