Where to See Penguins in Bicheno Without a Tour

Yes, you can see penguins in Bicheno without a tour. Tourism Tasmania says little penguins come ashore at dusk every evening at Redbill Beach and Waubs Beach, and that you do not need a tour to watch them, as long as you follow the rules: no flash, no torch except a dim red one, keep your distance, and stay calm and quiet. It costs nothing.

The short answer

Go to Redbill Beach or Waubs Beach, on the northern side of town, before last light, find a spot well back from the dunes and the paths the penguins use, and wait in the dark, quietly, in dark clothes. Leave the dog at home: dogs are banned on Redbill Beach from dusk till dawn, and the law protects penguins from dogs along the Bicheno shore from Rice Beach to Denison Beach. If the birds hear or see you, they wait at sea longer, so the less you do, the more you see.

Where, and when

Tourism Tasmania’s page on Bicheno, last updated in August 2026, says the little penguins return to shore at dusk every evening, waddling from the Tasman Sea up to their burrows at Redbill and Waubs beaches. It says they can be seen all year, with the best months September to January, the breeding season. NRE Tas, the state’s Department of Natural Resources and Environment, says the penguins leave the water at last light and most reach their colonies within an hour or so of darkness, so arrive before the light goes and expect to wait. In mid-November the sun sets in Bicheno at about 8:06 pm, in mid-January at about 8:42 pm, and in mid-June at about 4:41 pm (timeanddate.com).

The Bicheno foreshore track runs from Redbill Beach past Waubs Beach and the Gulch to the Bicheno Blowhole: Tourism Tasmania calls it an easy, flat walk over the orange granite. Walk it by day to choose your spot. No council, Parks and Wildlife Service or NRE Tas page names a public viewing platform at Bicheno.

The rules, from NRE Tas

NRE Tas publishes penguin-watching guidelines for every colony in Tasmania. In short:

• Torches: only a dim torch with a red light (red cellophane over the lens will do), and never pointed at the water or directly at the penguins.
• Cameras: no flash on the beach. Video cameras without a spotlight are fine.
• Distance: choose a spot at least 3 m from the burrows, where you do not block the penguins’ way in.
• Tracks: use existing tracks, and do not walk through the colony: it destroys burrows.
• Pets: never bring a dog or a cat to a colony, under any circumstances.
• You: wear dark clothes, stay quiet and keep movement to a minimum.

Penguins are protected wildlife, and NRE Tas says it is illegal to catch, attempt to catch or otherwise harass them; report anyone doing it to the nearest ranger. Tourism Tasmania adds that noise, lights and other animals can make penguins abandon their trip ashore, which is dangerous for them and their chicks.

Dogs, and the law at Bicheno

Dogs are a known danger to Bicheno’s penguins: the operator of the local tour says repeated dog attacks in the early 1990s cut the colony to about 40 birds. Since 25 December 2019 little penguins have been sensitive wildlife under Tasmania’s Dog Control Act 2000, and NRE Tas lists Bicheno, from the northern end of Rice Beach to the southern end of Denison Beach, with Diamond Island and Governor Island, as a declared sensitive area: if a dog attacks a penguin there, its owner faces a penalty of up to 30 penalty units. Glamorgan Spring Bay Council’s dog map for Bicheno bans dogs on Redbill Beach from dusk till dawn and in the dunes behind it at all times, bans them at all times from the Denison Beach access track to the northern end of Redbill Beach, including Diamond Island, and keeps them on a lead on the foreshore track.

Diamond Island

Diamond Island, the rocky islet off the northern shore, is a nature reserve, and Tourism Tasmania describes it as home to shorebirds and penguins, reached on foot over a sandbar from the foreshore at low tide. It is a daytime walk, timed by the tides. At dusk, the island’s penguins are heading for their burrows, and NRE Tas’s guidelines ask visitors to keep to existing tracks and never walk through a colony, so watch from the shore instead. Dogs are banned on the island at all times.

Bird flu

H5 bird flu has been found in Tasmanian wildlife since August 2026, including a little penguin on King Island. NRE Tas has set no restriction on penguin viewing, and asks everyone not to touch sick or dead birds or animals, to note where they are and to report them on 1800 675 888. NRE Tas says people visiting islands and coastal areas may come across sick or dead wildlife.

What the paid tour adds

The tour is a different visit, not the only one. Bicheno Penguin Tours walks its groups through a private rookery, farmland it has turned back into penguin habitat over more than 30 years, on paths lit in a colour range chosen for the penguins, with a guide and seats along the way. NRE Tas’s own page on little penguins says that, ideally, you join a guided penguin tour. On the beaches you watch in the dark, by your own effort and on the penguins’ terms; at the rookery you watch on lit paths with someone explaining what you see, for a fee. The homepage covers how the tour works and what it costs.

Penguins come ashore at other places in Tasmania too: Tourism Tasmania names the Bruny Island isthmus among them, and bruny-island-tour.com covers the viewing platform at the Neck, south of Hobart, and the last ferry back.