The creek behind our farm stay near Geeveston, where Murray watched a platypus surface at 5:45am.
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Murray was up at 5:45am, cuppa in hand, sitting by the creek behind our farmstay near Geeveston, when a platypus surfaced right in front of him. That was day two. By the end of the week we had seen another one, spotted a tiger snake beside a thermal pool, and learnt exactly why you pack spare clothes for a three-year-old at an alpine lake.
The Huon Valley is the part of Tasmania most families drive straight past. We nearly did too. Then we gave it five slow days in January 2026, and our daughter still talks about her hike up Hartz Mountains. It is a core memory for her now.
This guide covers the best things to do in the Huon Valley for families with kids under five, and why it deserves more than a quick day trip from Hobart. Everything here comes from our own stay: real walk times, what our daughter loved, and the bits that went sideways.
Disclosure: we paid for this whole trip ourselves. This guide contains affiliate links. If you book through them we may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. All opinions are our own.
BEFORE YOU GO
Huon Valley at a Glance
Where we stayed - a converted farm pickers' cottage near Geeveston, with a sauna and a hot tub over the creek.
How long - five nights felt right. Three is the minimum if you want Tahune, Hartz and Hastings Caves without rushing.
Best for little kids - Tahune Airwalk, the Geeveston Platypus Walk, Heritage Park playground and the Hastings Caves tour.
Phone reception - none at Tahune. There is free wifi at the visitor centre.
You need a car - the best bits are spread out, and Hartz is up a gravel road.
When we went - late January 2026, right in cherry season.
Correct as at - January 2026. Prices and hours checked November 2026.
WHY IT WORKS
Why the Huon Valley Works With Young Kids
The drives are longer than you’d expect, but what waits at the end of each one makes it worth it: treetop walks, caves, alpine lakes and a platypus in the creek. For our daughter, the best part was the long mountain walks, stopping at every single flower.
We did one big thing each morning, napped, then headed out for something small, like a platypus hunt or roadside cherries. Good playgrounds were never far away either, from Heritage Park in Geeveston to Shipwrights Point by the river.
It is also quieter than Hobart and easy to eat well on a budget. We cooked most nights with local salmon, orchard cherries and farm apple juice, and never missed restaurants once.
WHERE TO STAY
Where to Stay in the Huon Valley With Kids
Base yourself near Geeveston. It puts Tahune, Hartz Mountains and Hastings Caves within an easy drive, and the town itself has the playground, the platypus walk and the good coffee.
We stayed in an Airbnb that used to be fruit pickers’ accommodation on an old farm. It had a sauna in a converted shed, a hot tub that was preheated when we arrived (too hot to get in at first, honestly), a creek at the bottom of the garden and a pizza oven. The pizza oven beat us. The pizzas looked great going in. Next time: smaller pizzas, more flour, less heat.
We were not expecting much from a farm cottage. We ended up planning every day around getting home to that hot tub.
Sunrise at our fruit pickers’ cottage, and the hot tub we planned every day around.
If you want your own creek and hot tub, start with family stays around Geevestonon Booking.com.
Closer to the cafes and Willie Smith’s? Browse family-friendly Huon Valley accommodation around Huonville.
We finished the trip with a night at the Hotel Grand Chancellor Hobart, and the marina view room was worth asking for. More on that in our Hobart with Kids guide.
FOREST CANOPY
Tahune Airwalk and Tahune Adventures
This was the best full day of the trip, and it is an easy one with a three-year-old.
We started with the Tahune Airwalk, about 45 minutes return for us. The walkway runs 600 metres through the treetops and ends at a cantilever 50 metres above the riverbank, which sways more than you expect. My knees went wobbly. I still made it out to the end, and the view over the forest was worth every second of it.
Next came the Swinging Bridges walk, about an hour return. The bridges are lower, very bouncy, and give you a proper look at the river. No fear from me on this one.
After lunch we did the Huon Pine Walk, 30 minutes return, with information signs about the trees all the way along. It was the one all three of us enjoyed most.
Our daughter leading the way on the Airwalk, bouncing across the Swinging Bridges, and the giant trees on the Huon Pine Walk.
✓ There is no phone reception out here. The visitor centre has free wifi, so download maps before you leave town.
✓ Lunch at the visitor centre was good: burgers for us, fish and chips for our daughter.
✓ Do the Airwalk first while little legs are fresh, then the bridges, then lunch.
✓ Under 5s go free, and one day pass covers the Airwalk, Swinging Bridges and Huon Pine Walk. Open 10am to 4pm daily. Check today’s prices and book your Tahune Airwalk tickets ahead.
✓ There are 104 steps up to the start of the Airwalk, with spots to rest along the way.
✓ From Geeveston it is about 30 minutes to Tahune along the sealed Arve Road. Follow the Tahune signs rather than your GPS, which can send you down gravel roads.
Prefer someone else to drive? The Hastings Caves, Tahune Airwalk and Huon Tasting Trail day tour from Hobart includes the Airwalk.
UNDERGROUND
Hastings Caves and Thermal Springs
The cave is the reason to come. The thermal pool is a bonus.
We did the Newdegate Cave tour, our first ever cave, and it was breathtaking. Stalactites, stalagmites, columns, all lit up in a way our daughter could only describe as magic. It was genuinely educational too, and she stayed engaged the whole way through.
Inside Newdegate Cave, and one very excited cave explorer at the entrance.
The thermal pool was more swimming pool than hot spring. It is officially kept at 28 degrees, which felt lukewarm to us, and that was fine for a swim and very fine for a three-year-old who fell asleep in the car straight after. We also spotted a tiger snake near the pool. I did not handle that well. Murray bought a souvenir t-shirt at the caves shop so he had something to swim in.
A swim in the thermal pool, then the rainforest stairs that wore her out.
✓ Stop at Dover Top Shop on the way down. The Big Breakfast and the baked beans kept our bellies full until we headed home.
✓ If you are driving yourself, you cannot book ahead. Cave tour tickets are sold at the visitor centre on the day, first in, first served. The exception is a guided day tour from Hobart, which books your cave entry for you. Arrive 45 minutes before your tour, because the cave car park is a further 20 minute drive.
✓ Under 4s go free on the cave tour, and a cave tour ticket includes the thermal pool. The tour has about 500 stairs, so bring a carrier, not a pram.
✓ In summer (26 December to 11 February) tours run hourly from 10am to 4pm. The rest of the year they run from 11am to 3pm.
No car, or not keen on the drive? This Hastings Caves, Tahune Airwalk and Huon Tasting Trail day tour from Hobart covers the caves, the Airwalk and farm gate tastings in one go, with pickup included. It runs about 10 hours, so it suits older kids better than toddlers.
ALPINE LAKES
Hartz Mountains National Park
The hardest day, and the one we are proudest of.
The road in is about 25 minutes of gravel, well maintained but bumpy, with wildlife crossing as you go. Stop at the Waratah Lookout on the way up for a preview of what is coming.
At the walker hub you register your walk plans. We planned Lake Esperance, about two hours return, then added Ladies Tarn on the spot, which made it roughly three hours. It took us four, with lolly stops and a lot of photos of the alpine flowers. The Geeves Memorial is only ten minutes in.
The view from Waratah Lookout, and her well-earned rest at Ladies Tarn. The hike she still talks about.
Our daughter ended up soaked at Lake Esperance, after being told to stay back from the water. We had a change of clothes and a towel with us, which is exactly why we recommend packing a spare set for every child.
On the way out we did Arve Falls. It is signed as 20 minutes return, but the sign is a ten minute walk from the car park, so allow closer to an hour.
The tiny alpine flowers (cushion plants) and a Tasmanian waratah that slowed our walk to a crawl, in the best way.
✓ Pack a full change of clothes and a towel for every child.
✓ It is cold up there even in January. Layers, beanies, rain jackets.
✓ You need a Tasmanian National Parks pass for Hartz. Hastings Caves does not need one.
✓ There is no phone reception on the Hartz walks. Download your trail on the AllTrails app before you go, so you can follow it offline.
SMALL TOWN, BIG DAYS
Geeveston: Platypus, Playgrounds and Good Coffee
Geeveston is small, and it does a lot for its size.
The Platypus Walk. We went looking for a geocache and found a platypus. Go early or late in the day, stay quiet, and watch the water.
Heritage Park playground. One of the best playgrounds we found in Tasmania: a flying fox, a great slide, climbing, and mechanical diggers our daughter refused to leave.
The platypus we found on the Platypus Walk, and the Heritage Park diggers she refused to leave.
Coffee. Communion has a nice vibe and good coffee. Burrow and Brew has a kids’ colouring corner and a very good sausage roll.
Farm gate stops. Our Mates Farm sells organic apple juice ($8 a litre when we went). JB Nicholas and Son butcher had excellent steak for a night in. They are on Facebook only.
Ordering at Communion, and a bottle of Our Mates Farm apple juice straight from the orchard.
APPLE COUNTRY
Willie Smith's Apple Shed, Huonville
Yes, you can take a toddler to a cidery. This was Murray’s highlight of the trip.
We turned up without a booking on a very busy Australia Day. The staff found us a spot with room for our daughter to play anyway. We had The Valley Experience, $45 when we went in January 2026 plus a 15 percent public holiday surcharge: a paddle of ciders, a huge toastie and an apple pie we are still thinking about. We joined their cider club before we left.
The heritage apple wall inside Willie Smith’s Apple Shed.
The cider paddle, the heritage apples, and the very fast slide at Shipwrights Point.
✓ Book ahead on weekends and public holidays, even though they squeezed us in.
✓ Shipwrights Point playground at Port Huon is a short drive away and has a very fast slide. Murray hurt his back racing me down it. Worth it.
FARM GATES
Franklin, Dover and the Farm Gates
These are the in-between stops that made the valley feel like ours.
Franklin foreshore has a park by the river and a small historic police and court precinct. We missed the Wooden Boat Centre because it closed at 3pm, so go in the morning.
Cherries. Late January is cherry season. We bought cherries, apricots and plums at Cherry Isle, $15 a kilo for cherries, and saw them on the trees.
IGA Dover has a huge community book exchange. Our daughter bought a $1 book about a frog with googly eyes, then refused to sleep with it in her room because of the scary cat inside. The store also stocks locally sourced salmon.
Late January cherries straight from the tree, and apples ripening in the orchard.
WHERE TO EAT
Where to Eat With Kids in the Huon Valley
Casual, generous and friendly, almost everywhere we went.
✓ Willie Smith’s Apple Shed: the best sit-down meal of the trip, with room for kids to move.
✓ Dover Top Shop: the Big Breakfast. That is the whole review.
✓ Tahune visitor centre: good burgers and fish and chips, right where you need them.
✓ Burrow and Brew, Geeveston: coffee, sausage rolls and a colouring corner.
We cooked most nights. Salmon from IGA, steak from the Geeveston butcher, cherries from the orchards and marshmallows on the fire.
GETTING THERE
Getting There and Getting Around
You need a car. The highlights sit in different directions from Geeveston, and public transport will not get a family to Tahune or Hartz.
Huonville is about 30 minutes south of Hobart and Geeveston about an hour. Tahune and Hastings Caves are each around 90 minutes from Hobart. If you are coming from Bruny Island like we were, the ferry from Roberts Point to Kettering takes about 10 to 15 minutes. Our Bruny Island day trip guide covers that side.
✓ Fuel up in Geeveston before Hartz or Hastings.
✓ Expect a gravel road into Hartz.
Flying into Hobart? Compare Hobart car hire before you land, because the Huon Valley is a self-drive trip.
Without a car, the easiest option is a guided day tour from Hobart, like this Hastings Caves, Tahune Airwalk and Huon Tasting Trail tour with pickup included.
THE HONEST BIT
What Is Actually Hard About the Huon Valley With a Toddler
The distances add up. Each highlight is a decent drive from the next, so pick one big outing a day.
The phone reception drops out at Tahune and in the national parks, which matters if you rely on maps. We downloaded our trails on the AllTrails app before we left, so we could still follow them offline. Offline maps are part of the paid version, which we pay for yearly because we use it on most of our hikes.
Places close early or are not what you expect. The Wooden Boat Centre closed at 3pm, two cafes we tried were shut, and Huon Aquaculture turned out not to be open to the public. We also drove 35 minutes to a crayfish festival that had finished the day before.
Snakes are around in summer. We saw a tiger snake at the Hastings thermal pool. Stay on the paths, give snakes space, and they will leave you alone.
None of that put us off, though. It just means checking opening hours the night before and keeping a spare change of clothes in the car.
LOCAL KNOWLEDGE
Local Knowledge Most Visitors Miss
Locals still call the Arve Road “the six foot”, after the timber railway that once ran along it. It is the same road you take to Tahune and Hartz.
Your best chance of a platypus is at dawn or dusk. Murray saw ours at 5:45am from the creek bank.
Ask for a water refill at the Tahune Airwalk cafe and it comes out brown. It is tannin water, coloured by the plants, and the staff assured us it is perfectly safe to drink.
The Geeves Memorial on the Hartz walk, and Lake Osborne up the mountain, are named after the family that founded Geeveston.
Farm gate fruit in late January beats anything in a supermarket, and it is cheaper.
THE VERDICT
Is the Huon Valley Worth It With Kids?
Completely. It gave us platypus, caves, treetops and alpine lakes in one week, at a toddler’s pace.
It is not a place to rush. Give it at least three nights, base yourself near Geeveston, and let the days stay small.
COMMON QUESTIONS
Huon Valley FAQs
Do you need tickets for the Tahune Airwalk?
Yes. You need a day pass, which covers the Airwalk, the Swinging Bridges and the Huon Pine Walk, and under 5s go free. You can buy it online ahead of time or at the visitor centre on the day.
Do you need to book Hastings Caves and Thermal Springs?
No. Cave tour tickets are sold at the visitor centre on the day, first in, first served. Arrive 45 minutes before your tour, because the cave car park is a further 20 minute drive from the visitor centre. If you join a guided day tour from Hobart, your cave entry is booked as part of the tour.
How far is the Tahune Airwalk from Hobart?
About 90 minutes by car, heading south through Huonville and Geeveston. From Geeveston it is around 30 minutes along the sealed Arve Road, so staying near Geeveston made it an easy morning outing for us.
Is there a cafe at the Tahune Airwalk?
Yes. The visitor centre has a fully licensed cafe. We had burgers and fish and chips there for lunch between walks.
Can you do the Tahune Airwalk and Hastings Caves in one day with kids?
No, not comfortably with little ones. We did them on separate days, because they sit in different directions from Geeveston and each one is a half day on its own. Guided day tours from Hobart do cover both in about 10 hours, but that is a long day for a toddler.
Is the Huon Valley good for toddlers?
Yes. Our three-year-old loved the Tahune walks, the Hastings Caves tour, the platypus walk and the playgrounds. Plan one big outing a day with a rest in between.
Can you see a platypus in the Huon Valley?
Yes. We saw two in four days, one at the Geeveston Platypus Walk and one from the creek at our farmstay. Dawn and dusk are your best chance.
Is there phone reception at Tahune and Hartz Mountains?
No. We had no reception at Tahune or on the Hartz Mountains walks. Download your maps and trails before you leave town. We used the AllTrails app to follow our trails offline, and the Tahune visitor centre has free wifi.
Planning the Rest of Southern Tasmania?
Tasmania is the trip that changed how we travel. Pair the Huon Valley with a few slow days in Hobart.
KEEP EXPLORING
More From Really Traveling
The other side of our southern Tasmania trip, ferry tips included.
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Co-founder of Really Traveling. I write first-hand guides with Murray for Brisbane families with children under five. When I’m not at my desk working to publish an article or building a website, you’ll find me cooking, taking photos, and exploring every corner of Brisbane with my 4-year-old!
