Things to Do in Bicheno Before the Penguins

Bicheno fills the day before the penguin tour easily: the Bicheno Blowhole at the end of an easy foreshore walk, Whalers Lookout ten minutes from town, Diamond Island across a sandbar at low tide, East Coast Natureworld’s Tasmanian devils just north of town, and Wineglass Bay in Freycinet National Park, 38 km by road to the south. Then, at dusk, Tasmania: Bicheno Penguin Tour, from US$53 a person (checked November 2026).

The calendar above is the evening penguin tour, with 47 reviews (checked November 2026).

The short answer

Spend the morning in Freycinet National Park, on the Wineglass Bay cruise or a kayak at Coles Bay, drive back up to Bicheno in the afternoon, walk the foreshore to the Blowhole, climb Whalers Lookout for the view, and be at the Bicheno Penguin Tours shop on Burgess Street before dusk. Everything in town is within a short walk or drive of the shop.

The foreshore walk and the Blowhole

Tourism Tasmania describes the Bicheno foreshore as an easy, flat walk over the town’s flaming-orange granite: it starts at Redbill Beach, passes Waubs Beach and the Gulch, the town’s rocky breakwater bay, and ends at the Bicheno Blowhole, where the swell forces water up through a gap in the rocks. The Blowhole is best at high tide or in a decent swell, and you should expect spray. Offshore from the Gulch, Governor Island Marine Reserve is, in Tourism Tasmania’s words, one of Australia’s better temperate diving spots.

Whalers Lookout

Whalers Lookout is a 10-minute walk from the town, says Tourism Tasmania, with views over Bicheno, the coast and the ocean. From May to December it is one of the better vantage points on the East Coast Whale Trail, with humpback and southern right whales passing on their migration.

Diamond Island at low tide

Diamond Island, the rocky nature reserve off the northern shore, is home to shorebirds and penguins, and at low tide a sandbar lets you walk across from the foreshore; time the visit by the tides. Dogs are banned on the island at all times, and NRE Tas’s guidelines ask visitors to keep to existing tracks and never walk through a penguin colony. Go in daylight, and watch the penguins at dusk from the shore or on the tour.

East Coast Natureworld

East Coast Natureworld, a wildlife park at 18356a Tasman Highway, five to eight minutes’ drive north of the town centre, has Tasmanian devils with feeding at 10 am and 1 pm. It opens daily from 9:30 am, and is closed on Christmas Day; most of its pages give 4 pm as closing time, its tickets page 3 pm. Entry is A$32 an adult, A$19 a child aged 3 to 15, free under 3, and A$89 or A$99 for a family with two or three children, with a 15 percent surcharge on public holidays; its after-dark Devils in the Dark visit is A$85 an adult and A$70 a child aged 6 to 17 (November 2026).

Wineglass Bay and Freycinet

Coles Bay, at the edge of Freycinet National Park, is 38 km by road south of the shop in Bicheno, about half an hour’s drive. Every national park in Tasmania needs a valid parks pass: the Parks and Wildlife Service’s daily pass is A$49.15 a vehicle for up to eight people, or A$24.55 a person arriving by bus, bicycle or on foot, and children under 5 are free (November 2026). Two ways onto the water there:

• Pennicott Wilderness Journeys’ Wineglass Bay cruise with lunch, 4 hours 30 minutes from Coles Bay round to Wineglass Bay, with a ploughman’s lunch on board, from US$148 (checked November 2026).
• Freycinet Adventures’ 3-hour sea kayak tour from Muirs Beach in Coles Bay, for ages 7 and up, no experience needed, from US$109 (checked November 2026).

Book the penguins for the evening

Prices, ratings and review counts from the listings (GetYourGuide checked November 2026). Operators price by date and season, so treat the figures as the shape of the market, not a quote.