Cradle Mountain and Dove Lake, with deciduous beech (Fagus) in fall colors, Cradle Mountain-Lake St. Clair National Park, UNESCO World Heritage Site, Tasmania, Australia, Pacific

Getty Images/Robert Harding World Imagery

Cradle Mountain-Lake St Clair National Park

Top choice in Cradle Country & The West


Part of the World Heritage–listed Tasmanian Wilderness, this 1614-sq-km national park incorporates the state's most famous mountain (the eponymous Cradle Mountain), two of its best-known lakes (Lake St Clair and Dove Lake) and seven of its 10 highest mountains. It is effectively a park in two parts: the northern section around Cradle Mountain, and the southern section wrapped around Lake St Clair. The famed six- or seven-day Overland Track stretches between the two sections.

The preservation of this region as a national park is due in part to Austrian immigrant Gustav Weindorfer and his wife Kate, who built a chalet out of King Billy pine here in 1912 and called it Waldheim (German for ‘Forest Home’). Today the area around their chalet, which was demolished and rebuilt in 1976, retains the name Waldheim.

Changes introduced in 2018 mean that private vehicles can no longer drive to Dove Lake from Cradle Valley between 8am and 6pm from October to March, and from 8.30am to 4.30pm April to September. Frequent park shuttle buses provide access during those hours.


Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby Cradle Country & The West attractions

1. Devils@Cradle

19.7 MILES

A refuge for around 55 Tasmanian devils, this excellent wildlife sanctuary also plays host to eastern and spotted-tail quolls. Although it's open all day…

2. Iron Blow Lookout

20.75 MILES

On top of Gormanston Hill on the Lyell Hwy, just before the final descent along hairpin bends west into Queenstown, is a sealed side road leading 900m to…

3. Wilderness Gallery

20.82 MILES

Located in the Cradle Mountain Hotel, this 10-room commercial gallery showcases the work of local photographers and artists whose work is inspired by the…

4. Walls of Jerusalem National Park

21.16 MILES

This isolated Central Plateau national park features glacial lakes, gorgeous alpine flora and a ring of peaks (the 'walls') with biblical names. It's a…

5. Spion Kop Lookout

22.35 MILES

The panoramic views of town from this lookout, which was named by soldiers after a battle in the Boer War, are excellent. Try to arrive at sunset, when…

6. Eric Thomas Galley Museum

22.45 MILES

This museum started life as the Imperial Hotel in 1897 and now houses an extensive and idiosyncratically captioned photographic collection documenting the…

7. LARQ Studio

22.5 MILES

Well-known printmaker and painter Raymond Arnold and his artist partner Helena Demczuk are two of a small community of visual artists living and working…

8. Q Bank Gallery

22.51 MILES

Run by a group of friends who fell in love with the town and its handsome but faded bank building, this gallery is home to the Queenstown Artists in…

  • placement: superzone
  • path: Destinations/POIs/superzone
  • possible size: [970, 250], [970, 90], [728, 90], [1, 1],
  • targeting:
    {
      "url": "australia/tasmania/the-west/attractions/cradle-mountain-lake-st-clair-national-park/a/poi-sig/1170893/362464",
      "destination": "Cradle-Country-&-The-West",
      "continent": "Australia-&-Pacific",
      "country": "Australia",
      "region": "Cradle-Country-&-The-West",
      "position": "superzone"
    }